Singapore, Intro to Bali (9/19 - 9/21)

Sep 19, 2023

After a pretty mellow, uneventful, 17 hour flight from LAX to Singapore, I arrived with a 9 hour layover before my flight to Denpasar, Bali. My board bag and checked bag were on their way to Bali, so with just my backpack I had everything I needed to see some of Singapore before my flight. The Singapore airport, first of all, is spectacular. It has a pool, movie theaters, gym, spa, hotel, an extremely efficient train system that loops around all the terminals, and of course shopping. It’s basically a luxury mall with all types of shit you could want/need to kill time and be comfortable. In the center of it all is the Jewel Changi, a huge circular, glass kind of bird’s nest shaped green room. Plants and trees grow all up and down it on steps. In the middle is a massive waterfall that falls out of a hole in the sky and into a shallowish pool. The whole thing is over the top and ridiculous but quite beautiful as well. Insane that it just sits in the middle of the airport. Had a nice breakfast of a creamy egg sandwich with some kind of cured meat, some sweet pork buns, and a local cup of joe. Delicious.

Took about a one hour bus ride out of the airport towards downtown. My destination was the Gardens by the Bay, a big park on the water with all kinds of different types of landscaping and unique layouts of plants and trees mixed with structures and buildings. To get there I had to walk through a hyper futuristic DNA shaped bridge, a developed area of skyscrapers twisting and covered in uniform pink flowering plants, and a luxury mall. The architecture here is ridiculous, can’t imagine how much money is in this little pocket. After every 100 meters or so I take in the new angles of materials and lines all along the buildings and walkways and elevators. So futuristic. Then it all gives way to the big Gardens by the Bay park, perfectly manicured, on the water. I reached it first from up above, looking across the grounds, and picked a route I thought would be cool through it all, ending up at these two glass, egg shaped domes in the distance. I’m sure this place looks incredible at night with all the colorful lights turned on and angled into the trees and planters. 

The eggs in the distance turn out to be the Cloud Forest, essentially a massive greenhouse with a spiraling walkway up at the top taking you through the various flora of regions of the world. A massive boulder with waterfalls is in the middle, you walk in and out and around it. Unfortunately, this whole place has a temporary exhibit called the Avatar experience or some shit. Animatronic creatures, to scale, from James Cameron’s Avatar are sprinkled all around the forest making noise and roaring, etc. So cringe to walk around a corner and see a big plastic alien jaguar like monster roaring in your face with a little plaque explaining what that guy is. I wasn’t really feeling it, I’d rather just look at the plants and roll through the pathway in peace. Anyways, my time is running out and it’s time to get back to the airport and fly to Bali!

Arrival in Bali goes smoothly, pick up my boards, and grab a taxi to my lodging. I’m kind of falling in and out of sleep on the one hour car ride from Denpasar. Out the window is a bustling city with cars and scooters in every direction. Honking, lights flashing, people eating in little restaurants on the side of the road, pure life. The Singapore I saw was sterile, this was alive. Entering the Bukit Peninsula the roads become much more narrow and windy. Our pace slows way down and I fall asleep. Check in to Seno Guesthouse, 10 minutes from Uluwatu, eat something quick close by and pass out, here at last!

SEP 20

My first day in Bali is an important one: I need to get the cold water, California wax off my boards and change it for tropical warm water wax, I need to rent a scooter and learn how to drive it, and get my ass to Uluwatu to see what this mystical place is all about and surf it. 

Out onto the patio of Seno Guesthouse, I sprawl out my boards in the sun so that the wax melts quickly and then I can wipe it off. Unfortunately it’s a cloudy day and it’s not melting nearly as fast as I want. I go to the front desk to ask about scooter rentals but it doesn’t really get me anywhere since the guy I need is at the gym or something. Turns out half a block up the road are some dudes renting scooters, so I pay them a visit to grab my scooter while my boards bake in the sun. I set up a 10 day rental for a scooter with a surfboard rack on the side, they charge me 1M Rp = $64usd, I’m pretty stoked. He hands me the keys. “Wait, you need to teach me how to start this thing and drive!” He laughs and gives me a quick little tutorial. It’s pretty easy but again hilarious that they’d send me off. I’ve never ridden a motorcycle or anything like that but the scooter only has one gear and a chill little motor, super mellow, perfect for getting around the Bukit (and Bali for that matter) and checking surf spots, etc. 

I slowly merge onto the main road and see the tank is empty. At a snail’s pace I roll up into the gas station. I have no idea how to fill the tank or where the nozzle is supposed to even go. The lady at the pump shows me, you pull the keys back and the trunk space under your seat pops open. Gas fill up is like 35k rp = $2.50. Again, at a snail's pace I merge onto the main road, scooters flying by honking at me, but I’m much more steady this time going into the house’s parking lot. Rewax the boards, put my 5’8” Gaffer on the board rack, and roll out to Uluwatu. 

The drive there is windy with a couple hills and turns that I creep around. The whole place is built up. Cafes, bars, boutiques, hotels, tourists everywhere. Most people you see out are white tourists and the people working the businesses are Balinese. Around every corner is a new development being built, you hear the sounds of construction both in the distance and very near. The parking lot for Uluwatu is packed with scooters, it costs 5k to get in, then you find a little corner for you to put yours in the labyrinth of scooters. 

My first view of the waves is from up on the cliff, a classic view I’ve seen in many surf movie clips, a massive playing field with waves breaking in different sections along a huge stretch of reef. There are like 6 or 7 surf spots or take off zones along the Uluwatu reef from top to bottom, all that work best on their given tide and swell direction. When on the Bukit, you can pretty much rely on Uluwatu to provide surfable waves no matter what the conditions, at least in the dry season. Now it’s really starting to sink in that I’m really here. The paddle out is through an iconic cave that leads to a small beach, right now it is totally filled with water because of the high tide, from there you paddle out. Directly in front of the cave is the Main Peak and it looks pretty fun. In the water I go and pretty much immediately on exiting the cave I get swept down with the current. Make it out easily enough, just a long paddle out to the waves. 

The waves are large but not scary. Probably 6-8 foot peaks, always just beyond reach up the reef. As long as you paddle up, against the current, and don’t stop to sit, one will eventually come to you and you can score a real fun ride. I’m getting the hang of it, on high tide with this amount of swell or more, this is how the spot looks. A spread out crowd with peaks around. I got a bunch of fun ones and actually managed to slip through a small barrel, nothing insane but feels great that my first surf in Bali had barrels on offer and I got one. In the water I meet up with Diego, my friend from Malibu who’s been here since June, surfing his brains out. He also came for a long time last summer too. It’s great to surf with a friend who knows the zone and can show me which ones are good and where to sit etc. As I’m chatting with Diego, I hear a voice calling my name but I don’t really recognize anyone out here. It’s Medhi, my Moroccan surf guide from last year. He paddles up on a boogie board, shake hands, and laugh. “What are you doing here?” Surfing obviously. It’s good to see him and catch a couple waves together even though we left each other in Morocco on kind of a sour note. I almost had to leave my surfboards behind or miss the flight and he ended up with a wetsuit of mine and maybe some other random stuff in his car. This is what happens in Indo, the surf world comes here. 

Once the tide starts to drain out, people gradually move to  a section called the Racetrack where hollow, fast waves can barrel along the reef. This wave is a much more serious, tricky take off. Get a couple small ones but I’m kinda spooked out by the reef. The bigger the wave the farther you are from the reef, the smaller the wave the closer you are to it. (This is a lesson that would repeat itself across Indo many times.) 

Have some dinner with Diego at a bougie ass bar and restaurant overlooking Uluwatu. Not really interested in partying tonight, I’m wrecked, it was my first time surfing bigger waves like that in a while. Not big by Indo standards but compared to what a humble LA boy sees daily it was a fun step in the right direction. Plenty of swell on tap for the next couple days, I happily pass out.

Sep 21

    Have a stroll through the neighborhood, a little breakfast, get some work done, mellow morning. By noon I’m ready to surf but today I’m taking out my 6’6” Ordainer, asymmetrical goofy footed surfboard. Stoked to really surf it in some bigger lefts. Meet up with Diego and we have a nice long surf session from 1 to around sunset. Very much the same as yesterday, some big peaks at first, drawing nice long lines on the 6’6, then moving towards the racetrack as the tide dropped throughout the evening. Around sunset, I find myself in the spot for a nice set and take off and pump, going pretty fast down the line. At the end of the wave, I pull into the closeout barrel, get a quick vision, and get pounded. I smack the reef on my back, cut up immediately. Time to go in. Yesterday I was proud I didn’t touch the reef, today I got a little more ballsy and went for a stupid closeout. Diego reminds me that it is not worth it, “kick out the back unless you believe you can make it out.” His back is totally scarred from similar lessons.

Here is surfline’s blurb about Uluwatu:

    Uluwatu is actually a series of breaks on the southwest tip of the Bukit Peninsula: The Racetrack, The Peak, Temples, Outside Corner and The Bombie. With all of these breaks to choose from, Uluwatu is an ultra-consistent spot. Depending on the tide and swell size, any of these breaks will usually be firing at one point during the day. Generally, due to the access through the cave and the strong currents, the best possible conditions for larger swells are very low tides. Smaller and medium swells work well on all tides. During smaller swells, look for barrels and peaky surf on the higher tides at The Peak. On lower tides, The Racetrack can provide an ultra-fast reef grinder with a big barrel at the end. Those who choose to cut back often miss the end section, hence the name, The Racetrack. When surfing The Racetrack it is important to known the tides. On a middle tide, most advanced surfers will be able to negotiate the end section barrel with success. Once the tide drops, and especially on the lower tides of the month, The Racetrack end section is a twisting, multi-section barrel, a very dangerous place for experts and professionals only. When the largest swells of the year hit Bali, Uluwatu transforms into a true big-wave surfing venue - The Peak, Racetrack and Temples are all under whitewater, and Uluwatu's outer reefs, The Bombie and Outside Corner, come alive. These breaks will handle any size, and it's not uncommon to see perfect 15-foot surf here.

    For Dinner we hit YeYe’s, a warung, local Indonesian food, with some of Diego’s buds he introduces me to. The food is delicious and sprawled out in a buffet style, only they serve you behind a glass pane. You start with a plate, pick a type of rice you want, and then point to the dishes simmering in front of you. Curries, corn fritters, beet salad, roasted chicken, veggies, all kinds of salsas, what a spread! You can also order noodles, mie goreng, and fried rice, nasi goreng, the staples of this land, from the kitchen fresh. I’m there picking out what I want as my back bleeds from the cut, got a couple of weird looks from the guests.

    The homies are two Aussies, Oscar and Jon, and one Californian, Griffin (looks mad familiar; he went to UCSC around the time I was), all around our age. They all live on the Bukit, or have been in and out for a long time, they have great tips and stories. They can see how stoked I am, the start of my own Indonesian adventure. We start chatting about surfing and they’re oohing and awwing at the cut on my back. Diego proposes that we should all go to Desert Point, Lombok, the next island to the west, this weekend. They all agree that this would be the perfect time to go check it out because last weekend was a huge swell that sent massive crowds there. This one should be a little more lowkey. Plus the Single Fin Classic contest is happening all weekend long at Uluwatu, so no surfing there for a couple days meaning all other breaks on the Bukit are going to be insanely crowded. The gears start turning, I am down, Diego is down, and Jon is down.

    Head to Diego’s place so that he can clean up my reef cut with alcohol and an antibiotic cream/powder he has. The coral reef here is alive with organisms, etc. so you really need to clean out your cuts or else they could get infected nicely. The alcohol burns my wound, so bad, fiery pain. “This will teach you not to hit the reef you Barney!” HAHA.

    We all cruise to Jon and Griffin’s house over by Bingin (this part of the Bukit is way more chill and rural feeling, great vibes) and have some beers. Oscar has been to Desert Point before, has the contact for the driver and ferry services and the Budiman who runs the accommodations at the point. He is a literal angel. He basically got this trip set up for us with a few phone calls a mere 12 hours before we were set to leave Bali. The plan is to travel Friday, surf all day Saturday and Sunday, and then return to Bali Monday. This is a true strike mission. Jon and I take our scooters over to the ATM and pull out a lot of cash for the trip. There will be no ATMs out there, nobody accepts card, we need enough to last us 4 days. The ATM spits out bills in 50ks so our stacks are humongous. Go out with the boys for a mellow party night, get to know them a little more, very happy that I’ve made some friends early on. Not two days here in Bali and already I am wrapped up in a plan to go to one of Indonesia’s jewels in the crown of perfect waves, holy shit!