Ah, it's been a while. Sorry if some of you were patiently waiting on pins and needles to have a much needed dose of the Lukester. Basically the last month has been taken up with a week in Southern Thailand at Railey beach, near Krabi, and three weeks in wonderful Bali. I was originally going to spend a couple of weeks in southern Thailand but after just a couple of days I decided what I most wanted was to go someplace I can surf, hence the sojourn to Bali.
Railey was nice and very beautiful, but a little on the pricey side. I guess that comes with lots of tourists and getting all you supplies by boats. Loads of rock climbers and I thought about giving it a try but.....and I wasn't really in the mood. So, like I said, I hightailed it back to Bangkok after just four days there and grabbed a flight to Bali.
So far, maybe one of my favorite places. Surfed almost everyday, on an 8 foot gun shaped by Bill Hamilton no less, and chilled out a lot in the meantime. Managed to get into a guest house through a great Aussie named Jimmy (but he also goes by Slim) who owns and operates the Baliwaves.com website. Hung out a lot with an British couple, Fran and Adam and there's plenty I can tell you about them, but maybe more in person than on this public forum. Anyway, here are some pictures of Railey and Bali.
Wandered around in Bangkok and saw this sign.
And I later found out that some people in Bangkok must have some seriously hot piss.
On the boat to Railey
View from the beach near my hotel. Not really a beach on this side but on the other side of the spit is a beautiful white sandy beach. The area is basically a chunk of rocky land with three beaches that are all within about 10 to 20 minutes walk of each other.
Rock climbers galore
And some pretty cool rock formations
Part of the beach on the other side of the spit.
Locals playing a hackey sack sort of game with a Rattan Ball game over a volleyball net during lowtide. It's called Sepak Takraw, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepak_Takraw
More cool rocks and beautiful beaches.
Boats used for hauling tourists and supplies around.
Looks like paradise.
On the way to Bali I stopped off at the airport in Kuala Lumpur for a 10 hour layover. I didn't see any of the people that might be appropriately shaped for this style toilet but I kept my eyes open.
Even Ronald catches a few waves in Bali.
I rented this board from slim for 25,000 rupiah a day. By the end I could do ok on it and it's distinct difference to a longboard makes me think maybe I should look into expanding my quiver once I get back (granted I only have one "arrow" in my quiver right now and speaking of the good ole Johnny Rice....Kevin???? Did you ever get a chance to try it out??)
I think I may have put a similar picture up from Vietnam or Cambodia or something but I really did how you can by gasoline in old alcohol bottles. And gas isn't cheap over here either.
You do occasionally see footprints on toilet seats and wonder about their origin but I guess this picture clears it up.
The view out at Kuta beach a pretty good beach break.
Kids posing on some sort of raft thing.
Adam, Fran, and I took a day out to travel around the island a little bit and first stopped at some traditional dance thing. Pretty cool with fairly elaborate costumes.
Me with some of the dancers. I'm wearing a shirt that I paid about 4 times too much for but it was still only about $10.
We were planning on driving up to the volcano the is visible from Kuta beach but the car that our driver hired started to crap out as we got to higher elevation and we weren't able to make it, but we did stop off in Ubud where there are some very beautiful rice terraces.
The old man wanted a break so I carried his load for him for a while.
Rice almost ready for the harvest
We also stopped by a temple, yeah, more temples.
And the three of us went to a beach that has great sunsets. Our driver was really funny when he said it's a romantic place but "Oh, Mr. Luke you don't have a girl. hahahaha" And then it was even funnier when he told us he'd pick us back up at 7:30 but never showed and we ended up getting a taxi back at 9. Bastard.
We watched another sunset a few days later at the beach about 100 meters from our hotel and it was probably just as good as the other one. Plus here were got coerced into buying a few things from the local ladies. Fran somehow convinced Adam and I to each get one of our nails painted. Blah.
Sunset from our local beach
The night before I left, the three of us were up for quite a while.
And one final picture of Bali from the air.
And so........I get on a plane in another couple of days and head to my next destination.....
Peace
