The One Minute Ride - A Surfing Legend - And Other Views - In Bali

Moving On - We find ourselves in Bali

We have now changed from a sort of South Pacific vibe to more of a tropical Asia thing.   We are on the island of Bali, Indonesia - it's a big country, with a lot of people and a lot of islands.    

Surfing is big here.  A lot of young people come here to live and to surf.  Of course, there is a culture associated with surfing, and those who are dedicated to the craft are living the dream here.

I saw a sign on a surf shop.  It had with a bunch of surfing sayings - such as the proverbial "I had a one minute ride" legend.   The fact is that a one minute ride on a surfboard is a long time.  






In fact, we've had enough time relaxing here at the wonderful beaches to do the research.   There are a lot of surfers here catching a lot of good waves, and we have not seen one single ride a minute long.  Most rides, even the good ones, are maybe thirty seconds at most.  

Hey, you can Google it, the average ride on a wave is ten seconds.  That's not a bad thing.  It takes a long time to learn how to surf and find the right wave.  But a real one minute ride is epic; it will get you on You Tube with a video - it is very rare.





May all surfers be blessed one day, some day,  with the elusive one minute ride. 

This a kind of a tropical paradise ...

I know, that's an overused phrase, but Bali has a lot of positives.  We have taken the last couple days to explore some amazing sites and scenery of this rather small island.

For the most part Bali has a Hindu culture, with the significant images of the multiple gods and tales of that religion.   It's also very tropical, it's hot but rains every day and every thing here is super green.   The people are friendly, welcoming, and kind.  

There are many colorful temples with intricate carvings and statues.  

The terrain is comprised of wonderful coastal beaches, dense rain forest, and volcanic mountains.  The ample rainfall makes for beautiful waterfalls.   And there is a bunch of wildlife, birds, all kinds of critters - and monkeys, lots of 'em.

We went to a "monkey forest" which was a well designed kind of national park, but nevertheless was very enjoyable.  There were a lot of monkeys, but frankly we seen monkeys before.  What was more impressive was the incredible massive tropical trees and the water and the rain forest jungle.  It was awesome.

We carried on into the highlands in the center of the island, where there is a large volcano and lakes up in the clouds.  

And more waterfalls, everywhere.    Great fun hiking in to see them.  It's very hot and humid here, and the moisture is thick in the air.   So you get kinda sweaty, but it's worth it. 

Travel goes in stages.  We are well into this trip now, and have entered a new episode.  We are in Southeast Asia.  You have to switch gears.  It was nice to be in English speaking New Zealand and Australia for several weeks. 

But it's time to keep moving.  There are new adventures ahead.   And sometimes you just have to sit and look at the sunset and ponder this great big wonderful world, as Fiona is doing in the picture below.