Have moto, will surf

It is definitely one of the great ironies of our lives at the moment. We pretty much live for weekends these days. The irony being of course that we left our slack-ass lives in Canada, where we both had no defined schedules and therefore could take any days off any time we pleased, to come to this exotic land of a gazillion things to see and do, only to both be locked into a Monday to Friday work schedule. Hmmm, how exactly did that happen? Oh well, all part of growing up. We’ll jump off the train when it stops being fun. J

So ya, weekends, and hey, LONG WEEKENDS! Last weekend was a long weekend. Something about one of the holiest days of the Muslim year, blah blah blah. We get Monday off, right? Ya baby, let’s go!

So this was it. The true test of our motorcycle madness. If you’ve been following along, you know that I scoped out an area called Pelabuhan Ratu (Queen’s Port) on the moto before Amy got here. Well, that was the dry run, cuz Amy is now here, and she wants to see the ocean. That means we’re loading up the hog, putting Amy on the back, and heading south for the weekend. While that doesn’t sound like a particularly big deal, here, it just is. The big deal is mostly related to insane traffic, death-defying roads, and the stress of not really knowing where to go (unusable signage combined with roads going off in every direction). It’s pretty much agreed upon by most, that if you are going to die in Indo, it’s going to be on a motorcycle. But we’re invincible, so we’re good J

Our target was a little place on the coast that you blink and miss it (which we did several times). It’s a small, low-key set-up of 4 small bamboo beach huts. Totally under the radar, it’s pretty much unknown to anyone, which is very cool. The only reason we know about it, is because I walked the beach on the last trip and literally stumbled upon it. A huge bonus of the place is that it’s owned and run by a German expat dude named Dieter (and his obligatory Indonesian wife – see below for more on that). For us, that makes the logistics of booking and communicating easy and straightforward – which is usually the most epic part of travel here. A quick email to Dieter, and we were booked. Nice.

So what’s with the “obligatory wife” thing? Only a brain-dead baboon doesn’t notice the disproportionate number of older foreign gentlemen married to somewhat younger Indonesian ladies (which is a pattern repeated in pretty much every developing country we have ever been to). No judgement here though, just stating the obvious. The reason I say “obligatory” is because it is illegal for foreigners to outright own property here. So what’s a guy to do if you’re a bule, have a bit of cash, and want to put down some roots in Indo? Of course….marry an Indonesian, and put the house in her name! OK, so that’s the background on that one. Nuff said.

So ya, 4 little bamboo huts on the beach run by a German guy and his Indonesian wife. A bed, a fan, hammock, outdoor shower, and ocean view. What else does one need? To seal the deal, Dieter has a fridge full of beer, reasonably priced home-cooked food, and comfortable lounge chairs. Why would we ever leave? (cuz reality sucks, that’s why). My biggest fear is that the word will spread, and those 4 little huts will be booked solid one day. So if you are reading this, don’t tell anyone!

The final selling feature for us, the “cherry on top” as it were, is the proximity of Deiter’s place to the local “surf shop” just a few palm trees down the beach. Now, “surf shop” is a huge exaggeration. We’re talking 4 guys, an elevated shack on the beach, a few women with babies selling noodle soup, and a fridge full of Bintang. Obviously, lulled in by the fridge full of Bintang (“I think I see beer in there….better go recon that” J), we also spotted the half dozen surf boards for rent, most of which were the standard gigantic blue foam boards you see here that instantly gives you away as a beginner (but, we are beginners, so, er, what’s the problem?). OK so let’s see: place to stay on the beach, check, fridge full of beer, check, surf board rentals, check….surf’s up baby! The really cool thing is that we have the entire place to ourselves. It’s totally off-grid.

All sounds too good to be true? Well it kind of is. The, somewhat important, missing element here is the lack of decent surf (kind of like a ski hill where the snow sucks). The whole area is just one big messy beach break full of reefs and rip tides. In fact, kids should be on leash. This is not good beginner territory (surfing or swimming – drowning would be on the list of “things that might happen”). Luckily we don’t really care about surf quality, and are happy just to be splashing around in the water and shredding the foam.

Speaking of shredding the foam, I think we both made progress on that. Standing up and bouncing around on the foam pile for a couple of seconds has become a regular occurrence. In fact, now we hardly ever scream out “I STOOD UP, I WAS UP, DID YOU SEE THAT?, THAT WAS AWSOME!!! (almost hardly ever). Both of us limping back to our hut afterwards though, we didn’t celebrate that hard. Me with a twisted neck from auguring into the sand head first (good way to get paralyzed), and Amy with scrapes and bruises on her leg from getting sucked into the reef. Lesson learned: surfing has its hazards. Got it.

OK, back to work on Tuesday (the reality sucks part). One last sunset over the ocean, one more sunrise. All good though. A fine start to our moto-surf career. We’ll be back. Next long weekend!

 

Local surf dude - Cimaja, Indonesia