Dreamlands!

Woke up early this morning, through my stuff in my bag, paid and checked out of suka inn and made my way round to meet the others at their place. Crammed all our bags and boards into a small people carrier then made our way into the crazy streets of Kuta. It took a while to get out of there and on the open road im not gonna lie it's pretty terrifying. En route we began to see the real side of Bali. Street vendors lined the road alongside make shift stalls selling everything you can imagine. It seemed very like Africa, I imagine many 3rd world countries share similar traits. After a lengthy journey dodging scooters and trucks we (with no help from the driver) found the car park where we had planned to be dropped. As soon as we got out of the car we were greeted by the usuall entourage of hawkers and street merchants somehow I don't think they only wanted to welcome us. Notably amongst them was a lady called Deborah. See was very insistent that she carried a bag although refused to tell us the price untill we arrived at our hotel. We said no and chose to carry our own stuff, posssibly due to the fact she was 3 times our age and at least half my size.
We were told our hotel was on a cliff and as we walked down the dirty path we got our first glimpse of the coast. To put it simply it was breathtalking. The steep cliffs overlooked some of the best surf ive seen in my life which was stunning. We carried on downt the steps and found a place with beds called Tuttis garung. Jarod and I had to share a bed which was cosy but apart from that it was amazing! It was one of those houses on stilts built into the side of the cliff edge. It was prettt rustic which only added to the sense of adventure. Our bedrooms were upstairs and to access them we had to climb up a set of stairs/ladders with a latch which made it feel like a tree house. I guess it fulfilled my childhood desire to live in a tree house as thats simply what it felt like.
The surf was perfect. Bingding- a left hand reef break which broke over a shallow coral reef 2 feet below. Today i could'nt surf due to the sunburn and in rhetrospect i regreted it. The next morning the surf was double over head high ie 10ft plus breaking in 2 feet of water. Basically if you fall you end up on the coral. Not pretty, There was a guy walking about with heavy bandage clearly from the coral and there was a couple of boards broken, snapped under the preassure of the water. I didn,t dare surf it although watching it from our little tree house on the windowless veranda with pink floyd and van morrison playing in the background was nothing short of awsome in the literal sense of the word. It really was a pleasure watching some of the best surfers in the world tackle some of the most dangerous waves on offer, taking the drop, cutting up the face and coming out of the barrel unscaved was a memory that will stay with me forever.
Desperate to surf we walked down to dreamlands beach break. The surf was HUGE! 20ft plus! The break however was much further out and not on reef so I figured if i could make the paddle if i wiped out it wouldnt be on coral. Grabbed my board and went for it. I was taught a valuable lesson. I didnt even make it passed the shore break. The 3rd wave that hit me held me under for a while and by the time i resurfaced i was 100 yards down the beach in the rip. Not a good idea!
Tonight we chilled and had food. James has the runs and is feeling poorly. Jarod and I had some food at a cafe on the shore front but the fish wasn't really cooked so i left it. Alot has happened here in 2 days, memories that i will cherish. Im glad i left Kuta and it seems now that the places im seeing now and the people im seeing them with are the memories that will stay with me a long time after the trip is finished.