So upon my arrival in Bali, I was given the royal treatment we all know I deserve. Oh my goodness there were so many people crowded in the waiting area with signs, but immediately I spotted mine: "Tasha Haight". So I met him near the exit. I wanted to get cash at the ATM, but the guy wanted to leave so I figured there'd be ATMs where we're going. The exit was really neat and I tried to snap a quick pic but it wasn't good because I was still walking. The surrounding area of the airport was really intriguing also but how the taxi windows were, a picture wouldn't've turned out, so many on the way back I can get some. I had a whole taxi van to myself and I was told to sit in the front. People here drive like they're in India and probably Italy but I've never been to India nor Italy. I don't understand 1) why they bother painting lines on the road and 2) why/how there's so many people. They load themselves up on their motorbikes. I saw the craziest things. There was this little kid chillin on the handlebars going down the highway and this old lady on the back of another one was sittin sideways like she was a princess in a fancy dress on a pony. And they get so close and swivel and swerve I don't know how they don't crash.
The architecture was also very interesting. The roofs reminded me of the roofs in Japan or like how I imagine them in traditional China. They also have these insanely intense statues. Like there was this one of a man fighting a snake and every muscle in his leg was carved out. And they really like waves here because all their statues are on waves, like leg muscle snake fighter dude and a boat statue down the way. At first I thought they would be Hawaiian like but then I saw the statues which are in no way like tikis and I changed my mind.
Then we got to the ferry to take me over to the retreat island. We had to wait for an hour so idk why were were so rushed. We being me. Oops haha.So there was this lady there with her hair done and some fancy shoes on her pedicured feet and some fancy earrings on and I thought "aw look at her all ready for vacation, lucky. My vacation's not til July" then I had to remind myself "no this is supposed to be a vacation too" but all by myself with a schedule full of surfing and yoga which I know has to include early mornings, I can't help by see this more as goal fulfillment than vacation. I didn't even wanna come to Bali except for the elephants so this was my way of ensuring I 1) learned to properly surf and 2) understood yoga, the two goals I set for myself for my study abroad journey. True, at the time of finding the Surf Girl article on Facebook and therefore searching and finding this retreat, I was very excited and couldn't wait, but I'm not quite sure what I was thinking. Marina and Dani are also in Bali for the break, but they're doing legit Bali. They posted pictures on Instagram and it made me wish I just did real Bali until my elephants. I blame Pinterest because when I searched Bali on there all it could bother to show me was a monkey forest, rice fields, and my elephants. At least I'm super excited for the elephants, because right now I feel kinda miserable. (It's currently Day 2 before Yoga 1 so maybe by the time you get there in your reading you'll feel my pain because I'm trying to stick to chronological order and at the stage of waiting for the ferry I was not yet miserable, just exhausted and a little overheated.)
The ferry was nice. It reminded me of being tendered in from a cruise ship and temporarily fixed my cruise fix. The waves, the little windows, it was good. I felt like a puppy in a car; the wind was pushing my face back. One time when I opened my eyes there was a guy walking by outside my window like he must've been on a rail or something. And the little places we passed looked like Indonesia in like tropical island things then I had to remind myself that that's because Bali is in Indonesia. Like the huts and everything.
Then we made it to the island. The taxi that took us to our hotels was a pickup truck with benches and a roof over the bed. It reminded me of being on a tractor ride, the kind at the fair with real benches, not the hay kind.
I got to the hotel and was welcomed with a green juice which was great because I was very thristy. Then I was told my first surf lesson was at 4 which confused me because I said I wanted the activities April 17,18,19 and the nights April 16,17,18, but I had just been thinking about maybe doing something today so I could get an earlier ferry back to the mainland. So I went with it. Then I was showed my room. It's quite a large room that has one hard bed, a clothes unit and one lamp and nightstand. Writing it out I guess it seems standard but it's really big so it feels really empty. There's also a bathroom, of course.To take me to my first surf lesson, my surf instructor, Dewa, ;picked me up on his motorbike and I got to finally have a Lizzie McGuire Movie moment, except it wasn't a Vespa brand motorbike. Oh well, close enough. Then we were joined by a guy from London who wanted a lesson as well. So we went to the sand to learn the proper way to stand up. Funny, I've had 3 surf instructors in my life and they've all taught me different ways to pop-up, yet claim their ways is the only way. So for this one, you literally go step by step and not all at once. First you put your arms next to your chest, then bring your back foot to touch your other knee, then you kick out you're non-dominant foot with enough power to make you stand. We tried it just floating in the flat water by the beach and I was doing just fine so then we got on a boat to take us out to the waves.
Uh, yeah. We had to take a boat to go to the waves, which were not at a beach. It was like that new Olympic surf wave making technology I wrote an article on (check out a copy of it on PrincessReviews). It was over a reef, and the waves just came and died (because the reef acts like a sandbar); they never actually broke so more waves that I'm totally not used to and wouldn't consider waves. Like I still can't get my head around when you're actually supposed to pop up when the wave never breaks. I guess when it starts to push you forward? Idk.
So it goes without saying I was having a really rough time. Like it was awful. And I was on a super long board, like it was huge. Plus the fact that I hadn't slept in over 36 hours was not helping (sorry airport/Brisbane post to come after all Bali posts). My body refused to obey what my mind was telling it to do and it was not good. My Muriwai surf trip was about a million times more successful, and at Muriwai I thought I was gonna die. So yeah. That's how good I was doing. It was not good. I did stand a couple times, but the ratios of fails to success was really bad. My second to last one was really good though. It was really upsetting how bad I was doing, but I just had to remind myself that it was because I literally had no sleep, no food, I was literally running on empty. I just had to hope that I would do better tomorrow.
I got another motorbike ride back to the room, making me feel better. Once I got back, Chris, the guy I had been emailing about this trip with regards to booking and questions and such, gave me my schedule. Each morning had an 8am activity, so lots of early mornings. Because of the yoga schedule and the days I was there, I could only do two yoga sessions so the third was replaced with paddleboarding because I love paddleboarding. Then Tuesday, even though I have only one activity at 8am, I still have to take the last ferry back because I'm snorkeling and it's supposed to take 4 hours. Oh well, hopefully I still make it ot my Ubud hotel in time to use the pool.
For now, I'll just sleep.
Until next time,
xoxo,
Tasha
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