First Day in Bali

Trip Start Aug 20, 2007

Trip End Jul 04, 2008

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Indonesia Bali, Indonesia
Thursday, May 15, 2008

My first day in Indonesia was dictated by fear and pain. Firstly, I have this fear of motorbikes that has haunted me since I tipped one at the age of 14. First thing in the morning Levi puts me on motorbike and guides me into morning rush hour traffic in Bali. I was trying to remember how to shift, hit the brakes, signal, and beep the horn all while bemos(taxis), trucks, and motobikes swirled around me. I was concentrating on not biting a hole through my cheek from stress as pedestrians, stray dogs, and traffic flowed and mixed in a Balinese dance that I had no rythm for. Finally making it to the world famous(for surfers) Uluwatu I beheld a site for elated eyes. The combo swell was wrapping along the coast as we looked on it from atop the cliffs. Excitedly we scampered down the steep stairs to the keyhole beach at the base of the limestone geography. The warm water touching my skin gave me goosebumps as I took my first strokes out to the lineup. In all the excitement to be back in the water after months of absence I had forgotten to secure my middle fin

First Motorbike Ride

. On my second wave over the swallow left hand corral reef I did a top turn and my board slipped out from under my feet. Falling from the top of the wave my back and shoulders were cheese grated across the reef. Blood was running down my board as I walked back up the stairs of Uluwatu. The remedy to treate corral wounds I was told is lime juice. I personally think it is a sadistic joke on traveling surfers by the onlooking locals, but Levi gladly applied the sheething lime on my raw flesh. I have never felt such a pain. It penetrated me through to to core. I was almost made sick by the citric acid rinsing. In the afternoon Levi, Rafeal (a Peruvian that shares the mutual friend, Ignacio Bedoya, with me- small world) and I went for a surf at Airport Rights. I caught long racetrack and was paddling back out. I duck dove a wave and hit reef that punched a hole in my board. Kalvin Chalker welcome to Indonesia.