Bali update people

Hello everyone. So, really nothing has happened since last I talked to you. I'm still in Kuta and have been hanging out here since I made my trip around Bali. Kuta is like a small Vegas. Its none stop party if you want to but still quite in certain areas if you want to relax. For me, I'm kinda broke so I haven't been hitting up the nightlife every night like some people.

My daily routine has gone something like this:

wake up around 8 a.m., get my all included breakfast for free at the lobby, drink my tea (yes folks I have started to drink tea, but only because they mix up instant coffee and it taste like chalk) but don't hate on me and say English people have rubbed off on me when I come home. Then grab my surfboard and drive to the east or west side for a morning surf. Stay in the water for a couple of hours and then make my way back to Kuta where I get lunch at this super rad restaurant next door to my place. This restaurant looks like street market food but its stationary and has tables to sit at. You go up to the lady like a buffet style. She grabs rice and you order random amounts of food that you don't know what your eating. I figured out most of the stuff like omelets, mie goreng (noodles) curry sauce, prawns, beans and sometimes chicken but they charge a lot more for that. The cost today for lunch was 11 rupiah. Which is about $1.10. Not bad people. Great deals here.

After I eat I have just been relaxing and hanging out with new friends. The rumors are true about Bali: you don't get a whole lot done here. Lots of lounging. The past few days I have started to sketch up new t-shirt designs for Youthrunner and hopefully they will be out here soon.

Oh yea, I met up with one of my friends from couchsurfing in Australia. He has been traveling pretty much the same direction I am and he arrived in Bali last wee. We got a double room so the price is cut in half to $5 a night. Which is pretty tight. Cool kid. We've just been surfing everyday.

As far as adventures go besides just surfing everyday in Kuta, this Balinese girl text messaged me last night about a couchsurfing event. She said it was a full moonlight party out in Ubud. It sounded like a good time so me and Oliver (new roommate) met up with Irene and we walked down the street to this gas station where a bunch of other couchsurfers were gathering to get rides out to Ubud. We got there and met people from around the world. It sound like an interesting event and we both wanted to back out since it was in Ubud (1.5 hr drive) but we ended up going anyways.

While we were driving we got lost many many times in Ubud. These people had no idea where we were going and neither did I. Hours later of asking people we found this random cafe in the middle of some amazing rice patty fields. The cafe was built purely out of bamboo and straw. Some of the main structure of bamboo was as thick as a large basketball! We were also surrounded by green rice terraces (but it was dark so pictures couldn't capture the moment). The cafe had over 20 couchsurfers just mingling and talking to everyone. It was very mellow. Too mellow for me and that's hard to come by. I smooozed around and got to get to know some people but was pretty much ready to go home the instant we got there. The crowd was much older than me and Oliver and it just wasn't my scene.

It got to around 12:30 and I was def ready to go. It was almost like me tugging on my dad when I was a kid to leave, but I had to do that part in my head. We finally got in with another car that was leaving but they were going to Denpasar. Whatever, we left with them anyways and would figure out how to get to Kuta from there. This is where things got interesting. 10 minutes into the drive there was a huge bike accident ahead. First instinct was to get out of the car and see what was going on. I got out, ran over to the crash site and saw some awefull things. One guy was fully knocked out, covered in blood and probably dead while the other guy was also covered in blood but was have some serious convulsions. This other guy was trying to move the bike out of the road. I went to help him. I grabbed the steering wheel but the whole piece came off. I had this piece in my hand while the bike was still laying on the ground. We both grabbed what we could and pushed it off the road.

By the way, this is all within 30 seconds. I turned around and the car that I was with turned around and started to drive away! I started to run back to the car to jump in. They were in complete panic mode and wanted to get out of there. They thought we were going to get robbed but clearly two people were seriously injured. The car was still parked and I looked back at the accident. Two guys grabbed one of the injured guys and moved him off the road so traffic could keep moving. It was so messed up. They were more concerned about getting this piece of body off the road rather than wait for the ambulance to save his life. By moving him they probably paralyzed him.

Were in the car and I'm yelling at these people on why were leaving and how we need to get help. They didn't know what to do but they thought we were in danger. Not at all. I convince them to go to the hospital to tell a doctor about what happened. We later found one and told the doctor. He was really non-shelon about the situation and said "OK, well be there soon" moving extra slow like he didn't care. This is the difference between a 3rd world country and America. You don't move the body and the ambulance would be there in minutes to save you.

This situation really opened my eyes on how injury out here may leave you in the dust. Its like people didn't care on what happened. I still don't know what to think about the situation but I may have seen a couple of dead bodies for the first time in my life, hopefully not.

Later on we got a taxi cab from Denpasar back to Kuta.

Besides that, I have still been loving life and just surfing everyday. Today, the waves got bigger and I exchanged the board that I had for a bigger wave board. The surf was good but the riptide and current was horrible. I was paddling in the same place for most of the session. Got a good workout that's for sure.

My plan is to stay in Kuta for the rest of my trip, start to work a lot more and prepare myself for Thailand and SE Asia.

-Sean