Balinese Paradise: Part 1

Aneeshka Bali 2017!!

I was sweating "Uhhh Umm where would you like to go for honeymoon" - "Bali!" came the immediate answer as if it was telepathy.

Getting married has, from my perspective, a wonderful plus - you get to take a very nice foreign destination vacation without fretting about budget, time, company or worrying about 'what would people say'. Company, Family and spouse sanctioned, Bali it was.

After having heard only good things about this place, we didnt have the slightest doubt where to plan our vacation. It took just a day of research and asking around, almost a no brainer why couples with a decent amount of budget would want to miss this place for their Honeymoon. If falling short of budget, I highly recommend trimming your wedding budget but saving for such a memorable journey together.

We spent 5 blissful days in Bali, each and every day beautiful and memorable. The island has a very beautiful culture and is welcoming of tourists of all backgrounds. Yes Bali does have a lot of touristy stuff going on with tourists filled to the brim, yet has nature intact and has enough space so that it doesnt get onto your nerves. As newly weds, we didnt feel even a bit hassled or inconvenienced in any aspect. Budgetwise, everything was value for money from and Indian standards. The hotels we booked were decently priced, about 6K per night , gave us amazing service and  were superb properties. The food was priced on the high side but was amazing. The taxi service, after we made a choice from 5 different taxi recommendations cause all of them are so good, was reasonably priced.

The only bad experience we had was the 10 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur airport and the monkey bite at Ubud monkey forest (I think its a good part of the experience , but worried Anushka to no bounds I will turn into a bigger ape)

We stayed in Bali in 2 parts - at the beach - Seminyak for 2 nights and 3 nights in the mountains of Ubud. Seminyak is the touristy beach part and Ubud the cultural centre. I will detail our experience in further blogs.

Good waves, better waves: Surfing at Mulki, Day 2 and 3

Day 1 Blog

Day 2: After having a solid 9 hours of sleep post day 1– I started the day with a quick short breakfast of fruits then geared up to head for a different beach today. The high light of the day were the photos we could finally take and the amazing waves courtesy of the full moon.The rash shirt and board shorts I bought at Decathlon have paid off well over their worth, despite the super tight shirt accentuating my paunch.

Reading the waves

We had Gautam and Shyam today teaching me which meant I had a dedicated photographer. Seriously I had 2 pros dedicate their time and attention at me. Today we headed to a different spot called as 'Baba's left'. We tied up the  small motor boat to a puny but strong tree branch on what I would describe was a big sand bar. The beach was ours. Not a soul in sight. I has almost white pillow soft sand. The wonderful view was jarred by large swathes of trash dumped back by the sea onto the beach. We had to tip toe around lots of bottles with the board on our heads to get to our spot. 

Shyam read the surf to be perfect for learning and I was to find out, how good it really was. It was goooood. I looked up to the heavens to thank for this amazing day. The waves were big, of perfect speed and were breaking regularly, for a beginner this was the perfect step up. There quite a few glugs to be had with some powerful waves wiping us out even before I could point my board towards the beach. This day had the best waves of the 3.

Gautam was my trainer today, he had brought along his own surf board, which meant I was going to be more on my own today. Waves were breaking 40 metres off the shore. Unlike yesterday my first wave was a dud, I stepped too wide instead of inline with the board. Spreading your weight side ways means you tip off real quick. But the second one and subsequent ones were brilliant quick rides to the shore. 

Coming straight for the camera

The sea changes its mood. There were changes in the pattern of the sea with bigger waves coming in intermittently and breaking closer to the shore. These were quicker too, so I had to be fast on my feet and paddle really hard. Paddling was a big thumbs down. Paddling lets you speed up, get some momentum and be ready when the wave reaches you. My arms weren’t letting me do that in time unfortunately so I missed out on a couple of waves. Homework for me – swim regularly. It was overcast, with fluffy clouds muffling the Sun's intensity. I rode quite a few waves for about 1.5 hours. Then called it quits. All those long surfs, means long treks and paddles back to the break point. 

We returned to a sumptuous brunch of Mangalore buns, chickpea subji, simple flavored rice and gulab jamun prepared by Kirtan. Then it was a long siesta time. I got up with the pangs for some seafood, so I headed out to the town to try some local oysters (Marwai) and boiled rice (a variety of brown rice). Once I headed back, I thought might as well take a second siesta. I love this vacation! After tea, I decided to hitch a ride with Rasik to the town to purchase some fresh cold pressed, organic coconut oil. I heard a lot of benefits from using cold pressed unrefined oil so am packing some for home. I noticed the town of Mulki is really clean and orderly in a certain way. Generally 5Pm is time for Kayaking or stand up paddling, but I skipped it given I had a little excess exertion today, which I am not used to yet. I had another tranquil sunset at the dock clicking picture, while Jaymo from ‘walking on water’ surf club joined in to click photos himself. The red sun dips into the far away tree line on the beach separated by the big backwater channel. Dinner was simple rice and lentil sambhar and pakoras. End of another amazing day

Day 3: Final day of the course hence I was psyched to give my best today. I spent some time doing yoga to prep. Having a relaxed mind is very important, being in tune with the waves is necessary and timing is the key. Waves were lazy and low and conditions were perfect for learning. I was able to ride some long rides, with multiple swells hitting my board. 

Dosa for Brunch

Parathas, Mexican hot sauce?! and Rice

A sumptuous brunch of Dosas, chutney, brinjal sambhar and apple juice. I slept hard for 4 straight hours. I skipped a planned SUP session and had a restful evening watching the sun go down while the gang relaxed in the backwaters, swimming SUP. Very idyllic. Had a 63 year old Kiwi guy share his stories. We ate a healthy dinner of parathas and rice.

Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

Time to leave to catch the bus (fingers crossed the bus doesn’t give me a miss! Back to Bedlam, back to Bangalore

I am a Goofy! Surfing at Mulki Day 1

As the small motor boat carrying our boards glided over the serene Shyambhavi river, I finally took a deep breath. Finally a break. After a gruelling 6 month spree of work and hectic pointless weekends I took days off to finally visit Mantra surf club. I was planning this visit for years, when I finally got a chance for this solo trip. I had surfed before at Shaka surf club in 2013. This was my second foray into surfing. I also wanted to immerse into the Mantra way of life. I had signed up for 3 days of awesomeness, at the end of which I felt so fortunate to have experienced. Surfing, food, unique and very importantly stepping aside from the usual.

After a bad night of sleep in a bus from Bangalore to Mulki, I reached the Ashram at 7.30. Yes its a Surf Ashram, not a resort or a hotel. I checked into a nice clean room which accommodates 3 people, I was lucky that I got it entirely for myself. After a quick change and breakfast of bananas and pears, we got to the main event. 

The schedule is flexible but usually goes like:

• Surfing from 7.30 – 11 (or till you get tired);
• Brunch 11.30 then siesta
• 4.30 ~ 6.30: Kayaking, Stand up paddling (you can also do some jet ski, wakeboarding, etc), but the main event is watching the beautiful sunset from the tiny dock
• Dinner 7.30
• Conversations with Guests who are from myriad backgrounds, countries and hold interesting views  

So we begin day 1 - we took a boat ride through backwaters, walked through mangroves to ‘Swami’ beach. This beach was discovered by the 'Surfing Swami' Jack, the head of this Ashram. After the Ashram brought this place on the surfing spotlight with a surf competition a few years ago, its now being developed as a tourist spot by the local administration. My instructor for the next 3 days is Swami Sham who has been surfing for more than 13 years. We start with basic warm ups and yoga. Through my previous experience with surfing, I had retained my lessons on pop ups’ which is getting up from a laying down position to a standing / crouching position on the board aligned with its central line with proper weight distribution. You need to swivel your body, hips especially from a flat prone position to a crouch. Thats the whole point, but it takes practice to time your pop up, align your weight and shift your position in the rapidly moving water. The stylish low crouch that you must have seen in surfing photos do, is to keep you from majestically hitting the water, fun though as it is.The water temperature was perfect, and I mean the right hot and cold. The chest high water was clean, though wasn't transparent. Sham studied the waves and we waded to a point where the waves parted and was relatively calm, but we had to float or jump up when waves did come. I laid flat on the wide beginners board (damn! I wanted a narrower board,makes for cooler photos) and we waited for the first big wave to come through.

The first wave hit us fast and I caught it before I realised! The sheer thrill as the wave caught up to me and I was flying over the water was absolutely exhilarating, it was almost perfect except for the dismount. And I was hooked again. I caught many more, some long rides, some wipe outs. Every ride to the beach means a wade back lancing your board through waves, which takes work and quite a bit of paddling - I realised I was woefully short on stamina. Each wave I caught and ride made me go back, the adrenaline making the trudging wade and paddle back through crashing waves easy. I called it quits around 10.30 as I wanted to pace out my 3 days of fund rather than max out and lie in bed.

Oh and I realized I am a Goofy! One who surfs with his left leg back. Its an unconventional stance but it came natural to me.

Sham let me steer the boat (has an outboard motor) some of the way, and its pretty fun. Remember turning left makes the boat go right and vice versa, its difficult! When we headed back an amazing brunch was waiting. I was ravenous. Great food – idli, lemon rice, fruit juice, gulab jamun. I had mailed in advance of my peanut allergy which they gladly accommodated. The food was simple, tasty made with a lot of devotion to the Lord. A fellow guest from Brazil also liked the food a lot. 

Simple Food on Day3

I slept like a log made out of lead ; I was sleep deprived and had just surfed 3 hours. Woke up late in the afternoon had a second helping of lemon rice.  I headed up the small dock of the ashram with a a cup of tea to drink at. A sailboat was casting off in which a few guests and Swami took off. 5PM, time for kayaking or stand up paddling. I chose kayaking, while the Brazilian guest who was a seasoned stand up paddler (SUP) chose to do just that. I came back after 30 minutes for some more fruits, and went down to the dock to watch the beautiful sunset. The sailboat came in to dock. It was one of the best sunsets I have seen so far in my life.

Dinner was a sumptuous spread of fried sweet potato, vada, chapathi, veg curry, lemon rice. Some other guests joined us for great long conversations at the dinner table. Perfect end to day 1.

Link to Day 2 :Day 2 Blog