Several hours of flight, quite a long time of waiting, 2 different airlines, I set foot in Denpasar, the lively capital city of Bali. The 4-letter enumeration of this bit of land announces some idyllic holidays on a heavenly island for a lot of people. My family picks me up at the airport with a large smile. Quite 2 months we haven't seen at each other. Everything seems to go by so fast. We negotiate a bemo (local van) to rush to the Legian district. The Legian and Kuta area gathers a great number of tourists and all the relating economy. Succession of hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, craft and surf shops. The urge is too tempting. Several years Jo and I have dreamt of breaking waves, tubes and gliding. Being at one with the ocean. Alone with his board to stroke the element. More than a sport, the surf enthusiasts consider it to be a way of life. Perhaps it will be ours in a few hours after our introductory session. On the beach, every 50 meters, stalls offer boards for rent. Longboard, mini-malibu or thruster, we quickly learn the terms. We book a 2-hour lesson. Private coaching on the beach, our instructor breaks down the moves to stand up. Then, the board wedged under the armpit, we cheerfully walk towards the waves. A set of advice later, a special pleasure-tinted feeling overwhelms me. I keep standing on the board! The road is still hazardous before turning in the giant waves but the joy is definitely here, as an obvious fact.
But the learning will be still long, very long... Because before being on the front cover of the surf magazines, We entered for the greatest fall competition.
Armelle and Magali join us and the entire team is gathered for a 15-day Balinese adventure. Loving reunion.
To extend the soft and gilded Kuta life, We go to visit the south of the island. Balangan, Dreamland or Padang-Padang, a coconut-trees-fringed or cliff-flanked paradise. Something in common goes through these light-sanded strips watered by shapely breaker. While we look at the surfers and body-boarders who compete for a wave, a leitmotiv constantly comes back. Dumbstruck, our look doesn't come off these heavenly expanses any more ; last shangri-la for the people stressed by the urban hubbub.
Our eyes decipher the waves in the distance. Only a board is missing...
At the end of the day, we visit the Uluwatu temple. Sanctuary of more-or-less-aggressive monkeys which have the unfortunate tendency of grabbing everything that juts out from the pockets. The sun goes down on the horizon, our eyes leap from the ocean to the reddening sky. The twilight sweeps away the last rays of this wonderful day.
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Discovering the surf at Bali
By dorian on Tuesday 12 August 2008, 18:19 - RTW2-Indonesia
Wednesday 6 August 2008
We dip again into the 2 oceans
By dorian on Wednesday 6 August 2008, 18:00 - RTW2-South Africa
An adventure ends, our great loop in southern Africa stops at Cape town, a city we left almost 2 months before. We get to the « 2 oceans » aquarium, in order to dip again into the memory of this sumptuous underwater creatures we already met for the most part. Between Indian and Atlantic Ocean. We want to enjoy our peregrinations to the very last drop.
Then, the time to part comes, Christophe goes back to Paris and I carry on my trip. A radical change of culture and continent. After a short stop at Kuala Lumpur, I will head for the heavenly island of Bali to meet again my family for a fortnight before keeping on alone towards the island of Java and prolonging thrilling adventures in Indonesia.
As for Africa, continent of contrasts, smiles, generosity, endemic colours and hope, I know that's only a temporary goodbye. Its land, its forests, its villages are packed with so many things seemingly trivial and yet so fascinating. As soon as we put down a foot, we never completely leave again.
Tuesday 5 August 2008
With the great white sharks...
By dorian on Tuesday 5 August 2008, 21:51 - RTW2-South Africa
The oppressive atmosphere of « Jaws » floats overhead. The outing of the day takes us to the discovery of the great white sharks. In spite of the ultra-touristy side and the sensation to be squeezed in a cage to make the excursion profitable at most, the meeting with a great white shark remains unique and crystallizes a pleiad of feelings: from the nervousness to the fright, from the awe to the admiration. Powerful jaws, several raws of triangle-shaped teeth, a highly-developed sense of smell to pinpoint some micro-drops of blood within several cubic meters of water. Although it's a terrible predator, the danger it represents for man was stigmatized in a really too deep way. The danger indeed exists, but the number of deaths due to the attack of great white sharks doesn't outnumber the 10 people each year – we are far from the hundreds of people which are electrocuted each year with a toaster that doesn't work well.
the trip is running smoothly. Briefing of the participants on the lawn of the center then we go by boat to the diving area. The crew bustles about rigging up the cage to the hull of the boat. Last safety instructions and the first batch of divers slip in the cage. The main instruction is simple not to say childishly logical: do not put the hands or the feet out of cage and this on no account. It smells tuna at the back of the boat... A member of the crew jettisons a head of a fish hooked on a rope and the first creature arrives – the “Jaws” soundtrack carries on its disjointed melody as a musical background. A peaceful and massive swimming before leaping out of the water to seize the bait. A ligthning attack. The half-open mouth lets sparkle its perfect dentition. The divers are in an ideal position. I fidget on the deck. That's my turn. I slip on the weight belt and get in the cage. Insistent music still goes through my mind. From a small corner of the cage I am, the instant is grandiose. Several sharks swim in front of us and prowl around the bait. Another one attacks the foam-rubber protection of the cage.
Each diver will go two times in the cage before the boat makes a detour towards a colony of seals laying down on a small island. A favourite food for the great white sharks. We leave this place to go back to the pier and step again on our so- welcoming earth.
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