Location: Kuta, Lombok, Indonesia

We jumped on our scooter first thing this morning and went back to Bush Radio for breakfast and a quick wifi grab. Gotta get the blogging time in! We even saw Julian hanging around there getting some work done so it’s definitely the place to be in town for wifi. Lovely as the atmosphere was, and tasty as their iced coffees are, we had a beach to get to!

We were excited to go on a nice long scooter ride towards Selong Belanak Beach, as we’d heard the ride was beautiful. Green hills and farmland rolled out around us, polka dotted with palm trees, mango trees and pink flower bushes. Home-stays and cafés overlooking the bright blue bays came up out of nowhere every so often, all of which were enticing in their quaintness. It’s so hard not to stop everywhere. The road seemed freshly paved, and was smooth to fly down on our loud little scooter.

When we arrived at the beach we both breathed a huge sigh of relief. Soft white sand stretched out for about a kilometre, and people were swimming and surfing in the clean blue water. Young guys selling surfboard lessons were happy to greet you, but not at all pushy (no way right?!). All along the back of the beach were little ‘grandmas cooking’ sort of restaurants and surfboard rental shops. No garbage! No sharp coral! No hawkers! Did I mention no garbage!?

We had planned to check out more than one beach but we didn’t end up leaving for the entire day. Literally. Max rented a surf board and got in a few good waves. We both played around in the surf for hours (until I’d had one too many lungfuls of salt water. I can’t swim okay!) and laid in the sun listening to music. At one point Max discovered body surfing and he was like a little kid at Christmas. No more surfboard! Just ride the waves like a plank of wood! It was hilarious to watch from the shore.

The sun went down and we drove back for a quick bite of food at The Mexican In Town restaurant, a name I laughed at long enough that we decided to eat there. It was getting pretty late and I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent so we returned home so I could get to bed early. I’m writing this from the little common room in our BnB, listening to crickets chirp and trying to keep my eyes open just long enough to get this all down.

God swimming all day is hard work.

I guess maybe if I was any good at it it wouldn’t be! (Maybe I’ll be better by the end of this trip?)

Sav