I keep finding myself dreaming of being back in Bali.
I really wished I booked that PHP 2,800 roundtrip ticket from Manila to Bali for September this year. I guess it’s really not God’s plan for me to get that ticket, but I really wanted to. I hope there’ll be another seat sale where I can go again. It should be this year because I don’t want to wait for 2020 to go back.
I’m glad one of my high school best friends, Isay, is also game to go to Bali with me! I do hope that we could go to Bali really soon like this year soon. I can’t wait to surf it’s epic waves and wiggle through the lineup of people who are also great surfers and the beginner-tourist crowd.
I want to try to surf in Padang-Padang and Uluwatu. Echo Beach too if the waves are decent enough but definitely in Batu Bolong because every single surf session I had there blew me out of my mind.
The long rides, the many attempts of walking to the nose (and almost reaching it), the endless trimming and the fact that I was able to finish each wave to the shore nearly every time—everything felt like a dream I didn’t want to wake up from.
If the surf session wasn’t enough, the sunset session was always to look out for. In Bali, the sun doesn’t go down til around 7pm in the evening. That afforded us surfers more daylight time to chase waves. In the Philippines, you can’t surf beyond 6:30pm (at the latest) unless there’s a full moon out. It usually gets very dark that time of the day and not ideal for staying out especially if you’re surfing reef breaks with no lights around.
Returning from Bali and Palawan, I didn’t feel like Manila wanted me back. I was gone for around more than 20 days, almost three weeks. I didn’t even want to come back. I was happy to be either in just Bali or Palawan—as long as there were waves.
I can’t believe there were always waves in Bali. It was rarely a hit or miss. True, there could be windy days with messy waves, but there were waves still. Unlike here in the Philippines where a flat spell isn’t uncommon, surfers have to resort to finding other means of getting stoke. Bali was just perfect because there’ll always be waves to surf each day and then afterward, you can go work in peace because the internet connection is as strong as their coffee.
JL and I were chatting a few hours ago, and he kept telling me how he wasn’t over Bali yet. I replied “I don’t think I ever will. That’s why I need to go back”. Sooner rather than later and with my new board, Nasi to go test her again in Canggu waters. Bali is definitely unforgettable and an experience I’d always want to have with me, whether in the past or present.
