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'Suicidal Tendencies'


Driving on the bukit to get to most surfbreaks is an adventure in itself. Its zigzagging on a oneway street with traffic coming from both directions. For early morningsessions it's a cruise but getting back to Kuta in the afternoon is a bombardment of obstacles and tricky maneuvering; trucks, bikes, a whole family on a bike, chickens in the street, corrupted trafficpolice, cows, dogs & your ordinary extreme speedfreak. Somedays I'm even more exhausted making this 20min drive home than surfing Bingin a whole day.
2006-aug-06 @ 2:33:24 pm Permalink
Tags: bali, experience, indonesia, surfing, asia


'Volcom Crustaceous Tour'


Spent the day in Kuta attending this Volcom contest at Halfway. The conditions (1-2ft) didn't make for a very existing showdown but it was a nice sunny afternoon nonetheless. Actually paying more attention to the event ground crew than the water action since pulling off any kind of arrangement in a place like Bali requires some heavy organisational skills. I find the surfing industry a bit edgy but I guess every 'industry' behaves a bit funny when it deals with such delicate cultures as surfing and skateboarding.



Fanzines are always an interesting idea; the size and the homemade xerox feeling. This one had some pretty weird layout, several copyerrors and plenty misspellings. Very successful and well executed. Free hands-outs in the form of smaller DIY publications work well.




2006-aug-02 @ 1:49 am Permalink
Tags: surfing, bali, kuta beach, indonesia, magazines, volcom


'Fafi Bali'

Fafi Official

2006-jul-31 @ 1:26:34 pm Permalink
Tags: fafi, streetculture, art, bali, indonesia, kuta beach


'Zappo Bali'


I met Zappo some weeks ago before departure and promised to look for his piece close to Poppies II. The colours where still strong, really crisp. Hard to believe it's six years old.
Took a tour around Kuta and the Seminyak area and found a few others pieces. Not really anything noteworthy but still nice to see some graf on Bali.






2006-jul-30 @ 2:18:50 pm Permalink
Tags: graffiti, bali, kuta beach, asia, indonesia


'Heading East'



You Can't Always Get What You Want' - Rolling Stones
'Surfin' - Ernest Ranglin
2006-aug-07 @ 1:07:48 am Permalink
Tags: bali, kuta, surfing, indonesia, asia, mp3


'No Words Should Describe'



'93 Til Infinity (instr)' - Souls of Mischief
2006-jul-28 @ 1:02:28 pm Permalink
Tags: bali, indonesia, asia, surfing, mp3, dreamlands


'Industry'


The surfing industry has a HUGE presence in Kuta Beach. Every year visitors to Bali (mainly Europeans) are introduced to Australian and American surfingbrands for the first time while preying Kuta's huge surfretailstores. The infamous Legian shoppingsdistrict in Kuta hosts all the biggest brands; Quiksilver, Billabong, Rip Curl, Volcom etc. and together with nearby factory outlets this street certainly is a major hub for establishing and creating relation to surfing's retailmarket. The use of codes and customs is well established here. For example the use and style of the now almost standard kneelenght surftrunk have atleast in parts spread to Northern Europe via Bali and Australia by travelling youths and/or high school exchange students to Aus. A 'contemporary' brand like RVCA would probably do good operating more actively here.





2007-nov-10 @ 9:56 pm Permalink
Tags: bali, indonesia, kuta beach, surfing market, retail, asia


'Bingin'


Bingin, Bali Bukit. Surfing offseason, meaning lesser crowds. Since the first time I came here ten years ago not much have changed in terms of worldclass wavequality and overall atmosphere. More housing but still way too much of a nischedestination to pull any bigger touristcrowds from Kuta. The cliff above the Bingin break have developed over the years and there are now several private villas overlooking the ocean. A few 'estate resorts' have also popped up but nothing really to disrupt the balance between traditional Balinese living and outside investments.







2007-nov-10 @ 9:33 am Permalink
Tags: surfing, indonesia, bali, bingin, made warung, kelly slater, food, asia


'Natural Medium'


Time to pull the nischeflag since it's all surfing now. Kuta isn't changing much, still a tourist tenement ghetto mixed in with the usual testosterone driven surfing hoard. The beachwaves at Kuta Beach are always fun but the challenge begins at the Bukit peninsula. As usual taking up camp in Bingin.







2007-oct-29 @ 12:29 pm Permalink
Tags: surfing, indonesia, bali, bingin, ulu watu, impossibles, kuta beach, padang padang, asia


'Bali Bukit'


Balangan (Bali Bukit)

Spent two weeks surfing Sumbawa, a nice bumby 1 day ferry and busride from Bali. It was a relief getting away from Kuta that just gets too much sometimes. Ofcourse, there's also many good spots around the Bali Bukit to surf instead of like me heading into unknown territories. Scored beautiful waves on Sumbawa although one could just rent a motorbike and ride about 20 minutes to find world class breaks away from Kuta Beach. Balangan is the closest spot followed by Dreamlands (sandbreak), Bingin (shallow, nice hollow waves), Impossibles (fast), Padang-Pandang and Ulu Watu. Six years ago there were virtually no construction except local residences on the Bukit peninsula. Today there's a cluster of new buildings either completed, planned or under construction. Actually, most buildings are still residentals but mainly owned by foreigners. Australians, Italian, French, American, Japanese and Brasilians are heavily represented. Landprices are increasing and this is probably the area developing the most (not counting Seminyak). A 18-hole golfcourse is also under construction just on the cliff overlooking Balangan and Dreamlands.
2006-aug-19 @ 2:52:52 pm Permalink
Tags: bali, indonesia, balangan, surfing, development, asia


'Grounded'


First day surfing Balangan and I cut my foot bad enough to be confined to antibiotics for a week and a sour life sulking on dry land. Or rather, I'm trying to cure my crave for waves by watching cheap bootleg surf DVDs. The matter of fact is that not many surfmovies I've seen (plenty) top the true ambiance and spirit of surfing that you'll find in September Session or Thicker Than Water, but the ones above will provide enough remedy for not driving me insane. Honestly, most surfmovies are utter crap. The editing is usually amateurlike to say the least and the seemingly standard rock/beachblues soundtrack makes a 35-40 minute watch horrendous at times. However, for now I'll take whatever manmade illusion I can get.
2007-oct-22 @ 9:56 pm Permalink
Tags: surfing, indonesia, bali, dvd, asia


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