Hotel Review: JC Surfer’s House

After that first day of surfing, C and I had a chance to look around JC Surfer’s House while we arranged to use the lot for parking again the next day, and we very quickly decided that after we left Puri Rinjani, it was where we should be. We promptly booked in for two nights (~$20/night).

JC’s consists of five bungalows all in a row, all with a front porch, and all looking straight out at the stunning turquoise water. In the morning it’s possible to see Mount Rinjani in the distance, which is pretty incredible since most days we were there it wasn’t visible in the afternoons due to clouds.

The rooms are basic but comfortable with beds, some storage space, a private bathroom, and an air conditioner. There is a ton of extra space for bags and there was even a mini fridge, which we kept meaning to take advantage of, but none of our snacks ever lasted long enough to make it back to the room. Internet was available, although of all the places we stayed, I think it was the most inconsistent here.

There was the option to include breakfast but we didn’t take advantage of that, choosing instead to do our own thing – the two mornings we were there were also the two mornings with the biggest morning surf predicted so we opted to focus on that without having to work things around when breakfast was served, although I’m sure JC would have been accommodating. We did make it back around breakfast time the second morning and ate at the warung attached to JC’s (our usual coffee spot), which I believe is where the included breakfast was also served. They had the classic options of omelet or banana pancakes, and possibly some others but omelets and banana pancakes were the staples in my group! Coffee was either white or Lombok style (STRONG) and there was also a selection of juices.

I think the only downside to JC’s is that there just isn’t that much around, but that’s actually a downside of Gerupuk itself and not specific to JC’s. Gerupuk mainly consists of that one main street and it seems like a lot of the surf homestays are connected to restaurants and have nightly activities so once you are in, there isn’t really a need to go back out. As a result, there aren’t a lot of independent places to eat and the places that are easiest to access are all very surf-centric. Kuta is busier and more crowded, but I think it also has a lot more variety, so on a nightly basis there were options between surf spots (which, from what I saw, tended to have a larger variety of Western options) and local warungs…and a good mix of things in between. We considered giving up the car while we stayed at JC’s since we’d originally rented it for easy surfboard transport, but we ended up deciding to keep it which gave us more options in between surf sessions in terms of island exploring and finding new places to eat.

That aside, JC’s Surfer House is truly a surfer’s paradise and so if the primary purpose of your trip is to surf, this is where you want to be. While we opted to go out with Juma, JC also has a boat that is available to rent (separate from the price of the room) and JC was always around and happy to answer questions or just chat for a bit about the day’s surf forecast, Lombok in general, and/or anything else. The convenience of the beach, with stairs directly down to it, is unmatched, and those morning views certainly aren’t bad either.

Surfing Gerupuk

In South Lombok, the surfers go to Gerupuk. There are other breaks nearby (Are Guling and Mawi to the West of Kuta frequently came up as options), but Gerupuk seems to be the place that consistently delivers, and it has built itself up around that reputation. With the Endless Summer resort overlooking the bay from high in the nearby hills (found accidentally as C and I were getting our bearings); homestays with names like Wave House, Surfer’s House, and Surf Garden; and restaurants called Shake & Bake and Surf Café, in addition to numerous board repair shops, Gerupuk is a town that fully acknowledges and embraces its main clientele.

There are at least three breaks within the bay, Don-Don, Inside Grupuk, and Outside Grupuk, all accessible by boat and all with their own individual appeal. I won’t pretend to know much about them, not actually being a surfer myself (I can stand up, but don’t really know what to do next), but some of what I took away from surrounding myself with legit surfers is that Inside is generally smaller, more consistent, and better for beginners, while Outside is more advanced; it can be a little choppier and sits on a fairly shallow reef, but while you might have to wait a little longer for that perfect wave, it’s worth it. Plus the backdrop is cooler.

Outside  

(Don-Don supposedly wasn’t great while we were there so we never made it out that way and I don’t know much about it, and while I could swear there was at least one other break within the bay, I can’t actually remember the name[s] and MagicSeaweed isn’t giving me anything.)

But anyway.

In order to get out to the surf, you need to have a boat. In addition to the surf school boats, most of the guesthouses in Gerupuk have them and some of the restaurants hire them out as well. Another option is to find (or be found by – foreshadowing!) someone who owns a boat and arrange for them to take you out privately.

Since we were still staying in Kuta (about a 15 minute drive), that last option seemed like it would be the best. As C and I turned onto the main town road, a man approached and told us we could park at the next left and he’d sort everything out, no problem. We weren’t exactly ready to park yet, or to commit to stopping, so we said thanks but no, and continued along. As we reached the end of town, the same man pulled up next to us on a scooter, motioned at C to roll the window down, and started asking questions about where we were staying, where we were going, and if we were looking for a boat. Still not completely ready to commit, C told the man we were going “that way” but maybe we’d catch him on the way back. The man, somewhat dismissively and really casually, said that nothing was “that way” except some cliffs and they weren’t really worth it since the road is difficult and sometimes tourists fall off. Not at all alarming.

But C is a good driver, so we said we’d risk it (plus it didn’t look like there were any cliffs immediately ahead, although I guess that’s probably how they get you) so we continued on, and the man started to turn his scooter back around. After a few more minutes, however, C and I realized that we had largely left town behind us and that there wasn’t a whole lot up ahead, aside from maybe those cliffs. Just as we were considering turning around, we found a little guesthouse with an attached warung and, most importantly, parking, so we pulled in to grab a coffee and regroup. And almost immediately, the man on the scooter pulled in after us. He parked his scooter, but didn’t say anything to us and instead walked over to the guesthouse. C and I ordered our coffees and grabbed a table overlooking the water.

As we were sitting there, the man came back with another guy. He introduced himself as Juma and the other man as JC, his friend and the owner of the guesthouse (JC’s Surfer House). He let us know that everything was arranged – we could park there and while we drank our coffee he would go get his boat, pick us up directly from the beach, and take us to Outside Gerupuk. It seemed Juma had put together the afternoon we were hoping to arrange anyway and it was difficult to think of any reason to argue, so we conceded and moved on to asking about the price. After some discussion, C and Juma agreed on 150,000IDR (~$10) for two-ish hours. Too easy.

One of my favorite things about traveling, and especially about travelling for longer stretches of time, is getting to experience new “normals”. Back home, I would definitely be wary of getting into a boat with someone who had persistently followed me on a scooter. Stranger danger! Never go to a second location! Stay sexy, don’t get murdered! But by the time Juma arrived on the beach with his boat (the Haekal, adorably named after his son) I’d already come around to feeling like this was a very reasonable way of doing things. Of course, I know that as with everywhere, you still have to be careful, and just because this is how things are sometimes done, it doesn’t mean that anyone who does them this way is a good, trustworthy human. That said, I love that in this case, following people on a scooter isn’t The Thing that qualifies someone as being sketchy; it’s just the thing that gets you talking to the person, and whether or not you should go to a second location with them is another conversation entirely.

As for Juma, he became a staple within our group on Lombok. After that afternoon, C, M, and I were out on that boat every day, and sometimes even twice! Most of the time we would roughly plan when we’d like to go out next, and then Juma would be waiting at the entrance to town for us when we arrived. He would confirm whether or not we were planning to have a coffee before going out so he could time things and then we would drive on to JC’s and he would go get the boat. Out on the water, while C and M surfed, he and I would chat for a bit and then he would surf, nap, or swim over to another boat to catch up with his friends, while I played surf photographer, read, or swam.

And that one time I got stuck outside the boat (short girl problems)? He was immediately there and ready to help me back in, which is definitely more than I can say for some people who haven’t followed me on scooters.

Hotel Review: Puri Rinjani Bungalows

If I wanted to be (badly) poetic, I would say that the two giant, concrete structures looked like a pair of wings, rising from the shoreline and ascending into the Heavens.

In reality, they looked like two very lost highway ramps to nowhere that had been dropped along the water with no real purpose except to block the view of the ocean. Also, there appeared to be a spiral staircase to the highest part of the ramp, and it looked, from the posters pinned around the construction site, that eventually there would be grass on the top.

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Hotel Review: Puri Kesari Guest House

I very rarely take pictures of my food. I’m always impressed by good food pictures that other people take, but I just don’t think food photography is in my skill set. Plus, I have hanger issues and I’m usually aggressively halfway through my meals before I remember that I should have documented. This isn’t usually a huge problem, but as it turns out, not taking a picture of my breakfast at the Puri Kesari Guest House in Sanur, Bali, is my only regret from my trip to Indonesia.

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Bali bound!

The airport in Bali was just chaotic enough that if I was tired from my flight (I was), I forgot all about it as soon as I entered the arrivals area, where I snapped into high alert. There were palm trees! And it was so blissfully hot! But also, there were people EVERYWHERE: fellow travelers swarming along, a wall of people with signs waiting for passengers, and even more people asking if those of us without prearranged rides needed taxis. I was sort of prepared for this and kept a firm grip on my suitcase handle, repeated “No” in my most serious tone, and kept my well-practiced RBF (also known as my “neutral”) in place.

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How to catch a monkey*

[*DO NOT ACTUALLY DO THIS.]

When I was in high school, one of my two favorite teachers was my AP English teacher. He led us through all the themes and thought processes we would need to do well both on the AP exam and in general literary analysis. He was upfront and honest about how the all-school summer reading selection was not exactly high literature and so while he hoped we read and enjoyed it, he would not be wasting our time discussing it in depth. He had rap posters hanging up on the inside of the classroom’s closet door; he would never talk about them, but would just casually leave the door slightly ajar sometimes so we could see they were there. One time, he explained to us how to catch a monkey.

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Travel medicine

In 2011, I went to India for a wedding. When I told people where I was headed, one of the first reactions every time was, “Oh, have you gone to a travel clinic yet?” I had not, and was, in fact, completely unaware of the fact that it was something I might want to do. I travel a lot, but up until that point I had never considered that there might be health or vaccination recommendations specific to the new places I visit. This is partially due to the fact that up until that point, most of my travelling had taken place in Europe where, admittedly, there aren’t a lot of recommendations different than here in the US (…I think?). That said, I had definitely also spent a lot of time in places (mainly Caribbean) that do have specific recommendations, blissfully oblivious to them. Oops?

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Smeaton’s Tower

Smeaton’s Tower is iconic and is both central to Plymouth imagery and central in Plymouth itself, standing high on the Hoe overlooking the sound. The tower actually used to be 14 kilometers out to sea, but because the foundation was beginning to deteriorate, it was moved inland for preservation while a new lighthouse was installed in the water to take over the functional duties. This isn’t so unusual – Smeaton’s Tower is actually the third lighthouse to have stood in its in-water location, although the first two suffered more tragic fates – one was swept into the sea during a storm and the other caught fire, both taking people with them. I learned all this (along with more graphic details of the deaths associated with the previous lighthouses) as I bought my ticket to climb to the top of Smeaton’s tower.

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Around Britain’s Ocean City

What I saw
In keeping with the theme of this trip, I had a very basic itinerary for Plymouth (Best summed up as: See the lighthouse, eat scones with clotted cream) and other than that I just kind of wandered around. And around and around and around and around and around. While my first full day was that aforementioned windy, rainy, borderline bitter day, my second day was sunny, mild (in the 50s), and all around lovely. I was thrilled that I got to see things in such varied conditions, but that meant I wanted to see everything multiple times – in the rain, in the sun, during the day, at sunset… And so I wandered. So rather than bore you with the full-on itinerary of how many times I circled back to Smeaton’s Tower and the Barbican (so, so many), here’s the overview (you’re welcome):

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