Kuta Beach, Bali

When I chose to go to Bali, the beach is not the first thing that attracts me. I was more intrigued by the culture and temples and of course the fact that I'm going to explore Bali solo. I stayed at Kuta but only went to Kuta beach on the second day. 

Well, I did tried to go to the beach on my first day but I got lost. 

I tried again the next day and wished that I went a little further down on my first day because that's where the beach is. And it is so beautiful.

No kidding, it was blue sky white puffy cloud kinda of day. Match it with blue water and sandy beach, it is perfection in my dictionary.

I went in the mid morning and it is less crowded. 

I have read lots of negative reviews about Kuta Beach on Trip Advisor, so I came with no expectation. But I was blown away by the beauty of the nature. One of the review online stated that Kuta Beach is littered with human trash but I didn't notice it. Or maybe the area that I went to is less happening, therefore less trash.

The beach was filled with people sun bathing and relaxing. I rented an umbrella and lying there people watching and trying to soak in the beauty of the beach.

Unfortunately, my relaxing time was cut short by a group of touts. I just lied down less than 5 minutes and a group of middle aged women came to my umbrella offering me services and souvenirs.

I rejected them but oh God, they were so annoying. One lady offered me massage and went straight to touch my leg without my permission. Another lady offered me pedicure and started to clean my toe nails without my permission.

I kept saying "No" but nobody listened to me. The other two ladies were pushing their bracelets and t-shirts to my face and literally forcing me to buy them.

I felt sorry for them but the way they did their business really annoyed me. They are pushy and not taking no for an answer. I should have be stern and maybe scolded them but I was alone and there were 4 of them. 

In the end, I just gave in and negotiated a lower price with them.

The service that let me down the most is the massage. She said it was 30 minutes. But the most that she massaged me was 15 to 20 minutes. It was not even massage, she literally just touching my legs all over and kept telling me how fair I am. -______-

The pedicure was good because she really did a good job albeit overpriced. The Balinese flowers on my toes stayed for almost 4 months. No kidding, my toe thumbs still have it now.

Notice how I suddenly have an anklet on my leg? Yeah, I succumbed to the bracelet seller too. She sold this overpriced anklet to me for a freaking RM28!!

But at least they left me alone afterward and I had a short 10 minutes of peace before I need to rush back to my hotel for my tour.

Before I left the beach, the guy that rented me the umbrella asked if I wanted a surfing lesson. He offered me a reasonable price, it was less than RM60 for 2 hours. 

So, the next day I went to Kuta Beach early in the morning for my surfing lesson. I was debating whether to take up the offer or not the night before but I'm glad that I did because it was the most amazing experience ever.

Learning to surf is the highlight of my trip. 

First, my instructor gave me theory lesson on the dry land. Everything sound so easy on land. When we went into the water, it was a different story.

My first few tries were all failed. I stood up too soon, failed to catch the wave, lost my balance and got knocked by my surfboard a few times.

But the instructor was really patience (I forgot his name). We tried again and I managed to catch some good waves. That awesome feeling was so good. I felt like a pro surfer balancing myself on board and surfing along with the wave.

I wanted to surf for a bit longer but I was really tired and kinda worried about my belongings that I left with the instructor's friend. 

Achievement unlocked! I will definitely come back again just to surf because it is really worth it.

My instructor and I

Since I was alone, I really had my guard held high. Honestly, I had lots of worst case scenarios running in my mind when I took the surfing lesson. I doubted my instructor, thought that maybe he will take advantage of me. 

But he did not at all. We even had a good chat. He and his brother run their surfing business. Their business is small but an honest and good business.

So, if you happens to go to Kuta beach and want to try surfing, maybe you can give them a chance. They have no business signboard or even name but errr try to look for someone that looks like the picture above and be stern to other touts that try to sell you services and souvenir.