TAG content: indonesia

Mentawai Islands - surf trip

When my surf dreams come through...

Do you dream of perfect barrels, clean warm water and palm trees all around? Than you are on right path to find out more, how did i get here to Mentawais and what it takes & costs.

There are actually 3 different parts of Mentawai islands and i decided to explore first north part of it. 
Siberut island and Masokut - also known as Playground

Journey:

If you are already in Indonesia, than you have to get to Padang first of all. 
I was flying from Bali with Citilink airlines, they take 20kg of surf equipment for free. My surf board bag was 8kg over weight limit so i paid extra 300.000IDR on top of my flight ticket Denpasar - Padang 1.120.000 IDR 

It is first part of your journey and one tip for you before your next step - boat from Padang to island called Siberut. 
Early morning flight to Padang is better, because you can explore this nice small city and taste a bit of Sumatera culture there too. And aslo allows you to get onto slow ferry. 
With boat you have 2 options - fast and slow - Mentawai Fast leaves 2x per week on Tuesdays and Fridays mornings at 7am. Mentawai fast cost 290.000 IDR but they charge you for any of your board equipment. I paid 460.000 IDR for board bag, which was now less than 20kg. I took all heavy stuff from boardbag into my hand luggage - no extra charge for that. Mentawai fast takes around 5h. Our journey was rough - big waves and strong wind on open ocean - not for everyone.

Slow ferry leaves Padang Friday afternoon at 5PM and journey is long - over night and takes about 12h. You get yourself a small cabin for extra cash rented by ferry crew but you dont get too much comfort anyway. Board bag is free of charge and journey cost around 150.000 IDR. Locals use this slow ferry to transport a lot of stuff to Ments. If you organise to stay in local surf camp or home stay, they will ship your board bag with slow ferry to lower the cost  and hustle on Mentawai fast.

Siberut looks like big island on your map. Yes, it is quite big but not huge. After you arrive there, you will be picked up by your camp crew. They usualy charge 1.500.000 IDR for getting you to the base. Sure, you can share or nego with other camps but depends how many customers they have to transport.

And now, you are here. Paradise islands.

Ebay Guest house is super nice. Contact them directly on Instagram @ebayguesthouse

Sure, you can also stay in luxury resorts, just next to Ebay Guest house is Bang Bangs Surf camp @bengbengssurfcamp and another 2 mins walk is Driftwood @driftwoodmentawai

Local boys look after us always with smiles on their faces. You can play soccer just in front and rooms are nice and comfy. Toilets and bathroom very basic, not for everyone, especially not for princesses. It is a bit hidden behind palm trees so it gets protected from heavy wind and storms.
No hot water, no AC, don't expect too much comfort but at the moment you pay 450.000 IDR per person with 3 meals a day. But the food, wow! So delicious and huge portions, just amazing...
From Ebay you have 3 short walks to 3 different surf spots - the nearest one is Ebay with 2 magificant rocks just in front. 10mins to Pit Stops and 20 mins to Bang Bang.
Walk to the other side of island means to reach 5 other spots within 40 mins. Nipussi, Bank Valuts, The Klit and other heavy breaks out there. Good for north wind out there. 

Deffinitely want a boat. Maybe not every single day, but at least 3 times a week
It cost everywhere same - 1.500.000 IDR / day up to 8 people to share with and usualy it takes you to 2 - 3 different spots in Playground area - so another 25 different surf spots to score perfect barrels... 

Photo shooting in Indonesia 2018

As many people know, there was a big and i mean big earthquake recently in Indonesia. There was some smaller one in Bali, but main problem happend in Lombok, which is just few hours by boat / ferry from Bali. We have always been traveling to Lombok, it is beautiful destination and much less… read more.

Chilli wood house Bali

Project: Chilli Wood house in Bali

Start of the project - recycled teak wood in combination with concrete foundation and tiles

So many people started their project in Bali, new home, new hotel or villa. This project is 50% built from recycled teak wood from Java. Original size was modified into 7x8m gladak house, built on concrete foundation. 2 bedrooms 3x4m plus 2x3m ensuite batrhooms, super nice view into green surounding, old palm tree in the middle of small garden, pool, kitchen, chill area and spacious terrace around the house. Looking forward to go back and fininsh it. More updates coming during the year 2018. 

Location: Canggu / Pererenan / Bali / Indonesia