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Tirta Gangga - Water palace Today I explore a more cultural side of Bali at the gravity fed water palace. It was very pleasant to wander around the beautiful fountains.

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As always, I put together a little video from my dives in Tulamben!

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Tulamben Scuba Diving

Cruising north across and over the Bali peninsula in the shadow of the active Agung volcanic you arrive in Tulamben. The small town put on the map for its fantastic diving.

I spent the last 4 days here living in paradise, check out my hostel below!

And diving some of the most incredible sites. The highlight here is the USAT Liberty shipwreck. This ship was built in and used in WWI, then during WWII it was sunk by a Japanese sub and hauled on land in Tulamben where it sat. In 1963 the Agung volcano erupted and lava flow pushed the ship into the sea where it lay broken on its side. Over the next 40 years it's become a vibrant Reef. I dove the wreck at night and in the morning and was blown away at its diversity.

Tulamben diving sunk another ship in 2012 in hopes of promoting more reed development. Another fantastic dive, but lacked the unique history.

Overall, it was an amazing few days!

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Bali

I had an epic 4 weeks in Sri Lanka, but now it was time to move on to Bali, Indonesia.

After a long day of travel Kelli and I arrived in Kuta Beach, Bali at midnight and decided to take advantage of the time change in our favor, 3.5 hours, and hit the bar scene.

Kuta is praised as a party city and it lived up to it hype, but definitely not my kind of scene. I was much happier waking up in the morning for a surf at Kuta Beach.

Stop number 2 was the Canggu, the expat sanctuary of Bali. I was experiencing reverse culture shock in this town and I wasn't even back in the USA. The small town has clusters of the most trendy restaurants and shops I've seen. It looked more like Abbot Kinney than Indonesia. Young, good looking westerners roamed the streets on motorbikes, most equipped with surf racks and boards, couples with babies, and digital nomads (refreshed term for remote workers) set up shop in cafes to 'work' - this was something new.

My time is Canggu was spent as such; trendy breakfast (Avo toast, smoothie, kombucha, etc.) riding around town on my rented motorbike, surfing in the afternoon, trendy dinner, and bar hopping at night.

I definitely enjoyed myself, but I was ready for a different side of Bali. I decided the best way to get that was to head north to the islands dive Mecca, Tulamben!

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Kaudulla National Park I went on a Jeep safari through this national park! It was such a cool experience to see the massive natural reserves in Sri Lanka. The highlight was the herd of 58 Asian Elephants! What a treat to see so many of these animals in nature.

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Shipwreck dive, Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 1830's British Cargo vessel struck the shallow Reef during a storm, splitting the hull into two pieces. Aboard the ship was 500 gold bricks, they were never recovered...

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The North

Modern Sri Lanka has been draped with a blanket of destruction. For 25 year the country was locked in a civil war which only ended in 2009, during that time Sri Lanka also suffered at the hands of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. However, the southern and eastern parts of the country have rebounded and welcomed tourists back to Sri Lanka. The northern part of the country is just now beginning that process. To really understand the entirety of Sri Lanka's culture, I had to visit.

The first difference I noticed was the rich Hindu culture. The majority of Sri Lanka is Buddhist, while the east coast is home to the Muslim community. But the north is where the Tamil Hindus live.

Beautiful Hindu temples and calls to worship could be seen and heard all over the the city of Jaffna.

We visited the Hindu temple Nallur Kovil. To enter women were required to have their legs and shoulders covered, men however, had to cover their knees, but couldn't wear shirts. I entered the temple shirtless wearing my sarong. During my time inside, the traditional puja worship took place. A daily worship talking place 6 times from 5am - 6pm.

Next stop was the colonial Fort, like all the others in the country. This Fort was originally built by the Portuguese, taken over and improved by the Dutch and then used by the British.

A short trip from the fort lies the public library of Jaffna. This beautiful building was rebuilt in recent years in the same fashion as the original. That original library was burned to the ground in a pivotal act that led to the start of Sri Lanka's long civil war.

The final stop was the northernmost tip of the country, Point Pedro.

But the day really ended with a Jaffna classic, crab curry.

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In Sri Lanka, men must cover their knees when entering temples. That means I've been wearing this Sarong a lot... here's me practicing putting it on.

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Before leaving Dambulla we explored the famous cave temples in the region. The cave temples were decorated with Buddha images of all sizes!

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Today we hiked up Pidurangala Rock, this vantage point has epic views of the surrounding area and Sigiriya, the rock fortress from the 5th century.

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Reunited, Adam's Peak

I spent 6 epic days surfing in Arugam Bay, but now it was time to leave. My homie Kelli had just arrived in Sri Lanka after 2 weeks in India and we are going to travel together. I took the night bus from Arugam Bay to Kandy, a better night bus experience than before, but not much better.

Goodbye Arugam Bay

Our first destination together was the hike to the top of Adams Peak. To get there we took the train from Kandy to Hatton (this was the same beautiful train I took earlier in Sri Lanka)

Adams Peak is another pilgrimage site in Sri Lanka, however this mountain doesn't just attract Buddhists. On the top of the mountain is a 8' 'footprint' that is said to belong to Buddha. However, Hindus believe that footprint is from Shiva and Christians & Muslims believe it is Adams first step after belong exiled from the garden of eden.

Whatever reason you choice to hike for, everyone has to climb the same 5,500 steps to the mountains summit. And must people choice to make the climb before sunset.

Kelli and I woke up at 2:30 am and started the climb at 3am, sunset was at 6am.

Step after step, lit only by the light from our flashlights we climbed. My legs burned but I pushed through and we made it to the top.

The temperature was drastically lower up here as we waited for the sun to rise.

When it did, we enjoyed epic views over the land below. After a hour of soaking in the sights, we headed down and made it back to our hotel before 9am!

With the whole day ahead of us, we took a few buses and headed north to the town of Dambulla.

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Surfing !!!

When I woke up around 10am I walked down to the main point wave at Arugam Bay. This righthand Reef point, on the best waves, runs 500 + meters into the Bay. It was 3-4ft and looked like a machine. I was brimming with stoke to rent a Board and surf this gem. I was lucky to find this 6'1" Rusty surfboard in good condition with the same volume as my go to Board back home.

I paddled out at noon, I got a few smaller waves, but then the crowd started to thin and I caught my first bomb and rode it into the bay! "Yew! This is why I came here!" I surfed till 2:30pm and then walked back to my place. When I looked in the mirror I realized why the crowd was so thin midday ... I was toasted. Face, arms, legs. I picked up some zinc and decided to avoid the midday sessions.

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Bus from Colombo to Arugam Bay

Tati and I said goodbye at the Colombo bus station. This hectic transportation hub had direct night buses leaving to Arugam Bay. After battling with locals to reach the front of the ticket booth and secure my ticket, we searched for the bus, a journey in itself. But finally we found it, said our emotion goodbye. Then I boarded the bus.

I had an assigned seat towards the back of the bus. The seating layout was unique, one side had the classic 2 person seat, the other, a 3 person bench. I had the window seat on the 3 person side. Initially it seemed like good selection, but the bench in front of me was so close that my knees were in my chest. Not a great start.

The bus began to fill up, and once all the seats were taken, others jumped on preparing themselves to stand for the entire 7 hour journey. Suddenly my knees in my chest didn't seem as bad. We left at 10:30pm.

The bus driver was smooth compared to others we've rode with, but the constant honks, bumps and uncomfortable seat made it almost impossible to fall asleep. Just as I would start to doze off, a bump or honk would jolt me awake. I tried to zone out the noise but after a few hours I realized I wouldn't be sleeping...

At 6am we arrived in Arugam Bay. I checked into a Guesthouse and passed out!

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Bye Tati

Tati is off to India for a yoga teaching course! Saying goodbye after how epic our trip has been so far was SO tough, but we've got our own adventures to look forward to until we meet up in Singapore.

My adventure is starting with the surfing town of Arugam Bay. But I had to get there first...

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Two types of Fishermen

The first one poses for tourists, showing off the traditional pole style of fishing, his rod doesn't have a line, he's not looking to catch fish, he's looking to make money from the tourists taking photos.

The other, takes no interest as we watch from the beach, he climbs around the rocky shore until he finds his catch of the day.

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Galle

Our last stop on this quick adventure was Galle. An old colonial town situated on the south coast of Sri Lanka. Galle started as a Portuguese Fort in the 16th century but was expanded in the 18th century by the Dutch and later used by the British. Now it serves as a window to the past in the post city of Galle.

I've been very fond of the UNESCO colonial cities. They provide a unique glimpse into the eyes of colonialism and offer a fusion between cultures. Again, tourist season in this area is ending due to storms so we had much of the city to ourselves.

In the evening on our last night we shared a bottle of wine on the walls of the fort watching the sunset!