Quiksilver Open Keramas 2009 @ Bali
Not a fan of last minute trips, but when it’s Bali, there’s no way we can say no. So here we go! It’s been a few years since I last took Air Asia and been to our Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). Man how fast and large LCCT has expanded! Made it to the Denpasar Airport and man, it was so chilled. Reminded me of the one when I went to Jakarta last year with Joe Flizzow and DJ Cza. Culture is strong in Indonesia yo. This time, we’re there for Quiksilver Open Keramas 2009. We may have missed the competition, but we’re there to witness the prize giving, after party and Bali of course!
We got the hook up at Hard Rock Hotel Bali as it’s the official stay for Quiksilver Open Keramas 2009, which was located at Kuta and literally right in front of the Kuta Beach buzz. Sweet! We arrived slightly after dinnertime and because our surfing lesson the next morning was cancelled, we decided to go all out that night itself. Dropped our bags and headed straight out for the nearby Legian Road on a Friday night.
Legian Road was buzzing with tourists and no you don’t need to dress up. This is straight up a tourist spot with no fuss. It was a long stretch on Legian as we look for Sky Garden as recommended by Rahul of One Buck Short and Joyce Wong aka KinkyBlueFairy. We finally found the 3-storey building and took our seat on the 1st floor at the balcony for dinner. Right across was the poshy Maccaroni restaurant and bar; and the super busy Gelato ice-cream shop was right next to it, which was where we headed for the yummiest popsicle ever! We ended up at this club called Paddy’s cos it looked lively and we witnessed plenty of inappropriate behaviours. This was the moment when we felt like a minority cos most of the people in Bali are actually Caucasians! Walking back to the hotel, we were asked if we wanted mushrooms. Yes, those mushrooms. It’s widely available and they come in shakes.
Day two was spent shopping around Legian Road. We stumbled upon the Skate Elements shop with the most exclusive Nike kicks, which is probably an orgasmic experience for sneaker freaks. After much walking up and down the road, we had lunch at the infamous Mades Warung at Kuta cos didn’t have enough time to look for the one in Seminyak. Got some rest and headed out for some delicious seafood nearby and it was so good.
Then the show begins. Award presentations for Quiksilver Open Kendamas 2009 took place at the CentreStage of Hard Rock Hotel Bali. MCs Tipi Jabrik and Matt Hoy kicked the night with the Roxy Short Short Competition to determine the next Roxy model. It was Anastasia from Bali that took the winning spot. A very exciting video presentation of the surfing competition got us a little disappointed cos we wanted to be there for the actual competition and see them in action. Ah well. The event finished off with the screening of the Quiksilver Open 2009 video highlights followed by the presentation of trophies to the winners. Tai Graham took first place in the Men’s Open, Jake Paterson for Master’s and Mina Nagasima took top spot for the ladies. Congrats to all! The night continued at Hard Rock Café Bali just next door with ACCA DACCA, the AC/DC tribute band. Rockin’.
It was Sunday and the day we leave Bali. Checked-out the room at 1pm, but the flight was in the evening, so we had plenty of time to kill. Luckily, Quiksilver’s driver was kind enough to take us around the beautiful Seminyak, the beautiful Ku De Ta, and Discovery Shopping Mall which is right next to the Oceans 27, the sundeck lounge that faces the beach.
Bali is definitely a tourists’ spot. It’s very laidback and with so many beaches, you’d be spoiled for options. It was then time to go home and the sunset when we left looked gorgeous from the airport. Can’t wait to go back to Bali!
Quiksilver Open Kendamas 2009 went down at Bali on 6-8 November 2009. Much love to Quiksilver, Roxy, Hard Rock Café Bali and Air Asia! More Quiksilver at www.quiksilver.com