The past weeks we settled down in Batu Karas. This tiny fishing village at the West coast of Java features a mellow point break. Perfect to get us back in surf shape. Apart from a consistent surf, Batu Karas makes life easy.

The surroundings put a big smile on your face. Palm trees, rice paddies and a long stretch of empty beach. Gorgeous. The locals are laid back and cheerful. Fishermen sailing out, a guy crunching a coconut, dogs strolling around, locals repairing a fishing net, a chicken crossing the street, kids playing. All very peaceful.

Except for the weekend. All of a sudden, busloads of domestic tourists come and go. The beach transforms. The shade under the coconut trees is covered with families, as is the shallow end in the water. Happy people, inflatables, body boards, banana boats are all bobbing around joyfully in the breaking waves. You have to avoid the white water or be a champion in slalom.

Batu Karas provides all you need to live a surfer’s life. Cheap accommodation, mopeds, boards, good food, and good company. It’s full of world travellers on a break, digital nomads, globetrotters who came to surf for some weeks and a handful of expats. One knows one another and also we are absorbed in this little Batu Karas world.

Interesting life stories stir up thoughts about our own future. Where and how we want to live and what we want to do. By times it’s crystal clear, other moments our heads are spinning and then again we put it aside. The answers will come along the way. We have a while to go and still can’t get enough of our journey. No signs of home sickness, even though we could really use some Dutch herring and off course a hug of our family and friends. And no travel tiredness. That’s something we’ve learned to manage.

The right balance between being on the road, sight-seeing, activities and stay somewhere for a while is key and the only way to still be amazed. We work hard to avoid the “here-we-go-again-yawn” feeling. And our world trip is no longer only about exploring this beautiful planet. Sailing, surfing and a few other things we’re working on are just as important. It is the reason what keeps us going and excited.

Back to Batu Karas. In no time we follow a daily life. I started to blog about this but deleted it as surfing, eating, chilling, chatting, and sleeping summarizes it more or less.

>>> Batu Karas Quick Story <<<

Wonderful at the start and dull after a while. Living in Batu Karas is somewhat like living in the Truman Show. Every day surfing, eating ‘something’ Goreng and meeting the same people at the same favourite hang-outs, talking about the same stuff: surfing, wave forecast, jellyfish and plastic.

When you feel like this it does not mean Batu Karas is dull. On the contrary. It simply means, it is time to move on. Time to travel. Time to explore some temples and volcanoes! 😎

But first things first: city hop back to Jakarta for our visarun!