Bali

The alarm goes, but it's still dark outside - what are we doing?! It's 6am but we get straight on the road south to Balangan, a beach only Sugar has been to before for our first taste of Indonesian waves. We manage to navigate the crazy Balinese road system well enough to reach our destination, and as we arrive, the sun starts to creep over the horizon and light up the bay.

Today we are to be rewarded. Over a fruit salad and banana pancake we watch perfect three to four foot waves peel perfectly over a shallow reef, glowing in the early hours of this new day. What's more, there is no one around, just the three of us with perfect glassy surf to ourselves. Within minutes, we're on the water catching everything we can. Despite being joined by a few more early risers, we still manage to get all the waves we could want, as it never gets too crowded. What a start into a beautiful day!

The beach is lined with little cafes/rest houses that provide everything from pancakes, fruit salad and special fried rice to board storage and massages. Their price list alone is worth marveling at, with a one price suits all services strategy. You pay the same for a banana pancake as you do for a half an hour massage and a large plate of special fried rice!

As we enjoy all the above facilities, tired from a full morning of surf, Jason, our guide for the next few weeks talks us through our options, where we should be surfing and where he reckons we could get sailing, still very much an unknown. He suggests we take the jet skis out in the afternoon to have a look around all the various exposed points and waves that are well orientated to suit the side-offshore wind set up that we require. No further persuasion is necessary as we head out from Jason's back garden and race around the coast late that afternoon.

The scenery is just magnificent, with imposing cliffs hanging over endless reef passes, all boasting world-class waves. We pass the famous big wave spot, Padang: although it's small today, we can just imagine how awe inspiring it must be on a big swell. As we round the bend, we come across Uluwatu, home to some of the most photographed waves in Bali. We catch a few on the jet ski before heading round the last point on the peninsula.

Looking up I notice a temple set right out on the point - it turns out that this is a fairly significant spot. The temple at Uluwatu is one of the more visited temples on the island, its position and views second to none. It is quite literally, 'holy ground'. Religious processions take place here daily, people venturing down by foot from all over Bali to attend at this glorious place of worship. I must say that in my eyes there is something that much more spiritual and special about a temple set in surroundings such as this compared to a temple right in the middle of town.

Certainly religion plays an incredibly significant role in Balinese life, the two main ones being Hindu and Muslim. These seem to co-exist in relative harmony, perhaps thanks to their integrated history. The story goes that the long ago, the King of Bali, a Hindu through and through fell in love with Princess of neighbouring Lombok, a Muslim. They then married, initially creating a scandal, but as time passed, a religious harmony that allowed both religions to co-exist with relative ease. There are therefore both Hindu and Muslim places of worship scattered all over Bali and the Muslim call to prayer can be heard all over the island as early as 6am - great for the dawn surf patrol wake up call!