Unless something extraordinary happens between now and Saturday, this will be my last entry straight atcha from Sri Lanka. Indeed, I have decided to cut my trip short and head… to Bali! For six weeks!!

I think the main reason behind my sudden change of mind is the fact that all the good friends I’ve made here are leaving soon so life won’t be the same anymore, and as much as I like meeting new folks, I know it’ll be tough finding people I actually enjoy surfing with. You see, I’ve become what you could call a wave nazi and am very, very picky as to whom I hang out with in the water. I am through with the Isrealis dropping in on every single wave I catch at Main Point, I’m done with the locals stealing every decent wave because they’re better than everyone and they do it with such a big smile that you could never get mad at them, and I am so over surfing smaller breaks just for the sake of avoiding them both…

So off to Bali I am where a) Isrealis are refused entry and b) the waves are mostly beach breaks and therefore have more than one take-off spot, thus giving me somewhat more of a chance to get a good ride. Add to that a nasty case of food poisoning where I spent two days sitting on a toilet with a bucket in my knees and my total inability to even look at a curry without throwing up and I’m sure you can understand why I’m keen to get out. Also, my love affair with Jimmy the puppy who’s not really a puppy anymore has come to an end as he has started eating poo, so that kind of put a dampener on the whole thing…

However, I leave with incredible memories and I’ll probably come back at some point in my life, but the world’s a big place and there are massive plates of fresh fruits to be eaten in Dreamland, Brazilians to be snaked by at Padang Padang, bikinis that don’t flash the whole world when I surf and smaller, faster boards to be bought in Kuta, barrels to try and get into at Binging and three good friends from the UK to be met in Ubud.

I’ll miss the dolphins I surfed with all by myself early one morning at Pottuvil point even though they initially scared the sh*t out of me because I thought they were sharks, the fishermen who cheered from the beach and offered me bananas after my first ever successful (tiny) barrel, the afternoon spent drinking arrack (local liquor) cutting Jo’s dreadlocks off and sticking them on everyone else with superglue (Jason got a goatie, Ricardo got two pig tails, Andrew got a rat tail), sitting at Beach Hut with Chris and Victor wondering where the afternoon went, watching Leila burst with pride as she finally started catching proper waves at Whisky point, driving around in the UN truck with our boards sticking out the back, high-fiving kids whilst cruising through Pottuvil town, etc… Yes, it’s been good. What am I saying, it’s been f*cking amazing.

But it’ll get even better. XXX