Exploring A’bay

We didn’t sleep much the first night in A’bay and so we got up with sunrise and walked to the beach for a surf check. After talking to some locals we arranged a tuktuk to take us to Peanut Farm, a beach break a few kilometres south of A’Bay.
The tuk tuk drive was exciting. Chris and I both were allowed to give it a try. I really just wanted a photo - but Chris drove a few hundred metres before the pathway got too sandy and the driver took over again.

Finally after two long days inside, we were able to paddle out into the warm water (28 degrees).
We tried catching a few waves but there wasn’t much swell and too many people in the water so we quickly had enough of it.
A small beach shack café overlooking the surf was just opening up. We decided to have a coffee there to keep an eye on the surf, hoping it would pick up a bit.
While sitting down a guy at the next table asked Chris for his name, and they quickly realised they had worked together a few years back. After a long chat Scott (Chris’s work friend) took us back into town in his Jeep.

We had a lovely breakfast outside our room and were joined by monkey’s on the roof. You can barely see them between the palm trees and bushes but gosh they make a lot of noise running up and down the roof tiles.

The rest of the day was spent exploring Arugam Bay and looking for a new hotel for us to stay. (Luckily we had only booked two nights at the other one). We had heard that in the quiet part of town you could get rooms for less than 10 bucks a night. I think we knocked on every door and asked - but no luck...

We saw pretty much all of Arugam Bay that day. It is being described as “a moon-shaped curl of soft sand, home to a famed point break that many regard as the best surf spot in the country.
It's a tiny place, with a population of a few hundred, and everything is dotted along a single road which parallels the coast.”
We had expected chilled vibes but didn’t realize that high season meant such crowded roads and beaches. I almost felt at home hearing Dutch and German everywhere...

The main road is super busy, day and night.
A lot of construction is going on everywhere. I’m not sure if it’s still after the destruction from the tsunami or whether they’re just expanding due to the massive tourism.
We are used to noisy, dirty and dusty roads after having experienced different parts of Indonesia.
However, we couldn’t get over how expensive it is.
Obviously it’s high season, but the people are really trying to make a years wage in a couple of months. Dinner the first night

cost us about 40bucks and we had had local food and two beers (... and maybe two cocktails during happy hour - which btw were cheaper than the two beers).

After a late swim during sunset, enjoying some bodysurfing, we tried to find a cheap restaurant for dinner.
As soon as we sat down at a curry place an old local guy swung his chair around and without holding back started chatting to us. He was very entertaining, explaining to us how he had tried not only once but three times to get into Australia and how he got caught every time somewhere around Indonesia.

We went to bed early that night hoping for bigger swell and dreaming of good surf for the next day.