8 posts tagged “singapore”
If you are cashing in miles to get to Singapore or Jakarta then traveling onward from there as I did on my trip to Northern Sumatra & many do on surf trips to the Mentawais, then this will be of interest to you. Airlines engage in a form of price discrimination (aka charging more to those who are willing to pay more) by the point of sale of the ticket. Here's the example. Silk air from Singapore to Medan, Indonesia. Going to expedia.com (the US version) to shop for this ticket, it was about $550 USD. This is an outrageous price. If you look at a map, Singapore to Medan is a very short flight. It turns out that Silk Air was only making full-fare coach Y-class inventory available to travel agencies with a point of sale (aka ticketing location) in the US. I did a google search and emailed a travel agency in Singapore to see what fare they quoted - their price in singapore dollars was equivalent to $250 USD for the exact same flights. I ended up buying a few tickets for me and my buddies from Philomena Tan of Holiday Tours and Travel in Singapore. Email me if you'd like Philomena's contact info.
Also, for tickets originating in Indonesia, never ever buy them on the internet. Definitely work with an agent in Indonesia to buy tickets that originate in Indonesia, you will save a LOT of money. Danny at Sumatran Surfaris can connect you with the travel agency in the Hotel Batang Arau in Padang, those guys are great. Email me for Danny's contact info or go to www.sumatransurfaris.com
Most americans get two weeks, or 10 actual work days off per year. If you don't have a job then skip this post because you won't care. If you get seasick and never take boat trips then also skip this post, you won't care. But if you value your time off then these free suggestions could save time off work, get you more time in the water, or both. This isn't rocket science, it just takes some knowledge of airline flight schedules and common-sense travel logistics. Here are three easy steps to get the same trip for fewer days off work.
Pick a boat trip schedule that lets you travel to and from Indonesia on weekends
Play this right and save two days. Here's an example. The same boat has a few different 10-day, 11-night trips available. Which one do you want? If you and your crew care about minimizing time off work, the most important consideration is that the trip starts on a Sunday or Monday night. That way you can work on Friday, leave Friday night, travel all weekend and be surfing in the Mentawais on Monday morning, or Tuesday morning if you buy flights with long layovers. If Tuesday is your first of ten surf days, your last surf day will be Thursday. You go back to port Friday morning and typically get back to California on Saturday. Then rest up Sunday and back to work Monday. But why rest Sunday in California when you can extend your boat trip for a day? Most operators are able to accommodate such a request. If you extend for one day at the end, then 10 days off work equals 11 potential surf days or 10 surf days and a jet lag recovery day before you're back at work.
For a negative example, a trip that leaves Padang on Wednesday night. A typical Padang flight itinerary has you flying Monday and Tuesday, sitting around on Wednesday, and your first surf day is Thursday and your tenth and last surf day is Saturday. You're back in Padang Sunday morning, back at home Monday, and back at work on Tuesday. You took 11 days off and surfed a maximum of 10 days. You wuz robbed.
Buy schedule-efficient flights
Buying the most efficient flights may cost you money, hassle, or both, but you will save time and potentially two work days. Again, whether or not you have this time to waste depends on your boat schedule. It is possible to depart on your boat from Padang two days after you leave the US but only if you connect in Jakarta. If you're willing to deal with Jakarta and buying a second ticket on an indo carrier, then you want to leave the US late Friday night and you can get to Padang sunday evening, and you're surfing on Monday. A more typical schedule has guys leaving the US midday Saturday, overnighting in Singapore on Sunday night, then arriving in Padang mid-afternoon on Monday, cool your heels for a few hours before the boat makes the crossing at night. Your first surf day is then Tuesday. Longer travel duration, less surf time, plus the extra expense of an overnight in singapore. China Airlines via Jakarta has the best flight schedule from SFO, with Singapore Air a close second. Cathay to Jakarta can also work from LAX, and Eva might also work from LAX but I'm not 100% sure.
Get back to Padang early in the morning
If you live in Southern California or the Bay Area it is possible to get home the same day you get into port, but only if you go via Jakarta and only if you get back to port early in the morning. There is one flight that isn't too early for port arrival and isn't too late to switch terminals in Jakarta. If you check out www.dohop.com from PDG to CGK you can see there is a daily garuda flight that leaves Padang at 9:15 AM and arrives Jakarta at 10:55 AM. To make a 9:15 flight you need to be at the airport by 8:15, leave the port by 7:15, and therefore be back in port and tied up before 7AM with your shit packed up and ready to unload. If you're all on the same flight itinerary fine, but if you need to be back in port that early, it might force a pre-sunset end to surfing activity on your last day to ensure the boat has enough time to make the crossing and arrive by 7AM.
Include a holiday weekend in your trip (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day)
This one should be pretty self-explanatory but here goes: If the holiday falls in the beginning or middle of your trip, then you get the same trip with less time off. If the holiday falls at the end, then you get more trip for the same time off.
Cashing in Miles to get to Sumatra can cause Problems at Singapore Airport if you aren't arriving on Singapore Airlines
Real problems like ruin-your-trip problems with scary secret police carting you away? No, just the kind of things you wish you'd known about beforehand. Here's my example:
The Scenario
Ian cashes in a pot of AA miles for a biz-class seat on Japan Airlines. Like every other mileage program, this one can't get me to Sumatra, because Silk Air doesn't take anyone else's miles, so I'm going as far as Singapore, then I bought a separate ticket from Singapore to Sumatra (Medan in this case).
Arrival in Singapore
I Leave SFO at noon, flying pretty across the Pacific, connect in Tokyo, and arrive Changi Terminal 1 a little after midnight two days later. This is when I notice something is awry. The building looks similar to the Changi I know, but all the airlines are different. Ones I've never noticed, Qatar Airways, Sri Lankan, Vietnam Airways, never seen these guys before. On all my previous trips to Changi, I had arrived on Singapore airlines in Terminal 2, enjoyed the amenities, then connected to flights departing from Terminal 2 and gone on my merry way. I had assumed that Terminal 1 was just the distant south wing of the big ass building that I thought was the entire airport. Nope, it's a completely separate building. So anyway, I know I've got to get to Terminal 2 to check in for my flight on Silk Air. Problem is, my bag is coming out in Terminal 1, and I have to re-check it in terminal 2. This means I have to leave passport control, get my bag, then schlep it over to terminal 2 and go to the Silk Air check-in counter. Little automated train thing takes me to the other terminal
Arrival at Terminal 2
Recall earlier when I arrived: Midnight. So by the time I get my bag and get over to Terminal 1, it's about 1AM. I'm thinking, just get that boarding pass, get back behind security into Electric Changi loveyland where they have 24 hour food, $5 showers, $8 private nap room, and I'll be totally set. Except there's no automated check-in kiosks at Silk Air. Also, no people at Silk Air. Nobody at the counter, no boarding pass. No boarding pass, no talking my way past the nice security lady, don't even think about the baksheesh here, "pa una refresca", what do you think this is, Paraguay? I'm on the outside, man. OK, I'm a traveler, I can roll with the punches. I'll go get the airport hotel in Changi Village, noted home of transvestites, and crash out.
Who is that cheapskate guy crashed out in the cafe?
There's a 24-hour hotel desk guy just outside of baggage claim. He knows that the nearby cheap hotels are full. So I'm about to pop for a nearby hotel that's like $85. I make the reservation with the guy, and he wants $20. Singapore Dollars. I hand him the credit card. He says, no credit cards, cash only. No floggin way. This is the last straw. I'm not going to the ATM and getting Singapore cash to pay a $5 fee to my bank and then be stuck with Singapore dollars I can't spend in Indo. Cancel the rezzie. I spy a cafe outside the baggage claim area with a dude already sacked out in a plush-looking chair. I figure if I stash my board bag under my legs and sack out next to him, it'll look like we're together and nobody will make off with my stuff while I'm asleep. Plus what do I have to worry about? Singapore is a police state. All was ok when I woke up 32 minutes later. It was 1:38 AM, and I was wide awake thanks to jet lag. Silk Air ticket counter opens at 5:30 AM, and my flight to Medan leaves at 8AM. Time is really flying now.
"You're a dumbass. This would never happen to me...."
Silk Air flies short flights and short flights don't depart at 1AM, so why would anyone be at the check-in counter then? What was I thinking? Why didn't I figure this out before I left? Honestly, given the tickets I bought there's nothing more I could have done. If you had a hundred thousand American Airlines-brand magic beans that were depreciating slightly more slowly than the Zimbabwe dollar, wouldn't you trade them in for a business class ticket to Singapore? Hell yes you would. I'm just warning you, if you cash in your miles to go to Sumatra, and you aren't on Singapore air, this will probably be you. "No Way!" you say, what dumbass would buy a flight that arrives at midnight. If you're on United, Northwest, JAL or Korean, you're in Terminal 1 at midnight, probably without the boarding pass you will need to get in to Terminal 2 and crash out. And you can't NOT leave terminal 1 until after your nap, since unless you managed to check your bag all the way through your precious boards are outside passport control, circling around on the baggage belt. Overall, it's not terrible, I'm just warning you.
Singapore: a primer
For the geographically ignorant or whose only impression of Singapore is a good place to get "caned" for hocking a loogie or chewing gum, Singapore is A-OK. It's a small island of clean, safe, rich first world with potable drinking water where everything is signed in English in an otherwise run-down, smelly, polluted neighborhood of SE Asia. Considering it's within a degree of the equator and just a few dozen miles from the swampy wilds of Sumatra, its existence and prosperity is astounding. Let's hear it for good governance, also, air conditioning.
Singapore Aiport
Singapore's Changi airport is a rare pleasure in air travel - an airport where you leave feeling like you didn't have quite enough time there. I've been through Changi 12 times on 6 separate trips, and still look forward to a layover there. The government of singapore has succeeded in making this airport a showpiece. Hong Kong and Seoul are also very pleasant with more natural light, but Changi has all the services you want, 24/7, at a reasonable price. Free internet to check the surf forecast on your way to indo or let everyone back home know you're alive and well post-trip. Tons of duty free options, cheap, quality eats to please any palate. They also don't shy away from self-promotion.
The short answer is not a lack of swell or lack of quality spots but because it's more than a day's travel from international jet traffic, and that probably won't change any time in the next 5-10 years. The only place on the west coast of Sumatra with international arrivals is Padang, thus the Mentawais are easy. Easy for customers to get to, easy to fly in crew, supplies, boat parts, and Haagen Daz. The international airport is the crux of this.
The same is true for all the corners of the pacific and indian oceans that still hold warm, uncrowded, consistent, 4 and 5 star surf spots. Once you understand fetch and wind patterns it's easy to spin a globe and say, "I'll bet that island gets a lot of swell." But how do you fly there?
I went to Panaitan Island off West Java a couple years back, where Timmy Turner camped out and shot Second Thoughts. Panaitan Island is part of Ujong Kulon National Park. It was inhabited before Krakatoa blew up and killed everyone on the island in 1887 or so, now a National park in a very natural state. I'm not exposing or promoting anything here, just wanted to share my experiences and you can judge whether or not the island is off the beaten path for a reason or if you're dying to beat a path there.
The island has some very strong points going for it, but the cons will become apparent below. For now, here are the pros:
- Easy transportation logistics - fly to Jakarta with nonstops from most Asian cities, a few hours drive to your boat.
- very light crowds with few boats and no land-based surfers
- some spot variety
Overview
A lot of what you don't read about surf spots concerns consistency - are they mysto waves or do they do their thing every day? The spots on Panaitan generally need specific conditions and more-than-background swell. Surfing all day every day is conceivable but unlikely, even if your endurance permits it. Also, all but one spot are exposed to the trade winds that prevail during peak swell season.
No trip to indo is complete without a little reef rash but the spots on Panaitan are pretty much for experienced surfers only. There are plenty of novice-friendly waves in Indo but only one on Panaitan and it's not worth the trouble. Either you are comfortable in the tube or you should head elsewhere.
Here's a breakdown of the spots. I don't think I'm revealing any super secret info here, this stuff is in the world stormrider guide, wannasurf.com, and that other indo surf spot book I reviewed. Some of these spots are called "Inside Left" or "Inside Right" elsewhere.
One Palm Point
This is the main attraction, an absolutely world class machine-like left that reels for hundreds of yards. It produces one of the best lineup photos in the world with 3 waves in the same picture all barreling perfectly. If you watch Second Thoughts, someone at the end of the DVD (Travis Potter I think) gets a 48 (!) second barrel at One Palm, and then gets worked on the reef. You get occasional glimpses of the shallow reef in the DVD, but really only if you're looking for it. The funny thing is that it actually IS really shallow, from start to finish, and you actually will hit the reef very hard most every time you mess up, and sometimes even when you do everything right. The upside is you'll get the longest barrel of your life there, period, end of story. I paddled out with three buddies and our guide in a 3mm fullsuit and Gath Helmet, we had it to ourselves under ideal mid-tide conditions and a swell that was showing shoulder to head high. I got four waves there, pulled in four times and got one ten second tube and four car accident reef beatings. I'm not talking about grazing the reef or scraping my foot or getting a little raspberry on my back, but hard impacts that could cause major joint damage or remove large chunks of skin. I've got One Palm scars on my back even through the wetsuit. On my last wave I was flying down the line in the barrel when, without warning, a completely dry coral head showed up about five feet in front of me. I mean like 4 inches out of the water dry. My board thunked into it, I flew off the front and got rolled hard on the reef like grandma pasting a pie crust with the rolling pin. While getting rolled if I hadn't put my hand in front of my face I probably would have torn the end of my nose off. I was pretty shaken up when I got back on the boat, not tired, not happy to be alive, not in need of a beer, just totally shaken up, like PTSD thousand yard stare mentally shocked. Such an unreal mix of rush, danger, and pain.
One Palm needs a decently big swell and a mid tide, and is the only spot on the island that won't blow out with strong SE trade wind. It's experts-only, and even insane chargers like Timmy Turner wear wetsuits & helmets there for reef protection.
Napalms
Napalms is the photo slut spot on the island. The boats park in the channel looking right into the eye of this reef-pass like left. The wave looks beautiful in photos, and any jerk can get good shots here from the deck of the boat drinking a high-formaldehyde "Anker" beer. The wave barrels from start to finish, and the guys
who have it wired will stall on the outside, pump two or three times through the slower section in the middle, then race through the inside barrel and kick out. At a couple feet overhead the wave slows down and requires some stalling, and at shoulder high or below the inside barrel may not really be makeable.
For lesser riders, blowing the takeoff is forgiven but getting too far back for the inside barrel or failing to kick out can be problematic. You won't necessarily hit the reef when you fall, but if you're not on the last wave in the set, you'll get pushed into knee-deep water on a very uneven and sharp reef with cuts to follow. The reef at Napalms is pretty much dry at low tide, yet the wave won't be breaking much further out. Experts only under those conditions, otherwise advanced with Gath recommended.
Illusions
This right breaks on W wind and can be quite shallow, yet doesn't really get hollow. Pretty fast down the line though. Call it a hotdog wave with consequences.
Apocalypse
This is the too-fast-for-pros Backdoor Pipe lookalike featured in Second Thoughts. Watch Koby Abberton try really hard to make this wave in that DVD. He's pumping, not stalling. If you're reading about surfing on a blog then there is a 99% chance you wouldn't make it either. There's probably a reef down there somewhere but I think the beatings here are more about high speed and heavy water. Like most rights in indo, it needs glass or W in the wind, so don't expect to find it doing it's thing on a July or August afternoon. It's way inside the bay, but has some kind of trench of swell amplification going so probably holds the most size of any spot on the island.
Ted's
Ted's is a fun, hollow-but-forgiving low tide left that picks up more swell than Napalms or One Palm but handles less wind. Glassy or N wind best, but light trades might be OK. Ted's has very makeable left tubes, and despite the visible dry reef on the inside and trying tons of dumb stuff on the outside, I never even touched the bottom here. As you get the wave wired you can take off further and further back, maybe even backdooring the initial peak. The wave ends in a bumpy rip section that conveniently flushes you away from the reef and back towards the lineup. It's really hard to tell what's happening at Ted's from a dinghy or the channel at Napalms, but if it's glassy and low tide it's probably good. I surfed four or five sessions here from shoulder high to overhead and had a hell of lot of fun. We saw some bomb sets come through but the spot doesn't really handle much over 8 ft faces very well, generally closing out. So figure on a 6-7 ft 14-15 sec swell Ted's would probably be maxing. This wave is very photo-unfriendly - our cook took a couple of water shots but given photo-ready spots elsewhere on Panaitan you will probably never see photos of this wave published anywhere.
Pussy's
A long, slow longboard type wave that picks up a lot of swell, handles trades OK and oddly will keep you inside and make you paddle a whole lot for some of the slowest waves in Indo. Low tide might be better but seriously, longboards only. It's a nice place to relax and screw around, especially if you can get the dinghy driver to ferry you back out to the top of the point.
How to get waves
The Camp
This guy who owns a surf camp at Grajagan wanted to start a camp here inside the point at One Palm. He bribed some officials, chopped down some trees, and started to build a surf camp in what was a totally pristine national park, including blowing up reef to build a dock, and hired some indo guys and a crappy boat to hang out there. This camp may or may not be running but the entire industry seems to have coalesced around the idea that the camp is a BAD THING. Nobody is willing to accept advertisements for the camp and their web site doesn't work. I'm not going to buck that trend by posting any info about who owns it or how to book it, if it even still operates. I will say that having been to the island and seen the layout of the spots, a boat big enough to sleep on and prepare food is essential. Being abandoned in the sun for 3 or 4 hours across a three mile wide bay or having to go back to the camp for a meal in the middle of perfect wind or tide conditions would defeat the entire purpose of coming to the island, and also could leave you in a bad spot if you got injured while surfing.
Boat Charters
A boat charter is the way to go and the best option for a boat charter is the Nomad. The Nomad also had one of the cheapest boat charters in indo when we went in 2005, $140/pp/day. Without the need for a long crossing or lots of motoring these charters can be shorter, like 7 or 8 days. The website for the Nomad is www.nomadsurfindonesia.com but the owner Todd is trying to sell his boat/business. He'll be running trips for early season 2007. If you book directly with Todd it will most definitely save you money. He pisses off surf travel agencies that book the Nomad by undercutting their prices but he's the best game in town for West Java so the agencies have to grin and bear it.
The other boat is Just Dreaming but I think it's a notch down from Nomad. It looked smaller and more crowdedand kind of ghetto. It may also be bookable directly on it's website, but Google it to find the URL or check the major online surf travel agencies.
A third boat option is that from time to time boats will transit from Timor area to Sumatra and on their Bali to Southern Sumatra leg they will often stop at Panaitan. Indies Explorer (big white two-masted sailboat) and Indo Jiwa (another 100ft+ sailboat) offer such trips in the early season.
A fourth boat option would be local feral boats. If you really want to do this then perhaps hanging out in west java fishing towns like Anyer or Labuan would be the way to arrange it. This assumes that your time is cheap and your tolerance for hot sun and bare-bones sleeping arrangements is high.
One of the best reasons to take a boat to Panaitan is the chance to go climb Anak Krakatau in lieu of surfing on your last day. It's a unique chance to see the remnants of one of the greatest natural disasters ever and smell the sulfur of an active volcano to boot.
The Locals
There's a hardcore crew of Jakarta expats that will take a boat out to the island for a long weekend when the swell is up. If they are there they will take off deeper and emerge more often than the visitors, thus by default getting the set waves. They have seen their share of drama and visitors but overall are nice guys with a great attitude.
Overall - it's a go.
It's worth going for Napalms and Ted's alone. Panaitan should be a go for early season (late March-May) or late season Oct-Nov. This will give you max odds of good winds combined with good swell. It's a no-go for June-Sept unless you're really focused on scoring One Palm as consistent trade winds will ruin other spots.
I heard that the East Nusa Tenggara area of Indo has good waves and is uncrowded (at least the parts that are beyond Bali range). But before I bought that boat trip on the "Mahalo II" I looked at a map and the swell has to come from 220-225 to get around Australia and get in there. If you check Surfline's LOLA history even in peak season you don't see consistent 225+ swells. They tend to happen in streaks when the storm track goes a certain way, but basically without that swell angle Timor, Sumba, or the other islands that far east get severe shadowing like Southern California on a NW swell. There's a reason why only one or two boats operate there...
From watching LOLA, it looks like Bali and G-Land have the best swell window in Indo, exposed to everything from the west and still getting straight south energy that kicks up too far east to hit sumatra but isn't shadowed by Australia. There are a lot of spots off sumatra that need SW or straight south swell to work, but plenty of alternatives if you don't get the swell angle you need.
