Bing Teamrider Lauren Ngan Returns From Bali
– Bing team rider, Lauren Ngan (Dana Point, Ca.) recently returned from a memorable and philanthropic visit abroad to Bali, Indonesia where she was able to get in some epic surf sessions while doing her part in fighting world poverty. Here’s a little something from Lauren…
This past summer I was given the opportunity to serve the community in Bali! It was pretty rad I was there for a month helping out a few orphanages and taught english a bit. Etnies sent out clothes for the kids, got to take them surfing and hang out! My friend Paula runs a surf house ministry in Bali where I met proboably the coolest people from all over; TEXAS, New Zealand, Switzerland, Hawaii… It was rad to meet people from all over and just live life.
The culture was so different compared to here but SO AWESOME. I basically ate rice and cooked vegetables and maybe some tempe every day but they by far make the best banana pancakes ever and the surf is pretty fun. I brought my 6’8 Bing Maui foil, and when I had the chance to, I would surf. I got to surf Las Serations and playgrounds in Lembongan, Kuta, Airport Rights, Camels and a couple other spots. Finding surf is an adventure in Bali. We would ride the motorbikes trying to find surf and its kind of a hit or miss and if you miss you go to another spot.
The best day I had was when we surfed Camels. They call it Camels because there are literally Camels on the beach. They were perfect 3 ft waves for my Maui Foil. It was so fun until the shark came… that kind of killed it.
I got to go to Ubud and see the art culture of Bali, this was pretty neat, they make fabric there and jewelry and of course there was the market. They had some of the most unique things to sell there. I loved it!
My friend Abbey and I got to go to Lovina for the last weekend we were there. Our friend Nyoman WAS THE MAN! He was our driver and seriously SO RAD! On the way up we got to ride the elephants and pet an orangutan monkey named Hiccup; he was so cute and I am not much of an animal person but I really wanted to take him home with me. Then we saw the Gitgit waterfall and a temple that was interesting. Lovina was nice and relaxing.
I was looking forward to going home. I had a layover in Taipei and THE TAIPEI AIRPORT IS AMAZING! They have a hello kitty mall inside it and everywhere you go in the stores they have mochi tea cake samples. SO GOOD! It was kinda weird I was looking forward to going home but when i actually got home I missed Bali.
I’m so stoked I got to go on a trip like this! It was such an amazing experience and I hope that everyone gets to experience what I did. Traveling internationally totally opens your eyes to a new culture and just gives you a fresh new outlook on life. I loved it. I have this huge travel bug now!
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