The thriving metropolis (wink, wink) that is known as Krui, lies in South Sumatra. Like most places, Krui is progressing little by little. There’s a post office, but not a hospital. There are quicky-mart type stores, but not a grocery store. We’re off the beaten path, but not completely left behind. Krui is where you can come on your surf trip and experience ‘real Indonesia’, without leaving every basic necessity behind.
The local people are not tourist oriented, like Bali. They’ve been exposed to tourists for some time now, but are not dependent on the tourist dollar, so you get to see them living life, without Western influence. You’ll see ox-drawn carts beside buses, headed down the road together. You’ll get to experience power outages (don’t worry, our surf camp has a generator, so it’s a painless experience). You’ll become much better at charades as you learn to get by in an area where very little English is spoken.
You’ll love the feeling you get when you realise you’ve slowed down to match the local pace. Isn’t that why you decided to go on a surf trip? So you could surf two or three times a day, and see something you haven’t seen before? To have a peek inside of lives that are very different from yours? One of my favourite times of day is when all the kids are walking home from school. They have on pristine, pint-sized uniforms, some carrying their shoes so they don’t get worn out prematurely, dwarfed under their back-packs, with their little arms around each other, headed to their modest homes that may have a dirt floor and mom washes clothes by hand, but these kids look like they stepped straight out of a big city dry cleaner. Another favourite of mine, is sitting out in the line up and taking the time to turn around and stare at the coast line, instead of the horizon. Krui is a long way from being classified as ‘developed’ so all you see are palm trees and sand, with the odd little shack. There are no resorts here, no hawkers or beggars wandering the beaches, just curious locals who are excited to have you visit the place they call home. Come see something new.
