I had spent five splendid days in Ubud, and used it as a base to cycle around Bali's beautiful, bottle-green countryside. But now I was hankering for a beach.
Kuta, a little over an hour's minibus ride away, was an obvious choice but I was looking for somewhere slightly less in-your-face. Seminyak and Sanur didn't fit the bill, either.
As a solo traveller, I wasn't keen on being surrounded almost exclusively by holidaying couples - and I yearned for a blend of relaxation and adventure with perhaps a few other singletons for company.
My dilemma was solved by an unlikely source. I discovered that my cousin Ray was surfing with friends on the breaks off the Bukit Peninsula, the chunk of land that stretches south of Bali airport.
I don't surf, and in any case had heard the waves down there were far too formidable for beginners. But my cousin had insisted in his email: "The Bukit isn't all about surfing!"
