Year 10s go to Bali

By Hailey Lee

From November 4th to 9th 2024, Renaissance College sent a group of 42 eager Year 10 students overseas to a tropical resort on the shore of Menjangan Island, Bali for a Surf and Service Expedition.

Students were expected to have arrived at the Hong Kong airport at 6:30 in the morning. The flight was scheduled to depart for Denpasar at 10:00, which gave us some time to explore the airport with our friends and acquire breakfast after check-in.

Upon arrival at the outdoor airport in Denpasar, we were immediately struck by the contrast in temperature and humidity compared to that of Hong Kong. The air was warm and humid, and it was comforting compared to the cold that had arrived with the beginning of winter in Hong Kong.

Most of us that had not read the itinerary were quite shocked to discover that instead of a quick ride to the resort, an appetising dinner, and an early night in, we had a predicted 2.5 hour car ride to the resort ahead of us.

However, the time prediction provided had evidently not accounted for traffic, and so we spent our first four hours or so in Bali sitting in a van, too tired to speak whilst Ms. Dentry tried to lighten the mood by playing uplifting music on her Spotify playlist.

At that point it was around seven in the evening, and everyone was highly fatigued from the flight. In silence, we stared out the window at the markets and shops that slowly passed as we sat through heavy traffic that came with peak hour and single lane traffic.

When we eventually got to the resort, it was a ten minute walk through pitch black. The sea gently crashed against the shore in the distance, and the presence of piercing eye-whites belonging to cows that peered at us through the darkness restored much of our energy.

Following a standard overview of the expectations at the resort and our schedule for the upcoming week, we were sent to our dorms to clean ourselves and get ready for lights out, which was to be at 10:30pm. Phones were not to be seen by any of the adults on the trip, and would be taken care of using Ms. Dentry’s favourite ‘If I see it, I sell it, rule.’

Our dorms were small wooden cabins that we shared with five other people. There were three bunk beds, and just enough room for us to sprawl our luggage on the floor. The bathrooms were outdoors, which we found a tad unconventional, but after just a few minutes of screaming at the many geckos and bugs that adorned the walls, we started to calm down and accept that we had chosen to come to a tropical climate and that geckos were incapable of hurting us.

Falling asleep was very easy for the entire camp that night, and we rested in preparation for the vigorous surfing that would ensue over the next few days.

Overall, we had 5 2-hour sessions of surfing over three days, with Wednesday being a double-session surf. The days were often structured as breakfast at 7:30 and ready to surf at 8:00. After morning surfing, we were given an hour and a half for pool time, and lunch was always at 1 o’clock on the dot.

Then, we were given two hours of ‘downtime’, in which we were free to do whatever we wanted, with the exception of phone usage. I ended up splitting my time between talking to the teachers on the trip, taste-testing the food in the cafe, and reading a book that I had borrowed from a friend.

In the afternoon, it was either another surf session or a ‘ocean safety’ session, in which we learnt the basics of how to rescue a drowning person in the ocean. I found this very fun; the pouring rain made it freezing and running through the rain and wet sand into the ocean was something out of a movie.

We were given an hour or so to shower and get ready for dinner, and then after dinner it was another hour of free time before bedtime and lights out at 9:30.

Surfing was a completely new experience for me, and it was challenging to stay on the board at first, but we all managed to catch some waves by the end of the trip. The waves were huge, way bigger than anything I had ever seen before, towering at almost double my height. Because of this, it was a huge struggle to move against the current towards my designated coach, as I was being pushed back by a monster wave every two or so seconds. I persevered through, and hauling the surfboard taller than me through the ocean was probably more than enough exercise. The board chafed my hands to the extent that it hurt to touch things, but it was very much worth the fun and experience in the end.

The Bali experience allowed me to learn a lot about myself. 6 days without phones encouraged a whole lot of drama, but it allowed us to all talk to each other and build long-lasting, valuable relationships.

The food was unconventionally good, all of the meals consisting of Balinese chicken and rice cooked and plated in many different ways. The fried banana and brownies at the cafe were to die for, and were outrageously cheap, all of it standing at 10 HKD. The meals came with exotic drinks like coconut and watermelon juices that we had fun reluctantly sipping, and we were even served a chocolate banana crepe for breakfast one morning.

In terms of living arrangements and dorms, although a little chaotic and unhygienic at times, it was very fun for us to all be screaming at the top of our lungs at the appearance of a gecko, much to the annoyance of Ms. Heywood and the other chaperones (sorry guys).

But overall, it was an enjoyable and rewarding experience that I recommend to everyone coming in to year 10 next year.