Land of Pop

Global shred seekers will be happy to know the answer is YES! After hours of driving up and down the dark, lush streets of a small Balinese town looking for a ‘fork’ in the trees, a guy on a motorbike appeared out of nowhere and like the workings of black magic pointed the way to our destination. And then around that last curve there it was, lit up in all its’ glory, Bali’s own jungle bowl. Complete with a shred sesh in full effect and hesh sounds blaring from the boom box.

overview of the sanur bowl…a.ka. jungle bowl.

Smiles instantly spread across our faces as we jumped out of the van and joined the action. A group of Balinese shred dogs were rooting each other on in the mini, while the local star slasher, Llong, was going through his barrage of lip tricks and melon 360 mute grabs on one side of the bowl. Bestest shred friend & indosole co-founder, Faye Middleton, dropped in with a fury, only stopping to catch her breath and play with the giant turd making it’s way around the pool. Peter Jones took a hiatus from his usual surf adventures & running Bali Alternative Media to get in on the fun and carved some wicked lines through the deep end.

“Can you play skateboard?” one of the kids asked me with wide eyes. Another told me there was a street spot in Sanur that they had used their own money to set up a box and rail. They also let me know about the local skate shop in Legian called In Motion, which sold decks for 350,000 rupiah ($35) and had a free Indo skate mag called Happen. Sick. There really was a spawning Bali skate scene hidden behind the bush.

keep it clean. sanur skate crew.

True destroyer and owner of the pool, Julien Bergougnoux, was a gracious host and made silly runs throughout the night with a gleam in his eye. Wouldn’t you if you had your own shredtastic backyard bowl and a Balinese princess as a wife? Originally from France, Julien moved to Bali in 2000 and met his future wife at a dinner party. After courting her for almost two years, the village king allowed his daughter’s hand in marriage. Not so common in this traditional land. But after all was said and done, Julien was able to buy a nice plot of land and build up his family compound.

julien, his balinese princess & daughter.

Built in two phases, the bowl was first opened in 2005 with an extension added in 2008, making it the size of a small town skatepark for now. Built over a couple of months with really primitive tools; 2 foot shovels instead of excavators and wooden versus steel trowels, the newly finished concrete turned out super smooth to roll on. Shred sessions are open to anyone on Wednesday and Saturday nights and any impromptu scheduling Julien feels up to…of course don’t hold me to that schedule. Jungle rules apply.