Being an Indonesian island, Pulau Nias has lots of good beach and ocean options.

I spent most of my days on Nias just driving a motorbike from beach to beach. I’d swim and read for a little bit, get antsy, and drive on to the next beach I found to repeat the process.

Though I was on the wrong part of the island, Nias is reputed to be one of the best spots for surfing in all of Indonesia. A couple of surfers I met on my flight out confirmed this.

With no experience at surfing and waves that were said to be way to epic to try to learn on, I was pretty happy being lazy for a few days before heading back towards the US for the summer.

Sometimes I need a break from all that hard work of traveling!

I did manage, on my most ambitious day of exploring Pulau Nias, to drive a little ways to the interior of the island to poke around.

Nias has a unique traditional architecture that varies slightly from the top of the island to the bottom.  In one village just outside of Gunung Sitoli, I met a family who was nice enough to invite me in for a look around.

Later on in the day, just as I was getting tired of bumpy gravel roads and considering turning around, the owner of a drinks stand told me about a hidden waterfall near the village of Alasa.  After bumming a ride and convincing an old guy that lived near the trail to show me the way, I made it up there.  We stayed long enough to take a few pictures, and then immediately turned around and went back to the village.

Luckily, there were cute little kids at the small shop in the village who were willing to sell me some water and pose for a picture.  Small victories.