After leaving beautiful Bali we arrived in Lombok, a place we thought was going to be beautiful golden beaches and tranquil paradise..didnt exactly meet our expectations. After 11 hours of travelling by mini van, ferry, and then mini van again, we finally arrived to find ourselves in Sengiggi. There us not really anything in Seniggi expect for a small strip of restaurants and black dirty beaches that are way overcrowded with locals.
Woke up in the morning from our dingy hotel room and it was cloudy so we decided to take a moto adventure to Mataram, the biggest city on the island. On our way back, we got pulled over by the police asking for our "international drivers license" which we didnt have and were told didn't need. The policeman said we could go to court on such and such a date and blah blah blah orrrrr pay a 200,000 rupiah fine now- we paid the fine. Granted it's only a little over 20 USD, but it was still blatantly racist, we were pulled over only bc we were white (we saw others being pulled over and being let go after a stern warning) and they knew we would pay. We talked to some locals who said that the typical "on the spot fine" is a pack of cigarettes. When its not your country and you don't speak the language you have no control, better to just pay more then you know you should to avoid trouble.
After arriving back at the hotel we went out to lunch at a restaurant right near our hotel. Somehow in the 3 minutes it took to walk from lunch to the room we lost our room key and then had to pay to have the locks changed. Bad luck strikes again.
Realizing that it was easter sunday and that easter basket hunting and egg fighting that I would normally be doing on easter back home was replaced by bad banana pancakes, a dirty beach, and lots of wasted money. We drowned our sorrows over some Bintang on the beach, philospiphising with an Indonesian boy, who was incessentaly trying to sell me overpriced jewellary, until it started to pour all night. I've also been really sick with what the local doctors think is tonsilitis, but basically my jaw swells up and I get migrains and aching pain from my chin to the top of my head. The pain was so overwhelming, I cried myself to sleep. Happy Easter :/
The next day we decided to get out of Lombok as fast as possible and took the ferry to the Gili Islands. It was just what I needed- backpackers, chill little cafes on the sand, crystal blue waters, a beach, and a room with a dvd player (to watch all the botoleg dvds I bought when it rains everyday!)
The Gilis are gorgeous. Described as
"Pearl in The Ocean-Three perfect coral islands, fringed with white sands and swaying palm trees, lay in the sparkling ocean just off the north west coast of Lombok. For many years the Gilis have attracted visitors from arround the world for their pristine waters, great diving and snorkelling opportunities, and laid back charm."
That's exactly what I did, snorkeled, soaked up some sun, and kicked back. We spent our time on Gili Trawangan, and even though its the biggest of the three islands, its still quite tiny and with limited facilities. The internet connection is nearly non existant, there are no super markets, no motor vehicles (only horse carts) and there isn't even any police on the island. Crazy. But nice, really nice to just get away- especially from the bad luck Lombok.
We spent 5 days on Gili Tra La La (as its so aptly named) and then took the 11 hour journey back to Bali. I am now currently in Kuta, over crowded and way too touristy, but kind of a nice change of pace from the chillness of the Gilis. We spent the day on the verge of dying about 70 times over circumnavigating the streets for hours and hours of Denpasar to find the Fed Ex office. I a very happy to report we found it and I have my credit card back wooo hooo! (For those who dont know, my debit card got stuck in an ATM in Yogyakarta, problems hassles, long story short, it ended happily ever after)
We are renting a moto for the rest of the week and hopping around beachs and nearby towns until we leave for Thailand on the second. Oh yeah, and going rafting to! Woo Hoo! Sending my love to the other side of the world. xoxo
Saudades Renannnnnnnnnnn :)
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