From Kuta, Lombok

Day five, Leaving Bali for the Gili Islands:
We headed off with no accommodations booked and figured we could find something pretty easily as there seem to be lots of places according to the book and the Internet search. It started out with a two hour bus ride to Padeng Bai where we had our first chance since we arrived to speak English with other travelers during the ride. We loaded our gear on the fast boat (I imagined something like the ferry between Larkspur and San Francisco; it turned out to be about a 40 foot enclosed shuttle that holds 30 passengers with four 250 HP Suzuki outboards). The passage was actually fast and pleasant as the seas were calm and several of us went outside on the top of the cabin for the breeze and the view.
We literally beached the boat at the shore of Gili Trawangan and waded ashore. There were lots of people on the beach to meet us and to take our bags and to offer us accommodations. We followed two guys who had grabbed our bags up to the main "street" and they and the horse cart driver loaded our stuff into the cart. We got in and took off at a trot to look at the place.
Unfortunately there was a big marathon going on and this night is the weekly "full moon" party (not related to the phase of the moon as it was a waning crescent) so the accommodations were mostly full except for the very expensive and the totally crappy. After going to several places we decided to try the method from our last travels. After paying the cart driver $8 for the 15 minute "tour" we unloaded and I sat with our gear and a walkie-talkie and Lily went off in the hot sun to try to find a place. After an hour Lily said she was exhausted, hot and tired, but had found a villa for about $60 and everything else she looked at was horrible. She came back on a horse cart, we gathered our stuff and went to this villa.

The explanation for the unexpected situation was that the governor of the province was coming to visit with a big 3 day festival that started the day we arrived.  What were the chances?

Thoughts on Gilis Trawangan:
Number one is that it is more expensive than we expected or that it should be.  It seem so be a party destination for Australians (it is only three hours from Perth) and Europeans and surprisingly Russians. Also, and I'm not complaining, for some reason there is a highly disproportionate amount of beautiful young women; tan mostly blonde, 9.5 to 10's in bikinis. They are in groups and with equally attractive surfer boyfriends from what sounds like Austrailia. We found out that the islands are only about 4 hours flight from Australia so this is a popular party place.
The eating is also quite varied, all good, from traditional Indonesian foods to pizza. Last night Lily had a wonderful chicken schnitzel and I had chicken cordon blue that was fabulous. Total cost with drinks: $26 (food is cheap, but drinks are about $8 each). All while sitting five feet from the where waves were gently breaking on the beach.

Yesterday we went on a snorkel cruise stopping in three spots off of each of the other Gili islands (Meno and Air). The reefs have been long ago damaged by storms and careless fishing and anchoring. There was the usual assortment of colorful fish, but nothing to really recommend it. We did see two sea turtles.  We stopped at Air for lunch and I had a fabulous tomato soup and cheese sandwich. Air is more undeveloped than Trawangan, but still expensive.  Lily walked around looking at accommodations thinking if there was something cheap we might come here for a couple of days, but the prices were the same as Trawangan.

Day 10:
This morning we got up at 6:30 to get the ferry to Lombok. Lily found us accommodations in the beach town  of Senggigi at a beautiful garden resort on the beach called Windy Beach Cottages.
The boat beached at the port of Lamar and immediately guys from the beach grabbed our luggage and ran up to the waiting collection of donkey carts where I guess we would be driven to where the buses are. We are still learning, we presumed our "porters" were part of the crew or something, but they were independent hustlers. These guys grab your bags off the boat before you can stop them and carry them 100 feet to the donkey cart and then demanded the equivalent of $5. I offered $2 and they looked like I was going to starve them. I ended up giving them $3.  I really wanted to offer them nothing and state that since i didn't request the "service" they could just GTFO, but they new that anyway and i was a rich tourist so just pay them. The donkey cart cost another $8.You have to establish the amount first and with the "porters" you have to stop them before they grab your bags without asking. A good monthly income is $300 for an office worker so we're getting scammed.

 The little resort is nice, well manicured grounds. Our room is a basic cottage, and the shower is fresh water and has a curtain so that the rest of the bathroom won't get soaked; not typical in Asia. There is a beautiful swimming pool and soaking pool that we jumped into as soon as we got settled. A restaurant in town was recommended and they provided a free shuttle so we went and enjoyed another (now typical) fabulously delicious, cheap meal and walked around town to see what was there. Basically, nothing but restaurants and the usual tiny shops.

  The next day the hotel manager arranged a driver for us to take us on the central tour; a famous water fall, a water temple and a couple of crafts factories. We saw how tedious the hand work at a loom was to make the beautiful cloths; most would take a week to make a couple of feet! We bought two table runners and a gorgeous batik of tropical fish.  Easy to pack fortunately.

  We stayed only two nights and left the next morning to a little island farther south called Gili Neggru.  We unloaded in the main town across from the island and took an outrigger on a twenty minute ride to the island just off shore. Uh... The place was a wreck. From what we could see every structure was either unfinished or in serious need of repair! Too late to go back now. So we selected one of the least awful bungalows and tried to make the best of it.  The bugalo was two story with the room on the second level and at least it had a breeze blowing through it which was good because there was no fan. The bathroom as it was, was down steep stairs, no fresh water shower, wash with salt water, rinse from a tub of fresh water. Everything in this place is either broken or worn out.

  After unpacking we decided to check out the snorkeling.  WOW!! We've never seen more variety of fish in one place before! There were dozens types of fish of all sizes and colors and mix of colors and coral and all in less than ten feet of water. Best snorkeling ever. Score: accommodations =1, snorkeling=10

There was a restaurant shack and the food was actually good; I had pizza"  At dinner we met a fascinating guy; the personification of the international man of adventure. He was Australian and had been a pearl diver for twenty years and a dive instructor and lived in Jakarta studying and was traveling with an Indonesian girlfriend half his age.. He had been to or lived in every place we wanted to go. He had endless stories and travel tips and it was all we could to to break away to go to sleep. Sleep in our hot room with no breeze (no breeze at night when you actually need it) or fan and the bathroom down a steep staircase is not very good. In the morning we agreed to leave/escape.

  Day 14:
Leaving the idyllic castaway paradise of Gili Neggru (good riddance!) we headed off on an outrigger to another recommended little nearby island called Gili Gede with hopes that the accommodations would be as pictured. The resort is called "Secret Island Resort" owned by an American. We had high hopes, the pictures made it look so nice. Unfortunately it was also a run down, dilapidated dump. We decided to have lunch there while figuring out what to do next and met an interesting British and Canadian couple who worked as English teachers for the British Consulate in South Korea. We chatted about traveling and various places and got some more Bali and Vietnam tips.
After lunch we decided to just go to the nearest town on the mainland optimistic that we could find more suitable accommodations and that the next place would at least have a fresh water shower and a ceiling fan. Once again we loaded our gear into a small outrigger and motored away across a beautiful blue bay towards Lombok.  On the far distant shore there appeared to be some kind of hotel on the beach and told our "boat captain" to drop us there.

You never know how the day will end we always say, especially when they start out like ours did. We landed at a wonderful little place called Bola-Bola Paradis owned by a Dutch couple who as luck would have it were there. We were shown a wonderful little room with... wait for it...  OMG, a fresh water shower and a big ceiling fan AND a little fan right on the bed and a safe and a closet!  All for 350,000 Rp or about $40.
We quickly showered and cleaned the two days of salt and sweat off and then enjoyed an iced coffee on the veranda. That night we had a wonderful dinner and later sat with the owners and another Dutch couple (the only other guests) at the bar and got lots of good Bali travel tips.
That night, sometime around midnight it started raining, seriously raining! The roar of the rain on the roof was deafening. This along with lightening flashes and rumbling thunder kept us up off and on until after 3. It was raining so hard that rain splashed through spaces between the roofs and actually sprinkled on our bed. Other than that it was a good night.

Wednesday, October 20
The tropical rain storm was over and we woke to a beautiful morning. After breakfast we decided to see the nearby town and walked about two miles down the road to it.  BTW, no one walks here. Everyone is riding a motor scooter, kids, old people, whole families on one bike. We were the only people walking and there is no place but the road to walk on fortunately the drives are not going too fast and honk to warn us so that we can step out the way in time.
the walk made it obvious that we are in a developing country. No trash pick up so trash is everywhere, cows and dogs wander the road, half finish/destroyed structures are everywhere and next to nice ones. What looks like a convenient, but somewhat dirty roadside outhouse was in fact not, but in fact someone's "home".  The people seem friendly and all the little kids wave. Anyway, it was hot and tiring and there is no real town except for a few shops and a clinic and a school. We trudged back covered in sweat. After a cool showere and a rest that night we had another nice meal, talked at the bar while watching Bollywood music videos. Unfortunately, there is no internet here this far from civilization. Tomorrow we leave for

Everyone said we should go to Kuta which is about two hours by car. Best beaches, surf and bunch of backpacker hotels and one nice Novatel hotel. Why not? We called a place that was recommended and arranged a room at the Matahari Inn, a Balinese run place.  We figured it would at least be pretty and the rooms had air conditioners! And a pool!  All for about $35/night. We hired a driver to take us there and pick us up in two days and take us back to the fast ferry terminal for our return to Bali and civilization.

Kuta, Lombok:
The Matahari Inn is a Balinese looking place with Hindu gods carvings and all the usual look of a Balinese place.  Like everything in Lombok so far it is a little run down, but the room has air conditioning and even a hot water shower! We had to look at several rooms before we settled on the best compromise of air, shower, bed, lights, etc.
In order to get around in this place you need a motor-scooter so we rented a Honda 125cc with manual shift and automatic clutch for about $6/day plus gas which is about $/gal. The little scooters are quiet, almost comfortable enough for two big adults and powerful enough to take us up a long steep hill. Which we did to a vegetarian restaurant on the top with a sweeping view of the whole area. Ashanti looks like a hippy den with pillows and low tables and reggae music and incense. The only customers were other travelers. Food was good and cheap and the view was fabulous with a cool breeze.

In the evening we planned to go buzz around and find a restaurant and an Internet cafe, but a tropical rain storm came in and fortunately only lasted for an hour so as soon and it stopped off we went, but by now it as 8:30.
We found a little thatched roof place by the beach with classic country western music for a background. Had another great meal and went to the internet shack. It cost $3.33/hr and they had about 5 pc's with 13 inch CRT monitors. I turned on the iPhone and found a wi-fi signal with the default login. LOL, free Internet.

Notes on traveling:
The daily routine involves putting on sun screen and bug spray whenever we go out. In Lombok it is claimed you can get malaria or dengue fever. Don't want any of that! You also have to carry water. Because we are staying in most places for only a day or two we don't bother to unpack except for what we need. We've become super organized and every little thing has it's place so we could find it in the dark. Once we get up we have to go find breakfast and replenish our water. Then it rains for an hour. Then off to do or see whatever, then in the afternoon find lunch, relax and read or write and maybe the beach, then look for dinner.
Washing clothes is also part of the routine because everything you wear gets saturated with sweat so it can't be worn more than twice or maybe only once. On our last travels 17 years ago we invented "launder-obics" for washing our clothes. Put the dirty clothes in the shower or a bucket, add laundry soap and stomp and scrub for 5 minutes, rinse, wring out in a towel and hang up to dry. Usually, the next day they are ready to wear or put away. Launder-obics: Exercise and laundry all in one!

Question: How can nature create a bug no bigger than a speck of pepper that can fly, find me, find the one spot I missed with the bug spray, bite me and leave an itching welt that lasts for an hour? Seriously.

Traveling with electronics:
I am using an iPad for communications, writing, music, books, amusement, but if I did it again for everything but reading I might  have taken a decent, cheap net book or maybe a used 13 inch MacBook and a Kindle for reading. Many travelers are carrying laptops, which is more bulky than an iPad and more temperamental, but i guess it works for them.  Everything about the iPad is wonderful and as reading I may never go back to paper, but the problem is that the current iOS installed browser is not compatible with Google blog; meaning I have to create all blog entries in HTML. Other than that I love the iPad for traveling. Maybe the next iOS 4.x will solve that.