Goodbye Bali, Hello Lombok

Wednesday 19 August – Sanur/Seeds of Hope

The other day my mission was to get to the Seeds of Hope Children’s Home where my friend Amy from Perth worked for 3 months recently.
I walked to where the bemos were, but there wasn’t a bemo(public minivan) going to the busstation I wanted, so I guess I ended up chartering one. The driver had to stop a few times to ask directions, and so it was quite an adventure, 45mins or so in the front seat with no seatbelt!
The driver also didn’t understand I wanted to stop at a shop to by pens and paper etc for the kids.
When I got there, there was some other people visiting too (a young french/british couple wanting to do a story about orphanages/migrating families), and some aussies donating all sorts of stuff.
The children gave a performance with music instruments. And then I could get a lift back to Sanur with the aussies, and seeing the trouble(kinda), I had getting there, I was happy for an easy ride back!
Am glad I visited, and gave the money I was going to spend as a donation.

In the evening I went to the night markets which were very close to my home stay (Lila Homestay). There were about 10 mobile food stalls, and only two westerners eating at one of them, but I pushed myself and sat down at a different one, and was asked if I wanted rice (no menu). Yes please! I ended up with Nasi Campur (nasi(fried rice) with bits and pieces). After asking I found out I had on my plate bits of chickens, a satay stick(I think it was pork….), a boiled egg, some vegetables I didn’t recognise and some kind of fried corn thing(yum!!). Most of it was cold(normal). It was very nice and filling and cost me 10000 ($1.25). And I’m writing this 2 days later and I haven’t been sick, hehe. :D
I haven’t been feeling sick or had headaches for a few days now, yay!

Thursday 20 August
At 5.45am I got picked up by a van near my room, 9.15 at Perama in Sanur, and at 9am I got on a ferry at Padangbail though it didn’t leave till about 10.15, then it took about 5hours to get to Lembar, Lombok, where it waited another hour before docking! Then another hour in a perama bus to get to Senggigi.

Paid for my komodo/flores trip at the office, then walked around trying to find a room. They were all full… When I came to Sonja Homestay, Sonja offered me her room… She said she did that all time, and seeing it was around 5pm and all the places I’d been to were full, I accepted the offer. Later I found out she would be sleeping on the floor next to me… I felt bad. But she did have a sleeping mat that was the same hardness as the bed, and I obviously paid to stay and I think they are happy with the money. Still, it didn’t feel quite right. I slept though, and am glad I have my own sheet thingy(like a sleeping bag, but it’s just silk sheet.
I had to use the staff bathroom, which was outside at the back. The toilet was fine, but I couldn’t figure out the shower (knew it was a pipe sticking over the wall, but couldn’t figure out where to turn on, and how to get under it), so I skipped showering.

This morning I got breakfast (banana pancake, fresh papaya and pineapple and some tea), and moved to a real room when others checked out, and had a shower, yay! (still a pipe out of the wall, but my own private bathroom, and had a lever to turn water on and off).

I’ve been thinking today and yesterday that I haven’t really had a single day of just relaxing. I’m either traveling, or figuring out where I’m going next and how and where I’ll stay.
I’m regretting not getting a 60 day visa for Indonesia, but will just resign myself that there’s no way that I’ll be able to do even the limited things I already vaguely had in mind (after komodo/flores, java and sumatra). Seeing as I’m coming back to Lombok, I might as well visit it properly. Spend a few days(like 5 or 6) doing NOTHING on one of the Gili Islands (prob Gili Air) and then probably trek the volcano on Lombok in 3 days, before getting to the airport and flying to Java.
Now I just have to organise all this, my transport to Gili Air (Perama is the easy choice) and the flight, as Ramadam is starting today. The main implication for tourists in this mostly muslim country is the fact that a lot of people are traveling (on holiday or to their family homes), so flights etc book full.
Also I just have to bite the bullet and make these decisions, so I can stop debating where to go and just organise it. I’ll end up skipping Sumatra and most of Java.
But I could easily take a ferry back to Sumatra from Malaysia later.

Sorry for the rambling, thinking out loud…might as well share it in the blog :P

Tonight’s sunset. I sat on the beach most of the afternoon reading.