C & C globetrotting around the world…

We took a mini-bus to Padang Bai, from where the ferries leave to Lombok. We decided to spend a night there to see a small and less touristy town. Around 4pm when the sun wasn’t as strong anymore, we set off to go to the beach. There we were greeted by a lady with a fresh coconut. That was exactly what we needed! There was a girl selling sarongs and we decided to buy one, which will double as a beach towel for 20,000 rupiahs ($2). The water was warm enough to go straight in, but still cool enough to refresh. Unfortunately we hadn’t brought our swimming suits, so we couldn’t go in, but it was nice to be at the beach, sipping a coconut and listening to some local guys playing music and singing songs. In town during the evening, there were lots of people dressed in white carrying baskets and going to the temple. We found out that today is celebration of the town’s biggest Hindu temple and that’s why everyone is going. We would have liked to go to see the dancing and the performance, but were stopped by the rain that started after dinner.

The next day after breakfast, we took the ferry from Padang Bai to Lombok. On the other side, we were picked up and driven in a mini-van to Kuta (Lombok). We had read that the road was the worst in Asia, but it turns out the road was very good and even had a highway for part of the way. Right away we could see that we had left Bali. Here, there are mosques everywhere, as Lombok is Muslim (like the rest of Indonesia). We arrived in Kuta before dark and we quickly found a guesthouse. After buying a pair of flip-flops for Cecilia (hers broke when getting off the ferry), we had a yummy dinner (grilled chicken with a great sauce and fish & chips with a beer) at our guesthouse. We were looking forward to a nice beach vacation here. We really need to relax a bit, as we are both a bit tired and grumpy.

In the morning, we had breakfast at our hotel. It’s nice that in Myanmar and here breakfast is included in the room rate. The coffee was not that good, especially Christoph’s that had more “satz” than actual coffee. We found out that the way they make coffee here is by putting the ground coffee in your cup and pouring hot water over it. Yeah, not exactly the way we like it. It’s too bad, because Indonesian coffee is good, but the way they prepare it, isn’t. We then went to the beach, but were very disappointed by it. It was dirty and not nice at all, so we kept on walking in search of a better one. After a while we did come to a nice one that was clean and had beautiful white sand. The waves were huge – great for surfing- but way too strong for us. We only went in the water to our knees, but the waves splashed us from head to toe and the current was really strong, pulling us in. We drank a coconut and then headed back to our hotel. In the afternoon and evening it rained almost continuously, so we took cover inside. We had a really delicious lunch at Bule Restaurant and a great dinner with some French people.

The next morning a mini-bus picked us up and drove us from Kuta Lombok to Senggigi, also on Lombok. We hoped the beach is better there, as we were bitterly disappointed in Kuta. There, on the other side of the road from our hotel was “The Beach Club”, nicely set up. There we had lunch and chilled on their bamboo terrace overlooking the beach. When the rain stopped a bit we tried going swimming, but the waves are very strong, so we only went in a bit. We decided to chill on the bamboo terrace, listening and watching the waves whipping the beach. It was very impressive and we could feel the thump of the strong waves. What was also interesting is that there were waves going back into the sea, something we had never seen before. We spent the afternoon there reading books and working on the blog. With a sense of accomplishment we watched the sunset and the huge waves before having a nice and delicious candle-lit dinner. The next day, we chilled on the bamboo terrace at the Beach Club again, having a fruit platter and reading our books. We had a delicious lunch and then chilled some more, reading and answering emails. Later Cecilia got a massage on the beach to the sound of the waves, which was wonderful. At sunset we ordered some cocktails and kept on reading while sipping the delightful concoctions. We had a delicious dinner and watched a funny movie in our room to end the night. We had been told that Lombok is nice because it’s less touristy. There are indeed less tourists, but there is a reason :-). Had it not rained every day and we been surfers to take advantage of the enormous waves, Lombok would have most probably left a different impression on us. It wasn’t the ideal beach vacation (especially because of the weather), but it was relaxing and we had really amazing food.