I'm back (home) in Suvarnabhumi International Airport (Bangkok). Waiting for my darling brother to arrive in a couple of hours.
They seem to be waiting for royalty or some sports team in the arrival area: everything is cordoned off and masses of police are strutting around in orderly fashion. Doing their best to get in the way of emotional homecomings, not to mention my unwieldy cart. Tss, tss!
Mark and I will be spending two nights in Bangkok - one day for shopping and one for sightseeing (no prizes on guessing which day he will prefer) - before we fly down to Singapore for a few days. Beware dear relatives, the Swiss posse is coming to town!
But I left you just before leaving for Lombok....
I am afraid that I will have to continue my raving, because so far, Lombok was one of the best places I have been to! Didn't expect it after Ubud, to be honest, but surprises seem to lurk around every corner!
Spent one week soaking up the beauty of empty beaches, black sand and clear green waters before I went back to Bali to join a friend.
At 6am I said goodbye to everyone in the losmen with a heavy heart (they were all up and about, their day usually starts at 5am) and boarded the local bus which would take me to the port at Padang Bai.
We had to wait for over an hour, before we could board the public ferry. The first ferry of the day had been late, so in consequence all ferries were subject to heavy delay (after seeing the difficulty certain huge trucks had getting on and off the delays were fully understandable!).
To pass the time I chatted to the locals selling all kinds of snacks (thank goodness no fried tarantulas!) and was told I am 'gado-gado', that is 'mixed'. As gado-gado (veggies with peanut sauce) is one of my favorite Indonesian dishes I thought the term quite fitting!
Took a bus to Senggigi. (Un-)Fortunately the bus driver forgot to drop me off at a strategic point as agreed. Luckily there were no further passengers, so he was so kind as to drive me all the way back to her place as a way of apology. Yes! My backpack is now 18kg...
On the way we got caught up in a wedding procession. Bride and groom were on their way to their new house, which turned out to be a shack. From their get up however, you would never have thought that they were so poor... all rich clothes and a huge crowd (ca. 80pax) not counting the numerous musicians. The driver told me that weddings are so important that families generally go all out (as far as possible) to create a magical day, irregardless of the cost.
My Internet time is running out... so here a short version of what came next:
1. Senggigi was beautiful.
Met a photo-journalist who took us around the Northeastern corner and saw fantastic landscape, jungle, monkeys (so tame they eat out of your hand - yes, family, i have had a rabies shot!), many empty beaches with sparkling black sand and clear green waters.
2. Took the boat over to Gili Air, a beautiful place where there are no dogs, no scooters and no cars. People get around by horse and cart (as they also do on the mainland) or walking. Was invited on a tour of the three Gili islands for free (yippee!) and saw huge turtles. Spent the evenings on the beach in a hammock with Australians... still don't like beer.
3. Didn't get over to Kuta, Lombok as time was running out. Went back to Kuta, Bali instead and this time with the help of Marine (she lived in Bali for a year - we met in Cambodia) and Arie (local woman) I really enjoyed it. They took me off the beaten track to more secluded beaches and we feasted on fresh fish and local Balinese cuisine at night.
As soon as I manage to get more credit I'll post a few pics.
