Indonesia 26 July to 22 Sep 2023
26.07. - 05.08.23 Lombok
- Brief review
Before we set off in January 2023, we naturally told lots of friends what we were planning. The reactions were mostly on a spectrum from enthusiasm and encouragement such as "I'd like to do that too" / "yes, if you get there, I can give you tips", to amazement such as "I wouldn't dare".
A few reactions were different, including Eric. He immediately said "we can meet there".
Now, months later, the time has come.
We've just come from Kuala Lumpur and are tired and hungry. After a lengthy discussion, we got a driver who unfortunately didn't know the way exactly. So we arrive at the hostel a little later than we had planned.
Here we meet Eric again.
Eric set off a few months before us, with a similar destination but a different route. Towards Asia.
Here on Lombok, one of the eastern islands of Indonesia, we wanted to have a really good time. Not low budget for a week, but enjoy it.
We spent two more nights in a guesthouse until our holiday home became available.
- The house
We rented a holiday home for 6 days on the edge of a small village.
From the top we have a view of the lake in two directions.
In good weather, we could see the island's volcano. There was a spacious garden, which we could see from the terrace, and a cosy sofa.
As Janine and I are still a bit ill, we can rest here. That's why we're not surfing here either.
And, drum roll 🥁🥁🥁🥁...
We have a kitchen.
We haven't been able to cook for ourselves for months, and that's changing here.
However, cooking your own food is also more expensive than eating out. At least if you also use western ingredients such as cheese.
And we used cheese.
But we actually managed to pull ourselves together quite well. In the end, we didn't cook such expensive meals. But it was super tasty and nice to eat our own food or muesli with yoghurt for breakfast.
So we always spent a lot of time cooking together and listening to music or chatting.
- Monkey theatre
We also bought a large pack of peanuts for cooking or as a snack.
Eric was surfing and we just wanted to relax. (After coming here with a fading case of tonsillitis, we then caught quite an explanation) So we just lay on the sofa and enjoyed the view until we dozed off a bit.
I hear a noise from the kitchen.
At first I wondered who was in the kitchen...
Janine is lying next to me, and Eric is surfing...
Startled, I jump up and make a dash towards the kitchen. A startled monkey is now sitting on the kitchen counter.
None of the ones we've seen so often, who are used to tourists and take the food out of your hand. There aren't that many tourists here. It's a wild monkey. A big one.
We look at each other indecisively for a moment, not knowing how the other will react next. Without giving it much thought, I make another leap towards the monkey and shout at him. He, even more startled, also makes a leap towards me, but completely intimidated by the roar, he decides to flee. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then I see the peanuts I was looking forward to in his hand. So I go after him. We both go to the balcony door, which is open. He climbs onto a post and onto the roof above the balcony. I think for a moment that I'm beaten, but then I remember the large window in the room upstairs, which looks out onto this very roof. So I quickly climb up. The monkey, who thought he was safe for a moment, sees me through the window and flees. But without the nuts. They're on the roof...
I come up with a plan and start to build an extension out of yoga mats, a broomstick and some rope. The plan: I just have to make something long enough to push the bag of nuts over the edge. Then I can just drop them down. The problem: the monkey is not stupid. He's teamed up with some of his fellow monkeys in the garden to grab the nuts as soon as I've got them off the roof.
Fortunately, they are shy enough to back off immediately if we even make a move in their direction. So Janine keeps watch downstairs to make sure they keep their distance until I get the nuts off the roof. Then quickly collect them and go back into the house. And this time close all the doors and windows again. Some of the nuts are thrown away where he opened the bag, but we can get most of them back.
- Relaxation with adventure
To keep us mobile, we hired a scooter so that we could not only go shopping or visit one of the super tasty restaurants, but also explore the island and the surrounding area a little on our own.
So we spent a day at a surfing beach to the west, which was hidden behind a long bumpy track. With probably the roundest sand I've ever seen and huge waves 🌊 🌊.
Another time we searched the coast to the east. We found an unfinished resort behind an off-road track and were able to lie on a picturesque beach and watch the waves. When I tried to swim here despite the waves, I got quite a sunburn, even though I had put on plenty of sun cream, and even Eric turned a little red.
In the evening, we watched the sunset near our house. All scooter trips have one thing in common: people celebrate my helmet. I got this Pikachu helmet in Vietnam/Ha Giang because I thought it was funny. A lot of people rode around with it there. Occasionally, tourists saw it and laughed. But here in Indonesia, nobody knows this helmet. No matter where I drive, children run after me in every village or adults shout Pikachu or Pokemon at the top of their voices. With this accessory, I am the hero of the "strawberry/rice field" here.
During the day, Janine sorted out lots of videos from the scooter tour in Vietnam, Eric played guitar and practised, and I started decorating one of our bottles with ropes.
One evening we just made ourselves comfortable on the sofa and watched "Cast Away", a film from 2000 in which Tom Hanks is stranded on a deserted tropical island.
Unfortunately, the 8 days with Eric passed far too quickly. As his visa is about to expire and the house is already fully booked elsewhere, we set off.
We've seen that there's a beach here where you can spend the night in a tent. We want to try that out.
We spend two more nights right by the sea. One evening, the tide is so high that the wet sand is only 2 metres away from our tent. It was pretty cool to wake up in the morning and then have the sea right in front of you. And then we spent half the day sitting by the sea, watching the waves and seeing all the surfers on a short walk.
What you can't see in the pictures: The campsite was listed on Google Maps, but the facilities were very makeshift. To shower, you had to switch on the electricity at one point, then walk 20 metres to the other side, turn on the tap to the fountain and then walk 20 metres to the shower. From the moment you turned on the tap, however, the water was running. There was simply no sink or mirror.
- From yesterday to tomorrow
One of my other unforgettable experiences was when we were on our way to Bali. We booked a trip from our base to the harbour and then took the ferry from the harbour to Bali. We were driven by Rif, who had already driven the scooters for the last few days, and Eric also had him drive us.
On the way, we had the opportunity to talk to him for a while.
For example, he told us where the full moon parties in Asia actually came from. Before they had electricity on the island and oil wasn't easy to get, it was simply dark at night. Until the full moon, people would meet up on the beach and party together, simply because they couldn't do it otherwise. At some point, oil lamps arrived. At least they made life in the houses in the dark easier. And since there is electricity, the houses are no longer so sooty and there are no longer so many fires.
That was in 2007.
Yes, you read that right, the village got electricity in 2007. He also remembers that bartering was normal in his childhood, but he no longer knew exactly when the money came to the island.
As a result, older people have no media skills whatsoever because they have never experienced it. The children who now have mobile phones are the first generation to experience something like this.
His children have smartphones, but they are usually completely banned in schools.
He sent his daughter to a boarding school because it was better regarded. His daughter was initially against it, but after two weeks she didn't want to leave. Mobile phones are completely banned at this boarding school.
He himself never went to a proper school, they simply didn't exist back then. And he taught himself English.
He once met an Australian and got on very well with him. He had a dictionary with him. When the Australian returned, he left him the dictionary. Over the course of three years, he memorised the dictionary and whenever he met someone who spoke English, he tried to speak.
The island is now well-known among surfers and thrives on tourism. But when Corona started, the tourists didn't come here either. As a result, he tells us, it was almost like it used to be. Nobody could afford electricity. The whole village stayed dark at night. During the day, people caught fish or looked after the plants. As there were no local teachers here, schools were also cancelled.
Now that tourists are coming again, he and some friends have started a small organisation that collects money to give the children back the time they lost at school. They meet once a week at the weekend so that everyone who goes to other schools can also come. Then they have breakfast together. Afterwards they go to collect rubbish. It is important to him that the children learn to treat nature better right from the start. Then there are lessons. It depends a bit on who they get as a teacher... At the end there is always an ice cream for everyone so that they come back. The whole thing is free and voluntary for the children.
-The ferry
That's how we got to the ferry, which surprisingly had even left a little late. There were seats, but we didn't feel like squeezing onto the benches in the large, noisy and somewhat musty rooms with all the others. We went up to the upper deck. Together with a few others, we simply made ourselves comfortable on the floor. I also took a nap with a helmet as a round cushion. After all, the journey takes 6 hours.
📷 You can find more great pictures in the photo album.
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