Bali to Lombok and back to Bali

Off to Lombok by fast boat (from Amed, Bali). A rough and gas/exhaust-fumed event, but short – 1.5 hours as opposed to 4 hours by regular (cheap) ferry. We did, however, opt for the slow ferry back to Bali and while slower it was much more comfortable in the VIP air-conditioned section (and much cheaper: $9 vs $40-$50).  

In the "VIP" section of slow ferry (an extra $1.50 each!)

Lombok is a beautiful island -- white sand beaches, big palms, and azure waters. We stayed in Senggigi -- a small resort town midway between Bagsal (near Gili Islands) and Mataram. We stayed in the Sunset House, which was a lovely small hotel right on the beach. Although more expensive than we were used to, the food was excellent and the room nice (best bed of the trip so far). More importantly, the people were so nice and friendly. The restaurant staff were all young and they liked to practise their English with us. This led to a small altercation on the first day when a young waitress referred to David as "Papa," which is an honorific in Lombok, and David immediately responded: "I'm not your papa!" This led to a little upset followed by many apologies from David. Once straightened out we were humourously referred to as “Papa David” and “Mama Meeschel” – EVERY time they saw us!.

One of the Gillis (small islands off Lombok)

 

Beach in front of our Senggigi (Lombok) hotel

A "cidomo" -- horse & cart taxi common on Lombok (they're fast!)

Our time on Lombok was relaxing. We even rented a motorcycle ($5 per day), David, fancying himself as Dennis Hopper, and spent a hot morning touring. We had planned to fly from Lombok to Surabaya and then to Kalimantan to see the orangutans but, due to logistics and not being able to get confirmed flights (while in Sanur, we also tried to book a ferry to Kalimantan, to no avail), we decided to give the forest fellows a miss this time. Instead, we will make a donation to one of the Rehab Centres, which in the long run will be more useful to our friends (which according to research may only have a mere 40 years of existence left if something isn't done to save their habitat). Perhaps, we will pay them a visit sailing on Pelagia in future.

OK, not quite Dennis Hopper...

We are now back in Lovina, Bali at Villa Jaya, our second home, relaxing and eating well, mirroring Rasi, the hotel mascot. Rasi hates the papparazi, but David surreptitiously captured her on film.  Michelle caught a bad cold and re-hurt her ankle, but these are now well on the mend.

Rasi (hates being photographed and is afraid of thunder)

We head to Ubud (Bali) tomorrow for two days, then fly back to Thailand December 2nd (from Bali to Bangkok – we changed our flights).


We have a few photos of Bali & Lombok on FLICKR:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sv-pelagia/sets/72157632100719941/