James takes on the world!

After leaving the tourist chaos that is Bali I have spent 2 weeks on the neighboring island of Lombok which is the complete antithesis. I started by spending 5 days on the tiny white sand island of Gili Trawangan which is located on the North West corner of Lombok.  This was an amazing place to completely relax, aided by the fact that the only transport is by bike or horse and cart and the very laid back, “go with the flow” ethos of the 700 inhabitants of the island. I made friends with a great group of people (1 German, 1 Dutchman, 1 Italian, 2 Swedish and 2 English) on the small boat on the way over from Lombok. We spent the days either lying on the beach or by the pool, diving, surfing, eating or drinking. Although Gili Trawangan is one of 3 small islands located on the North West coast it is considered the most touristy, however, if the island is touristy then I can’t imagine how quite the other 2 islands are because for me it was perfect.

One evening in particular I was surfing with 2 of my friends and it was an incredible spot. The sun was setting beside the silhouette of one of Bali’s volcanoes on the horizon, there were great waves, crystal clear waters and beautiful corals and fish below us. Finally, to top it all off, there was a beautiful rainbow. It was a sight that I will remember for a very long time.

The diving in the Gilis was also great. We did one dive at the site of an old wreck where I got to see my first Octopus as well as a big Puffa Fish, lots of turtles, Crocodile Fish, Scorpion Fish, a Moray Eel and lots of undisturbed Corals. That evening a few of us hired one of the bamboo beach huts on the beach where you can choose from hundreds of films and sit on comfy cushions and eat popcorn whilst listening to the sea.

I felt that I had spent long enough on the Gili Islands and so me and one of my friends, a Dutch guy called Thijs went back to Lombok and hired two motorbikes and drove to a small beach side town on the south coast called Kuta. Once again Kuta on Lombok was the complete antitheses of the town of Kuta on Bali. It was a very surfing orientated town as there are many famous surfing spots located nearby. We spent 3 days driving to some of the beautiful bays along the coats. Most of which had no development of any kind nearby and were left completely untouched. One area in particular called Mawan Bay was truly amazing. I rode there one evening on my own when the sun was setting and I had the entire 1km horseshoe shaped beach completely to myself. I walked along the beach as a few small fishing boats returned from their day on the sea. I took a few photos of them sorting out their nets and when one of the small children spotted me, he came running up to me with a huge smile on his face because he wanted to see himself on the camera. The family only spoke the local dialect of Sasak but I still managed to have a laugh with them even though neither of us could understand a word of the other was saying.

Thijs had to return to Bali for his flight back to Holland but I didn’t feel that I had spent enough time in Lombok so I rode with him back to where we had hired the motorbikes and arranged to meet up with my friend Martijn who I had traveled with earlier in my trip. He also had a friend with him so the 3 of us took a motorbike each and drove down the South West peninsular which is virtually unexplored by tourists. Our guide book had very little written about the area so we took a gamble and drove for 2 hours and searched for somewhere to stay. We managed to find some nice beach bungalows which had been built by a German guy who had been living in Indonesia for 17 years. We used this as our base for exploring the coast and we visited the surf spot of Desert Point which is extremely hard to reach due to incredibly bumpy dirt road which leads to it. I have no idea how our small automatic bikes managed to make it there without getting a flat tire or overheating. We then followed a perfectly maintained and unused road to a beautiful bay on the south coast. The road had been built by foreign investors who intended to build some huge hotels and resort here but for some reason or another work had never actually begun, much to our appreciation.

I felt that I wanted to go back to the South which I had previously visited with Thijs so all three of us took the 3 hour ride back there. This time I was keen to surf on some of the huge waves rather than just chill on the beaches. Martijn and I hired a small outrigger boat for 3 hours which was skippered by a 11 year old boy who dropped us at a surf spot called Grupuk. There had been a big swell and some of the long ‘right’ waves were huge 10ft barrels. I learnt a few lessons very quickly and the ability to duck dive through some of the waves was very helpful. I stuck to the edges of some of the waves and had great fun surfing for 3 hours. I was completely drained afterwards so sitting on the beach was the more attractive option than surfing again in the afternoon.

After a total of 2 weeks in Lombok I had to return to Bali to collect my Visa. I had left my bag at one of the tourist offices in Mataram, the capital of Lombok and taken a small bag with me for the 2 weeks so that I didn’t have to carry my big bag on the motorbike. When I returned to pick it up the office workers had said that they wondered whether I was ever going to return to pick it up, especially as I had originally only intended on staying in Lombok for 2 days.

It is 1 week today until Gisella comes to meet me in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. I am sure you can all imagine how excited I am. If everyone back home could keep their fingers crossed that her flight is not delayed or cancelled because of the ash cloud then that would be great.

Until then I am going to spend the week giving Bali another chance and doing some more surfing at some of the many famous spots. As I am sure you have all gathered surfing and scuba diving seem to have become my new addictions since I have started traveling. All the best to everyone back home.

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