Indonesia 2008

An early start to pack and catch the 10am bus to Lembar, from where we will take the ferry to Padangbai in Bali, and then onto Kuta.

The bus passes through developed areas of Lombok, classic rice paddies and across a range of roads.

Lombok has clear signs of the real, or old Indonesia, of which only fragments remains in Bali.

Our bus is stopped by the police, but they are only interested in seeing the drivers paperwork. We later pass through another roadblock. This must be the improved security I’ve read about.

We get to Lembar where we get aboard the ferry, which is pretty big. We are hassled by the normal range of vendors.

We settle into an outside bench which we have to ourselves. The ferry ride is fine. The weather becomes a little wet and windy, but the ferry doesn’t get too rough.

Back in Bali we take the bus back to Kuta, via Ubud.

Another relaxing day of good food, swimming, walking and relaxing. We book tickets for tomorrow to Senggigi in Lombok.

After another great breakfast (Indonesians make great pancakes and fruit salads) we pack a bag and head around the island. Gili Air is pretty much surrounded by shallow reef, which means swimming isn’t so easy, but snorkelling is as easy as getting in the water. We stop under the shade of a tree where the views of Lombok’s mountains are stunning. Danny, the landlord of out beach chalet, has leant us a snorkel so we get straight into floating out over the reef.

The reef is home to beautiful fish and a few plants. It isn’t as good as the Great Barrier Reef or Whitsunday Islands is Australia, but it is so much more accessible here. After lounging around we get some lunch and take a walk around the rest of the island.

There is some more traditional village life at the southern end of the island, around the boat jetty. The western side of the island is pretty sparse these days, but there remains some signs of accommodation, which was probably the first on the island. We stop at the north western side and take a swim. The water is very shallow and the water very warm. It looks as though the reef has been removed at this point of the beach. I can still feel the bed of the reef under my feet, but nothing remains on the top. Broken reef is used as gravel around the island and I can’t help but assume that early developers of the island just removed the reef from the shallow sections and dragged it up the beach. It looks as though this practice has ended now.

We spend the remainder of the day relaxing in the shade and marvelling at the incredible sunset.

We catch a little more of the Bali celebrations whilst walking down to the bus station. We catch the bus to the Padagbai ferry terminal. After a short wait we jump on the boat to the Gili Islands.

The journey goes quickly. We chat to a few people, and catch a nap, even though the downstairs section of the book is very loud. The staff cook a nice meal for everyone before we get off.

We are glad to be on Gili Air are start to walk. A horse and cart driver offers us a lift. We decline, but his price gets lower and lower, so we hop in. He drives us to a recommended place to stay, but it’s not as nice as we had hoped. We try the next place which is much nicer, amazing in fact.

We settle in and grab a few drinks.

Today is the Galungan festival day in Bali. There are lots of decorations on the street. Everyone is dressed in their Sunday best.

We ride the scooter into town, and after a few jobs (which is tricky with everything shut), we take a walk out amongst the rice paddies. This is perhaps one of the things I have most looked forward to in Indonesia. Once we have walked to the end of the lane, dodging all of the people doing their tasks in their festival dress, we round a corner and there are the rice paddies in the front of us.

We walk amongst the rice paddies, up and down hills. The views are amazing. These are working farms with people growing the rice they need, and rearing a few ducks which are a local specialty. The people here (also dressed up for the festival) are friendly and chatty. We meet a man who is keen for us to take his picture.

Every since seeing the Kecak dance in the film Baraka I’ve always wanted to see a real performance.

Today we saw a show in Ubud. It was fantastic. More authentic than I was expecting, no selling of any kinda, and a simple ‘thank you for coming’ at the end of the performance.