Lombok, indonesia

Today is a sad day. It is the day we have separated ways from Shyla and Tanner.
We spent 12 days together. From morning to night, checking out the sights of Gili and Lombok together. We are so so happy we were able to meet up and spend quality time together, seeing and exploring parts of Indonesia. We laughed lots, exchanged many stories, and made new memories. Like we said, we could not have asked for a better couple to travel with. Both so easy going and fun to be around, Shyla and Tanner were the perfect travel companions. Shyla and Tanner if your reading this, you just know how great of a time we all had. Words aren't necessary ;) see ya back in Saskatoon. Can I suggest we go for bintangs and fried rice? ;)maybe get in a round of cards playing "ding" or a$$hole.

After enjoying the quiet, relaxing and beautiful gili islands, the four of us took a local boat over the main land Lombok. It was a tiny boat filled with locals going about their daily lives.. Heading to school. Work, shopping, etc. recycling and materials were also loaded on the boat.

We had prearranged a day tour of Lombok including two waterfalls, a market tour and a monkey forest. Our "fee" included our driver who wore his hat backwards and bopped his head to Rihanna smiling away and driving crazy, a spacious air con vehicle for 4 and a tour of the above mentioned spots.
Lovely scenery with rice fields and coastal roads.

 

  Leechy fruit

We had been misinformed about the tour we paid for, since we had to dish out more money for a guide to see the waterfalls..but that's the Asian way
It was a nice forest walk to see the big waterfall, and adventurous trek over slippery rocks to enjoy the ice cold freshwater.

Then we drove to the "monkey forest" which was a spot on the side of the main road where the monkeys hung out. They are always entertaining.. Deceivingly evil..

Finally we were taken to Senggigi where we would stay a couple nights.
One look AT the beach in Senggigi told us we would not be having a "beach day". It was dirty-with
garbage, black sand and full of boats. So we paid $5 each to spend the day at the pool of a fancy resort. ( yes, we felt slightly guilty hanging out at a fancy pool all day, but hey sometimes when your travelling, you just need a very chill day)

Next stop:Kuta, Lombok, known for its beautiful beaches and surfing central. Our first impression was : this is the grossest village yet. There was literally garbage everywhere and lots of it! I noticed a couple kids, adults and even a dog all had skin impairments or body disfigurations.. Maybe due to the poor living condition?
Despite this first impression, we had some of our favourite meals in Kuta and rented a scooter to find a gorgeous beaches a little ways from the main village. We. Enjoyed touring around the country side seeing locals doing their day to day life. Not like back home that's for sure. Lots of manual labour with no equipment or anything like that in the heat all day. One beach we found was in a bay, with perfect white sand and green blue water. It must have been a hidden gem because there were very few tourists on the beach. We spent two days scootering around checking out the place, and ended up at this perfect beach both days.
We stayed on the edge of the Kuta village in a complex of greenery and a small pool. We thought we had really lucked out finding this accommodation... Until a few surprises found Ashton and I. I woke up with a bunch of Mosquito bites, and no sooner realized they weren't mosquito bites, they were bed bug bites. ( it sounds absolutely disgusting but it wasn't that bad.. The only way we knew they weren't mosquito bites was because the bites were in a line from my ankle up my calf, and then a small clump on my thigh.
So we moved rooms, to a spacious second floor room in an old building.
That night the four of us sat on our new balcony playing cards and having drinks. When We noticed a shadow in our room. Another RAT!!!! Because the drinks were flowing, the rat situation was somewhat comical as we watched Tanner scare it out of the room. Phew..
We all went out for a midnight "boom burger" which was an adventure in itself. We ended up having drinks and playing cards a little later than we thought and wanted to go for supper but All of the restaurants were closed, but up ahead we saw a picture of a large, delicious burger which pretty much glowed, it looked so good. It was a food stand that was still open. So we all decided to order the supreme boom burger which had all the toppings, even an egg. When the burgers came we all bit into them then looked around at each other as one key ingredient was missing, the beef! So we tried to explain to the lady that the beef was missing and she just smiled saying yes burger, eat, eat. Lol we were ready to give up on getting beef as we were hungry and it was pretty good without it anyway when the lady came out laughing with a frying pan in her hand saying sorry,sorry I forget. In the pan was 4 slices of meat, no thicker than a piece of salami. Let's just say the burger we received didn't look like the picture. Haha we all had a good laugh about it
After returning to our room we heard it again.. The sound of a rat!! Since it was already 1 am, it was too late to change rooms, we ran downstairs and asked the hotel clerk to get the rat out of our room. (Cuz obviously we are terrified of rats)..well the clerk flicked on all the lights and did a quick search of the room..nothing! (So now, this clerk basically says, no rat, go to bed.) once the lights went off the sound returned. Basically the worst night ever. I finally saw it scurry around and felt helpless and trapped. Ashton slept, while I finally passed out after 5 am. We packed our bags and left the place early the next day. Shyla and Tanner stayed in their room, as they had no problems and we wanted access to the pool.
After we had our fun in Kuta, we went back to Senggigi where we rented a scooter and had a very scenic day while we drove along the coast, enjoying the rolling scenery and coastal bays. It was like the great ocean road of indonesia. Stopped for a nice lunch, and continued biking.

Excellent way to end our time in Lombok.