Lombok

 So finally years later I'm typing up the rest of the blog from my diary!

Sun 31 cont...

So we're off to Lombok, Matt got some cheap flights, Denpasar to Mataram, cheaper than getting to Padang Bai and boating across. After watching the surf comp at Uluwatu we went back to Kafein for one last coffee before a taxi to the airport at 2pm. Only 100,000 to the airport.

Flew with Lion Air, small jet, we were only in the air for 20 mins! Found a bus to Sengiggi for 35,000, about 1 1/2 hours. We looked at couple of homesteads there that were awful. Looked at Sonya homestay that was in the lonely planet, it was a dive. It was getting late now, so we ate some dinner. In the end we took taxi to Ressa Homestay at 10pm, I found it on booking.com, 5km outside of the town at Tanjung Bias, which was a good thing as we didn't like the vibe of the town at all, karaoke places, bars, hassle. A bit tatty, but clean and breakfast included...200,000.

Mon 1st June

Banana jaffle and coffee on the terrace. Off to Mataram to sort visa extension. Found a place to get all our documents copied as required, 8 pages, 10p! jumped into a Bemo taxi thing (rusty pickup truck) and got dropped at the immigration place. The lady at the office said we couldn't get our visa extended without a sponsor as we'd got our visa in Kuala Lumpur not on arrival. Anyway, long story short we ended up paying a local a small fee for an agent to sign it for us. Typically it was to be a holiday the next day or two so the office would be shut, we could pick up visa and passport on Thursday.

Had a nice local breakfast, sweet rice in banana leaf in a tiny place with a guy who'd stopped to say hello, Randa. He worked for a telecom company so Matt got a sim off him for the month cheap.

Got a Bemo back to Ressa Homestay, it then rained really really heavily til 4pm!

Wandered over to the local beach where Matt fished with some local teenagers. Further along a group of men took their cart horses in for a dip and fisherman pulled in huge nets from the beach.

There are lot's of local warungs along the beach, people live in them, a very simple basic life.

Had a coffee and coke for 12p and Nasi Goreng for 50p. Cheap living indeed!

Wandered home up the track by torchlight.

Tuesday 2

Slow start then a bemo into Sengiggi, rented a  moped off a nice guy, 50,000 (£2.50) and set off along the coast road. Very scenic, stopped at a beach for a swim after lunch. 

Then it rained again, torrential, thunder and lightning for a couple of hours. Took shelter in a little cafe with a mother and daughter and drank and ate snacks until it eased up.

Had dinner in a local warung close to home, then found a pancake street stall and had 2 cashew and chocolate pancakes, 2 veg rotis and green coconut sweets, all for 40p!! mad

Weds 3

Tripped out on the moped to Coco Beach Cafe, quite a posh warung with seated areas under bamboo on platforms. Matt had Spag Bol! A group of Muslim boys descended on us and wanted to practice their English. They filmed us chatting whilst we ate, funny, then more photos. Matt loved it!

As we started heading back it started raining again, put our ponchos on but the huge drops hurt your face and legs! Pulled over and had a coffee, then home for a nap. Drove into Sengiggi, had dinner and dropped the bike back, a guy gave us a lift home.

Thurs 4

Packed up and went to get our passports and visas. Got chatting to a guy whose mate was driving two English guys from Essex to Kuta. We joined for 100, 000 for both of us, very good price. He stopped at his home on the way and made us coffee, met his 4 kids and wife, then on we went.

looked at one room, 350,000, damp shitty room, didn't like the feel of it.

We ended up at Together Homestay for 100,000 (£5 for the two of us) and pancakes and coffee included! It was a very basic room, fan, cold shower, but there was a communal sitting area and garden.

We had lunch at Nuggets corner, good Gado Gado and Nasi Goreng, got a moped  50,000 (£2.50) and had a quick drive to a nearby beach.

Food was so good at Nuggets that we had dinner there too!

Fri 5

Lazy start, Banana pancakes and coffee made by Agoust, a nice chap, and chatting to fellow guests. A lovely bunch of people, youngsters compared to us, A Mexican lad who had lost his passport, Lance, a weed growing surfer guy from California, a couple of Canadians, Neil and Tom from Vancouver. a German girl, another couple and a few others. We got into a routine of hanging out in the mornings, occasionally eating together and having a beer or two. They had way more than one or two! :-D

Went to Selong Belanac beach about 30 mins West. Lovely ride through tiny villages, great scenery, a nice white sand beach with warungs along the back. We had lunch at Jacks Surf shack. Fabulous vegetable curry.

Matt hired a foamy and caught his first wave for 5 months!

Sat 6

Headed to Selong Belenac again. There was a surf competition happening and the locals were racing the outrigger boats.

7,8,9,10,11,12

Much of the same, got into a lazy state following much the same routine, visited some other beaches, Mawi, Mawun, Tanjung Aan. I drove the moped! Ate locally at Nanas, Nuggets and other local warungs.

Sat 13... off to Flores!