Stop 48 - Lombok

Lombok, not Bali...

Which we had little to no intention of visiting when planning Indonesia, but after arriving and talking to people on the Gili islands, we were swayed to check out what Lombok had to offer. We repeatedly heard that it was more authentic, cheaper ("Lombok prices" mean you can get a fried rice lunch for around 50c), and had a bit more adventure to offer than its very touristy neighbouring island. We boarded another nauseating boat journey with hangovers in tow, which wasn't the ideal way to prepare for one of the toughest tasks of the year that lay in wait for us. First we had a night in Sengigi, a seaside town on the island - nothing remarkable but a nice place for a night. But the big task at hand was the trek of Mt. Rinjani, which we had decided to do after hearing from so many people of how incredible of an experience it was. It was a two day/one night onslaught up the 3000m+ volcano - not sure we knew what we were getting ourselves into:

Thankfully there are guides to help you along the way - they do an incredible job, working six days a week going up and down the mountain, often in bare feet or flip-flops (as Dani had to attempt, as her shoes had no grip and was slipping more often than not). Thankfully the humidity and temperature drop as you make the ascent - still some of us aren't always sure we've made the right decision during these things:

But once we reached the top, it was all worth it. The cold temperatures set in, and you've to wrap up for the evening/following morning, but the views of the volcanic crater are absolutely mind blowing. Seeing sunset and sunrise above the clouds was spectacular, but even better was the moonset that coincided with sunrise that morning. We had a particularly rough night of it, with very strong winds making it feel like our tent could be blown off the side of the mountain at any moment (we mentioned it to our guides, who proceeded to tie our tent to one of the tents next to us. If we go, they go). But all in, it was one of the highlights of the year. Helped that the food was half decent too.

We made our way down the mountain a little bit faster than the way up thankfully, and we made our way out the gates of the national park extremely grateful to be able to have achieved something so difficult to get through, but at the same time relieved we could get back to civilisation, have a shower, and begin the process of regaining feeling in our legs.

And no better place to begin that process than our hostel (if you can call it that) for the next five nights - Bamba. We got a taxi down to Kuta Lombok, and after a quick stop off at a wedding in a local village, we were dropped off at the entrance - feeling quite out of place at the luxurious lobby, given we had spent two days on a mountain with no showers. Definitely has the wow factor, as we were blown away instantly - it's more like a 5 star resort than a hostel. Included was a gorgeous breakfast+coffee included every morning for around 9euro each all in, we were seeing what "Lombok prices" really gave you, and we could get used to it.

We can't speak highly enough about the place - and it has an awesome coffee shop/cocktail bar across the road called Milk Espresso - 4euro espresso martinis during happy hour as good as anywhere else in the world. A few too many of those led to Dani deciding a couple of bracelets, or five, would be a good idea to buy from the local kids running around looking for tourists. Their business model is pretty good to be fair:

Wrapping it up with a few quick hitters of the highlights of our time here - first up Macan (which means tiger in Indonesian) - the hostel dog, an absolute legend, we made good friends with her - even bringing her to dinner one time at a local restaurant, before she got kicked out for trying to steal food off everyone else's table. Hero. If we ever get a dog, it'll be tough not to give Macan the nod as the name!

A day snorkelling at some of the smaller Gili islands, so small we can't recall the name - a boat tour brought us around for the day until we reached another sandbar for sunset. Tough life.

The 2euro haircut Stu decided upon in a shack off the side of the road. The barber was a great guy, bringing out his family to see the foreigner that stumbled upon his place of work. They fed and watered us for the entire time: good. Haircut: bad.

And finally (and most importantly), we already mentioned the breakfast+coffee at Bamba was pretty good. The cafe/restaurant was also open for dinner and served some of the best food we've had all trip. The main thing that always jumped to mind was the passion fruit cheesecake for dessert...4.50 a slice, which is nearly two meals here in Indonesia, but genuinely worth it. We talked about it so much that some of our friends from the Rinjani hike decided to join us and try - Judith, Clara, and Daniel all agreed:

And that was that, a tough start, but so worth it, and Lombok ended up being a stop we absolutely loved - definitely one we'd come back to given half the chance. Next we get to see what Bali is really like!

Big love,

Dani & Stu.

Currently listening to:

Country 9 & Stop 47 - Gili Islands, Indonesia

Next up Indonesia...
As we flew into Bali, where we decided our month would be best spent. We talked to people along the way about visiting Jakarta or the likes, but for our first time here we felt it best not to be travelling too much. there's only so much you can fit in! After flying in pretty late we stayed the night in Bali Caps Hostel in Kuta - great for a stopover for a night, but that's all we spent there, having heard it's party central and not much else. Sean thought it'd be worth a look, so we split up for a few days. For now it was just the two of us heading on to our first stop - Gili trawangan. We didn't die on the fast boat over from Bali island, which had us off to a good start - the 1/5 star tripAdvisor review from 2015 stating "engine exploded, two people died" had us worried, but given we made it in one piece, the nauseating journey gets a solid 3/5 from us. the beer we had beforehand probably didn't help matters, but still a great way to start our time here:

Immediately after arriving we noticed how chilled out it seemed - no motorised vehicles at all, only bicycles and horse-drawn carriages are allowed on the island. We checked in to our hostel for the first couple of nights, Broken Compass, which was perfect - very chill, nice pool, and the room was more like a hotel room than a hostel. Result.

After a nights rest we decided to explore what the island had to offer off the main strip, and did a lap by bike - it's beautiful beaches everywhere, and gets even more chilled out over on the other side

We had to finish up our lap of the island quite quickly, as we had an important matter to take care of - we had one last chance to quickly catch up with Karlijn, one of the girls we met in Sri Lanka, before she left the island and wrapped up her own travels. Made it just in time and was lovely to catch up and hear how each of us have gotten on since we left each other 4-5 months ago!

Karlijn also kindly recommended we check out Banyan tree, a cafe just on the bottom of the main strip. Absolutely amazing food, but the worst service we've ever seen. People at tables look at each other incredulously for 30-40 minutes waiting for a waiter to bring a menu. We saw minimum three tables get up and leave within our first 20 minutes here.

Dani found a nearby yoga school, and we felt our time in Gili t was off to a winner:

Given we had a few days to spare until Sean was joining us, we decided we'd make a quick two night stopover at Gili Air, one of the three Gili islands - apparently the quietest of the bunch, and an even more chilled out place to unwind. On we headed down to the harbour we arrived from, and even had time to stop off for a coffee:

Before making the <30 minute journey to the neighbouring island, where we stayed at  tipsea turtle, a new/developing hostel - cheap and did the job. Gili Air itself was amazing, better than we expected, having heard it was nearly "too quiet", it pleasantly surprised us and we loved our time here. Would definitely recommend. Very chilled, a place to go each night for some nightlife, beautiful sunsets, and plenty to do. treating ourselves to a steak dinner probably didn't hurt either.

After a successful little stopover we were back to Gili t, where we were catching up with Sean - we decided to stay at Gili Castle - just up the road from our last hostel, a bit more craic and pool parties on during the week. Again, would recommend. From here we saw the other side of the main strip of Gili t - once night hits, the chilled out vibe goes out the window, and party central takes hold. If you're looking for a night out this is the place to be.

A long night out was sorted by a snorkelling trip around the three islands, swimming with sea turtles and all the tropical fish surrounding. Absolutely brilliant, except for when the boat drove off leaving Stu nearly stranded in between the islands with no boats nearby. Health & Safety isn't top of the list on boat tours in Bali it seems.

the rest of our time was spent chilling around the island, enjoying the beer pong, pool parties, and general craic the island had to offer - jumping off the top of the climbing wall at the hostel seeming ever more attractive after each drink:

And Sama Sama Reggae Bar being our pick of the clubs on the strip. A great start to our time here in Indonesia, particularly Gili Air - it's definitely worth a few days if you get the chance to go.

We said one final goodbye to the horses on the strip of Gili t, and set off for our next adventure. After talking to people who knew the best spots to visit in Indonesia, we decided on a little bit of a change for our next stop - Bali island itself would be waiting for a week, as we decided to visit Lombok - the next island over. Another nauseating journey awaits, and hopefully all we have planned works out - not quite the chilled out week we just had, a bit more adventure awaits.

Big love,

Dani & Stu.

Currently listening to: