Lombok - From Gili T to Kuta L

After a few marvellous days in Ubud, our small group found itself on the road to Gili Trawangan.

Our mini bus to the coast was late (what a surprise...) and the boat ride was smooth. I was a bit concerned since you hear a lot of bad experiences on the boats connecting Indonesian island. All good eventually. There is no pier when you get to Gili T, the boat leaves you on the beach and picks up a new bunch of people for the route back.

Arriving in Gili T.

Our 4 nights stay on the island could be summed up by an quest to catch the sunset. We were not so lucky with the weather unfortunately as it rained most of the time. We were using the time on hand to play a lot of card games. The rain-free time was spent on the beach. This is pretty much all there is to do on the island. Then there're so many water sports activities - this archipelago is a world class diving area. Snorkeling was not too bad either. The crystal clear water, the white sand beaches make it a perfect location for doing nothing :D and we did just that :)

Well not exactly... but the lack of consistent nice weather did not push us to do more. Nice and relax some would say.

On my side I did go for an early morning run around the entire island (6.9km only).

West coast of Gili T with Bali landscape in the back.

In our quest for sun, Max and I decided to head to Lombok a few kilometres on the East of Gilis, hence leave our travel buddies for the past days. What a great time we have had and what an amazing bunch of people.

Happy people. We spent a bit more than a week together.

Instead of booking a fast boat we took the so called "public" boat... for 1 euro (15000 rupiahs). It felt like being on a nutshell and therefore no so safe. It was crowded with 60+ passengers compare to the 41 persons capacity of the boat... Safety first as they say!

We made it to the shore and hopped on a taxi to our hotel for the night north of Senggigi.

Bali from Longok (Senggigi). 

From a sunset point of view, this was almost as good as it got for us... not very lucky but nothing to complain about really. 

Max and I had to make a choice: North to the waterfall, or South to the beaches...

Since the weather forecast was better south, we decided to head there early morning and enjoy the (for once) sunny day burning on the beach.

Tanjung Aan beach in the south of Lombok

Mandalika beach in Kuta Lombok.

It turned out to be such a great idea as we bumped in friends on the beach in Sean and Chelsea. We had met with them on the beach in Canggu 2 weeks before this day and were stoked to catch up.

We made plans for the evening to watch the opening day of the 6 nations. Sean and I were really happy with this, despite the poor results of Ireland and France. 

The countdown until the day we were to leave Indonesia was ticking and showed 6 more days... We decided to come back to Bali the day after and discover the south of the island. This time, the ferry trip was like riding a rollercoaster and a lot of people on the fast boat found themselves sea sick. Throwing up everywhere... I slept like a baby - lucky me.
In what felt like a blink we around on Bali and 2 hours later we were checking in in a hotel close to famous Uluwatu temple.

New location, new friends, new adventures :)

Bali - more beaches around Uluwati and South Bali

Everyday was the more of the same: Food, Beach, Food, Beach, Food... Repeat!

All this shared with amazing company.

Besides Max, we had the lovely privilege to spend time with Frida and Anna our 2 new friends from Gothenburg.

A few things are worth mentioning:

- we saw a cobra crossing the road in front of us... I still have shivers in my spin just with the though of this. 

- monkeys are everywhere in South Bali. 

- police is corrupted in Bali. We got stopped on the side of the road and were ripped of around 20 euros for no good reason. While being "detained" were passing by next to us entire families without helmets ridding their bikes (imagine 4 human being going 60km/h without helmet... Safety first right!?

- the waves are BIG in South Bali and there is a lot of current, so we did not surf there. It is still possible to find beginner and intermediate level waves. We were happy to just enjoy the sun for once since we were not really lucky on that aspect throughout our adventures in Indonesia.

- beaches are amazingly beautiful in that part of Indonesia. We manage to see quite a few. Pandawa, Melasti, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Thomas beach and my personal favorite: Green Bowl beach.

- I thought I had the best ever dessert in Ubud when I tried fried bananas with cheese... I was so wrong... The best dessert ever was to be found in Warung Lima close to the Uluwatu temple. This restaurant are cooking Spring rolls stuffed with bananas, chocolate and cheese.

Green Bowl Beach.

Sunset in Uluwatu.

Banana/chocolate/cheese spring roll.

Last night was great. Since Max and I were leaving Indonesia we decided to book ourselves a double room in a 4 stars hotel close to the airport. Needless to say the service was quality special, the swimming pool very much appreciated :D

Friends in the pool, doesn't get any better than this...

A bar in the pool is better :)

Reception woke us up as requested at 5am, transfer service took us to the airport at 6... it was time to say goodbye to my partner in crime Max. We had 3 wonderful weeks travelling together. He will be travelling 5 more months but I am sure that we will finally be playing Tennis this summer in Switzerland. 

For me, this was back where it all started a bit more than 2 months back, in Kuala Lumpur.

A last night in the same place I had my first night in Asia, a few new "last minute friends", one last "I met you 2 weeks ago in Canggu, isn't it", one last kebab, one last beer with great conpany (a very very odd Kronenbourg!!!), one last Taxi ride. It is time to go home and be thankful :)

What goes around, comes around. Last night in Bukit Bintang food market in Kuala Lumpur.