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.

Sea, Surf and Sun (sometimes...) in Bali's wave heaven of Kuta and Canggu.

Here I am, the final country on my trip: Indonesia.

I had very little expectations whatsoever before coming as the only information I had on Bali was a few "it was awesome" from some friends that had travelled here and the memories of the movie Eat, Pray, Love I watched ages ago. The little I expected was a relaxing and spiritual atmosphere you get in the kind of places where there are waves to surf and temples to pray in.

From the airport, I decided to stay a few days in Kuta just a stones throw away of the airport. This is a surfer's town: you surf during the day and you party at night. My hostel; the Funky Monkey was located in a very small street in between the beach and the main road of the city. The swimming pool was really much appreciated and the constant flow of people made it entertaining: I was always with different people sharing travel experiences and tips while having loads of free pancakes offered by the hostel.

Kuta at sunset. One of the only pictures I took in 3 days.

While this is not exactly what I was expecting, I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with amazing people. I am going to mention here couple of guys I was lucky enough to meet: Sahel an inspiring broker from London with Afghan decent and Maxime a tennis addict from Switzerland.

I spend the first 3 days surfing and partying with both before Maxime and I headed north towards Canggu (pronounced Chan-Gu) while Sahel moved with one of his friends towards the center of Bali to more mystical lands.

Beach in Canggu with perfect wave for my low level.

Canggu is much quieter even if the parties there can get insanely wild. The day basically follows the rhythm of the waves. Max and I stayed 4 nights in another great hostel (with pool and again great company). Sharing our dorm, a funny dutch guy that happened to be my neighbour when I was living in Hilversum (!!!) and Charly a Belgian citizen. The world got even smaller for our small crew when Charly and I were speaking about music.

Charly loves acid, a kind of music I have close to no knowledge of.... The only information I know about Acid is that it is very popular in Belgium and there is quite a large audience in Antwerpen and Brugges. This I know from my friend and ex-colleague Luca... Luca is a DJ known in the industry as Acidolido. Well, Acidolido happens to be Charly's favorite artist! 

Mind. Blown. Instant friends just like with Max and Sahel before.

We spent time hanging out and got to meet Sean and Chelsea, a lovely couple teaching English in China, discovering the area and the infinite party options dancing on the beach until the early hours of the morning.

The pretty poison bar in Canggu with its skatepark in the middle of it!

A week has gone by in south Bali in a blink. Time flies when you are having fun. To be honest I did not do much besides surfing and meeting people (mostly around a Bintang, the local beer). But this is what travelling is all about, isn't it? 

I saw yesterday a brilliant post card that sum up perfectly my mood these days. It said:

Never blame anyone in Your Life

Bad people give you Experience

Worst people give you a Lesson

Good people give you Happiness

&

Best people give you Memories.

I am so lucky to be piling up so many memories. It is going to be hard to keep them all in my heart.

I was so busy having fun and relaxing I took very little pictures... I managed to find 3 okish ones to illustrate this post.

I will take so many more in Ubud, where Max and I are heading next. Stay tuned!