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 :)

Manila - 3 days of rest and visits of the local hospital

I got to Manila on the 27th, middle of the afternoon... My first concern was not to find out where was the best place to go for a run but to find a medical center.

Jeroen had arrange for us to stay at a Filipino couch surfing friend he met 8 years back on the great wall of China!!! Ronnie, our guest, was so kind to help me out finding an hospital that would suit my needs. I proceed to go to the Makati Medical Center straight from the airport based on his feedback.

Philippines is having a lot of stereotypes to its name and is unfortunately having a very bad reputation in the western world I come from. Also Manila is one of the most chaotic places I have been to. The traffic is insane and at first the city was scary to me.

All these ideas were chattered facing the infinite kindness of its people. OMG they are nice people, especially towards me, standing out of the crowd with my bandages. Walking in the street of the capital so many people have been asking me if I was ok or if I needed help.

The nurses in the Medical Center have been amazing to me. By the second day, they would almost all know my name and welcoming me with the warmest smile. I would go for 4 visits in a row to the same medical center.

Besides that, our stay in Manila was very restful to us, especially to me. I would mostly stay in the residence where Ronnie lived. It had a bar/restaurant and 2 swimming pools but our favorite spot was definitely the roof deck located at the 42nd floor. The view from there is amazing. From Ronnie's flat on the 34th floor it was not too bad either.

This used to be a power plant, this is now a mall. 

On our last night, we had a great couch surfing party at his place! It was nice and fun to hang out with locals. Definitely one to remember.

Picture of a Polaroid taken during the couch surfing party :)

After my last visit in the hospital in the early morning of the 30th, it was time to go to the airport again. Jeroen had plan for us to spend New Year Eve on Boracay, a very small island in the center of the country.

Bye Bye Manila - This is Makati from the roof deck of Ronnie's residence.

Ko Pha Ngan - Challenging day 22.12

I had mark the day in my calendar. I had told Joshua - my Dutch friend that arrived on the island the night before - to join me there for some hours of fun and physical exercises. We met at 10 am for breakfast (it is as well the opening hour of the water park) and get energized for the day.

I was so excited.

Soooo, the challenge is composed of multiple modules you have to go through, some are mandatory (if you fall you have to pass it again) and some others can be "skipped" if you fall (you then have to swim to the next element which makes you loss quite some time$9.

Here goes the course: 

- You start from a plate form where you take a swing. You release yourself in the water and get to the first module - The Balance Beam

- The Balance Beam is composed of a very narrow beam with 3 red cylinders in the way. As the name suggests it, balance is key there.

- You then turn onto the Swinging Shapes, 5 hanging shapes very unstable. You need very good hand/foot coordination and very strong upper body. These 2 pieces are mandatory, if you fall, you have to start both again. 

- Completing this, you are a dive away from the Rolling Barrels. You get up a small plate form and face 3 cylinders. Several techniques can be used to cross this obstacle: "crawling" from one barrel to another, or running/jumping from one to one. I decided to run which was much faster and dive straight into the Floating Shapes.

- The Floating Shapes is one of the 2 modules I could not master. It is composed of 4 floating cubes that are very light and incredibly unstable. You need to be so fast and light on these... It is almost impossible. I did try but I have always been falling on the second or third one. 

- You are then having a 20/30m swim to the Pyramid, an inflated structure you have to climb until the top. Not very technical but very demanding physically. 

- From the Pyramid, you take a dive to get onto the Monkey Bars. This one is pretty straight forward... You hang from one bar to the next one but difficulty is increased having your legs hanging in the water. 

- Last element is the Satan's Balls, 3 massives round floating red shapes you have to run through. This is by far the most difficult part and the one where you can loose most time. I have not manage a single time to cross it. I have been spending almost 2 hours going on and off the departure zone trying to master it... without success. The closest I got was jumping from the 3rd ball onto the finishing area... but arriving on the plate form my back first, just bouncing against the white inflated module down the water... So close.

- The time stops when you are standing on this last piece.

First part of the course from the starting plate form. 

Second and final part of the course.

We spent with Joshua a good hour evaluated all elements and practicing crossing techniques before taking upon The Challenge - the timed run of the entire track. The all time record was 2 minutes and 16 secondes by a French guy. My initial objective was to make it into the top 20 and complete the course in around 3 minutes.

On my first try, I noticed how tired I already was from all the time spent climbing, swimming and trying out the modules. I would rest a little, have lunch and try again. My first time was 3 minutes 20 sec... just 3 seconds away of making the top 20. I know I could do much better and already identified areas of improvements.

After lunch, I decided straight away to warm up, swimming and stretching a little bit and try directly.

As expected, I started trying to dive off the swing and going through the first elements slowly but surely as these are mandatory. I failed to pass the Floating Rocks and swam rapidly to the pyramid, climbed as quick as I can and jumped straight into the water, flew passed the monkey bars and climbed facing the red balls. I focused a few seconds... and failed pathetically :D. I was just left with swimming around and climbing to the last plate form. And standing triumphantly. 

My time for this attempt was 2:48. I had my spot in the Top 10 and the best time of the day (besides that staff member... that completed the course in 1 minute and 3 secondes.... He was flying through the entire thing like if it was a walk in the park).

Again, I knew I could do better but was not really sure how much energy I had left. The key for me was these balls... completed it and it is top 3 guaranteed. I spent the next 2 hours as mentioned before up there, jumping from one ball to another. Or at least trying because I would always end up in the water.

On my third and final attempt, I improved my time by just 1 second. I was left empty and already sore feeling each muscle in my body.

All time ranking!

It was time to call it a day, go to visit our Dutch friend at the Flying Dutchman and witness a beautiful sunset. We stopped on the way in order to snap a picture or 2 of that amazing scenery.

Sunset and Ang Thong National park in the far back.