Ferry to Lombok

The next day, as per our plan, we headed to Lombok, an island just to the West of Bali. There were various ways of getting around in Bali and Lombok - two of the most popular being public 'bemos' (covered pick up trucks with 2 benches along the sides) and shuttle buses. We tried the public bemo way that morning, after which we made rule #2 - comfort beats price in value any day. This meant we would thereafter use Parama, the shuttle bus company in Bali and Lombok. You paid a little more, but you got from A to B in half the time and with much less hassle. The public bemos were crowded (people, chickens, fruit, vegetables and lots of lit cigarettes), they waited until they're unbearably full (which took an hour and a half at one point) before they leave, and they charged tourists much more because when you were stuck at a bemo terminal, you were at their mercy with no bargaining power. You got comments like "Sir, you are more big than Indonesians. You pay more". No shit!

After a four hour ferry ride (it would have been 3 and a half, but we went on the wrong side of the guide tower and ran aground into the sandy ocean floor. Please refer to: various Indonesian ferries capsizing and killing thousands) and an hour and a half shuttle bus ride, we arrived at Sengiggi, a small beach area where they had some bigger resort hotels. Our first glimpse of Lombok was like a dream come true - lush fields, palm trees, warm air, and friendly locals waving and smiling at the tourists on the bus.

We only stayed a night at Sengiggi, as out true destination was Gili Trawangan. The place we stayed at was directly across from Luna Cottages and Restaurant (which had tables right on the beach with candles at night!) for 20,000 rupiah for a double with bath. The cleanliness of the place settled us a little from the experience of the night before. No roaches? Awesome! Our standards were beginning to fall…

1997 Travelog... And they're off

We learned quickly. It was only a week into our 6-month journey home (I felt that calling it a trip would belittle the experience!) and already we felt like veteran travelers in the way that we bargained, fended off the onslaught of touts, and looked out for each other and our things.

Beth and I had been teaching English (or some lower form of the language) to eager, underachieving Japanese businessmen (yes... men) for almost 3 years. We decided to leave and go back home via a 6-month pit stop in Southeast Asia starting on June 29^th, 1997. After only a week, sitting in our spacious bungalow in Ubud, Bali, we felt like we had been gone a long time - and we were having the time of our lives.

We landed in Denpassar, the provincial capital of Bali, on the 29^th - a Sunday - at the unfortunate time of 8:00pm. After getting a prepaid taxi ticket we hopped in and were welcomed by an Alanis Morisette tune! We knew we had arrived - after all, for the previous 3 years we'd gotten used to the inundation of such low quality prima donna's as Namie Amuro, SMAP and other Japanese pop idols. Seeing as though we arrived so late, we had little chance but to get a place in Denpassar. We decided that there must not be a sweeter sight for a hotel owner than to see a tired backpacker come wondering in at 10:00 at night. We stayed in a place recommended by our Lonely Planet guide book with a caution to 'Lock your doors' called Adi Yasa for an unbelievable (late night?) price of 20,000 rupiah. The advice about locking your doors was good, but it wasn't enough to keep the 10cm long cockroaches out - 2 huge ones found their way into our bathroom, which was defiantly a thirst quenching experience. Given our experiences with roaches while living in Japan and knowing how much they hate light, we made rule #1 - if in doubt, sleep with the bathroom lights on!