Kuta (Lombok)

Monday morning we went for breakfast 🧇 (a last of many times) to the very good and traditional restaurant „Sasak“ before we took our „Grab“ 🚗 to Kuta. It was a very relaxed 2-hour drive - thanks to Charles (our driver). He explained much of the Indonesian culture and discussed the differences to Germany with us while we were driving. Charles was born and raised in Flores (another one of the many Indonesian islands). It is supposed to be a beautiful and still quite natural island 🏝️ far in the east. In contrast to other Indonesian islands it is the only one that is predominantly of Christian religion. I won’t have time to visit it during this trip but it’s probably something for the bucket list when I come next time to Indonesia 🇮🇩

When we arrived in Kuta, we checked into our hostel. We had a nice 4 bedroom bungalow 🛖 with a cosy outside area in front. Soon after the check-in was done, Paula and I walked down the Main Street to Kuta beach and had a couple of beers while enjoying its view. Klara didn’t feel well 🤒 and therefore stayed in the hostel to meet us later for dinner.
In the evening we opened the bottle of rum 🍹that I wisely bought in the duty free shop before my departure from Berlin Airport since alcohol is heavily taxed here in Indonesia 🇮🇩 (you will pay at least as much as in Germany 🇩🇪 or even more). Shout out to my Bali tourists at home for this fine recommendation 👍. So, with Coca Cola and a splash of lemon, we mixed our own cocktails that night. 😎

Our second day in Kuta started very slow. We slept in for the first time since days and only left the hostel at lunchtime to rent some scooters 🛴 again. First we drove to Tanjung Ahn Beach 🏖️ which looked very beautiful from afar but on closer observation we realized the water was quite dirty (sadly it was polluted with many plastic parts or even entire bottles). I tried to go in once but I didn’t stay in the water for long. So, we just relaxed for a while on the beach loungers and enjoyed the sun and the good food that was served there. ☀️
Afterwards, we took our scooters for another spin and drove to Bukit Merese - a lookout from where you can see more really nice looking beaches as well as many big waves 🌊 crashing against the rocky coastline. It was low tide and we were lucky to find a decently protected area that we used as our „private beach“ 🏖️ for a while. The water was soooo nice and clear. We could have stayed there much longer if it wasn’t for the sunset 🌅 and our unwillingness to cruise with our scooters 🛴 through the darkness.
At night, we finished the bottle of rum from the day before together with a French girl who also stayed in our room. She had an accident with her scooter 🛴 and was in pain (in fact, she could barely walk). She certainly needed the drink more than we did after her horrible day. I believe we could cheer her up a little bit again that night. By now she must have seen a doctor and hopefully didn’t have to go to the hospital 🏥 For me this is a reminder while all this traveling and the adventurous things we do are fun, there is also a certain risk involved.

The next day we were already on our way to the Gili Islands. It is quite touristy there and it has not much to do with the rest of Indonesia but I definitely wanted to go there to see what it is like and to go snorkelling 🤿Read more