Sabbactical 2023/24

I spent a couple of days on Lombok now. Read here how things went in the past 72 hours.

After checking in into our Hotel in Senggigi we went straight to the beach and spent the afternoon there. It is getting dark relatively early here in Indonesia (around 6pm). So, we watched the sunset 🌅 from a beach bar during dinner before we went to the mini market at the gas station to buy some (meanwhile obligatory) beers 🍻 for the night.

On our second day in Senggigi we rented motorbikes 🏍️ to explore the area. After a few practice runs on the small street in front of our hotel, we felt confident enough to join the real traffic. I still knew driving (but with a car) on the „wrong side of the road“ from my time in England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 and Australia 🇦🇺 The fact that traffic on Lombok is rather quite in comparison to what we had seen on Java and Bali before, additionally helped. I guess, the traffic would have been even more quiet if there was not a race from the MotoGP on this weekend in Lombok. Indonesians are really passionate about their motorcycles. One of the grab drivers that gave us a lift in Yogyakarta even jokingly said: „basically there is 1:1 relation between motorcycles and citizens in Indonesia“ and I can attest to that 😅
Anyways, we headed south with our bikes and followed the streets through some villages and rice fields. At lunch we drove up a hill until we reached the top of monkey 🐒forest. We ate Mei Goreng 🍜 in a local restaurant (that was not really prepared to handle any tourists) before we started climbing 🧗 up the hilly terrain and searching the monkeys that give this forest its name. It didn’t take long for us to find a dozen of them.
In the afternoon, we used the time to search and enjoy the Sekoah Waterfall in the north of the area that surrounds Senggigi. It was not easy to find since Google Maps 🗺️ had very different ideas on how to get there in comparison to what seemed to be possible in the real world 🌎 So we found it only by asking around and with the help of some locals. Moreover, the last bit of the passage was so steep and narrow that we did not dare to run it down with our motorbikes. Instead, we walked 🦶 the narrow trail to the waterfall - coconut trees 🌴 and
cacao plants 🌱 to the left and right - guided by 5-6 children for whom we were the attraction of the day (realistically they were more interested in Klara and Paula than me though 😁). The entire time that we spent at the waterfall they kept very close to us (as you can probably see on one of the photos 😅).
Before dawn, we drove back to our hotel and enjoyed the scenic route along the west coast of Lombok. Even though I was a bit nervous about driving in Indonesia 🇮🇩 in the beginning, I am glad that I did it since it enabled me to visit some places on Lombok that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise and of course it’s now a skill that I can also put to use elsewhere.

On our last day in Senggigi we took surf lessons in a local surf 🏄 school. Abdul (the owner) took it upon himself to teach us his secrets. He had support from his mates so that we basically ended up with 2-3 hours of private lessons for a really good price. The girls seemed to have more talent than me but it was fun anyways. Nevertheless, it was tiring which is why we didn’t do much in the afternoon anymore.
I was running out of cash which was a problem (since you pay everything with cash here). So, I needed to go to an ATM 🏧 that supports withdrawal of money from international banks (not all do). Unfortunately, the closest one was a 4km march away and we didn’t know at the time when we started walking 🚶 Klara destroyed her flip flop 🩴 on the way so we stopped at a small local market to buy a new pair for little money 💴 and observed some interesting bargaining techniques by the seller. 😅 After sorting everything out (ATM, flip flops etc.) we sat down and had some beers in a bar before we took a „Grab“ 🚗 back to our hotel.

Our next stop will be Kuta (on Lombok) which is a 2 hour drive south from here. Transportation is already arranged. We conveniently agreed a pickup time ⏰ and the price 🏷️ with our last „Grab“ driver.Read more