The Balinese cockerels were kind enough to give me a wakeup call, even though it was an hour earlier than intended, at 4am. I got to watch a Bali sunrise though – outside of a McDonalds while waiting to get fetched to go to the port. There, madness awaited.
After a long wait with throngs of sweaty humans, I decided to be polite and let others board the boat first. When the final three of us got on, there were no more seats! We got placed behind the skipper’s window, but told that we could head up to the sundeck once we set sail.
It was much nicer up there. At one point little dolphins even began leaping alongside the boat! News must have spread fast because then the top deck was crowded with people, but it was a friendly and chatty vibe, with frosty late-morning drinks and a bit of Ed Sheeran. I sat next to a brother from India.
Things became a lot less fun when midday heat approached… There was no shade and little room for escape, so we all slowly began to get cooked alive during the 2-hour journey. I expect to be an overcooked bacon crisp on the morrow. The music had also now changed to hip-hop of the crude and sweary kind.
We got pounced on by shady locals offering ‘special deals’ at the Lombok port. One chap followed me for ages trying to sell the idea that the busses had all left and that a Grab taxi would cost twice as much. I stuck with my gut and kept declining his offers. Another man who looked like he had one serious hangover, asked where I was from. “South Africa? Mandela! Wakka wakka”, he said before disappearing and suddenly reappearing with a R10 note to ask its worth. “Only 8,000 Rupiahs”, I informed him. “Okay. You give me 10,000?” he asked. He was so insistent that I did the exchange. I later discovered it was a fake bank note! Well played my man. I’m sure he has fake dollars and euros too.
The official taxi man was a lovely Hindu gent. We had friendly chatter during the whole 30-minute journey. It was interesting to learn that a huge earthquake had demolished hundreds of homes back in 2018, but that the government stepped up and rehoused the victims with new homes made with more earthquake-resistant steel structures. I also asked if the police were known to pull over tourists on bikes for bribe money. Apparently not. He also said that the po-po only do big checks 3 times a year, mostly to discipline locals with no licenses or helmets. The latest round ended last month, so that was good news!
LESSON LEARNT
The owner of the homestay where I’m staying, which has a 9.6 star rating out of 10 on Booking dot com, is indeed a very nice man. We had a long introductory chat. My room is huge and clean, with a working aircon. However, I forgot a very important lesson that I learnt back in Nam: Do NOT book full week stays at one place unless you have done some THOROUGH research.
The Lombok population is 80% Muslim and the island has over 1,000 mosques. In fact, Lombok is even named The Land of the Mosques. The one nearby has no less than 12 loudspeakers, which began BLASTING with calls to prayer at 4:30am! It lasted a full hour… I know we need to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs, but that does feel a little inconsiderate. I was also in a sweat and realised that the power and aircon was off. Now wide awake, I decided to research whether or not this was a specific ‘holier than thou’ day.
Nope, said Google. Ramadan had long passed, and Fridays are the holiest days, not Saturdays or Sundays. The only other possible reason I found was the Bau Nyale Festival, where once a year Sasak people hold a lively festival to remember an ancient princess who drowned herself in the sea to get out of a political marriage and keep peace on the island. Locals believe that peculiar and colourful sea worms appear only once a year to represent the princess. Thousands of people will swarm at the beach to catch a worm for good luck, before cooking and eating it. But that was on 10 February 2023.
I turned back to the accommodation reviews. The lowest score was an 8/10 by Robbe from Belgium: “An unexpected surprise was that if you are not a married couple, then you have to book two separate rooms”. (Apparently this is somewhere in the fine print). The only other criticism is that John from the United Kingdom found it difficult to shave without a mirror above the sink. 9/10. Something’s not right here…
The only highlight thus far was watching a very pink sunset with the locals and Muslim ducks on the beach. I was the only pale person, wearing all-white to boot. I walked down a long and dusty trail towards some shacks to get there, so my outfit may not remain white for long. No alcohol allowed for Muslims in The Land of the Mosques, so I had an overly sweet drink. Cheers.
Next: Indonesia #5 – Happy Lombokians
Previously: Indonesia #3 – Surfer’s Wet Dream
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