Sanur was not exciting at all, except maybe for a spectacular sunrise over the ocean. And a cool kind of temple right by the sea.
We wanted pizza but they didn’t have any cheese. We wanted a walk on the beach but were harassed by locals. We wanted to admire the ocean but some 5 star hotels had floating chairs on it. That's my foot and Patrick wondering..."wtf"?!
After Patrick left, I felt insecure for a few hours – being used to traveling alone, I had gotten used to some company and suddenly wondered if I could make it on my own. Given, the place I was staying at didn’t help at all. And then I saw that painting...!!!
The day he left, we had drove to Jimbaran to try and see some white-sand beaches but all we found was a rotten dead dog (!), a dude fishing with a motorbike helmet on (!!), and some naked kid playing in the sand. The whole place was dirty and I couldn’t even walk barefoot because of all the crap in the sand.
The hotel was nice though, with two awesome swimming pools! But the room was too big, too marble, too white, too… asepticized. I was going out of my mind, so I decided to book a flight the very next day and spend a few nights in Lombok. while waiting at the airport, some woman stood behind me and another one quickly took a picture. I was shocked, but then I said "wait a second! I want tone too!" so they brought the kids over and we all had a good laugh.
Lombok is an island next to Bali. Unlike Bali, which is 90% Hindu, Lombok’s majority is Muslim, so it wasn’t a good idea for me to show up in a tank top, my curly blond hair just blowing in the wind. You should have seen the judgmental looks I got. The flight was 40 bucks and lasted about 30 minutes, full turbulence included.
Upon arrival at the airport, for security reasons I guess, people had to buy a “taxi ticket” from the counter - as opposed to hailing a cab like we usually do. It was funny to see horse transportation on the street (cheaper than buses or bemos), and trucks full of people. I headed to Bulan Baru guest house in Mangsit, north of Senggigi – nice place, tiny pool, old tired bed and reasonable food for 15$ a night (which in my opinion wasn’t really worth it).
The staff was nice and quite knowledgeable about stuff to do on the island. Upon my arrival, one of them informed me that I can get a “ticket to the moon” on the Gili islands… meaning it’s very easy to find drugs such as mush, hashish, marijuana and so on over there.
On the other hand, the Australian owner was not very sociable. In a place like that, I would expect some friendly chitchat but he ignored me. And when his staff told him the operator organizing my trip to Gili islands (which his staff had booked for me) had stood me up, he never even apologized or talked to me.
Anyway, I went for a quick walk on the street, looking for the beach, but I immediately got stared at by almost everyone, kids asking me for cigarettes, dog barking off my ass (I was totally scared they’d bite me!), men whispering “beautiful! Where you go?” as I walked by… I just went back to Bulan Baru to eat a disgustingly chewy and untasty steak that was advertised on the menu as tender or juicy Australian steak.
The next day as I learned the Gili island trip was off, I hired a driver to take me around Lombok and show me some local stuff. We drove by a fisherman village near Mataram, a Chinese cemetary - because apparently the Chinese have been living in Lombok for years, they even have their Chinatown. The landscape was simply beautiful, with green rice fields, mountains, and bamboo houses.
That how I ended up discovering a pottery warehouse where all piled up were the magnificent pieces rich people buy for thousands of dollars. Needless to say I got some sweet deals and I was pleased to experience this, chatting with them while eating bananas.
I also ended up in a very poor village where women have been weaving for generations and men work on the farm. Everyone was friendly, and I couldn’t believe how much work is involved in those masterpieces – women sitting down for 10 hours a day, making on average 10$ a month for clothes and blankets that, again, are incredibly expensive back in Western countries.
My guide knew his job quite well, saying how beautiful I am, how hard it is for him to find a wife, teaching me weaving, telling sad stories about locals, making me try clothes on, and then taking me to a store where he pressured me to buy stuff. I couldn’t say no. And even if it cost 45$, I thought what the hell, they’re poor. But when I left, he asked for a kiss and I said no so he replied “how about just on the cheek?” and I agreed. Oh my, it was the strangest thing… he smelled me!
Next, my driver took me to a quiet beach next to Kuta, Mawan beach. It felt good to find some peace and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he is a painter. We came across three naked little boys who had walked about an hour in the nude in order to come swim at this beach. They were so free and adorable!
Along the beach we stumbled across a fisherman village of about 50 people living in tiny houses, no electricity, no revenue aside from fishing. They built their own boats… well, they built everything, and women stayed at home all day, cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids. I guess that’s why they had so many kids running around, keeping themselves busy.
I bought Malake dinner, and unlike our driver in Ubud who had taken us to a fancy restaurant and treated himself to a 10$ meal (that’s expensive for Indonesia!), Malake took me to a local joint and we enjoyed 2$ fried rice in silence. He is a simple man and I appreciated that.
The ride on the way back was quick and full of surprising sights – cows blocking the road, Muslim students coming back from school, a bemo (cheap bus) FILLED with people hanging at the back, and some abandoned car in which little kids were playing.
That night I went to a very friendly bar in Senggigi called Happy Café, where a live band was playing all kinds of music, from Shaggy’s “Angel”, to Santana “Black woman” and Bob Marley –that’s where the lead singer said: “Bob Marley sings ‘Get up, stand up for your rights’, but here in Lombok we sing ‘Get up, stand up for your rice!”
As more people walked in, many more drinks were sent to my table, especially from local guys winking at me from the bar, and that’s when the bar owner decided to get in the game and also send drinks to my table! Then the dancing came and some guy actually wouldn’t take no for an answer. Luckily, some former world champion dancer was entertaining the crowd and I said I couldn’t compete with that hehe. The man was hilarious, shaking his hips and gesturing toward his wife who was sitting at the bar, as you can (try to) see on that video. It was loud and vibrant so turn down the volume!
That night I found out my credit card wasn’t working anymore, and Visa was closed. I started freaking out and decided to head back to Bali, ready to sleep at the airport for the rest of the week.
Wink, wink...
