Tuesday 30th August
Today I started my journey East from Kuta in Bali. I overslept, had breakfast, walked to the bemo stop, got 2 short-trip bemos then a bemo from Ubung to East Bali and the jetty at Padangbai. Chatted to some friendly Argentinian guys who live in NZ, while we Waited 1.5 hours until 3pm for the next large car/passenger ferry.
On the ferry I sat out on the deck on the port side, reading my book, watching Bali fade into the distance, though Gunung Agung was always visible. I chatted to Alan, a local guy who works in the Gilis and to another local guy who has a villa near Lovina. It was a pleasant 4 hours looking out to sea, and the sun set directly behind the boat.
We arrived at Lembar on the island of Lombok at 7:30pm. It was a bit chaotic with trying to get transport to Mataram. I was going to share a bemo with the Argentinians but they were bargaining real hard so I ended up sharing with a European couple. Like me, the other travellers felt that the bemo drivers were taking advantage of us being a bit stranded there, and charging us way more than they would charge a local person. I stayed out of it since I was just happy to share (the cost) with anyone! I think some of the travellers were a bit rude to the bemo drivers, but maybe I am like that too sometimes but I don't want to be. Mental reminder to be polite even if I think they are ripping me off.
The journey into Mataram was fun as it was Idul Fitri, the last day of Ramadan, so a big Muslim celebration and a carnival atmosphere. There were a few floats on the roads, people hanging out of the back of pick-up trucks, people banging drums at the roadside, people walking in processions, hundreds of motorbikes and random fireworks going off. Our driver whisked us past it as quickly as he could, mostly on the wrong side of the road.
Wednesday 31st August
I overslept a bit but nevermind. In Mataram, went to look for a bemo to the minibus stop on the edge of town but random guy on a motorbike offered me a lift for a reasonable price so I went with him, and he dropped me next to the minibus just about to leave for Labuhan Lombok. We were stuffed in like sardines, no leg room.
Along the way a few of the ladies seemed to be complaining to the guy collecting the money, like he was overcharging and also stopping to look for new passengers when we were virtually suffocating already! He conned me a little bit too although I was expecting it, had a whinge and paid up. At the ferry terminal he zipped past the ticket kiosk and I had to walk back 300 metres with my bag in the midday heat to buy a ferry ticket. Thanks mate.
This was the ferry from Labuhan Lombok to Poto Tano on Sumbawa island. We left at 1:30pm. Again the views were excellent; looking back at the fishing village and then Lombok from a distance, then the wide open sea with small islands dotted around. Again, the low-lying islands looked good as We arrived at pretty Poto Tano at about 3:30pm. As we docked I watched the guy tying and untying ropes to secure the boat.
We were soon back into a minibus and headed for Sumbawa Besar, the main city on Sumbawa, it took a couple more hours to get there but the scenery was good and was a bit like in Sumarta. On arrival a tout asked if I wanted to go to Bima (the gateway to Flores, about 9 hours away) which I did but not right then as I had been travelling for 2 days.
But then I thought 'why not?' and talked to him about it. Well, anyway there was some Lost in Translation and tiresome discussion, plus they either deliberately or otherwise gave me the wrong information about the only ferry to Flores (I know because I then called the ferry company) so I decided not to use them and checked into a nearby hotel. This was a bit stressful because it took a while to find and in the meantime I all but broke the strap on the shoulder bag that I carry my laptop in.
At the hotel I tried to sew the strap back on but it needs a machine. I walked back to the bus terminal for food and to see about other buses to Flores. While there a couple of Indonesian guys asked if I wanted to go to Bima with them in their flash Toyota, for the same price as the bus. Well I worked out that going then would probably save me a day so I said 'yes'. The bus touts got wind of this and seemed displeased that a potential customer was being taken away, so we drove off pretty quick, stopping at my hotel to grab my bags. Of course, I had already paid for my room but that's ok.
After a few kms the driver (I don't remember whether he told me his name) stopped to look for more passengers, which was not my understanding of the arrangement. So I followed him out of the car and complained, and we set off again. Then I felt a bit bad for complaining and got the other passenger to apologise for me properly in Indonesian. We were friends thereafter. Off we went into the night on 400km trip east.
We stopped for food at about 10:30pm at a small village called Segari. The white guy attracted the attention of some of the friendly local guys who came over to have a look and ask a few questions. One of them invited me to play table tennis behind the shop while our Fried Noodles was being prepared. I played for a while against the driver while the guys watched.
At around midnight we arrived at Empang where we dropped of the other passenger. I thought we were heading back to the main road but then we went down a narrow street where we parked up and the driver indicated that he was just popping in to see his family - we were outside his family home! They came to the door to have a look and I waved hello.
Soon the driver got back in the car as if to drive off, and I thought surely he would like to spend more time with his family, we are not in a hurry and I would quite like to be nosey and see his family home and relatives. So I suggested that he/we go back in and have some coffee to help him stay awake driving through the night, and he was very pleased about that.
The family home is made of very strong wood and judging from the fixtures and fittings and their fancy mobile phones they are a relatively wealthy family. They had pictures of Mecca on the wall. They opened a big new tin of fancy biscuits and a box of butter cookies and insisted I ate as many as I could! Then they gave me fried noodles and then coffee while we talked about football in broken English and Indonesian. I was suprised when the non-English-speaking driver said 'Mourinho - Special One'.
The female members of the family, including two kids, had been milling about and when I went back out to the car to leave at midnight, I realised they were coming with us. Six of them were crammed into the front and middle seats and my bag and I were in the back, which was fine, I rested my eyes but couldn't sleep.
Thursday 1st September
We stopped a few times along the way and when we were close to Bima at about 4:20am I started to worry about getting to the bus station at Riba by 5am, but the driver and his mother insisted on me following him and his family to some other house, just to say 'hi' to someone. He had shown me great hospitality but my patience was tested because if I missed that bus I would have to wait there for 24 hours for the next one.
Anyway we made it to Riba on time at 5am and of course the bus wasn't there. I woke up a sleeping policeman to ask him about the bus. He was very friendly and assured me it would come. In the meantime he asked me lots of questions but after 3 days of travel and no sleep for 24 hours I couldn't even remember which island I was on! For some reason he kept asking if I had been to Jamaica and we hadn't even been talking about travel. Then the bus turned up just as it started to get light. The bus wound its way around the rural countryside of Eastern Sumbawa and in the morning light it was lovely; rice paddies, hills, a torquiose river.
Two hours later we arrived at the fishing town of Sape and the jetty for the ferry to Labuanbajo on Flores. I got some proper food; rice and veggies for breakfast. We got on the ferry at 7:30am and it left at 8:30am. I met 4 other tourists. I read my book and listened to my football podcast. The view was mostly of the open sea but as we approached Flores in the late afternoon, there were small picturesque volcanic islands sticking up out of the water. The islands are mostly dry with not much vegetation. The closer we got to Labuanbajo, the better the scenery was and it felt like we were in a beautiful remote part of the world (even though we were on a huge ferry full of people and vehicles!)
I found an overpriced room but snapped it up as the cheapest place in town. The food at the tourist restaurant was rubbish and I was still hungry after so I went to a restaurant where local guys were eating and it was much better value, and I enjoy the banter with those kind of guys; they usually like to have a chat and a laugh.
Today I started my journey East from Kuta in Bali. I overslept, had breakfast, walked to the bemo stop, got 2 short-trip bemos then a bemo from Ubung to East Bali and the jetty at Padangbai. Chatted to some friendly Argentinian guys who live in NZ, while we Waited 1.5 hours until 3pm for the next large car/passenger ferry.
On the ferry I sat out on the deck on the port side, reading my book, watching Bali fade into the distance, though Gunung Agung was always visible. I chatted to Alan, a local guy who works in the Gilis and to another local guy who has a villa near Lovina. It was a pleasant 4 hours looking out to sea, and the sun set directly behind the boat.
We arrived at Lembar on the island of Lombok at 7:30pm. It was a bit chaotic with trying to get transport to Mataram. I was going to share a bemo with the Argentinians but they were bargaining real hard so I ended up sharing with a European couple. Like me, the other travellers felt that the bemo drivers were taking advantage of us being a bit stranded there, and charging us way more than they would charge a local person. I stayed out of it since I was just happy to share (the cost) with anyone! I think some of the travellers were a bit rude to the bemo drivers, but maybe I am like that too sometimes but I don't want to be. Mental reminder to be polite even if I think they are ripping me off.
The journey into Mataram was fun as it was Idul Fitri, the last day of Ramadan, so a big Muslim celebration and a carnival atmosphere. There were a few floats on the roads, people hanging out of the back of pick-up trucks, people banging drums at the roadside, people walking in processions, hundreds of motorbikes and random fireworks going off. Our driver whisked us past it as quickly as he could, mostly on the wrong side of the road.
Wednesday 31st August
I overslept a bit but nevermind. In Mataram, went to look for a bemo to the minibus stop on the edge of town but random guy on a motorbike offered me a lift for a reasonable price so I went with him, and he dropped me next to the minibus just about to leave for Labuhan Lombok. We were stuffed in like sardines, no leg room.
Along the way a few of the ladies seemed to be complaining to the guy collecting the money, like he was overcharging and also stopping to look for new passengers when we were virtually suffocating already! He conned me a little bit too although I was expecting it, had a whinge and paid up. At the ferry terminal he zipped past the ticket kiosk and I had to walk back 300 metres with my bag in the midday heat to buy a ferry ticket. Thanks mate.
This was the ferry from Labuhan Lombok to Poto Tano on Sumbawa island. We left at 1:30pm. Again the views were excellent; looking back at the fishing village and then Lombok from a distance, then the wide open sea with small islands dotted around. Again, the low-lying islands looked good as We arrived at pretty Poto Tano at about 3:30pm. As we docked I watched the guy tying and untying ropes to secure the boat.
We were soon back into a minibus and headed for Sumbawa Besar, the main city on Sumbawa, it took a couple more hours to get there but the scenery was good and was a bit like in Sumarta. On arrival a tout asked if I wanted to go to Bima (the gateway to Flores, about 9 hours away) which I did but not right then as I had been travelling for 2 days.
But then I thought 'why not?' and talked to him about it. Well, anyway there was some Lost in Translation and tiresome discussion, plus they either deliberately or otherwise gave me the wrong information about the only ferry to Flores (I know because I then called the ferry company) so I decided not to use them and checked into a nearby hotel. This was a bit stressful because it took a while to find and in the meantime I all but broke the strap on the shoulder bag that I carry my laptop in.
At the hotel I tried to sew the strap back on but it needs a machine. I walked back to the bus terminal for food and to see about other buses to Flores. While there a couple of Indonesian guys asked if I wanted to go to Bima with them in their flash Toyota, for the same price as the bus. Well I worked out that going then would probably save me a day so I said 'yes'. The bus touts got wind of this and seemed displeased that a potential customer was being taken away, so we drove off pretty quick, stopping at my hotel to grab my bags. Of course, I had already paid for my room but that's ok.
After a few kms the driver (I don't remember whether he told me his name) stopped to look for more passengers, which was not my understanding of the arrangement. So I followed him out of the car and complained, and we set off again. Then I felt a bit bad for complaining and got the other passenger to apologise for me properly in Indonesian. We were friends thereafter. Off we went into the night on 400km trip east.
We stopped for food at about 10:30pm at a small village called Segari. The white guy attracted the attention of some of the friendly local guys who came over to have a look and ask a few questions. One of them invited me to play table tennis behind the shop while our Fried Noodles was being prepared. I played for a while against the driver while the guys watched.
At around midnight we arrived at Empang where we dropped of the other passenger. I thought we were heading back to the main road but then we went down a narrow street where we parked up and the driver indicated that he was just popping in to see his family - we were outside his family home! They came to the door to have a look and I waved hello.
Soon the driver got back in the car as if to drive off, and I thought surely he would like to spend more time with his family, we are not in a hurry and I would quite like to be nosey and see his family home and relatives. So I suggested that he/we go back in and have some coffee to help him stay awake driving through the night, and he was very pleased about that.
The family home is made of very strong wood and judging from the fixtures and fittings and their fancy mobile phones they are a relatively wealthy family. They had pictures of Mecca on the wall. They opened a big new tin of fancy biscuits and a box of butter cookies and insisted I ate as many as I could! Then they gave me fried noodles and then coffee while we talked about football in broken English and Indonesian. I was suprised when the non-English-speaking driver said 'Mourinho - Special One'.
The female members of the family, including two kids, had been milling about and when I went back out to the car to leave at midnight, I realised they were coming with us. Six of them were crammed into the front and middle seats and my bag and I were in the back, which was fine, I rested my eyes but couldn't sleep.
Thursday 1st September
We stopped a few times along the way and when we were close to Bima at about 4:20am I started to worry about getting to the bus station at Riba by 5am, but the driver and his mother insisted on me following him and his family to some other house, just to say 'hi' to someone. He had shown me great hospitality but my patience was tested because if I missed that bus I would have to wait there for 24 hours for the next one.
Anyway we made it to Riba on time at 5am and of course the bus wasn't there. I woke up a sleeping policeman to ask him about the bus. He was very friendly and assured me it would come. In the meantime he asked me lots of questions but after 3 days of travel and no sleep for 24 hours I couldn't even remember which island I was on! For some reason he kept asking if I had been to Jamaica and we hadn't even been talking about travel. Then the bus turned up just as it started to get light. The bus wound its way around the rural countryside of Eastern Sumbawa and in the morning light it was lovely; rice paddies, hills, a torquiose river.
Two hours later we arrived at the fishing town of Sape and the jetty for the ferry to Labuanbajo on Flores. I got some proper food; rice and veggies for breakfast. We got on the ferry at 7:30am and it left at 8:30am. I met 4 other tourists. I read my book and listened to my football podcast. The view was mostly of the open sea but as we approached Flores in the late afternoon, there were small picturesque volcanic islands sticking up out of the water. The islands are mostly dry with not much vegetation. The closer we got to Labuanbajo, the better the scenery was and it felt like we were in a beautiful remote part of the world (even though we were on a huge ferry full of people and vehicles!)
I found an overpriced room but snapped it up as the cheapest place in town. The food at the tourist restaurant was rubbish and I was still hungry after so I went to a restaurant where local guys were eating and it was much better value, and I enjoy the banter with those kind of guys; they usually like to have a chat and a laugh.
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