Kuta, Lombok

Day 39 - 6 Jun 14

Our plane stops in Sumba before dropping us in Bali. We're sad to depart from Babs who is headed to Sumatra.We find a woman at the airport who's also traveling to Ubud, so we share a taxi. She has been a TEFL teacher in various countries for 12 years and she's currently teaching high level English in Jakarta, for candidates who have received government grants to study MAs or PHDs abroad. She has very strong views on different topics which she imposes on us, but this makes for an interesting taxi ride. She's a strong advocate of Guy McPherson, who's convinced that the human race will be wiped out and become extinct within the next two generations, and that scientists and the government are aware of this inevitability, but are concealing this from the public. It seems she is trying to spread the word.

Stevie is back in Ubud so we meet her for a drink at Bali Buddha - I have a masala banana milkshake. Stevie's staying in a hostel with a beautiful jungle garden, a massive room and an outside bathroom, its carved wall covered in Hindu statues, gargoyle faces staring out of the stonework.

Tonight she entertains us with stories from her time spent in Uganda. She was placed alone in a small isolated village, where she taught Science at the local school. She bought a dog to allay her loneliness, but a new group of priests placed in the living complex she stayed in, disliked her and her dog. She relays a story from the time she became dangerously ill and was carted off to hospital. As she was leaving one of the Ugandan priests expressed his hatred for her dog and told her he would kill it. When she returned from hospital, her dog was dead, although she never discovered whether this was an unhappy coincidence or if this man had indeed carried out his threat. We're impressed that she didn't abandon her placement in the Peace Corps at this point. There is a 2 year commitment term, but this episode would have been reason enough to return home - a 'whack-evac' being the term coined by the volunteers sent home as they are unable to cope with the pressure.

Stevie's an anxious person, but she's also kind-hearted and incredibly friendly to everyone she meets. She's starting a PHD at Princeton when she returns home. We're leaving the following morning so we say goodbye for the final time.

Day 40 - 7 Jun 14

We catch a bus at the port and walk aboard the slow boat to Lombok. Hannah is not feeling well - she manages to sleep on a hard wooden bench. The journey is 4 hours, and halfway in I notice mattresses on the floor next door. It's for VIP ticket holders, but a family kindly shares their space with us and informs the boat staff that there is no problem.

On arrival, a minibus with torn seat

covers, picks us up and transports us to Kuta in Lombok. A loud, brass Australian, with flaccid, sunburnt, freckled skin and short dreadlocks is on the bus, travelling with two European girls. He's chatting to the Indonesian who picked us up at the port. He asks him what his son's name is, and laughs hysterically when he discovers it sounds like 'fuck all' and continuously repeats the name in jest. He is being disrespectful and we choose to ignore him. It's prior to midday but he requests to stop at a shop to pick up beers. The roads in Lombok are smooth Tarmac - I wonder whether the roads in Flores will be the same in a year’s time with all the road work maintenance that was occurring while we were there.

The town has a lovely chilled vibe - the roads are dusty with sand from the nearby beach and the shacks house restaurants and warungs. We find a lovely guesthouse called Kuta Baru where Hannah's bargaining skills excel - she manages to half the price of the room as the AC is not working. Our room is white and clean with a high wooden ceiling. The bathroom is tiled in stone with a carved grey stone sink and a hot water shower. The porch looks onto a stylish concrete pool in the grass covered centre rectangle. It's not our usual budget accommodation.

In the evening Hannah's friend Louise arrives. She is living in Vietnam and is taking a 3 day holiday. We go for dinner in a restaurant in town. She's very interesting and easy company. She's been working as a research conservationist in a national park for the past year and a half, tracking pangolins to ensure they are capable of readapting to their natural habitat. These animals, considered as a delicacy, had been poached from the wild and kept in captivity. She has been working with Vietnamese men who spoke very little English. They drank beer every evening due to the lack of activities in such an isolated location and her only option was to join them or spend the evenings alone. I am impressed as to how she threw herself into the culture in order to survive such alien living.

Day 41 - 8 Jun 14

Today we hire scooters to reach the beaches in the West that Babs recommended – I’ve never ridden a scooter before, and still recall watching my sister fly over a ditch and land in the field beyond on her first attempt in Thailand, which discouraged me at the time. The guys we are renting off take us to the local football pitch to practise - an area of patchy grass mixed with weeds struggling to grow out of the sandy soil. The bikes are automatic and light enough to push. The roads, although windy and hilly are perfect for learning, as the tarmac has been recently lain and there are few other vehicles on the road. It's a wonderful sensation driving with the strong breeze blowing past my face as we race along, through beautiful green hilly countryside and tiny settlements. We are occasionally stopped by chickens ironically crossing the road, stray dogs wandering aimlessly or a herd of buffalos blocking the path.

Our destination is a white sandy beach with clear turquoise waters - a perfect circular curve with the surrounding green hills enclosing the bay. There are two coach-fuls of Indonesian children. They are bathing in their clothes, the girls in their headscarves.

It's not particularly practical, and I feel grateful that I am not a prisoner to religious culture. We sunbathe and swim in the sea. A strong breeze creates a pleasant temperature despite the midday sun. The Indian Ocean is cool, which I prefer to the warm baths surrounding the Gili archipelago.

While scootering to the next beach along the coast, Louise slips on the verge and falls off her bike. Fortunately it's not serious, but she does have scratches and bruises, so is understandably a little shaken. We stop at a cafe on the roadside where the owner makes smoothies for us with the mangoes we bought earlier.

On the return journey, a wedding party is blocking the road. All the villagers are dressed in their best - many in black costumes with gold trimming. The girls are heavily made up with pale face powder. One girl we speak to carries her powder caked sponge with which she

constantly dabs her face. There are guys drumming and big speakers balanced on a small truck, but there is no dancing.

Day 42 - 9 Jun 14

Today we have paid for a surf lesson, so we spend the day being pushed onto the baby waves by our instructors and shouted at to 'stand up, stand up'. Louise and Han are more successful than me, but give up to sunbathe earlier, while I continue to persevere. It's nearly 4, and my concentration is fading. A wave sucks me into its washing machine and as I resurface I am smacked on the head by the board, its force causing me to bite my tongue, so I call a day on my surfing attempt. A little bump has formed on my head just above my hairline.

We eat barbecued corn in one of the huts along the beach and play with the young kids. They practice shouting our names and we test their knowledge of the English numbers. They all want to pose for the camera with their cool sunglasses and snuggle up to Hannah for the picture. They seem incredibly cute, until one of the boys startles us by pulling out a little knife to pose with.

That evening we eat in a Warung a few doors down. The young boy who serves us surprises us with his almost fluent English. He moved recently with his parents from Jakarta to escape the busy city life to the quiet of the seaside. He's a bit chubbier and paler than the locals, who are all tanned and toned from surfing.

Day 43 - 10 Jun 14

We have hired a driver to take us to the National Park for a day trip. His name is Rocky and as we drive he tells me stories about his life. He first saw his wife on the side of the road when he was 23 and she was only 17 and he stopped to talk to her as he was blown away by her beauty. She lived in a village near his. Due to her strict upbringing, they had to meet in secret at a friend's house. As is the custom in the South of Lombok, so he tells me, he arranged to steal her away from her parent’s house in the middle of the night. When her parents discovered she was missing the following morning, they were understandably worried, but Rocky's parents visited them to ensure them that their daughter was safe.

At the time, her mother refused to consent to the proposed marriage. Rocky was an unemployed man with few prospects. She demanded an impossible dowry of 50 million rupees before she would give her blessing to this union. After much bargaining, 2.5 million was eventually agreed upon and a neighbour in Rocky’s village kindly lent him the money.

Now, Rocky is a highly successful business man, who not only provides for his family, but the whole community too. He owns a tour shop, transport company and a portable sound system which he rents out for events. He also runs a security group in Kuta that keeps a vigilant watch on the town to mitigate criminal activity, with which he's helped to resolve many disputes. He tells me there used to be scooter accident disputes between the tourists and the locals, as the locals would demand unreasonable amounts of money to fix damages, or would steal their own bikes back so the tourist would have to pay for the 'lost' bike. Now he ensures these incidents are settled fairly and reasonably.

He also runs a charity to help educate children who left school early: girls married at a young age; boys forced to start work too young; children expelled from school for running truant. He has 10 staff who run his school in the city and he is waiting to hear back from the Indonesian government as to whether they will grant him a loan for this enterprise. His wife runs a kindergarten in their house to look after the village kids for free while their parents work. His current ambition is to be voted chief of the surrounding villages at the next election in 2 years. He's an impressive man and we are pleased we have met him. He points out the road to his village as we pass. It's a 2 hour journey and he entertains us by blasting music from the car speakers - Adele, Rhianna, Justin Bieber, REM and Indonesian singers.

At the national park we are allocated our guides. We take a path through a stream to reach the pool below the first waterfall. It's slippery and requires scrambling in places. My leather sandals are soaked. We walk up river to the waterfall and I awkwardly change into my bikini with Hannah and Louise holding up a towel as my

changing room. The younger guide plunges in with his boxers on as he thinks I'd prefer not to swim alone. He can't reach the waterfall as he is unable to swim. I try to teach him how to kick his legs in the shallows to propel himself forwards. He manages for a short while before floundering in the water.

The older guide excuses himself due to a family emergency he must attend and leaves us with his younger apprentice, who is chatty and enthusiastic. We visit 4 other waterfalls, walking through streams, clambering over rocks and slipping down steep muddy paths. We spot a black monkey on a tree in the distance and our guide points out coffee beans and bananas that the locals pick. The last waterfall is the most impressive and the first place we meet other tourists. Here there are large concrete steps so it is easily accessible. A sheer edge clothed in green hanging leaves, with a multitude of waterfalls sailing down its side, shaking up a mist of glittering water droplets. We

climb up the rocks, feeling the spray of the pounding water, so our guide can take a photo of us in the centre of the gushing streams. It would be an incredibly magical spot if there weren't so many college students. They are laughing and jumping into the pools below. They ask for a picture with us - one guy is so excited to be central in the photo that he almost pushes me backwards into the water. It's a nice easy stroll back through the park, banana trees growing tall on both sides.

We eat our packed lunch of rice and spicy chicken. The other guide is hanging out at the car park - his emergency clearly an excuse. He comes and sits with us and rolls up a fat cigarette, offering us a puff. He says it's 'happy happy'. From what we understand, it's laced with mushrooms. We decline his offer.

Our driver has invited us for dinner but we must go to the market first to buy food. The market is bustling and full of vibrant colours. My arms are filled with green beans and kangkung and Hannah carries chillis, tomatoes, garlic and onion for samba. We buy eggs and pineapples and packets of flavouring to cook with. At his house, his wife and sister welcome us into their small kitchen and we help to chop up or break vegetables grind the peeled tomatoes and chili for sambal. She makes an omelette mixture with onions which we deep fat fry in a wok filled with oil - the egg mixture fills with air and expands as it's

dropped into the oil. All the dishes have copious amounts of MSG added for flavouring.

We sit on the bamboo platform outside the house with the family to eat. The food is delicious and his family welcoming. Rocky drives us back home - he has to go back into town to check up on his staff at the tour company. As he says goodbye he calls us darling, honey, sweetie pie which is a little off putting but we let it pass.

Day 44 - 11 Jun 14

Louise returns to Vietnam. We spend the day relaxing by the pool and walking around the town and have a drink in the evening.

In the bars in Kuta, young girls and boys sell friendship bracelets when they should be in bed. It seems wrong that 8 year olds are sent

out by their parents at this time in the evening, dancing with drunken Western tourists.

Day 45 - 12 Jun 14

We return to the beach on scooters for swimming and sunbathing. Upon arrival, I purchase a coconut, but its water is fizzy. It is old and has started to ferment, so I tell the vendor 'it is bad' and try to ask him to replace it with a fresh coconut. He refuses and requests the money. I offer 5 rupees instead of 10, leaving the coconut on his stand, but he won't take the lesser amount. Unsure what to do, I simply walk away down the beach. Once we are settled on the sand, he follows us demanding the full fare and brandishing his machete menacingly. 'You don't pay, no problem - I make trouble for you' he says. He tells me he has paid 7 rupees for the coconut. Although I find this difficult to believe I hand him this amount. He's still unhappy and before he walks off he threatens to steal my scooter. Fortunately, my scooter is still in the car park when we leave, but he has made me feel uncomfortable and it puts a slight dampener on my stay in Kuta, which has seemed such a perfect, chilled out spot before now.

Rocky picks us up from the guesthouse to transport us to the airport. He is in a jubilant mood since, as he excitedly tells us, he has heard back from the Indonesian government who has granted him funding for his education project. On the road, we are slowed down by a wedding party. All the guests are following the wedding car to the bride's village to celebrate and there are near to a hundred scooters travelling in an entourage along the road. We pass our young surf instructor, who is dressed in the black traditional celebratory attire and ‘cool’ sunglasses, with a pretty girl sitting on the back of his scooter. He drives alongside our car and waves us a friendly goodbye.