The American Girl

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On the flight to Lombok we had a small plane and in front of Terry sat a rather 'large' man! He first had to have an extension to his seatbelt. Then after takeoff he immediately pushed his seat back almost hitting Terry in the face. He joined in convesation with his friends "2 men and a woman" in more forward seats. We shall say he was north European so as not to offend any friends, but he was truly obnoxious. This was a 2 1/2 hour flight and he was on his 3rd rum and coke when the cabin were bringing the food round. He sort of demanded a pillow, which of course, they had to oblige. "Never mind" said Michelle, "we will never see him again".

We arrived 45 mins drive later at our hotel only to find them at the bar. Next night he was wearing a large checked tablecloth which he thought was a sarong and other people were commenting. Michelle kept calling him a fat b****** and eventually he became known as Mr FB. Soon his party were joined by local girls (something that happens all over the world) and Mr FB showed round photos of his "girlfriend in Manilla". We will be glad when we never see him again.

We had arrived in Lombok very hot, sweaty and dirty on Sat 20th and after queueing at Immigration for nearly an hour we finally got to our hotel at 8.00 pm. By 8.15 pm we were drinking the local beer "Bintang" in the bar. Our hotel, Bulan Baru New Moon Hotel is lovely. We have a large, spacious room with a double bed and an open air shower in the en-suite which has the walls painted in a jungle mural, (recommended by Mick & Di, our friends who stayed here in May).

Across the road is the beach which is just too windy, we were almost sand blasted off the first day (it is the windy season), so gave up and spent the rest of the day by the hotel pool.

As the title suggests up pops an American girl (hi Deb!) called Deborah who was at the end of a month's vacation in Bali. We 'hung out' (see, we have learnt American) with her for 2 days. The first night until 2.00 am and the second until 3.00 am.

On Deb's last day, Tuesday, we all 3 went to Malimbu beach about 10k north which we hoped would be less windy as it was more sheltered. We spent a lovely day sunbathing, walking along the beach and cooling ourselves in the sea. We left just before 3.00 pm hoping that a bemo (a little open truck with seats down the side) would come to take us back to our hotel. We stood and waited in the shade as a local woman told us one would arrive in a few minutes. After 30 mins one arrived, only stopping at the last minute because it was full. Terry negotiated a price of 1.20p, it was full so 3 boys got out and climbed on the roof. Only when we sat down did we notice an injured boy lying on the floor. He had been knocked off his motorbike by a car and had a broken arm and leg and they were taking him to hospital. We all felt guilty as the bemo had stopped for us especially as Michelle nearly put the rucksack down on his leg.

Deborah is 45, bubbly, adventurous and most of all talkative, but we loved her and were sorry when she left for home.

Our hotel, whilst nice, is 8k from the nearest town, Senggigi "the Princess of the West Coast". However, this is really just hotels and a few restaurants. So today, Wednesday, we decided to check out the islands close by called the Gilis. We had a taxi to what they laughingly call a port; we then passed all the usual hassle and bought tickets for the public boat, 65p each, but we have to wait until it is full (20 people). The public boat is basically a 20ft open, wooden boat with an outboard. We eventually paddled out to it and set off. The wind and waves were quite big and it soon became obvious that we were all going to be wet, and we were!!! We arrived at Gili Trawangan which is OK but again, not much to do unless you are a diver. We looked at room prices and decided on a wooden chalet for us both for 9.00p per night including breakfast. We went and bought a drink and discussed our options; Lombok is not as nice as we thought and bringing all our luggage in this little boat on Saturday and returning a week later seems too much, so we will come on Saturday, stay a week and then take the Fast Cat to Bali. We will then change our flights and fly back to Singapore from Bali.

We set off for the mainland only to find bigger seas. On the boat with us were 3 girls and a man from Garuda Airlines. The whole boat was soaked and we had to wrap the camera up, and ended up laying our money out to dry when we got back to the hotel.

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Comments

[Di and Mick]

Sorry!
Sorry you are not enjoying Lombok. Obviously our tastes differ to yours as we loved it as you know, and had gorgeous weather without wind for the beaches. Are you going to all 3 Gillis? They are supposed to be really lovely. Hope the next stop is more to your liking. Enjoy! love Di and Mick x