Sengigi, Lombok (10.09.12 - 11.09.12)

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Getting from Gili Air to Sengigi on Lombok was another pretty straight forward local boat. At the other end we were supposed to be getting on a bus to Sengigi when someone looked at our ticket and said to follow him. He then told us to put our stuff in a horse carriage and tried to take us to the bus, Now we are becoming wiser travelers we busted him on this, got our bags back and walked the 1km to the bus!
On arrival in Sengigi we were dropped at a tourist info point and for once we just went along with them and let them book us a hotel. It was ok and served a purpose as we were only staying one night before we plan to climb up mount Rinjani the day after.After geting some jobs done we headed for the beach. Sengigi is supposed to be a major tourist town in Lombok, but it was so quiet! We initially found a small piece of beach with a few people on it, lots of boats and lots of locals lying under the trees. We carried on walking around the bay, past a big fancy all inclusive hotel and came to a half kilometer of black soft sand, with pretty rough sea...and no one on it! So we stationed ourselves on there for the afternoon. There were a few touts going past selling all the usual bracelets and sarongs, obviously targeting us, with us being the only ones there! One guy came over and started chatting to us, the usual conversation.."where you from" "Where in England"..."oh...manchester United!!" "you play football?" but this guy never actually tried to sell us his bracelets! he sat down and talked to us for about an hour, telling us his life, how he didn't go to school, how he delivered his own son in a shack with no roof...pretty interesting stuff! Its always easy to forget how much poverty there is in Asia, especially in Indonesia, where people are always so happy! He told us he couldn't afford to send his kid to school because it cost 120 000 rupiah for 6 years...thats about 70pounds....crazy. On the evening we headed out for a quiet tea and a drink and watched another cover band sing Hotel California, before turning in!

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