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Published: December 25th 2011
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Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. We hope your holidays are safe, peaceful and a time to be with loved ones.
We spent the last 3 weeks on Lombok Island in Indonesia. We really loved our time there. We took the slow boat over from Bali (5 hours on a large public ferry), but made it to Gili Air by dinner time (a small island off of Lombok). We rented a house for 12 days in the village near the centre of the island. We were still only a 5 min. bike ride to the beach. There are no vehicles or motorcycles allowed on Gili Air - only horses, carts and bicycles. The internet was slow or non-existant which was a nice break for me. The only noises were the sounds of the roosters crowing in the wee hours of the morning and the call to prayer from the local mosque five times a day (the first one at 4:30 AM). Despite all of this, we left the island 12 days later feeling very rested. Most evenings, we walked to the west side of the island to watch the sun set and sometimes join in with the locals
for a drink and singing on the beach. We went everywhere by foot or bicycle.
We rented the house from a really great couple - Las and Moore and their 3 year old daughter Teresa. They live next door to the rental, so we visited with them everyday. They barbequed fresh fish for us a couple of evenings as well as roasted fresh coffee beans for Jeff. Las is very knowledgable about local medical plants and natural healing, so he was a fascinating person to talk to and learn from. There are no police on the island, but there doesn't seem to be any crime (or very little crime). There is a chief of the village and some elders that make decisions and punish people according to their "wrong-doings." We heard that if someone steals, one of the punishments might be to be tied to a tree for the night. They have a social network that seems to work for them.
Lucas enjoyed the beach parties in the evenings, getting to know the locals and playing guitar (he rented a guitar for a week). The beaches are fabulous on the Gilis and the snorkeling is good too. Gemma
especially loved swimming with the large sea turtles and visiting a turtle sanctuary that protects baby turtles and releases them into the wild when they are 8 months old.
Jeff and I left the kids on the island and went over to northern Lombok for a couple of days. We traveled by motorcycle and had so much fun together. We stayed at the base of Mt. Rinjani, the largest volcanic mountain on Lombok. I wanted to climb the mountain, but we didn't want to leave the kids for too long and it's rainy season so we would be guaranteed rain during the 3 day trek. Instead, we did a half day trek at the base of the mountain - enjoying the waterfalls, rivers and beautiful scenery. The evenings were cool which was so refreshing.
After leaving Gili Air, we went to the south of Lombok to a place called Kuta - very DIFFERENT from Kuta Bali where the Australians go to party. Kuta Lombok is very laid back, the scenery is unbelievable, and the waves are big. We planned to stay there for only a few days, but Lucas and Jeff got sick, so we stayed a week.
They both ended up on antibiotics which cleared things up after a few days. Lucas learned to surf between bouts of sickness and now is "hooked." We met a family from Nelson who are traveling throughout Indonesia. They have an 11 year old girl and 13 year old boy, so Gemma was happy to have some buddies to hang around with. The three of them played beach soccer and games with the local kids and had a blast swimming and biking. They may come stay with us in Bali in a couple of weeks.
We returned to Bali on December 23rd and came to Ubud where we are renting a house for 5 weeks. Ubud is the cultural centre of Bali - lots of art galleries and beautiful handicrafts. We are looking forward to having a bit of a routine over the next month (Jeff and Lucas want to go to the gym), buying fresh fruit and vegies at the market, cooking for ourselves, and homeschooling for Gemma. I plan to focus on yoga and getting in shape over this next month. Jeff has already met some expats that live here and we will have lunch at their house
tomorow. There's a Michael Franti benefit concert on New Year's Eve that we're debating whether to splurge on or not.....lots of choices......(even feta cheese in the supermarket!!)....I'll keep you posted.....we always love to hear from you, so write to us by replying to this blog or an email.......
Happy new year 2012.......with love, Kevi, Jeff, Lucas and Gemma
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Galit
non-member comment
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Hi Kevi, it is wonderful to read about all your adventures and your new habits. if to tell by your stories and by your faces in the pictures, you all are having a very good time :) Enjoy the rest of your journey, Galit