Full Circle

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So I have started a course of heavy duty poop pills the doctors have prescribed to me back home. Thank god for Western medicine, it looks like world war 3 is over. On that note it was time to leave the Gillis and onwards to Lombok.

Our 6 day streak of sunshine ended with some knarly weather this morning so we were discussing amongst ourselves whether to abort mission for the boat ride to Lombok. The water looked sketchy and with each passing minute the waves got choppier and more foul.

We paid for a shuttle boat which was pretty much the same as a public minus the life vest, they boarded first. Like a bad sitcom pilot we watch the first boat leave and it was getting tossed like a rag doll. At times it looked like it would capsize but some how it made it.

I told Jenni we would abort mission if I wasn't able to secure our life vest, must of these boat seldom meet the international safety regulations, the life vest are usually in a big bag stored away. I guess they expect people to somehow find these life vest when they are under water. By the time our boat left the weather had gotten much worst - the wind really picked up and rain started to come down hard.

Zenning In: It just occurred to me I have already been to Indonesia, 33 years ago. When I was 4 our family left vietnam after the war and we were smuggled out of the country. Our boat ran a grounds just before reaching Indonesia and we had to swim to shore. We were with another boat but they didn't make it, the boat capsized from bad weather and pretty much everyone died except a few that were saved by fisherman. We ended up living in Indonesia for a year as refuges. Talk about a full circle - 33 years later I am back here on a boat in a storm again, this time rather than a life or death situation, I am on vacation.

Zenning out.

Once I was on our boat I B-lined it and grab some life vest. You can tell everyone on the boat was thinking the same thing but perhaps was too shy to do anything about it. Once they saw that I had a life vest, they all went into a frenzy like a pack of Hyena's and all went for the life vest.

There was a dead silence on the boat - even the locals tried to hide their worries but you can tell the fear was there. Half way through the journey the engine died....that ranks up there with snapping your lease and being swallow by the rip tide. The operator tried several times to start the boat but it kept dying....the sea took over and started rattling the boat. At this point I am assessing the situation. What can I take with me and leave behind....the passports and money are in the smaller bag. Then without notice the engine started but barely and we were able to navigate through the nasty waters.

We made our way to Sengiggi....

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