time for more adventure

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Time to move on.
As Sharon and Scott have taken off to Australia for a few weeks we decided it was time for us to move on too.
We spent a night in Krabi on the mainland Thailand before flying down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

From there we were due to get the 3.35 pm flight to Lombok, Indonesia arriving just before 7pm. We had a taxi arranged tto meet us to take us to the ferry port for a boat to the island of Gili Gede. ( pronounced ... G'day)

However the flight was delayed by first an hour then again for another hour and a half before taking off. Meaning it would be almost 9pm when we landed.

On arrival at Lombok airport the front and back doors were opened. We were slap bang in the middle so ended up practically the last to get off. Immigration took forever and we began to fear that out taxi driver would have given up and left by now.

Finally through immigration and luggage collection it was time to find an ATM.
Hoards of taxi drivers had other ideas they ran to us in droves screaming at us " where you going?" " how much you want to pay?"
It was manic.
We located the ATMs and tried to get currency but by now my brain was in a whirl, what with lack of sleep and there being 19.400 IR to the pound sterling it was confusing to figure out how much to get. Also non of the numbers and symbols on the key pad could be made out.
A friendly Australian came to our rescue and we drew out the maximum amount possible.... £128 hmm that won't take us far for ten days. We knew there are no ATMs on the island.

As we left the arrival hall things got even worse, as the Australian had warned us " it was like a jungle out there" . As there are few foreigners we were targeted by more taxi touts.
Luckily the taxi driver we'd arranged to meet us was stood there faithfully holding up our name even though by now we were three hours later than scheduled.
He whisked us into his car and took us to another ATM where we had time to get our wits about us and obtain more money.

Then it was off to the ferry port. The journey took almost and hour and a half as the roads were narrow and twisty, I'm sure the scenery would have been amazing but sadly it was too dark to see anything.

Eventually we pulled up in a dark corner and the driver jumped out and gestured through a gateway. Soon a tiny boat pulled up and two fishermen got off and we were gestured to get on. The only light was from the drivers mobile phone, I hastily yanked off my trainers and paddled in the cool water to climb into the boat. The taxi driver and boat man loaded our bags onto the wet deck and we were motioned to sit down on the wet planks. Oh well bang goes my nice clean trousers.
We set off in complete darkness , by now it was almost midnight. The boatman turned out to be very chatty and considerate, slowing down frequently to ask if we were OK as waves spayed over the sides of the tiny boat.
The ride took only ten minutes before we were jumping out onto a tiny beach.
Noll, the boatman and as it turned out the manager too, grabbed our bags and plonked them on the decking of a bungalow right on the sea front. Apart from a few lights in the restaurant , a hundred yards away. there was only moonlight.
Noll opened the door of the bungalow and declared " surprise! this is your room"
It looked amazing, much better than we had been expecting. He went on to explain that a large group of locals were coming for the weekend and he wanted to put them all in the same type of bungalows as each other, the cheaper ones. So as we were here for longer we had been allocated this one at no extra cost. Well we weren't complaining!

We'd barely eaten all day but of course the kitchen was closed so we settled for a cold Bintang beer before dropping into bed in our luxury bungalow!

Now let the adventure begin!

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Photos

This is the house we had booked.
Three rooms share a bathroom. Looks posh but very small inside the rooms.