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  Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
Sunday, January 13, 2008

It was tough, but we decided to tear ourselves away from Gili Trawangan, mostly in order to see a little more of Indonesia than one of its tiniest islands. So we decided on Nusa Lembongan, another mini-island in between Bali and Lombok. Despite its proximity, though, it still took us a good two days to get there. Travel in Indonesia, especially of the island-hopping variety, is BRUTALLY SLOW. Making it worse was that every so-called "Travel Agent" on Trawangan told us a different way to get there, so at every stop, our new driver or boat man would inform us that we had to change our route slightly. The last straw was when finally one of our bus drivers (who seemed to know what he was talking about) informed us that if we just got to Sanur, there would be a ferry at 8 pm over to Nusa Lembongan. Keep in mind we'd already been traveling since 8 am that morning. We arrived in Sanur only to find out that, of course, no such ferry existed. And of course, the mini-bus had long since taken off, so we couldn't even vent our grief and frustration on the confused and incorrect bus driver... he should consider himself lucky. Anyway, after some food and much-needed iced coffee, we checked into the first hostel we found - it was no coincidence that we chose the one right beside the pier, where we would get the ferry as soon as possible the next morning. It was actually pretty nice, too, or so we thought, until right before we went to bed and I spotted a GIGANTIC flying cockroach in the bathroom. We sealed that door shut and from then on used the bathroom in the lobby, let me tell you.

Things picked up the next morning. The 2 hour boat ride over from Sanur was a hit, we met more Canadians, quelle surprise.  Arrival on the island was, um, unique?  This island was so small that it did not have roads, and instead you must drag yourself and backpack across the beach (which felt like quicksand) in search of a guesthouse. Top priority: find guest house close to drop-off point for as little exercise as possible.  So, those were all full (seemed to be everyone's priority, as it turned out).  But we settled into a pretty great place called Nusa Indah, where we had our own spacious bungalow with comfy beds and a porch for surf-watching.  The bungalows were set back from the sand-filled courtyard out front, so it was like a miniature private beach. The first day was beautiful, so Michelle and I planted ourselves on beach chairs armed with Australian magazines and occasionally swam and occasionally socialized with the more active Canadians.  

Unfortunately, the next 2 days we basically got rained off the island. Here's the thing: we totally understand that we came to Indonesia during the rainy season.  We knew it and we still wanted it.  But to tell you the truth, the perma-sun of Gili T allowed us to pretend, for a whole week (plus one day on Lembongan!), that it would never rain upon us again. But no. When it rained, it poured. On our last night, there was such a crazy storm that the rain was blowing sideways in huge pellets and the trees looked like they were going to rip out of the ground. By the way, palm trees are so loud in the wind. But yeah, it was unreal. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it was actually pretty cool to witness it - neither of us has traveled in a rainy season before. The next morning, a few of the fishing boats out front had actually sunk, so people were pulling them up and bailing them out.

So now we are back in Kuta, where we reunited with Michelle and Nikita, who'd been on a crazy trip to see the Komodo dragons (we were jealous, but a little terrified when we saw the videos of how fast they moved). We're both kind of sick; perhaps the water was not so good on Nusa Lembongan. Tomorrow we start our two-day journey back to Thailand, which we talk about and dream about every single day as if we're homesick for it.  We're flying to Jakarta and then to Bangkok tomorrow (how Carmen Sandiego of us), stay overnight in Bangkok, and then the next morning fly down south and get a ferry to Ko Pha Ngan. WOOOO HOOOOO!! Islands, diving, banana pancakes, here we come!!!

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