Intense fear of death

After enjoying our last breakfast on the beach, we took a horse-drawn carriage to the harbor of Gili Air. Actually, we wanted to do without it because the horses don't have a good life here unfortunately. They have to work all day and the Indonesians, unfortunately, don't know about appropriate husbandry. But unfortunately, it was impossible for us to do without a horse-drawn carriage. Because the harbor is about 5km away from our accommodation and it would have been a bit too tiring for us to walk there with our 20kg suitcase on the sandy beach. So we took a carriage for about €9. The ride was very bumpy because there are no proper roads on Gili Air.

After the bumpy ride, we got on a public boat, different from what we initially thought. Even before getting on the boat, I thought to myself "this can't possibly end well." The boat was very old, rickety, and above all, crowded. There was only one life jacket in sight. There were about 30 other people on board, lots of luggage, and things that needed to be transported to the mainland. We were lucky and managed to get a seat, many others had to stand. Happy and relieved that we were all on the boat, panic started to rise in me again. Because the boat was completely tilted and our side of the boat was almost completely in the water. The panic was evident on my face and the faces of the other tourists, but the locals seemed relaxed and so the boat finally departed. I leaned forward to avoid getting wet from the splashing water and also because I hoped that would partly balance the tilt. I prayed during the 15-minute crossing that we would all arrive safely, and fortunately, we did. After this crossing, we were all very happy to have solid ground under our feet again and a driver who would take us to the next accommodation. After about 45 minutes, we arrived at our next hotel. It is beautiful and after a cold welcome drink, we were able to check into our rooms right away. We have a fantastic room with a sea view, which almost makes up for the hardships of the boat trip.

Our stomachs were growling, so we first went to a warung, just a few steps away. We quickly found something delicious there. We had tasty spring rolls, Nasi Goreng, and fresh fish.

After eating, we played a few rounds of rummy and let the evening wind down. After being startled by an earthquake at 8 pm, the fear was very strong. Everything was shaking and we ran outside as if struck by lightning. It was much stronger than the last earthquake and since we were awake this time, we experienced it fully conscious. Out of fear of aftershocks, we initially sat outside on a green meadow. But when hotel staff came, all the guests gathered in front of the lobby. This is where the first effects of the earthquake could be seen. There were roof tiles everywhere and the plaster had fallen off the walls.

After the message came that there could be a tsunami, we were all evacuated and taken to a mountain. There we all sat, hoping that these were just precautionary measures. After about 3 hours, half of which were spent on the mountain, we were luckily allowed to return to our rooms. Thank goodness nothing happened, but I hope and keep my fingers crossed that it was our last earthquake. It is such an unpleasant feeling because you can't do anything and have no control over what will happen in the near future. We spent the night outside with our cousin and her family. We made ourselves a cozy cuddle meadow and tried to get some sleep. As happy as we were about our beautiful view, we no longer felt safe inside the house, at least not for this night. I hope we can all sleep fairly well and be woken up by nothing but our alarm clock. Good night and don't worry, we're all fine.