Tag #32 to #34

Hello,

Last Sunday was a very local day: we were picked up in the morning by some local boys at Senggigi Beach. We met them the day before at the beach and had a little chat; so they offered us to join them on a trip the next day. After a short phone call with their teacher, everything was arranged and we drove to the teacher's house on Sunday morning, where about 15 boys aged 15-23 were also being taught English. It was in a very poor village, and the very dilapidated house consisted of only 3 simple rooms. In the first room, the students gathered: it was a tiled room, nothing else. The older, almost blind teacher - who actually wasn't a teacher - explained to us that he taught the students English so that they would have a chance of finding a job in the tourism industry in the future. Which apparently worked: later we met a former student of his who now works on the Gili Islands.

To give the students a chance to practice English, they took us on a scooter trip to the Monkey Forest and a temple. After that, we had a very local meal together at the teacher's house: rice with water spinach in peanut sauce and chicken and fish marinated with 'Lombok sauce'. The teacher asked us to give him 250,000 Rp for the meal, which was of course way too much for the small amount, but we saw it as a donation. As a conclusion, we also met the teacher's female students, who asked us a lot of questions from their notebooks and took many photos with us in the end.

In the afternoon, we set off to the next accommodation: Tetebatu, a small village in the interior of the island. So we drove for over 2 hours with our backpacks, whether it was on major roads or small muddy paths through the countryside... Well, our navigation seems to have no difference between paved and gravel roads.

We finally arrived at the accommodation completely frozen - by the way, the climate here is completely different from Thailand: colder and more humid, it rains almost every day from 1 pm. We were immediately warmly welcomed with a welcome drink and a warm meal in their own restaurant. After that, we continued with a lot of rice wine and guitar in a nice atmosphere. So the evening ended quite late...

The next morning, one of the family from the accommodation led us through the beautiful landscape of the rice fields to the small Tetebatu Waterfall, which can only be reached by wading through knee-deep water.

Unfortunately, we left late due to our hangover (our guide was also quite tired from the previous evening) and we got caught in the daily afternoon rain. Completely soaked and frozen, we finally returned to the homestay at some point... and warmed ourselves up with an afternoon nap...

In the evening, we chatted with the only other guests at dinner: two German students who are also traveling in Indonesia.

On Tuesday, we visited two other waterfalls in Rinjani National Park, guided by two boys from the accommodation. They were very fascinating and beautiful. It was even possible to jump into one of them. Jakob took the chance and jumped the eleven meters into the crystal clear water.

After the waterfalls, our scooter tour continued to the 'Handicraft Village'. There, you have the opportunity to watch Indonesian women doing traditional and authentic weaving. They showed us the various steps of natural cotton dyeing and explained the entire weaving process. So we also gained detailed insights into the lives of the local population.

Tomorrow we will continue to Kuta, a city in the south of the island, where the sea is waiting for us again. Despite the cold and humidity, it is difficult for us to leave this region, as the mindset of the locals is very special: you get great guided tours through the countryside, you are invited everywhere, and you feel almost at home. The difference to normal tours, however, is that everything is free, you almost have the impression that the people here simply have nothing else to do and just want to show you their country. And there is also absolutely no pressure to buy anything, for example today at the weaving workshop. Our great host summed it up like this: 'You came a long way to here, so we want you to enjoy the country. If you feel satisfied, you pay a little bit, but you don't have to.' In short, life here is very relaxed and not very focused on economy, which makes Tetebatu a place where time simply stands still.

Well, Kuta is supposed to be the exact opposite...

yours Teri Yaki

P.S. unfortunately, the wifi is not good enough for pictures, we will come back again