Lombok Tag 11+12 Senggigi

Since we were able to choose our departure to Lombok (8:30 am or 2 pm), we unexpectedly decided on 2 pm. This allowed us to have a leisurely breakfast and enjoy the pool and the nice atmosphere on the small island. At 12 o'clock, we headed towards the boat dock, which was once again a great idea at that time. When we arrived at the ticket counter, the nice ticket lady handed us a yellow slip of paper. When they called the yellow slip, it meant that the ship was ready to depart. When we asked when this would be, she replied, '10 minutes, 20 minutes, half an hour, an hour, two hours? Who knows that exactly.' Great, no lunch again. But at least we weren't the only idiots with a yellow slip. In addition to yellow slips, there were also white, pink, and green ones, as well as chest stickers. Yellow was for Bangsal, green for Padang Bai, white for Gili Trawangan, and pink for somewhere else. The people with the chest stickers all wanted to go to Nusa Lembongan. But they had already been sitting in the waiting hall or somewhere like that for a few hours and were definitely not in a good mood. But if you constantly forget your destination and have to stick it on your chest, you deserve it. We finally got our turn and were on our ship at 1 pm. Well, it was more like a little boat. From my point of view, it was the most beautiful way to travel after our train ride in Sri Lanka. I'll spare you any comments on safety facilities or load limits. I have already adjusted my expectations to the local conditions. As long as a boat captain looks like a pirate, a driver appears sober, and a scooter driver at least looks like he's going to school, everything is fine. After a much too short boat ride, we were already there, found our next checkpoint, and then waited for our bus. While waiting, we chatted with a German couple who happened to be going to the same hotel. Until that point, they seemed quite cool. The 17 suitcases they had with them should have made me think twice. Should have...

On the way to the hotel, it became apparent that Lombok is upgrading massively in terms of tourism. But unfortunately, not cool tourism, but package/mass tourism. Brand new coastal road and lots of construction sites. What we had already seen on Gili Air were/was huge concrete blocks being built on the beach, completely destroying the image of the picturesque bays and their surroundings. You can have that in Turkey, Bulgaria, Tenerife, or Mallorca too. You don't have to go all the way to Lombok for that. But well, as long as every room has a sea view. Unfortunately, our accommodation was like that too. Doesn't really fit the holiday feeling we knew so far. My mistake. It won't happen again. Since we arrived at our accommodation quite late, the rest of the day was spent eating and showering. Eating at the hotel is also about 3-5 times more expensive than outside. Well, at least the somewhat clean water and the comfortable bed are the only things I can appreciate about this bunker.

After the breakfast buffet was done, we headed to the pool. Okay, the pool is quite nice. You don't have an infinity pool with a glass pane every day, and you can certainly take some nice photos here. Only everyone else seemed to have the same idea of taking photos, but in a slightly more pronounced form. The value of the cameras and photo equipment that were used that morning probably exceeded the gross domestic product of the island of Lombok. The photo shoots sometimes lasted between 5 and 30 minutes, depending on what the models had in terms of clothing and poses. Including the couple we had met before. Hence the numerous suitcases. After the CD at the pool bar started playing from the beginning for the umpteenth time, the sad highlight was when an inflatable unicorn was abused for another wave of photos. At that point, I wished for a brief rubbing together of two tectonic plates just off the coast of Indonesia. But it was not answered. So it was time for us to leave. Then we walked along the beach and ate cheap food outside the hotel. Since another half day at the pool in this hotel was not an option, we quickly found a driver outside the hotel for the next day. Of course, the driver was only half as expensive as the one provided by the hotel. We quickly organized the return transport to Bali, watched the sunset, and so the next day promised improvement.