Lombok 🇮🇩

3 nights with little sleep behind us, we were looking forward to a few relaxing days in Lombok. We took the public boat from Gili T to Lombok, specifically to Bangsal, and from there to Kuta by taxi. Our start in Kuta was a bit bumpy. It all started when our originally booked hostel overlooked our reservation and thus had no room for us. Now we were standing there in the heat with no bed and 4 backpacks. We quickly booked a new hostel nearby for the next 3 days. In retrospect, it turned out that maybe it wasn't so bad. But the journey from one hostel to the other was very exciting even though it was only 2km. Getting a taxi was not that easy, especially since in the extreme heat and completely exhausted, walking was not an option for us at that moment. After about 15 minutes of waiting on the roadside and several unsuccessful attempts to get a taxi, a local waved to us to take us. After about 5 minutes, he actually came back but not alone, but with a second local. It already seemed a bit strange to us, but we didn't have a choice if we didn't want to walk. So we got into the plush decorated car. It took about another 5 minutes to communicate where we wanted to go and how much we wanted to pay. Once everything was settled, we finally set off. Just before the hostel, the next surprise came, namely a maneuver by the driver that ended in a wall and a drainage ditch. We really couldn't help but laugh. Soon, 5 more locals ran over and first admired the scene and probably us too, and then the car was lifted out of the ditch. After 30 minutes instead of the planned 5, we finally arrived at our hostel. Since there was already enough excitement that day, we just had food and went to bed. The next day, we took a tour with our scooter and unexpectedly sat on it for a whole 7 hours. We started at a pretty cool waterfall where we also went for a swim. But the journey there was already quite impressive. Through villages and towns where probably not many tourists without a guide have made it. And even at the waterfall, the locals were very amazed by us. We had lunch in the middle of the rice fields before continuing for the next 2 hours to the north of the island to Mount Rinjani. One of Indonesia's most famous volcanoes. We were both pretty impressed by the landscape that lay before and behind us. Green mountains, hills, rice fields, and one village after another. We then decided to make our way back after crossing the entire island. Nevertheless, we still had another 3 hours on the scooter ahead of us. At sunset, we took another break, as we could no longer sit due to pain everywhere. But after a total of 4 hours, we made it back home and fell into bed, exhausted. On our last day in Kuta, it was all about the beach, and we spent the whole day there. First in the south of the city, and at sunset, we wanted to go surfing at another beach, but the waves were unfortunately too small for us there, so we just enjoyed the sunset. The next day, we continued to Senggigi in the east of Lombok. There we stayed only 2 nights and only made it 500 meters to the nearest supermarket and across the street to a bar for dinner. Because the next 4 days were going to be something big, where we really wanted to enjoy the peace and do nothing. 🫶🏼