Leaving Kuta Lombok for the ferry to Bali

Tuesday morning it lashed down again in Kuta Lombok

and while waiting in my room for the rain to subside I got a phone call from Sean in Oregon, sometimes I am amazed by technology. During this trip I have turned my phone off for most of the time and check it twice a day for messages. I was lucky to have it on when he called.

Breakfast is included at Anda guest house and it was again a banana pancake and Lombok coffee. Soon after I said goodbye to the owner of the guesthouse and the owner of the artshop and hit the road heading for the town of Praya and then on to Lember to catch the ferry. The road to Praya is paved and in good shape, in fact I maintained a pretty constant speed of 60kmh all the way to the port. For visitors to the south coast of Lombok the accommodation is basically in Kuta and there are a couple of ATM’s in Praya. I hit one and carried on. It was quite funny because I pulled over a couple of miles short of Praya to ask a local where the BCA ATM was in town, I didn’t want to be heading in all directions to find it. This lady was a 40 year old Muslim in traditional costume and offered to hop on and show me, she apparently lived in the direction I was going. After we stopped at the bank and got stares from many people,(no bad vibes though) I said I was heading to Lember. I wasn’t sure where she wanted to go but she seemed keen to continue. Motorbike is way faster than the local cidomos. About 20kms down the road she said she wanted to get off for coffee and makan (food) and we said goodbye. Nice people and very willing to mix with westerners.

Riding up to the ferry terminal I could see a fleet of large trucks heading in my direction, this meant a ferry had just unloaded. I hurried to get to the ticket office and paid 39,000rp for the boat plus 2,000rp parking lot access. Loading was going on and it took me several minutes to get on and park. A ferry leaves every hour and a half but I didn’t want to miss one.

This time I sat in the rear of the boat on a sideways facing seat. I picked up 2 plastic containers of nasi bunkus (rice, noodles, assorted meat and spices for 2,000rp each and a bottle of water for 3,000rp.

The boat actually took over an hour to get out of the port with local vendors flooding the passenger area selling t-shirts, food and drinks. Its not really an oppressive scene if you accept this is the third world and people have to make a living. I buy what I want and ignore the rest.

The crossing was uneventful, shade being provided by a cloud layer. There was a typical backpacker crowd aboard along with an Indonesian assortment of people. We gould see Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembogan for a good while off the left side.

I notice that lifeboat containers are fixed to side of the boat and these are meant for 25 persons. The rear of the boar has 5 of these on each side so there should be enough room for 250 people in an emergency. As often in Indonesia there didn’t appear to be anyone in charge on the boat so I wouldn’t waste time waiting to be saved by anyone on board if disaster struck.

We hit Padangbai a couple of hours later and I went to get on the bike and head home. The scene inside the ferry when it is about to dock is a frenzied starting up and revving of motorbikes and trucks. Down in the parking bay the level of fumes were unbearable, I sucked in a big lung full of exhaust from a bus and could feel it in my lungs while riding home.

Hitting the open road I was re introduced to Bali traffic, this was rush hour after all and even though Padangbai is a sleepy place the main road to Klungkung was a racing track of maniacs without mirrors. I tell you the difference in population and traffic levels between Bali and Lombok is amazing. If somebody asked me how many people live in Lombok I’d say � million. Where over 2 million people are beats me.

I reached my house in Seminyak around 7.15pm and opened a tall Bintang�ah that felt good!

My short trip to Lombok thought me that the logistics of getting there are easy, there is scattered tourist development but most of the island is untouched by tourism or industrialization. People are friendly and the roads are decent with low traffic levels.

If you are visiting Bali and have a few days to spare I can recommend Lombok as a great getaway.