My trip to Lombok gave me an excited feeling, new territory, new frontiers,I felt like a kid on Christmas eve.

I set my alarm for 5am and left the house by 5.50am heading up to Jl. Kunti and on the Bypass heading in the direction of Sanur and the coastal road to Padangbai.

The sun came up somewhere on that road although I could see the light brighten way before I saw the sun itself. I enjoy cruising the coast road to Karangasem and early in the morning is a particularly pretty time.

I deliberately rode on to Candi Dasa as I wanted to have some breakfast before catching the ferry and there are a ton of places to choose from. After an American breakfast which was somewhat overpriced at 30,000rp I rode the few miles back to the Padangbai turnoff.

Reaching the port I rode directly to the parking area where you buy tickets for cars and bikes form a small booth. The attendant there pointed me to a police check. Of course they’ve got a scam going where the registration of the bike is only good for Bali…but you can pay them to make it all good.

I walked over to their office with the parking attendant and a cop and sat down. “Your license only good for Bali, problem for you to go to Lombok.” He said. “Okay no worries,” I said, “I’ll just park my bike here and hire another one in Lombok, so no need for problem.” “My friend its not a big problem.” He said. “Okay how much do you want?” I said. “Depend how much you offer.” He said. “Lima puluh ribu (50,000rp).”I said and we had deal.

I’m sure I could rent a bike in Lombok but I don’t want to waste time and leave myself without wheels. I also had to pay 40,000rp for being in the parking lot and for the ferry. So my total cost to get me and the bike to Lombok was 90,000rp.

After the cops let me go I rode around the corner and right onto a roll on-roll off type ferry. The motorbikes were parked as tightly together as was possible and a couple of large trucks were also along for the ride.

After I parked I walked up the rusty metal stairs to check out the boat. The rear deck was open air and all the travelling ‘bules’ were camped out there, every seat taken. Inside the main compartment were mostly Indonesian passengers who were crashing out with their friends and luggage.

I decided to step out onto the right side walkway where some locals gathered I laid down for maybe 2 hours and it was actually pleasant, fresh air and no effect from the waves. Within 20 minutes we were underway and I watched Bali gradually disappear in the distance, Gunung Agung the last thing I saw.

During the crossing I chatted to a Lombok local who worked in Surabaya. He filled me in about the city of Mataram and surrounding area. Being of Balinese extraction he was going to celebrate Nyepi with his family in Lombok. He compared Nyepi to the muslim Ramadan but commented that the muslims fast for part of the day for a month, whereas the Balinese go for on whole day straight.

Our trip lasted about 4 hours and soon Lombok came into view. As we neared the port of Lember I saw fishing vessels and the other ferries coming in and out meant we had a 30 minute wait before docking.

I noticed that decent percentage of the people coming off the boat were muslim and wondered what they thought of a skinny ‘bule’ riding with them.

A 5 minutes wait in the parking bay was all it took before we were out and heading in different directions. I was waiting for the Lombok cops to play the licence outing but that never happened. It was great to be in Lombok!