After a 4 1/2 hour ferry ride from Padangbai on Bali to Lombok we hoped into our 'minibus' to head to where we were planning to stop, a town called Mataram. The driver advised us that it probably wasnt the best place to stop as it is busy and dirty and as everyone else on the bus was heading to Sengiggi we decided to change our plans. I am sure Sengiggi was once a lively holiday stop off (as everyone keeps telling us the bali bombings in 2004 had a massive effect on tourism here) but these days it looked like a ghost town, one long strip of hotels and shops with one place open and the next closed. Accomodation looked to be in short supply so we headed to a tourist information office which asked our budget then found a place to suit.... When we got to our place we were sure we got charged double what it was worth, no windows, just wooden shutters, 2 single beds, one light that worked in the bedroom but none in the bathroom and the sheets looked like they had been there for months! No worries, it's only for 2 nights!! As it was late, we went out for a bite to eat then back for an early night.

When we got up for our 'all inclusive' breakfast we found a seat on a broken bench as the other 5 seats were already being used and ordered our cup of tea and hot bread, not quite toast, and the owner of the rooms said she would like to tell us out Lombok and what was good to see and do. There was also 2 Irish couples that arrived at the same time as us who said they would be interested. Unfortunately the owner didnt speak very good english and proceeded to tell us a terrible story about Lombok using about 20 english words repeated and a few drawings, bless cos she was really trying but after 45 minutes we'd had enough!! We spent the day wondering round and manged to find a nice cafe to stop for a bite to eat and were harrassed by the many, very desperate, street halkers selling everything from DVD's and Blow darts to Pearl necklaces.

We bumped into the Irish coupes along the way and it seemed they had a very similar day and would be leaving to head to the Gili Islands tomorrow, which we had also decided to do! As there were no other people around we joined the Irish for a few drinks back at the rooms and went out for dinner with them, ending up quite p*ssed by the end of the night.

We were up bright and early but with a slight hangover the next morning looking forward to a couple of weeks on the Gili Islands