I read about Lombok, its nature and amazing scenery. So planned 3 nights there on the way to the Gili islands.

We left Ubud early in the morning! 1h bus ride to Pandangbai , where we boarded the "ocean star speedboat". Decided to pay a bit more, but be in Lombok in 1.5h, rather than 5h by ferry.

We also bought the taxi ticket there for the ride to the hotel, as we were told there was no taxis at ferry port!

When the boat arrived, Andy and I were the only ones getting off in Lombok. Everybody else went directly to the Gili islands- we now know why...

A rather friendly taxi driver picked us up and drove, well we won't call this driving, steered the oldest rusty thing on wheels, down and uphill. Always using the first gear! It was horrible. He used the horn every time he overtook a slower scooter, bike or bus- must have used that horn more often than I have used it in my whole life!

But we arrived in one piece at "sunset house" in senggigi!

The room was awesome, own pool and very spacious.

We walked around and found the Italian restaurant from trip adviser- food sorted!

The town itself was super odd! So many tourist style shops, westernized, but no tourists ! It was dead. Therefore those shops didn't fit into Senggigi at all! Everybody wanted to sell us either a massage, a sarong, necklaces or a tour to komodo island! Already at breakfast, at least 10 people pestered us to buy there things.

The beach was full of litter so not much point sitting on it.

Such a shame, I had read how beautiful it was there- and I am sure it is. We should have climbed the volcano, but didn't have enough time to do that trip!

It rained and rained and rained again- maybe that's why the dutch took it over- as they felt at home in that weather ;)

Didn't know what to do, so just walked along the beach in the rain.

Local kids were all surfing or playing in the sand! Which was cool to watch!

Anyway, the food at Alberto's restaurant was absolutely beautiful and I actually enjoyed the western food a lot! But everything else in Senggigi felt not right. We both had the feeling, wasting our time and were just waiting before we cud leave to go to Gili's. So we checked out a day early and booked a ticket for bus and ferry for 75.000 Rb (5,60€).

Bus -again the oldest bus in the world, with a driver who had no license- picked us up and brought us to the port. Had to wait in a restaurant for an hour( they hoped we wud all spend some more money there). Then, all of a sudden, lots of horse carts came to pick us up and bring to the boats. We walked, as they were asking too much money for a short drive. At the port, lots and lots of people selling stupid stuff...

There was fortunately some other couples, waiting with us. They all told similar stories about Lombok and everybody was looking forward to leaving!

The boat would only leave, when it had more than 25people in board. So we waited for some time and then left in a small wooden boat with lots of people, rice sacks, tonnes of eggs and cartons with dead plucked chickens!

So no complaint about the cheap ticket, we now know why!