Sat 24th - Mon 26th May (Week 36)

Sat 24th - Got our pickup for the ferry at 8:30 and got on the 40-seater fast boat with 38 French people ! We've been amazed at the % of French tourists compared to other nationalities in Bali - so much so that signs and brochures etc are in English and French - no other languages, and almost all other tourists we've seen speak French ! There was a big group of 30 French people all going to Bangsal on Lombok, so they detoured the boat to go there first, rather than the Gilis, which worked well for us as we were also going there ! Usual scrum when we arrived for taxis and various touts, with them quoting 250k to get to Senggigi when we knew it should be 100k. Eventually got it to 120k and off we went at 10:30am. Arrived at our Homestay at 11am and checked into our basic room - 2 bamboo beds, a fan, cold shower, and squat toilet ! Lovely. But it is only £7.50 a night ! Headed out at 2pm for some lunch, investigating various tour options for the next month and Brandon had a haircut for £1.50. Senggigi isn't quite what we imagined. Its the biggest tourist town on Lombok, but just feels quite run down and just one long strip of restaurants and tour offices, with barely any tourists around. Quite sad really. But because of that, you can't walk 5m without being asked if you want Taxi, tour, trekking etc. They even approach you when you are eating lunch or dinner which quickly got on our nerves !

Sun 25th - Terrible nights sleep in our boiling room with a fan that didn't reach the beds ! After having 5 cold showers in 24 hours I've discovered that I really do need a few comforts in a room - the main one being a/c ! Checked out a few other options nearby and moved to a better room with a/c and proper toilet for only £1.50 more ! Spent the afternoon having lunch, booking a tour and onward travel, and walking all along the beach. The beaches north of Senggigi are long, sweeping sandy bays with turquoise waters, but in town they were black sand and grey seas due to the storm clouds. Being a Sunday meant the beach was full of locals, all swimming fully clothed and having BBQs on the beach, and still hardly any tourists ! Both afternoons have been really grey and cloudy so far, with thunder and lightning in the evenings and a big tropical storm for a few hours this evening which helped clear the humidity a bit. Not the beautiful blue skies we had in Bali !

Mon 26th - Left at 9am for our day trip to Senaru in a private car. Stopped on the way at a small temple right on the cliff/beach, and a traditional market with fruit, veg, fish and meat etc which was pretty dirty and rubbish everywhere. Also had a quick stop to feed some friendly monkeys some bananas which they civilly took from our hands ! Arrived in Senaru at 12pm, after passing through beautiful rice paddies and heading up toward Mt Rinjani and pristine jungle. Headed off with our guide to the 1st waterfall, walking besides a tunnel built through the rock by the Dutch 100 years ago to carry water to the village and paddy fields. The waterfall was just stunning - the best jungle waterfall we've seen, so lush and surrounded by beautiful jungle. I braved the cold water and stood underneath the pounding water which took my breathe away with the force and coldness ! Another 20mins walk to the 2nd waterfall which was even more impressive - Hollywood couldn't CGI anything better ! It really did look like something out of films - just perfect, and again surrounded by pristine lush green jungle. The spray coming off the waterfall filled the valley and made it hard to breathe the nearer you got. I had another dip in the icy waters but Brandon gave it a miss as he has a bit of a cold. Fantastic walk through the jungle, alongside and through a river, and incredible waterfalls. The guide and I walked through one of the Dutch water tunnels, only lit by a few windows in the rocks, with bats flying around. Great fun, but Brandon declined and met us at the end ! Watched a beautiful sunset from a lookout point, with palm trees in the foreground, and Mt Agung on Bali in the distance - pretty special.