Day 9 - on Gili T
Hannah was poorly last night as it was very hot and she had eaten too much including fish. However, this is the first touch of Bali belly she has had on the trip and so it isn't a disaster.
We sat on the veranda of the room and Mooki brought us breakfast. Nik had more banana pancakes and this time tried Lombok coffee - apparently very different and chocolatey in taste. Hannah had toast and jam and tea. Mooki cooked it all on a little camping stove next door - amazing. The electricity went (as happens here all the time as they run off a generator) and we packed our bags for the beach and wandered south down the east coast. It was gloriously hot and the water was postcard turquoise. The sand is however hard on the feet as its full of shells and coral. We eventually found a spot under a tree on a deserted beach and relaxed in the sunshine. We tried to go in the sea but we were right on a reef so it was killer on the feet! Hannah found some excellent shells.
It then went a bit wild and started sprinkling with rain so we went for lunch on an undercover beach bar and had fruit smoothies and turkey sandwiches before settling further round on a couple of sun loungers with a cuppa. However, it then decided to repeatedly try and rain. Once it really started coming down, we dashed back to the room and got totally soaked through. It rained for hours, proper tropical style and some of the streets were flooded. We were a bit naffed off that we did all our washing this morning!
When the rain stopped we went out to meet Toby and Claudia at Sama Sama for a drink and some dinner. En route we once again bumped into Alex from the hotel where we had our volcano advernture - its such a small place here.
We stayed the evening at Sama Sama as there was some excellent people watching, including a dutch birthday girl, a woman in a plastic dress (who had many local fans - they like the blonde ladies here) and a middle aged European man who had clearly started to enjoy the magic mushrooms a little too much and spent the whole evening dancing. After one, we decided to go to Rudi's which has the island's party on a Friday night. The Djing fancies itself as a bit Ibiza, but in fact featured no beat matching and followed the Macarena with House of Pain. Oh. Dear. In news, Nik 'I don't dance' Patterson busted out the snake hips on the dance floor and got his groove on, even though the Dj didn't play No Limits.
At around 3.30am we accepted that we would not be making the 9.30 boat to Gili Air to move islands the next day.
Day 10
We both awoke feeling a bit rough after the night before. However, Nik got up and did the rounds to try and find a bungalow to stay in for a couple of days that had air con and was a bit more luxurious. However, the weekenders have arrived and everywhere was double price. Instead, we are moving into another room at Funny's as for a little more money it has some air con, and we don't have to re-pack.
As there was no sunshine, we decided to relax on the balcony with our breakfast for a while. Our entire day consisted of little more than having a wander around, stopping for a drink, having a little sleep, and then doing the same again. But hey, that's how they do it on this island. When Nik was doing the rounds this morning, he saw all the locals just sleeping on the beach and on the bars after a busy Friday night!
In the evening, we had a quick drink at Sama Sama (we became famous as the man on the guitar playing Nirvana gave us a shout out as 'the nice couple from England who are always happy') went for dinner with Toby and Claudia again at an amazing looking fresh fish restaurant where the man on the BBQ was clearly high on something or other. I think you'd have to be to claim that a Barracuda was 'the sexy fish'. Hannah obv had to order the chicken due to her dietary problem (but it was ok as apparently 'Britney Spears can have whatever she likes') but the others had a big baby tuna. The restaurant was right on the beach which was lovely, but it was entirely shambolic. They are so chilled out here that running a restaurant is a bit of a challenge. Our welcome drink was orange juice, the food arrived at different times, the drinks order was wrong, and it took hours to get the bill. Also the man on the BBQ kept getting distracted and playing his guitar for people. Badly.
Afterwards, we walked down the coast and found a bar with cushions on the floor overlooking the sea so we laid back and had some cocktails. However, when we came to order more drinks, the manager informed us that the bar was closing but we could stay all night in our '2nd bedroom'. We also could only have beers and not cocktails as, quote, 'the barman is dead'. Nik started to really come down with the man flu today, and it kicked in about 1.30am when we trundled off home. Toby and Claudia were hardcore and stayed up to watch the Champions League, leaving at 5.30am!
Day 11
Once again, we failed to make to boat to go to Gili Air as Nik's man flu got quite bad and he couldn't get up. Hannah went to the ship and bought him Vitamin C in a bottle and also found some cough syrup in a sachet that had amphetamines in so bought that to give it a try!
After breakfast, we went back into the air con and watched a movie so that Nik could have a rest, and then took a walk up to the north east coast and found a deserted bit of beach. We bit a bit of cloud bathing (highly successful we might add!) and walked in the sea which is literally the best sea either of us has ever been in - its warm as a bath and crystal clear. We wandered round the corals and saw lots of fish and crabs in the water, and watched the fishermen, including someone spear fishing.
After a few hours and Nik's man flu getting the better of him, we walked back down the coast and stopped for fruit juice, and also had ice coffee in an organic (or as they spell it here organik - thumbs up from no limits on the spelling) café which had a kitten in.
After a bit of a recharge with a movie at the room, we headed out for dinner at a Mexican place on the water at a diving club. It was enormous and gave Hannah belly ache, so even after a booze free day we decided to go home for an early night and yet another movie under the air con so that we could get up early and go to Air - we've given up on going to stay there and instead will go for a day trip tomorrow and try some snorkelling. They do say once you get to the Gili's its hard to leave and it totally true, our two day trip here has been massively extended already!
Day 12
We decided not to go to Gili Air today, as we are not going on an organised boat tour and planned to get the public boat, we would not be able to snorkel as there would be nowhere to leave our stuff - even though generally everyone here is really trustworthy and honest - there's been no trouble. Probably because there is a little office on the waterfront that says 'security island'.
Instead, we had breakfast outside again and then waited for a big rainstorm to clear before we went off to snorkel the northern reef of Gili T, which we can walk to so don't need to take stuff. It was Hannah's first up close and personal trip with fish, and it is no secret how horrid she finds them, however it was actually brilliant and we saw lots of different fishes and got some sun.
We have booked the boat to Lombok tomorrow morning, as otherwise we would never leave!
We went for drinks at The Shack on the beach front and made some nice Lombok friends, then we went for dinner with Toby and Claudia, as well as the friends they made whilst playing poker in the rain - Sam and Dan who are from the states. Another excellent dinner off the BBQ grill and some excellent stories from the Austrian contingent, before subject matter descended into the area of 'man glue' and we called it a night before our early start. This is especially important due to Nik's ongoing man flu (and slight dependence on the amphetamine version of Komix!).
Hannah wore her excellent new wet weather shoes, these are yellow plastic and have a little blue flower on them. Classless but excellent, and a bargain.