Lombok is a change from Bali; that was clear as soon as I stepped off the ferry. There were bleating goats wandering around the dusty, ramshacle little terminal, and my shuttle van to Senggigi had barely started driving before we encountered compact donkey carts clip-clopping along with the light traffic. Lots of mosques, too, with tall round domes painted in a variety of bright colors. Mixed in with rice terraces were corn and bean fields. Unbelievable numbers of people were out in big groups, sitting or walking or playing football on field after field after field. Not a foreigner in sight. Arriving in Senggigi - a small beach community on the NW coast - I found it quite touristy, though - even if few tourists are here now in the rainy season. As in Ubud, there are way too many interesting-looking restaurants to sample ( I'm at one now, using free wifi and stretching my second Guinness of the day... ), many right on the beach, which is where I spent all day today strolling and sitting. Todday was my first time to actually watch surfers, even if they were just local kids having fun and wiping out seemingly deliberately at times before they got too close to the rocks. I even found a variety of seashells, the usual shapes but still it's been a while - I don't see them in Oregon. I guess today was my one 'beach day' of this trip, and it's enough. I had an entire beach to myself for over an hour, with a bit of surf crashing onto the black lava rocks and the stereotype vista of thatch shelters backed by palm trees fading away into the distance. Finally the daily afternoon shower drove me back to my little bungalow. One more week till I head back to work; I have no specific plan except to stay on Lombok a while and keep on relaxing.