Exploring Lombok

Last night I stopped my scooter at a petrol station and just wanted to make sure there is enough air in my tires. Surprisingly, the back one had run flat. So I had the chance to witness how a tire is being patched professionally under the influence of pressure and heat on the side of the road at midnight for less than three bucks (which was all I had with me).

Well, all this happened on Lombok, the next island east of Bali. I was on the way to catch the ferry back to Bali in a starry night after enjoying an amazing week of original Indo surf. Lombok to me seems to be what I have read Bali was like 30 years ago: small villages, simple roads through forest and rice paddies and few people most of which know each other after a couple of days.

So all in all I made new friends and together we went out on outrigger boats to spots known as Gerupuk and Ari Guling, where it was sometimes only the few of us surfing really fun waves. After the sessions we found many known faces back in the cheapest and also very delicious places to eat spicy mie goreng and drink fresh avocado chocolate juices.

My experiences on the ferry round out the image of an adventurous and somewhat romantic trip, being the only one on deck in a rainy and stormy night on the outbound trip, huddled up on my backpack to seek shelter behind the navigating bridge and singing sailor songs. On the way back I enjoyed more comfortable conditions, with only the fog being somewhat chilly and moist - so I just slipped into my board bag and counted the stars until the horn of the ferry made me recognize that I had fallen asleep and we'd arrived back in Bali.