Entries about lombok

Throughout my week on the islands life was very different from what I am used too wether it be trees growing in water, hospitality service, types of transport, or a little wind gust putting the power out. I had to drop my ideas of normal and need to control, and instead learn to be yielding and accept what comes.

The first island I visited was
LOMBOK:
Our driver friend Bj picked Trey and I up in Padang Padang and drove us to Padang Bai to catch the ferry to Lombok. On the way he took us to his favorite non touristy local Warung. Then we got to Padang Bai. We could have paid hundreds of thousands of rupiah for a fast boat from Padang Bai or Sanur but we went with mostly locals on a 5 hour ferry for about 2$.
Taking the road less traveled .

After almost a full day of traveling we got to Kuta,Lombok and started to question if it would be worth the cost and hassel of getting there. But it most definitely was and Kuta, Lombok is nothing like Kuta, Bali. Lombok is the quitest place in Indo I have been yet. There are wild cats, dogs, goats, and cows everywhere and little wooden shack beach bars lined up right across the road from our place. The first night we went to 'the original beach bar' which was a truck run by a very youthful looking chap named Oyook. Oyook is 20 and runs the little beach truck for his uncle in exchange for living with him and although he doesn't make money, he is able to practice his English with foreigners like us. His sparking positive attitude, the character of this truck, and the cheaper drink prices, led us to stay there instead of the busier more touristy beach bar across the way. We made good friends with Oyook and he would let us play our own i pods on his sound system . We jammed out to reggae tunes and took over the bar. He even got a generator going just for us when the power went out and we were the only ones at the bar.
Even nights when we went to the big psychedelic, packed party beach bar across the way we always pregamed with Oyook first.
My days in Lombook consisted of some light running or hut yoga, and afternoons of motor biking to Gurupak the local surf spot. We paid to be taken out to some pretty awesome breaks and big waves (by my standards) by boat . I would try driving the motor bike a bit on the way home because it is so quiet there . (Don't worry dad I was very careful). I once again feel like I met my comfort zone, challenged my surfing ability and tried something new and for those opportunities I am grateful.

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The islands are much less crowded and it is more common to see a horse and buggy rather than a car. In fact on the Gilly Islands, which are small islands that are a part of Lombok, there are no motor vehicles whatsoever instead bikes around the whole island.
This made me more likely to take the time to pause and look up at the sky at night, with less people and cars, we can we more engulfed in the truly beautiful magical nature around us.

GILLY Air;

Gilly A had a good amount of yogis and a whole lot of divers. The island is so small I ran around the whole thing in 45 minutes. The hostel I stayed in was not my favorite but each place along the beach had a beautiful salt pool with multiple levels for water diving trainings.
I've actually never paid for a professional massage in my entire life, and don't get nearly as much body work done as I should for being so active.
So one rainy afternoon I treated myself to a traditional Balinese Massage /Aloe Treatment at the Blue Lotus Spa to try to get rid of this sun burn some more and 10$ an hour isn't too bad.
I did a bit of yoga, some sunset watching, snorkeling, and I even found a slackline! I slacked with the local kids who are so cute and talented and that was probably the high light of Gilly A. Very chill place.

Gilly Trawangan;
Gilly T is known as the party island, there wasn't as much to do during the day and most places are focused around night life. It has cool late night markets and almost zero police officers on the entire island. Our hostel had no quiet hours and 24 hour free pancakes.
We took part in lots of dancing, ladies nights, and live music, but luckily the two ladies I am with were on the same page as me. We'd usually rather enjoy our days than party untill 4 am spending money we won't remember.
All of the islands had lots of power outages, but Gilly T was the worst.
A huge tree fell across the road right next to our hostel crushing the woman's house next door and putting the power out for days. The weather to me just seemed like a windy rainy day, but to bali this is quite rare.
When we got there we had about two hours of a nice air conditioned room, and then for the next three days it was mostly off, no wifi, no running water and it was very very hot.
We made do by buying hand fans, showering with buckets, and lots of giggles at flash light puppet shows and whatever other dumb things we did to entertain ourselves.
A power outage is a great chance to let go. Because no matter how much you complain about the situation, the power is still out. So instead we let go of the way we thought the world is supposed to be and work in our 21st century minds. Letting go is a scary enterprise for those of is who believe that the world revolves only because it has a handle on top of it which we personally turn, and that if we drop this handle even for a moment well that would be the end of the universe. But when you try dropping it. You can sit back with your head in your hands and let things be as they are, you can actually relax. You can sit quietly in the now and cease your relentless participation. Watch what happens. The birds do not crash dead out of the sky in mid flight, after all. The trees do not wither and die, rivers do not run red with blood. Life continues to go on. Im not sure why we think our micromanagement of every moment in this whole world is so essential.

My days consisted of allot of walking, some beautiful sunsets (if we're lucky at a sunset swing) and lots of dancing and laughing. There was a yoga place right across from our hostel and I tried to eat as healthy as possible, but options were limited, and the free pancakes were pretty good ?.
I think the girls would agree that the one day we didn't have power alll day we laughed harder than we had in a long time. We had to make our own fun and actually talk to each other instead of being on Instagram!! Can you imagine?
Something I love to see about the young kids here is how they can have the biggest smile on their faces just by playing with leaves. There's no I pads or phones or TVs. This time without electricity really brought us back to realizing how privileged we are and how sometimes having these technological advantages can be a bad thing taking us away from the moment we are really in. (I say this as I type my blog on my smart phone.)

At night I found myself taking even more time to be gazing at the stars rather than down at a phone. It made me think of this quote by Mahatma Ghandi; When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

Feeling very full, adventurous, grateful, beautiful, and connected.