Dec 6, 2012 - Sasak Village & Kuta Beach

Today we went to Lombok, Indonesia. It is a small island and the people work hard for very little money. Our first stop was to a village where women made pottery without any tools. We bought a "magic water pot" there. I will bring it to school to show you. We got on a horse carriage a rode to the pottery place. It's like a taxi cab for them. Next we went to a Sasak village. The make their houses out of cow poop mixed with mud. Next we went to the beach and swam in the Pacific Ocean. Bella collected some coconuts on the beach. She was very...

Mar 7, 2012 - Crossing the Equator

Today we cross the Equator, the center point of the earth which divides the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. King Neptune (known in Greek mythology as Poseidon) oversees this part of the world. He uses his trident – a spear with three points on its head – to shatter rocks and call for or subdue storms. In time-honored seafaring fashion, we attend a ceremony to honor King Neptune in return for safe passage to the Northern Hemisphere and smooth waters. The ship’s staff has searched from bow to stern to find the perfect offerings. These...

Mar 6, 2012 - Lembar, Lombok, Indonesia

We tender ashore to take a tour to explore the fascinating culture of Lombok in Indonesia. Lombok is an island west of Bali and advertises itself as the “unspoiled Bali” in an attempt to draw more tourism. Tourism is Lombok’s highest source of income and we are warmly welcomed at the pier by Indonesian dancers. It is a 45 minute bus ride inland to Mataram, the capital city. The area is agriculturally fertile and we pass many rice and water spinach fields. Mount Rinjani is the island’s most dramatic geological landmark rising 12,224 feet. It...

Jun 10, 2011 - De Munduk à Lombok

Journee se deroule bien et on retourne a l aeroport de Denpasar ou ns prenons un vol domestique vers Mataram. La soeur de Noyan a finalement pu ns acheterles billets car ce fut tout un defi...vive LionAir. Vol de 30 minutes...apres 27 heures...une vraie joke! Arrivee a l hotel de Sengigi, tres bien et en plus sur le bras deSofi qui est SPG member, on ns upgrade ds une chambre avec vue surmer...encore une fois...superbe! Je sais que je dois etre tannant mais c vraiment beau :-) Ns sommes un peu fatigues, car depRt de munduk a 6:45 am...

Feb 8, 2011 - Sengiggi, Lombok

Arrived 8th February Departed 9th February Just stayed here because we liked the name and to break the journey up to the gili islands. It was a really nice little town and the hospitality we received in the little guesthouse we stayed in was great! We also picked up and 18 year old who really should not have been allowed to travel by herself as she was a complete liability!!! I felt like her mother!! (No, I’m not quite old enough yet for those of you thinking it!!!) The little town was really cute but not much going on. When I say not much...

Feb 19, 2010 - Lombok, Indonesia, February 19, 2010

Oh, the humidity (or the humanity suffering from it)! If the heat & humidity were not enough on Komodo to kill a person & only good for Dragons, then they followed us to Lombok like ugly twin sisters of fate. We found out our "twin sisters" would be following us for many a day until we get north of Manila, Philippines or at least until we get to Shanghai, China (then the smog & pollution will be accompanying the other "twin sisters"). Our early morning sunrise to Lombok was omen to what we should have known what the day was to be like-HOT!...

Dec 10, 2009 - My 25th birthday !

We arrived early in the morning to the pier. Jon woke me up with a sweet Happy Birthday blew in my ears… (well he heated me during the night by accident so it compensated lol ) Once to the pier we shared a shuttle bus with jean-Luc to the main bus station. We stopped on the way to an ATM I needed some cash before going to the islands. The transaction didn’t work. I started to be worry. We took another bus from the main station to Bangsal ( the pier where we had to take a boat to the Gilis ) On the way we stopped to an ATM again and I have...

Oct 20, 2009 - Gilli T

We left Bali at 6am, was supposed to an 8 hour trip via mini bus, Ferry, mini bus, boat, which turn out to be a 13 hour trip!!! But when we arrived on Gilli T it all seemed well worth it! The Gilli islands consist of 3 islands 1km apart and about 7km off the coast of Lombok. On the Gillies the are no dogs, cars or cops and according to the locals "No worries mate"(wannabe Aussies). Gilli T was amazing, a small island packed with pubs and restaurants all along the East side of the island. There is always a great party vibe with a Happy Hour...

May 6, 2009 - Ubud, Bali

Visited Ubud today the cultural capital of Bali 40km North of Kuta beach area. Bali is approx. 250km tall and 500km wide so pretty large island with numerous towns and wide variety of beaches, mountains and a volcano. The lush interior of Bali is very scenic and away from the major tourist area of Kuta the distinct Balinese architecture and stone carvings can be seen in abundance. I think the interior is what gave Bali its fame. The scenery is spectacular with rice terraces along hills and volcanoes backed by giant palm ferns and palm...

May 2, 2009 - Gili Trawangan, Indo

Been diving in the Gili's ( "gili" means small island in Indo). I stayed on Gili Trawangan. There are no cars only bikes and horse drawn carriages, I rode a mtn bike around entire island in 30 minutes. There is a boardwalk sandy in spots but completely circles island. Very cool little island with mountainous Lombok on one side and mountainous Bali on the other. I dove off Gili Air and Gili Meno too. you can see all islands from each other close proximity, much like the Virgin Islands.

Feb 15, 2009 - I can't leave Lombok

The last few days have been very relaxing; lounging by the pool, reading, listening to music and eating good food. Its so easy to get lazy :) But enough of the life of luxury, frankly I can't afford it for long and also its not very exciting after awhile. After all the fiasco with the ferry to get to Lombok, I booked a flight back to Bali instead of having to go through all that again. I thought we had made a good choice... Well, its Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting at Mataram Airport on Lombok waiting for my flight back to Denpasar...and...

Feb 12, 2009 - Loving Lombok

I finally made it to Senggigi, Lombok with no thanks to any of the boat men, ferry masters, drivers or tour agents on the way! The short flight from Denpasar to Mataram was quite evntful (read: turbulent) and I truly believe I saw my life flash before my eyes on the steepest decent I have ever experienced. I thought there was no landing other than a crash landing at that angle. But none the less, I managed to find my way safe and sound to the Sheraton Senggigi late Sunday afternoon and have hardly ventured out of the grounds since. The...