It seems like all we ever do is pack up our bags and move to somewhere
else, its tough this travelling life!
From Gili Meno we moved to Gili Trawangan (a journey that took 30mins
on a boat). Gili Trawangan is known by the locals as the party island,
not that you'd really know if you were there (although it was low season), its the biggest of the three gili's (tranlated to islands) and has a population of approx five thousand (four five hundred more than Meno!!).
The main attraction to the island (apart from the 'partys') is diving,
therefore we decided to do our Padi Open Water Scuba Course. After four
days, four turtles and a baby shark later we passed our course and are
now certified to dive anywhere upto 18metres deep! (James' first really
qualification since GCSE's!). We know some people that have/are taking the course back home, suckers! We had the pleasure of 30 degree waters, 25 metre visability in beautifully coloured coral waters with loads of aquatic life, not a bad place to learn, not sure we'll get the same rewards diving off the Felixstowe Ferry. James' favourite fish was a box fish, mine was a giant clam FYI!!
During this time Danielle put a lock down on any drinking, and
threatened to have extra revision sessions and tests at night, Mr and Mrs Stafford should be proud of the way they've brought their daughter up (if not SLIGHTLY concerned!), therefore the evening didn't hold too much
excitement, although most involved eating out (hello to Lisa if you're
reading this) and one night James got to have a steak and guiness pie and mash in the Tropics (good old reliable irish bars).
After the peace and quiet of the Gili's we decided to head to Mataram
(the capital city of West Nusa Temggara) on Saturday, where we stayed in
a deluxe room at the (at least) 2 star Hotel Mataram, the room offered
urine smelling en suite and cat wails to send you to sleep, all for just
8 pounds a room a night!. The 'city' itself wasn't much better, on
Saturday we took a walk through most of it, which took around 30minutes, to the old fishing port of Ampenan, we walked the streets and we treated
like celebs, all the locals saying 'hello, how are you?' in their best
English (although none of them seemed to know good afternoon or goodbye) and a couple on the beach getting very excited at the thought of being in our photographs!
We also visited Mayura Park (more commonly known as the water palace),
it was built in 1744 and would have looked good if not for the rubbish
and abandoned swan boats (the same ones you get at alton towers - we're
not kidding!), we had a very nice, catholic guide (the temple was
hindu) who showed us around and despite us having already paid, insisted on being paid extra as it wasn't his place of worship - very christian !
On Sunday we decided to hire a motorbike, which can only be done by
renting the locals personal bike, and made our way very carefully through the chaos of Indonesian roads to Sesoat, which is a lovely protected
forest, with fresh water steams, we then travelled to Senggigi and had a
little argument, so didn't stay too long (I say it was Dan's fault,
she's blaming me), we retired back to our hotel and didn't really talk for a few hours so both got some good book reading in!
We're now talking, and back on the four hour boat to Bali (some local chap next to us has just been sick - on the main floor, he's not worried at all about clearing up or anything, very pleasant!!). The plan is to
make our way to Ubud (which is the main arts and crafts place on Bali)
so far today we've managed to travel as the locals do on Bemo's and have
saved money compared to the normal method of tourist shuttles, fingers
crossed for when we arrive in Padangbai...
Main thoughts on Lombok is a really gorgeous place that's being ruined
by the rubbish and dirt left laying around, really shame...
Just before we go, a quick happy birthday to livvy, who was One on
Saturday
Lots of love
James & Dan x
