Lombok, scooter accidents and the kindness of strangers

No matter how careful you are in life, accidents are bound to happen. I suppose it's pretty inevitable when riding a scooter regularly that we were going to have some sort of accident at some point, and whilst we were over in Lombok it happened.

However - before I jump into the details of the accident (which was pretty minor, we were lucky) I want to talk a bit about the beautiful island of Lombok. Lombok is a short boat ride away from the Gili islands, which are stunning but just as geared up for tourism as Bali is. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you're looking for somewhere a little quieter, a little less touristy, and with a totally different vibe, then take the time to head to Lombok. The majority of the island is untouched. The north is home to Mount Rinjani, Indonesia's second biggest volcano, where you can take a 3 day hike to the top ending up right above the clouds. We started off in Kuta, a little surf town in the south of the island which is developing fast with bars, cafes and restaurants popping up all over the place. I get a sense that this is how Bali was years ago before tourism was booming. The locals are really friendly and genuinely just want to have a chat with you, ask you where you're from and which football team you support.

One thing about Kuta that made me a little wary was that in the evening there are TONS of kids selling bracelets. This isn't unusual in South East Asia but out of all the countries I've visited I've never seen it on such a massive scale in such a small town. Most of them are quite young but they are really street-wise and their sales tactics are pretty impressive, asking you to play games with them like 'Capitals' (giving the capital cities for a vast array of countries, even really obscure ones like the capital of Ethiopia?! They know the answer!) or rock, paper, scissors and their deal is if you lose you have to buy. I have no idea why there are so many children working in Kuta and it makes me think that there's something bigger going on behind the scenes. Most people advise not to buy from them as it's supporting child labour, but I did buy a bracelet off a little girl who was so sweet and intelligent and said she was working to pay her school fees.

We ventured up north for the day from Kuta to Rinjani National Park to see some waterfalls and this is where Lombok's beauty really unfolded. The further up north we drove, the greener it got with lush rice paddies all around and tiny villages with families eating together out front or getting ready to go to the mosque in traditional dress. The majority of the population on Lombok are Muslim and you can hear the call to prayer up for 5 times a day from various mosques around the island. The people up here also don't see many tourists and the kids love it, all leaning out of cars and running by the scooter waving and shouting HELLO and smiling at you. We also met a local who took us to some waterfalls and showed us around, and made us local Indonesian dishes with the spiciest curry EVER but one of the tastiest I've ever eaten!

We had the scooter accident on the drive back to Kuta. It was dark, we were on a bad road and we skidded on a bump. Like most accidents it was sudden and unexpected. We were lucky and came out relatively unharmed but the sense of panic and worry that set within me as soon as we hit the floor was hard to ignore. The locals were absolutely amazing to us. We stopped at a main road to inspect our injuries and people were stopping to see if we were okay, lead us into a doctors to get cleaned up and let us know the best way to get back to Kuta. The kindness of the people was really overwhelming and I cannot put into words how grateful I am. I wish I could go back and find them all to thank them all over again. I was in such a deep panic that I've never experienced before, being in the dark in a place that we didn't know and a little shaken from the accident. Their caring and kindness made such a massive difference and I will never forget it.

I'm so glad we went to Lombok despite having a scooter accident over there, and I really recommend going over if you want to see a little more of Indonesia and have a different experience. Bali is gorgeous and there is so much to see and do but Lombok showed me how different each island is in Indonesia and I would love to come back in the future to explore more of this amazing country.

I MADE IT TO BALI

After a year of working and saving and waiting and planning I am here in BALI and I'm so excited I need to just remember to R-E-L-A-X and enjoy it. Decided to do the whole 30 days here (which is as much as they will allow on a tourist visa) as there's so much that I want to see and do - as well as take my time doing it so that I don't have to rush around so much.

First of all, I actually want to start with the food here which is just a dream. It's so fresh, so healthy, so cheap, and there's a huge western influence here with lots of brunch places, eggs, avocado, etc. I know that when you're in another country it's more cultural to try all the local dishes, but after 4 months backpacking SE Asia I ate enough local cuisine and it got to the point where a mini packet of lurpak butter excited me. Plus, I'm in serious HOLIDAY mode at the moment, so I'm happy to just be a bit of a tourist right now and ease myself into trying new things as the weeks go on. My favourite place for food was Canggu and I had to stop myself taking pictures before every meal because it was all so instagrammable:

Duan Cafe - Canggu

Crate - Canggu

Shady Shack - Canggu

Coco Poke - Uluwatu

In fact, me and John both loved Canggu so much we're going to swing back there at the end of our trip when we finish up in Lombok. It's really chilled out, laid back, surfer town and it's easy enough to get around, especially if you have a scooter. The roads aren't too hectic either so there's no stress with traffic. After Canggu we headed to Uluwatu which was a lot quieter and had some of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen in my life! All we did here was explore the beaches, eat great food and go to see the sunset at Uluwatu temple one evening. I also tried to go for a run one evening - big mistake. Too hot, too hilly, too tiring. My legs feel like lead running in intense heat. I never learn.

From Uluwatu we went to Ubud. I was majorly excited for Ubud. In my head it was this jungle paradise surrounded by temples, rice paddies and little huts and guesthouses. In reality the centre is really busy with crazy traffic that's a nightmare to navigate through. It's also really touristy, even up in the rice paddies at Tegalalang (there may be more rice paddies that are not so well known, I'm not sure.) Most people come to Ubud to do yoga and chill out by infinity pools. It's also meant to be extremely spiritual but I didn't get that vibe at all, probably because I was staying in the centre. A lot of people also do the sunrise trek up Mt. Batur, which is well worth the hype. It's an incredible experience despite the early start. You get picked up at 2AM and drive a couple of hours out of Ubud centre to a small village where they give you some breakfast and introduce you to your tour guides before you start the hike. The trek up isn't too difficult and only takes a couple of hours, and once you arrive at the top the view is unreal.

After the sun comes up there are LOADS of monkeys about. I like to stay well clear of these little horrors. They will scope you our for food and snatch anything remotely shiny off you and any bags that are left unattended, but some people think they're cute (?!?!) and some people even feed them although they can get vicious at the slightest wrong movement.

Bali is a pretty big island and there's so much to do, you could easily spend the full 30 days here. We decided to try and see a little more of Indonesia and got a fast boat to Gili Trawangan for 6 nights and then on to Lombok, but we head back tomorrow to spend the rest of our time in Canggu <3 So much has happened since I started writing this post and I haven't been able to keep up to speed thanks to erratic WiFi connections so I'm going to be blogging like mad to squeeze it all in as I only have 5 weeks left of my travels!