From the far

We Made It (Just) - Rhian, Me and Kim With Godong At The Top Of Rinjani

We are back again in lovely lovely lovely Ubud. Chilling out, drinking aloe vera juices and generally trying to ease our bodies back to happiness after gruelling trek up Mount Rinjani…

We left Labuan Bajo on the ferry at 10am on Tuesday (it was supposed to go at 8am, but a two hour delay in these parts is actually pretty much classed as on time). We were lucky enough to sit in “Kelas Bisnis” for an extra 30,000 Rp each (about £2), which entitled us to ‘reclining’ seats (which meant they had a 92 degree angle to them rather than the 90 degree angle in economy), air conditioning and a TV. Sadly the aircon didn’t work beyond the first ten minutes but happily the television did not work either (our experiences of ferry tellies here have not been particularly happy ones – loud, awful singing karaoke styley). Had lovely noodle and egg soup for lunch and then a massive cockroach climbed up my leg.

When we arrived in Sape on Sumbawa we then had to bima bus it across the north-east of the island for 3 hours. We enjoyed 46 passengers on a bus of 23 seats, and our new friend Kim had to sit up front and share the driver’s seat with him (Asian men love Kim – she is short so matches them in height, but is white skinned and has big blue eyes. She is fab at getting us discounts!!) All was going well until our back tyre suddenly burst and we almost plunged headfirst into a building site of gravel. Late for our onward bus we could not wait around for the tyre to be changed, so we hopped in the back of a truck into town. It was a tight crush, and an old lady kept spitting on Will’s feet. I took lots of photos. 

Spitting Lady (right) With Will

In Bima at about 8pm we hopped onto our larger “Exclusive Class” bus along with many other passengers and a moped (nice smell of oil throughout). The bus was due to arrive to the ferry port at around 7am, so we knew we were in for a long night. Thankfully the reclining seats worked wonderfully this time and we all managed to nod off into semi-sleep. Until our bus stopped at a roadside warung cafe and it was announced that we could now get our included meal. At 2.30am. Not that we felt much like eating but we exercised our free token and drowsily helped ourselves to Indian style thali meal from a conveyor belt of metal bowls. In my half-sleep dreamy state I popped a first forkful into my mouth. Something was terribly wrong. Something smelt awful. Fishy. Then, looking down at my plate I came face to face with a quarter of a plate of fish heads. Smelly rancid fish heads. Never good. But at 2.30am in the morning. Blurgh. Will was pissing himself laughing at my misfortune. Worse than cold goat’s brains. Really.

Eventually at around 1pm the next day we arrived at our destination, Senaru on Lombok where we chilled out by the paddy fields on the mountainsides, and planned our 2 day trek up the mountain to see the active volcano of Gunung Baru. We set off the next morning at 7am, having secured a guide and porters through John’s Adventures, for 650,000 Rp each (about £40) including transport back to the ferry at Lembar. The climb up the mountain was hard. All the Camino fitness has died. I felt seriously knackered by the end of the day. We walked up an always steep (and at the end, for the last 1km, a very bloody steep – like, fall back down again steep) 9km to the top. Whilst the rest of us struggled to find oxygen, our guide Godong somehow managed to chain smoke his way up. We reached the top by about 5pm, where our porters had already pitched our tents for us and were well underway with making us black tea and an amazing dinner of fried rice, omlette and rice crackers. It was Kim’s 24th bday that day so we toasted her with tea and raspberry tartlets at the top (no alcohol – and besides, I really don’t think any of us were in a fit state to drink). Our camping spot was located at 2641m above sea level on the tiny edge of the mountain. It overlooked the beautiful Segara Anak Lake (2000m) and what we had all come to see, the Gunung Baru Volcano (2363m). It was at night that this impressive sight really glowed. Literally. In the dark, the bright red larvae dripping down the sides looked incredible. We were so happy to have made it, and it was all worth the pain to look at such magnificent scenery. The camping itself was an interesting experience, what with the gale force winds and the volcanic dust that the tent pegs had to somehow burrow into. Kim and Rhian’s tent blew away early on and had to be rescued by 5 people to try and secure it back down. Our tent was also having issues, and so the porters came and fastened down the guy ropes. To tufts of grass. We got off to sleep okay but then were awoken in the early hours as our entire flysheet had blown away, leaving us exposed under the stars. The view of the night sky was absolutely beautiful though. So because of that, and because we were so sodding cold we couldn’t get out of our sleeping bags, we left it.

Coming down from the mountain the next day took surprisingly long (about 4 hours) despite the fact we were almost running down because it felt easier on the legs, and I was definitely better at avoiding tree roots with a bit of momentum behind me.

Rinjani Guide's Motivational Tool #23 - Wear Slightly Threatening T-Shirt

I have found a counterfeit make of Oreos. Rodeos. They are almost as good. But not quite. Tris, I’m thinking of twins now – Oreo and Rodeo.

Yesterday morning, we were awoken at 7am by huge tremblings. For a moment I thought I was still on a boat (that feeling just won’t leave me) but then quickly realised we were experiencing our very own earthquake. It wasn’t particularly life-threatening or building-threatening, but for about 5 seconds the whole of our room shook backwards and forwards and the cupboard doors flung open. Will and I looked across the bed at each other, dazed and confused and musty from sleep, and Will said “that’ll be an earthquake”. I smiled, acknowledged the fact and then we both turned over and went back to sleepyland. It was THAT exciting. Having just done a quick Google search it seems Bali was hit by a 6.4 earthquake last Saturday when we were on the boat towards Sumbawa – http://www.nowpublic.com/world/6-4-magnitude-earthquake-hit-bali
Some exciting seismic activity happening here then. We shall chat to the local dogs and see if they know what’s happening. I remember from GCSE Geography class that they are always the first to know.

Have just discovered via LouLou’s FB page that Patrick-He-Ain’t-Ever-Gonna-Put-Baby-In-The-Corner-Swayze has died. Very sad. Will be singing Hungry Eyes and I’ve Had The Time Of My Life all night long now… Poor Will.

Big hugs to all. Em and T, so exciting that your year countdown has already begun. Has Em ditched the rollies yet?? We can do it together Em (but apart – maybe we should start some sort of internet chatroom support group or something??)
Ian, we are just trying to suss out our visas for Cambodia etc. so we need to liaise about dates a bit more. Will catch up with you over email xxx
Simon, Clare, Eve, Tom – well done on finally moving to Sussex. Hope the damp-proofing is working out!! xxx

xxxx

PS: Facts of the day – Indonesia is made up of 18,110 islands (according to the country’s Ministry of Research and Technology) and has 40% of the world’s active volcanoes.

Water Sunset From Boat to Flores