I surprised my sister and her friends in Gili Trawangan. After this amazing moment I went on traveling with the ladies for a week. Here you can read how we went.
Wild parties of all kind, night swims that included jumping into sea urchins (you read that right), great food, amazing chats, getting inked and swimming with turtles on this crazy party island. We figured it was time to leave after spending 4 days on the Gili’s. When we were about to leave to go to Nusa for manta ray adventures we had a little surprise waiting for us. Due to a hectic storm we weren’t able to make it to Noosa alive that day, nor the next days. Only a few other options were possible.
Change of plans: Lombok
Lombok is an island as big a Bali, but quiet, a lot of nature and wild rainforests with amazing beaches. Adventure time! Which was a great plan B. Or maybe it wasn’t? We should actually ask Simone after our first day on Lombok.
“Fuck you guys, we’re going back now!” Simone yelled at us while Larissa and I were missioning our way through the muddy ground in the middle of nowhere on a street scooter. Simone went on “Guys, it’s gonna get dark real soon and we don’t even know where we are, nor going!”. “It’s all gonna be fine Simone, trust us” Larissa, Natasja and I tried to calm her down with a smile on our face that we’re trying to hide.
We definitely didn’t plan this, neither we were prepared for this. We’re out in the middle of the jungle, on a scooter leaving the first tracks behind. We’re lost in a rainforest. How? I still have no idea. Why? Because we wanted to see a local village where they would make traditional blows from clay. Yeh, I know what you’re thinking. But it all started as a great idea.
We made it out of the jungle alive without finding the local village. But it was sweet to be alive. We drove to our new home. Home is where you bed is, right? Which was (again) in the jungle. An apartment, restaurant and bar made of bamboo. Was pretty cool. Or maybe we should ask Simone again: “Wháááhh get it the fuck away!” she screamed as she ran down the stairs. A big lizard screwed up her peaceful night of sleep. It didn’t make her time much easier. The next day we took our loyal scooters out for a ride. We explored the island and drove 100k to visit 5 beautiful waterfalls. After getting pissed on by a tropical rainfall Simone and Natasja figured it was time to sail back to Bali and let Larissa and me spend some time together. A yoga session and a last night with one eye open for lizards was the last time spend on Lombok for the girls.
Into the deep blue
Larissa, who overcame her fear for the open ocean last year, was brave and went for her first dive with her dear little brother. This absolutely was a great choice! Because we actually did 2 dives. One where we were looking for manta rays and didn’t find them. Bugger. And another dive where my dive buddy was great enough to leave me so we all had to cancel the dive. I was pissed. But, to be honest… diving with Larissa was a blessing. On top of that it’s always a blessing to meet people you have endless chats with. And most definitely we met these people. Chatter for hour upon hour, night after night. Cheers to the chitchatting and handstands Marieke and Frank I can’t wait to reunite with you.
Time to say goodbye
The time has come to say goodbye to Larissa again. Painful. I promised her to bring her to the harbour. And so I did. On our awesome little scoot. About three hours driving to drop her off. Larissa set sail and here I am. “ALLLL BYYY MYYYSELFFF..” (I’m referring to the song, you know). I drove back to Koeta and spend my time drinking a cold beer with Marieke and Frank. So I actually wasn’t that lonely. But this beer turned out to be the last one for a while… as I woke up next morning dizzy, drowsy and completely out of this world.
What the hell is going on?
I put big effort in turning my weak, sweaty and heavy body around, I checked my phone and found out I had slept for 15 hours. Still tired… what the hell is going on? I tried to stand up but couldn’t get myself together. Again I woke up and opened my eyes, but now again it was 3 hours later. Ok, something isn’t right. It took me another hour to get out of bed and I stumbled to my neighbours. I got a bottle of water and a heap of sugar with some tea on top. This didn’t help much. I realised I spent a whole day in bed as the sun was already setting. I didn’t even have a big night last night. “Doctor?” I said “I suppose.” I answered. I started talking to myself again. Fuck. I took myself out of my room on my wobbly legs and dragged my body down to my scooter. I arrived at the doctor. Before I knew I was in a hospital and I had been given a bunch of medicine that got me feeling kind of funny. It turned out to be a sunstroke. It was a heavy one and fuck knows which medicine they gave me.
I’m totally fine, now, lets climb a volcano
I got out of the hospital the next day and only had 4 days to catch my flight from Bali to Perth, Australia. I’m still feeling a bit drowsy, weak and weird (maybe not so weird). I drove to town to book a 3-day trekking to the top of the Rinjani. The Rinjani is the 2nd biggest volcano of Indonesia. Now you might be questioning why the hack I would climb a volcano this big the day after I got out of the hospital? Because I promised Rabinder. “Urghh, another weird name” you’re thinking… but Rabinder is the hilarious dude I adventure with and get in trouble with and I promised him to climb this smokey mountain.
Well, here is a photo of me keeping that promise. But not without struggle. I’m not ashamed to say that I was proud of myself when I made it to the top without a functioning brain. Or maybe that’s the reason why I made it? It looks like a normal photo with a really happy dude. But there’s a story behind it. I’ve got 12 hours of hiking in my legs. Plus, I only had 3 hours of sleep on a thin yoga mat. I basically slept on a rock. I had frozen my tits off that night and I had shivered more intense than a volcano erupting. So, I was proud. And happy. Really fucking happy! But then I realised it wasn’t the end yet. Me and my new Spanish mates had 15 hours of hiking, another cold night and more shitting in the bush without showers waiting for us. But all I can say is that my new friends, the Indonesians and gagging Chinese had make me laugh out heaps.
Traveling back to Australia
I got back from 3 days of hiking and my legs were dead. But I had a satisfied feeling that kept them going. I travelled with a bus, a taxi and ended up on the back on someone’s scooter with all my luggage. He dropped me off at the harbour and I took a slow and dodgy night ferry to Bali. It took me 5 hours to cross. Now, I don’t watch a lot of movies, but there’s a few I have seen. And like it was meant to be, they played my favourite movie Point Break. I had a classic night: a lot of food, a movie, surrounded by Indonesian friends and I peacefully fell asleep, until… a hectic ear infection woke me up. Which – as you can imagine – is perfect just before a flight. I wandered around when I got off the boat. I really had no clue where I was going but I didn’t want to let the taxi drivers rip me off. I walked away from the harbour in the middle of the night. Out of the blue (or, out of the dark) a random dude in his car showed up “Hallo batur (meaning friend), where are going!?” “I’m going the Denpasar, the airport” I replied. “Good, good, jump in back my friend, I drive you for special price.” And off we went.
Me and my ear infection made it to Perth safe. Which wasn’t the actual plan. I had just bought the wrong tickets and had to re-book that ticket. The fares had changed and the cheapest option was Perth. But this time it turned out to be a great plan B. It’s gonna be the next bed time story, thanks for reading and good night, reader friend.
