Lombok, Indonesia

The flight into Lombok was... interesting. Never before had I seen a group of adults find it so difficult to follow the simplest of instructions. 

It all began when the captain announced that the seatbelt sign had been turned on because we were coming into land. Standard protocol. A quick glance up the aisle and I see two guys just milling about without a care in the world; they remain there staring blankly across the cabin until they are physically escorted back to their seats. Then, literally as we are approaching the runway (I'm talking like within 30 seconds of the wheels touching tarmac) another guy just stands bolt upright looking confused. The cabin crew frantically start yelling at him to sit down and put on his belt but he doesn't move until the person sitting next to him, presumably a family member, pulls him back down into his seat. The plane touches down and immediately we hear a cacophony of metallic clicks. I'm used to people taking off their belts before the little seatbelt light goes out, but not while we're still hurtling down the runway. People then began standing up before the plane had even finished braking. I looked to see what the cabin crew were going to do but by this point they had pretty much given up. I don't blame them though; it was like being back in the classroom.

Once we were through customs and immigration, we popped into a chicken shop to get some dinner. I asked the woman at the counter for a 2-piece meal but she told me, while pointing at the heating rack, that there was only one piece left. When I suggested she cook another piece, she looked aghast and flatly refused. Cool, cheers.

Afterwards, we went to get a couple of SIM cards. We got talking to a lady who was selling them and she was halfway through telling us the prices when all of a sudden she was interrupted by a lady from a rival company. The rival saleswoman stood behind her and loudly proclaimed ”Same gigabytes, 3000 (rupiah) cheaper!" over her shoulder while waving her price list in our faces. It was such an abrupt interjection that Siwan and I couldn't help but laugh. We went away for a moment, did a little research and came back to buy our Indonesian SIMs (we chose the slightly more expensive ones). 

Now we just needed to sort out some transport to our hotel. Out of the airport we went and into a swarm of slightly angry looking taxi drivers calling out to us from all directions. We decided to book ourselves a Grab as it seemed a vastly more appealing option than getting in a car with any of these people. Shortly after making the booking, our driver came wading through the throng to our rescue waving his phone in the air. He took us to his car and off we went. 

We arrived quite late that night at our hotel. The staff were really nice and we absolutely loved our room. 

We hadn't planned to do much over the next couple of days as we just wanted to relax a bit after having been so busy in Japan and Hong Kong. Lombok was a great place to do this as there wasn't much going on anyway. 

We spent the morning of our first day by the pool at our hotel. It was HOT and Siwan was loooooooving it! She had sorely missed this weather while we were gallivanting all over East Asia. 

In the afternoon, we made our way down to a bar on the beach. While enjoying a couple of drinks, we got talking to a local woman who was selling bracelets. She told us all about the earthquake that hit Lombok last year and how it had affected her and her community. She said that the tourism in the area had also been affected because of it and that we were the first foreigners she'd seen all day. She seemed like a really kind, genuine person and we really felt for her. 

That night, we went for dinner at a restaurant which was also on the beach. The grub was good and the atmosphere was peaceful; it was exactly what we were looking for. 

We began the next day down at the pool once again. Then it was off to check out the nearby town of Senggigi. After a quick bite to eat, we made our way down to the pier. The place was pretty much deserted and there wasn't a lot to see so we didn't stay long. 

That night, we caught the sunset from a viewpoint overlooking the beach before returning to the same restaurant as the night before for another delicious dinner.