Graha Senggigi Lombok

... found no where else, and many more constantly revealing themselves to be new to science. No less than fifteen different varieties of whales and dolphins have recently been observed here, from pods of shark-eating tropical Orcas, to the two-foot long, exuberantly acrobatic spinner dolphins.<br><br>Whereas the Dragon was only discovered in the first decade of this century, it wasn't until the l960's that it was properly surveyed and studied. In the 1970's it began receiving is first ...

... volcano until we headed to bed, exhausted, at around 8:00 p.m.<br><br>Luckily, I was allowed my own tent and the boys had to sleep together. I climbed into my green army camouflage sleeping bag (using the only remaining clean clothes I had as a pillow) and tried to get a good nights sleep, despite the hard ground pressing into my bones as I lay on the very thin mat. The wind whipped all night, slapping me in the head and sides. At about one a.m., the wind knocked half of the ...

... their pockets with billions of dollars. Meanwhile, an aging and ill-maintained power grid goes out on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the Sasak people and other Indonesians are the ones who bear this cost. After a beautiful and insightful day, we returned on the same coastal road back to Senggigi. Not quite. We pulled over to park at some random village, so that we could enjoy sunset on the beach. Disaster struck. We pulled over into ...

... crab, prawns, spinach, seaweed, rice (of course), sambal (the local fiery condiment), whole fish, etc. etc. and we sat cross legged on the carpet and ate with our fingers in true Indonesian style...lovely! We managed to avoid the coffee afterwards and drove 2 hours back to our hotel (along tarmac roads this time - only slowed by innumerable horse and cart taxis and, of course, the ever present motorbikes).

... to find accommodation here, it was also a bit more expensive. There is no motorised transportation in the islands, only cidamos (horse carts) and bikes, but most roads are sandy which makes cycling difficult. The beaches are beautiful, but shallow and rocky, swimming is only possible at a small part of the beach, which naturally is usually more crowded. There isn't much to do here besides beaching, snorkeling, and diving, so we spent most of the time at the beach ...

... place, they are so funny to watch. Finally, we arrive at the dreaded Bansal where the touts and hawkers are legendary. All the guidebooks recommend that you take the horse carriage to the ticket office in order to avoid their wrath, we did. Ironically, there weren't any hawkers here. It seemed all those warnings have scared away all the tourists and thus all the touts. We were able to get a ticket straight away and we even paid the proper ...

HELLO PEOPLE HOPE YOU ALL ARE OK IVE ARRIVED IN LOMBOK TODAY AND IT IS SO FAR SO GOOD NORMAL ASIAN TRAVELLING DAY SET OF FROM PADANG BAI IN BALI AT 9AM THIS MORNING AFTER A 5 HOUR FERRY CROSSING THEN A BUMPY 1HR BUS RIDE I ARIVED IN SENGIGI ,LOMBOK once i had arrived it started to rain i mean rain bloody hard it was on ...

... start complaining they were hungry, and we'd all head off for dinner in any place that would accomodate that many of us. Then, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday particularly, the party nights, it was off to the appropriate bar, Tir Na Nog (or "the Irish"), Rudy's (full of barmen mushroomed off their heads), or Blue Marlin (the poorest party, a dance extravanganza in one of the dive shops). Otherwise, just generally the irish, for shots of vodka joss, large Bintang, and many ...

... were a bit off putting! hence only neil snorkelled! another day we hired a scooter (as the roads were not as busy as Kuta) to go to the hot springs nearby - which we amazing (turned us a little orange looking tho - due to the sulpher in the natural hot waters). In the north the sand was black and the beaches not very attractive as the locals chuck their rubbish in the sea! Anyway we moved on towards the Gili Islands off Lomboks coast - not too bad but too much ...

... Mermaid film) and thousands of colourful fishes in all shapes and sizes. We took some pictures with our underwater camera so will put them up once they're developed back in the UK. And thats really all we have to report from the Gili Islands. Keep tuned to hear about Ubud, Bali's cultural capital, and forthcoming tales of Hong Kong. And with any luck this internet connection may be fast enough to deliver you a few more photos!