John Mee – Some programmer in Sydney

Well that was all a long time ago. Same story as always. In the end the sore throat went away, but made a comeback after a big night on the piss a week later. But I managed to kick it again with water.

That night, after sleeping most the day I went off and booked a trip to Lombok. And thence begins another chapter…

After sleeping shiftily I woke at 4:15 and thinking there was plenty of time till the bus at 5:30am I could go back to sleep. Then, of course, I missed the alarm and woke at 5:25. In a mad panic, figuring they might actually leave on time (it did when I went to Java) I got up there at 5:35. Yes it was gone. And a blank wall of help. No you can’t go tomorrow, no, can’t have a refund. No discount for a ticket tomorrow – basically bad luck whitey. You can get a taxi and catch up for maybe 20,000. I call one over and with no trouble all he say 15,000 – beauty – I catch up to the bus and use my ticket. We didn’t catch the bus till Padangbai – where the ferry is. On the way I’m thinking 15,000 that a bit fucking cheap for a 2hr drive, so I ask him on the way 15,000 right? “oh, yes, 15,000″. Of course when we get there I give him 20,000 and he looks at me and goes, “no, 50,000″. Now he spoke good English and I’m pretty sure he knew there was going to be some confusion. After a bit of a scene and refusal to take 35,000 he convinced me to get back in the car, he said we’d go back to Kuta – no pay. As soon as we’re going out come the threats – we go to my boss, the police, whatever. Figuring that will only end up costing me even more money I wave 40,000 ($30) under his nose and he lets me out 1/2km up the road. I walk back. The bus is stull there and everyone is waiting around. Its now 7:30 – the ferry is broken down; no 8:00am ferry, next ferry is 12noon. Great. Still I saved a day in Kuta and didn’t have to buy another ticket (10,000 + 19,000) So it really cost me 11,000. Best if I hadn’t missed the bus by 5 lousy minutes but never mind the day had only just begun.

What else happened that day. After waiting till 12noon for the ferry, we boarded, it stank, was crowded – Indo style and generally filthy. After 3 hours crossing we spent a further 1hr 50m from the dock waiting for the other ferry to leave going the other way. It left at 4pm. We then got on the bus and the tour people told us we had missed the bus down to Kuta [Lombok]. Which was utter crap they just wanted us to pay to spend a night at the buddy’s losmen. They said they’d take us down in the morning.

Well there was an english guy with us who just wasn’t taking any of that and insisted they take us today or give a full refund – because we’d paid for a hassle free trip in one day. They gave us the usual indo stalling tactics. They wanted us to stay at their losmen for the night and eat at their restaurant. Anyway to cut a long story, he insisted on seeing the manager or whatever – somebody who didn’t give us the old “don’t look at me I just work here”. So we were taken off to the office to see the boss after a big fuss. This english guy was getting pretty worked up by now – mainly because it was such an obvious scam.

So, I let him have a go at the boss – not a particularly impressive figure – and after a heated exchange he eventually conceded to give a partial refund for the trip down to Kuta Beach on Lombok. But wasn’t good enough for our British friend (who we later decided to call – Jesus – but thats another whole story) he wanted a full refund or free accomodation for the night. Then things deteriorated into cold stares and threats to call the police.

By this stage the guy at least knew that we weren’t going to play his game. He had to do something – but negotiations weren’t getting any further. So I managed to step in and suggest he refund our trip to Kuta and use the money to get us a bemo down to Kuta at Indo prices – not tourist prices. Having been given the stern, we mean business approach, followed by my polite, lets be reasonable approach he was willing to agree to anything to get rid of us – and got his brother to drive us down – which was what he’d contracted to do anyway.

When we eventually got there we were still stuck in the tourist trap. They took us to a line of hotel/losmen places, miles away from the villages – on the beach though – which all offered the same thing for the same inflated tourist prices. At one place where I found the local indonesian menu – and having been around long enough now to be able to read it. I tried to order the same things from that (I don’t know why they even had one since the only indo’s there were the ones that worked there), same thing, half the price. I was flatly refused.

“That’s indonesian food. You won’t like that”
“I’ve had it before, I know what it is, that’s what I want.”
“You can’t have it.”

For example on the tourist menu it has “Fried Rice….2000rp”. On the other menu “Nasi goreng….1000rp” Same thing, twice the price for ordering in English.

I know enough Indonesian now to order in Indonesian, but it made no difference. We had the worst skin disease in Indonesia – we were white.

Needless to say we weren’t too impressed with Kute Beach, Lombok. Aside from the tourist trap, the surf was lousy and the scenery not at all picturesque. It was very dry – but still had palm trees.

Went for a couple of small (3-4ft) surfs with Neil at a very lonely rocky reef/beach. The wave had a punchy peak and a short right hand break, but I don’t think it could handle any size. The locals insisted that there were much better breaks around, if only we’d pay them to take us there. They claimed it was perfect there everyday but we knew it was crap.

After two nights there, we bailed and went to find a place a friend had written to me and insisted I go to. We found a place that sounded like it but was out of our price range – so maybe they’ve moved upmarket since he was there. We ended up going to Gili Trewagan. There are 3 very small islands just off the coast. Half an hour by runabout to the furthest one. Apparently the Javanese have just bought all three and will build a golf course on one, a Hilton on another and the third as an “isolated deserted island.”
The room at Gili Trewagan

This place was pretty perfect once we got there. White sandy beach, beautiful coral, laid back atmosphere, good cheap accomodation, but still no surf. Couple of nights there and it was back to Bali.

Getting on the boat across was another scam (YES another one). This time they say you’ll have to wait till the boat is full (20 people) unless you want to charter the whole boat. Put your name on a blank form with positions for 20 names. If you turn up after 8:00am they say you’ve missed the last boat will have to charter one. I’d seen it all before and managed eventually to calm everyone and get them to wait it out. After an hour the price finally reached the correct 1000rp instead of 7500 they asked for at the start.
Riding horse drawn carts in Lombok

By this time it was me, Neil – West Australian surfer – and a swiss guy who was learning to surf. I don’t believe I can’t remember his name!

We went straight up to Medewi. A well-known spot but not surfed so often since its a pain to get to. For us, it was a very weak beginners wave. Either the swell wasn’t the right direction or the sand was wrong, but it looked unreal. Very long wave but just had no push – even when the swell picked up to 4-5ft it was gutless. Two nights there and back to Kuta. Which brings us up to where I went and stayed out at Uluwatu, which I’ve already written about [see below].

The only bit I’ve missed writing about (I think) is a few days in Malang on Java. In between Mt Bromo and Surabuya. Whilst it was just a city with no appeal to the tourist – unless you are a connoissour of Dutch Architecture – that was the best thing about it. There weren’t many tourists. Getting there was a bit scary since I had no traveller guide and no map and no idea where to go. The bus just dumped me at the terminal way out on the outskirts of town and I had to work out how to get to town and find somewhere cheap to stay. I managed to do that with a few events which hopefully I’ll remember because I can’t be bothered writing them down.

Whilst there I gave an english lesson, and visited a guy (australian) in prison.

So there you go, thats enough on Indonesia, especially since I’m now 2 weeks into Hawaii. I think I’ll send this much off and fill you in on Hawaii next letter.

Bye
Love
John