Lombok style

new island, new image

he gets a dagger and all I get is this lousy box

around Tetabatu

room with kitten attached

Our traditional lumbung cottage came with its very own furry friend, Bonnie. CUTE! She was also very useful when a lizard infiltrated our biscuit stash. Like a furry ninja she sprung into action...

spidercat

 

love at first sight



ready, steady, cook

While in Tetabatu we happened upon a cute little homestay in the next village, Kembang Kuning, and met Chris, the hospitable host. His wife made us an amazing lunch and the next day we were invited back to try our hand in the kitchen making our own batch of infamous Lombok coffee and picking coconuts fresh from the tree.

if you can't stand the heat...

Chris and his magical coconuts

the crew

village vistas

Next up we headed toTetabatu, a tiny village that sits at the foot of Gurung Rinjani, Lombok's very own volcano. We took a walk through the rice paddies to a waterfall, all the while persued by very determined and loud barking dogs desperate to take a chunk out of our ankles. Luckily our own canine guide, Blackie, the dog from our guesthouse, managed to protect us and was very helpful in seeking out the rare black monkeys in the forest.

Rinjani smoulders in the distance

someone pass the Timotei...

the winds of change

Were you aware that German rockers the Scorpions had a greatest hits album in circulation? No, neither were we until we got into this guys taxi on Lombok bound for Tetabatu. On first listen the whistling was quite fun, but after the second, and third play, we were well and truly over it...

somewhere around Praya Bella lost consciousness

Gili Air by night

turtle power

Okay, so we can’t surf but we did at least take to the water for some snorkelling in some of the best waters (apparently) in Indonesia. Equipped with (leaky) snorkel face masks and children’s flippers we boarded a tiny glass bottom boat with around 15 other tourists all waiting to be unceremoniously dumped off shore at various point around the three Gilis. The health & safety precautions may have been dubious but the enchantment under the sea was certainly not. Unfortunately we don’t have an underwater housing for Andy’s camera so you’ll just have to believe us when we tell you that it was not unlike a scene from Finding Nemo. Huge prehistoric-looking turtles, beautiful neon fish and amazing (knee-grazingly sharp) corals.

we are F*A*M*I*L*Y

On Gili Air we found the best little warung (shack style café)and in a break to form, went there for four consecutive nights for dinner. Fresh fish grilled on the beach, amazing super-seasoned salads and tasty urap urap (veggies and fresh coconut) for usually less than £3 a head. It turned into a bit of a joke with Aatti, the charismatic proprieter of Family Warung , who by the last night had designated a special table for 'brother Andy' and 'sister Bella'.

contrary to the expression on bella's face, the food was superb

 

a room with a view

the view from out breakfast table was really rather nice

island hopping

South Bali’s huge shopping malls and deluxe cars were a bit of a shock to the system after 2 months in Nepal so we decided to get a speed boat out of there, pronto. First stop was the tiny Island of Nusa Lembongan (thanks for the tip Cam) which was beautiful, if full of 'rad' surfers and Aussies (a few bogans in there too, Em) and a generous sprinkling of ‘Bintang’ beer t-shirts and vest tops. Oh dear. No sooner had we got there than we promptly ran out of cash (Indonesia suddenly felt very expensive) so we spent two nights eating posh pizza in the place next door so we could pay on our visa cards – there’s no atm on the island. We also managed one of our now legendary fruitless-and-mapless-maddog-walks-in-the-midday sun where we vastly underestimated the time it would take to circumnavigate the island on foot instead of hiring a scooter, like everyone else, which resulted in two very sweaty and sunburnt people nearly coming to blows...

After a few days we headed on to the Gilis, three small paradise islands off the Lombok coast, stopping on the largest and most popular, Gili Trawangan, to use the atm before fleeing the ‘pubs and clubs’ for the less touristy and more tranquil Gili Air. Our first and most important discovery about the Gilis? There are no stray dogs and HEAPS of cats. Yipee!!

fruit loop

obligatory cat snap

crash landing

Here’s Andy taking 40 winks at Kuala Lumpar airport on our way to Bali. On the floor. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any chalk.

give me one mo-moment in time

It has started to rain, heavily, always a good sign that it's time to leave the country. We celebrated the last night of our 2 month stint in Nepal with a final plate of mouth-watering momos in Kathmandu (Andy, buff, Bella, veg) plus the obligatory cold Everest beer. Onwards to Indonesia and beyond....

the taste of Nepal (via Tibet)

Pokhara parking restrictions

where can I park my cow?

around Pokhara

trekking: the out takes

Bella tries to master the art of drinking water Nepali style




and fails...



eat my shorts



excuse me, that seat's taken

puss in (hiking) boots

If somebody had told us before that this little furball was waiting at the top of the mountain, we’d have been up there in no time at all. But they didn’t, so it took us hours…

how cute?

move any mountain

Five days trekking in the Annapurna range

160 km covered

3000+ steps (in a day)

One 4.15am wake up call to climb Poon Hill, over 3000 mts

Two blisters

One dodgy knee

A blissful hot spring

All ably assisted by our wonderful guide *Raju

Two happy, but tired, trekkers

*If you’re headed to Nepal and the Pokhara region look up Raju. You won’t regret it. He was our guide, motivator, mentor and companion through the hellish upward straights and down the other side. He’s promised us next time we’ll make Annapurna base camp!

Raju Nepali

Independent Guide

T: Nepal 98 460 49945

E: raju_nepali@hotmail.com