The first half of my time in Indonesia was mostly spent enjoying culture and inland attractions that the country has in abundance but the second half, which this post is all about, was definitely spent taking full advantage of the fact that Indonesia is a series of islands, meaning, lots of beautiful blue sea and powdery white beaches. I have found during my trip that I will go for a long period of time sticking to these types of places and if I am away from the sea for too long I find myself missing it immensely so I was instantly happy when we docked on the beach on the island of Gili Trawangan, the imfamously beautiful and fun loving island just off the coast of Lombok island. The journey itself did not evoke happiness however as it included a long minivan ride then waiting for hours at a very crowded and unorganised port for the speed boat. When we finally did arrive we were greeted by the buzz of the busy island and we loved it almost straight away. We spent a long time trying to find accommodation as nearly everywhere on the island was full or super expensive. We ended up splashing out a little bit when we found a nice double room in a hostel called Baleku. The guys who ran it were all young Indonesians and were really nice and friendly. We went out to find some dinner and secured a cheaper place to sleep for the next few night (which I will describe later) and when we returned to the homestay we found that the owners were all singing with a guitar. We sat with them and it wasn't long before we were being sang to by a cool, old Italian guy they called Papa, who absolutely smashed all of the classics and could reach notes so high that I am sure the dolphins were enjoying the performance too.
We drank some rum and then, although we had planned to have an early night, went to the main street to a bar called Sama Sama, where there was a brilliant live band playing. Outside the bar, when the music was finished, we met three British travellers, Bill, Emma and Josh and got on straight away then we decided it was finally time for sleep and headed back to our room.
Early the next day we moved to the room that would be our home for the next week. It was in a hostel called Good For Ya Knee which had been set up and run by a young British girl called Charlie and her Indonesian boyfriend. Initially they had told us that they had no room but after seeing the desperation in our eyes told us that there was something. They lovingly called it The Bench and it became clear why when we saw it. Usually used for the staff to nap in and keep the clean towels and sheets in, it was a small wooden shack with a single matress and a black bin bag making up one of the walls. Sounds bad but we loved it! We slept with our top halves on the matress and our bottoms halves on our bags, we spread our belongings all around the space and it really felt like home (plus it was way cheaper than anywhere else on the island, so win-win).
Judge me if you will, but the 19th of August 2015 was the day that Emma-Louise Naef stepped onto, and thoroughly enjoyed, a booze cruise. Trust me, I was as dubious about it as you are now when we booked the ticket and arrived at the bar at 12:30, cheap vodka based drink in hand. Firstly, every girl there was dressed up to the nines in fancy bikinis and a full face of make-up, where as Jess and I had literally just rolled out of bed after a particularly heavy night, questioning whether we could ever drink alcohol again. Shades on and brains activated we decided to go with it, there seemed to be lots of like-minded people here, this would be fun, right? Haunted by the image of the awful Spanish trash holiday booze cruises I had heard about, we boarded the boat and to my surprise found that it was a really nice looking boat with big beanbags in the sun on one side and a bar and a dancefloor on the other. We set off and it didn't take long for me and Jess to pull out our moves on the dancefloor, pretty much dancing continuously until the end of the trip 5 hours later. We met some really fun, great people and had a hilarious time trying to continue dancing when the waves rocked the boat from left to right. The music was perfect and thankfully there were no cringey drinking games imposed on the group, just sun, sea and good times.
We got back to land at about 8pm and Jess and I stumbled merrily to find food and a returned to our Bench to get dressed for the evening. We were both knackered by this point but decided to head out anyway. We met up with James, who I had met way back in Australia and who happened to be on Gili T the same time as me and we had a great catch up. It made it seem like no time had passed since Aus but simultaneously made me realise how many places I had seen since then.
The next day was another recovery day spent lying on the beach. In the evening we met with Bill, Josh and Emma and went to see an unfortunately unimpressive sunset...
Then we went for impressive food in an amazing restaurant called Kayu Cafe. I had a delicious veggie burger with extra feta and sweet potato chips, yum. James had damaged his chest while free diving that day and so after going to check that he was ok and saying goodbye, Jess and I headed to bed.
Due to the lack of alcohol consumed the previous night, we found that we could actually function as human beings the next day and so rented bicycles and took the short ride around the island. We stopped at a couple of points along the way including the iconic (well, most people travelling south east asia will recognise it) swing in the sea.
We also stopped at a beach side bar, away from the main street, called Window Bar which is decorated with lots of different coloured old shutters and is run by a really nice guy from Jakarta called Daniel.
We had dinner at the amazing night market with Josh, Emma and Bill. To explain, the night market is a wonderous place with a number of stalls set up offering many different dishes. You pay 20,000 rupiah (£1) for a selection of five of these dishes. They had things like morning glory, tofu, noodles, potato, aubergine, pumpkin and loads of flavoursome choices. Then you could pay an extra 20,000 for a BBQ skewer, chicken, tuna, white fish or beef. So cheap and so good, we ate here more than once! Jess and I went to go and watch Kingsman at the open air cinema down the beach, which was a good film but was made even more amusing by the fact that it was an obvious pirate copy, because the screen kept going wonky or blacking out and every so often you would get a silhouette of someone going to the toilet in the cinema it was filmed in. Afterwards we went and met the gang and went to a bar which was too crowded and played rubbish music. We decided to walk to another bar and then ended up spending a few hours outside the islands fried chicken shop, Chicken Party, messing around and meeting new people. We got back to The Bench and skyped some people and ended up going to sleep after hearing the morning prayer from the local mosque.
After three hours of sleep our alarm woke us up for the snorkelling trip we had planned on doing. We managed to zombie walk down to the beach and were about to get on the boat when we both looked at each other and realised neither of us were fit to be on a boat all day. We dragged ourselves back to bed for a few more hours and I can honestly say I have no regrets about that decision. We went for lunch and had delicious mezze, with humous, fresh flat bread and cheese and fresh fruit juice. 
That evening we met up with Frieda, the German girl we had met in Kuta, Bali and who was on Gili T with her friend Sarah for a few days. We sampled the night market again and sat and chatted in the evening which was really relaxed and exactly what the doctor ordered.
When we had decided to visit Gili T we were especially excited about the diving that the area is known for, however, due to our fun-packed lifestyle on the island we hadn't managed to fit it in. The 23rd was the day we finally got our acts together and headed out with IQ divers to see what the reef there had to offer. It was very beautiful down there, with lots of colours and turtles literally everywhere and we were both very glad we had managed to fit it in. We met Frieda for lunch (meze again) and after packing our bags, went to watch the sunset at the main sunset bar. Back in Sama Sama bar we had some drinks with the other German girls we had met in Kuta, Bali and their friends and danced to the amazing live band one last time. I even got pulled up on stage and sang Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know with the band which was sooo fun! It was a brilliant way to end our amazing time on the island as it was time to say goodbye and move on the next day.The next stop was the large island of Lombok. We got a small speed boat full of people to the island and then a private car (OooOooOoOOOoo) down to the south and a place called Kuta. After checking into our room with amazingly comfortable beds (a luxury after our beloved Bench) we explored the town and hilariously bumped into Emma, Bill and Josh on the beach there! Kuta, Lombok was nothing like Kuta, Bali and was a charmingly underdeveloped town with a few shops and resturants and a lot of stray dogs and people trying to sell you bracelets and sarongs. We sat on the beach for a couple of hours and then went to have some indonesian/mexican food for dinner. That evening, Jess and I sat in bed and watched The Theory Of Everything, which is a very good film and it was very nice to have a relaxing evening.
I had been itching to get back on a moped since arriving in Indonesia and so we rented one the next day and took the very scenic and fun-to-drive road to a beach called Selong Belanak which was a long stretch of sand and good surf. We read our books and sunbathed there for a couple of hours then moved onto another beach called Mawun Beach. Here, once again, we bumped into Bill, Emma and Josh who were with a Canadian girl called Austraya and a British girl called Brody. The water at this beach got very deep very quickly which apparently makes me and Jess revert back to being 7 years old. We spent a while frolicking in the waves and getting knocked back by them more than once before settling down and sunbathing.
Later that evening, we went to the Surfer Bar in Kuta and met the gang there for some drinks before we parted ways for the last time. It was a lovely evening but was spoilt a bit by an attempted mugging we experienced while walking back to our hotel. Two guys drove really slowly behind us on their mopeds and sped up next to Jess trying to grab her bag off her shoulder, luckily she has a tight grip and all they managed to do was break the strap and leave a nasty little bruise on her arm before speeding off. It was an unpleasant thing to happen but it is helpful as a gentle reminder to be smart with your stuff. This sort of thing can happen anywhere and it is good to be reminded of that every-so-often so that you have your wits about you.
The following day we took the bike along some very bumpy roads to a beach that could very possibly be my favourite beach of the whole trip, Tanjung Ann. As soon as we got onto the sand there our mouths fell open with awe. The sand was so bright white it made you squint a little and the sea was just perfect for a relaxing swim as it was sheltered by the bay and was quite shallow and sandy the whole way out. Paradise. (My photos can not do it justice)
We splashed around pretending to be mermaids a bit, sunbathed and collected a couple of the shells and turquoised coloured rocks that lined the sea then decided to go for a short walk over to a large rock structure that jutted out into the sea along the beach. On top of the rock we had an amazing view of both beaches in the bay. After having a great day we ended it with great food at a restaurant that had been recommended to us by Josh, Bill and Emma, Warung Hesty. It had the most delicious Indonesian food and the most friendly and happy host, Ba-yu who played guitar and sang while you ate. We saw Brody again and decided that we should visit the traditional village the next day.
The village was not too far from Kuta along a windy main road, which was exciting to drive on. A local man approached us and offered a tour of the village for a good price and we accepted. We walked around the clay, thatched houses, nearly everyone of them converted into a shop for tourists to buy jewelery and hand woven blankets. I really really really wanted to buy a blanket but the curse of a small backpack meant that there was no chance of me fitting it with me. Jess bought a beautiful one which took at least a month to weave for £10, bloody bargin!
We drove back into town and ate again at Warung Hesty then stayed there for a few hours talking with Ba-yu and listening to music. We all drove back to Tanjung Ann and walked up a big hill on the right hand side of the beach to see the sunset over the sea. It was a very impressive view, with huge cliffs and rolling hills meeting the rough, vast ocean. Ba-yu told us the myth of the princess who was so beautiful that many men fought over her. She couldn't stand the fightng anymore so she jumped from the cliff and the next day thousands of little sea slugs came out of the water. Every year the local people in this part of Lombok have a festival of the sea slugs and go down to the beach at midnight to catch them (apparently they are delicious). He said that if they haven't come out before midnight it is traditional to shout swear words at the sea until they come. Sounds like fun to me.
We had to return our moped :'( then we sat in Warung Hesty again and drank beers, sang and talked. At one point a rude, annoying American guy came and sat with us and just kept talking about how he was coming off of 'so many drugs' and how great Johnny Cash was. This got a bit old after a while and I got sleepy so we went back to our hotel room after saying our goodbyes.
We were picked up by an overcrowded minivan the next day to take us to Senggigi, a town in the north west of Lombok. When we got there we checked into the Lombok Baleku hotel, ran by the same people as the Baleku in Gili T. We saw the guys who had been at the one in Gili T again and had a delicious lunch of Gado Gado, which is basically vegetables, topped with peanut sauce and an egg. We got a lift to the local massage parlour and I got an hour long amazing massage and a well needed haircut for £5. Back at the hotel in the evening we sat up listening to music and drinking rice wine with the guys until I couldnt hold my eyes open any longer. The next day was a big day, we were embarking on an adventure to one of the furthest parts of Indonesia. We were driven to Bangsal port and met up again with Frieda. We also met the rest of our group which included an English couple Oliver and Heather, a Scottish girl called Nicky and an English guy called Henry. We all boarded a boat which was to be our home for the next four days and would take us from Lombok to Komodo National Park in Flores. The boat was big but very basic and the deck we were sleeping on, although better than what I had expected, was literally just a low ceiling deck with some mattresse, pillows and blankets.
I had been excited about this part of our trip since we had booked it in Gili T and had heard so many great things about it. The first day, however, did not live up to expectations, the only actitivity being a stop to swim and the crew on the boat being incredibly unhelpful and hostile. The other people on the boat were the main redeeming feature and continued to be into the second day when we had a short walk to a pretty dried up waterfall inland, had one stop to swim and snorkel before we were informed that we would be sailing 18 hours straight over night to the next place. I think I would have been fine with this had I have been told the schedule before we set off but it came as a bit of a surprise. Not only was it a very long time to be constantly moving but the conditions were pretty bad too. We were in open water for nearly the whole time and the boat was swaying aggresively from side to side constantly. We tried to see the funny side but ended up restorting to lying in bed trying our best to sleep.
The following morning, hallejuah, we woke up in a quiet, still area surrounded by stunning hilly islands. We had reached Komodo National Park. It was a great relief to be still again and after breakfast Frieda, Jess and I took the small leaky row boat to the shore and walked on solid land. We saw a particularly pointy hill and decided to conquer it and the view from the top was a panorama of the surrounding area, where there were many islands and turquoise waters.
We walked back and the boat took the group to a spot called Manta Point. We all donned our snorkels and waited anxiously as the boat sailed around, searching, then we heard the captain shout, 'Go, jump!' and without questioning we all flew into the water. Almost instantly I saw it, a giant dark shadow gracefully flapping and gliding below me. The manta ray was so huge, much bigger than I had been expecting and I was filled with excitment as it moved so close below me. We saw a number of them as they rose to the surface and then swopped down with ease. It was truely magical to watch this animal as it would disappear suddenly into the blue and then appear agian when you least expected it.
We spent some time with these amazing animals before returning to the boat and visiting a place called Pink Beach. When we arrived there was a chorus of 'is this it?' There really was nothing pink about it from our view on the boat. The first few people jumped in a swam to the beach but it seemed to be much harder than expected as the current coming into the bay pushed the swimmers to the side. Jess, Frieda, Oliver, Heather and I decided to give it a miss and stayed on the boats 'balcony', listening to music, chatting and catching some rays. Before we left the beach Henry came back on the boat and said that the snorkelling over to the left was some of the best he had ever done so I decided not to pass the opportunity up. He was right, the coral was so bright and there were so many varieties of fish there I was glad I decided to jump in.
I also spotted a big cuttlefish and a moray eel there which seemed happy to model for my photographs.
That evening we had dinner of cabbage, noodles and rice again as we watched the sunset and everyone seemed so much happier than the previous evening! They even put on a little 'party' for us by plugging in a disco bulb (the one I got you for Christmas Dad) and letting us play music through the big speakers. It was a wonderfully awkward affair but charming in its own way.
The first of September came around very quickly and it was a great start to the month. I woke up and watched the sunrise on my own before grabbing a pancake for breakfast and watching as everyone else climbed down out of bed. It was the day we were due to see the dragons and we set off early to get to the island. When we arrived we were greeted by a very energetic guide who gave us a briefing and then lead the group around the island. We spotted a couple of Komodo dragons, who were lying in the morning sun to warm up their blood for the day. It isn't surprising that they have been aorund since the dinosaurs when you see them. They are scaley and have beady eyes and Jess thought they were 'cute'.
They were also huge and, the same as when I had seen the crocodiles in Aus, they creeped me out with how relaxed and patient they seemed to be with the knowledge that they could attack us if they really wanted. We moved onto a second island after two hours of sailing and enjoying the sun again in the balcony. This island was called Rinca Island and was really picturesque. There were many dragons everywhere, lying around in the sun and tourists nervously pointed their lenses at them. We walked up to the top of a hill on the island and got some awesome views, the national park really is something special.
After we had had our fill of prehistoric predators we set off to our final swimming spot and then head to our destination, Lebuan Bajo. We made it to the dock at about 4pm and Ollie, Heather, Nicky, Jess, Frieda and I went straight to a bar and ordered a beer. The bar had a great view of the sunset (even if it was behind a busy port). Frieda, Jess and I then set off to book our travel back to Lombok, find a dive company to go diving with on our one and only day in Flores and book a room for the next night. We managed to do everything and then relaxed by eating an absolutely amazing pizza and enjoyed being on dry land again. We went to the sky bar next door for some very strong and very cheap Arak (local palm sugar spirit) cocktails and to have a final farewell to the group who had been on the boat. We slept that night back on the boat (hey, it's a free nights accommodationisn't it?) and in the morning did the rest of our goodbyes.
The three of us had to be at the dive centre at 07:15 so after some banana bread at a coffee shop we got there and got ready for a full day of diving. We set off in their dive boat to the first site, Tawaran Basar, we had a our detailed briefing and I got very excited when the dive instructor said it was a really great site. Flores is known internationally for its incredible diving and so my expectations were high. I was not disappointed. The site was the best dive I have done so far. So many things to see, bright corals, countless fish, life everywhere. We were even lucky enough to find two white tip reef sharks hiding under the reef together and watch them as they swam off. My eyes were wide for the whole dive trying to take in as much as possible.
(^if you look closely you can see the sharks face peering out from under the coral.)
The second site was Manta Point, which I was excited to get to. Although snorkelling had been awesome, I had wanted to be down there with the rays the whole time. It took a while trying to find the rays on this dive, during which time I was trying to get my breathing more efficient, then we saw one at one of the cleaning stations. The current was really strong so one of the instructors clipped a rope onto the ground and I held onto that, trying not to be pushed backwards by the water. It was really special to watch the ray going about its business and be able to witness how the ecosystem there supports each other.
Between each dive I tried to get my wetsuit off as soon as possible and get in the sun to warm up, the sea here is much colder than the very comfortable seas I have been diving in previously on this trip. The final dive was definitely the coldest though which we realised as soon as we jumped in. It was at a site called Mawan Island where, once again, there was an outstanding reef, turtles and a surprising amount of manta rays surprising us whenever they glided past. I also saw a baby scorpion fish, which is quite rare and a couple of magnificent lion fish who literally scream "I AM DANGEROUS" with their bright orange stripes and numerous spikes.
We had to surface after 45minutes due to the cold currents but as we were doing a safety stop another huge manta ray swam below us as if to wish us goodbye. It was an absolutely great day diving, and probably the last one I will have for a long while.
This morning we woke up and boarded a ferry to start our 24 hour journey back to Lombok for our respective flights. Jess will be heading to Thailand to do her uni placement and I will be jetting off to Sri Lanka, where I will be meeting up with my great friend Hannah for a month of galavanting around.
And so the end of my time in south east asia is in sight. What a crazy thought. Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Phillippines and Indonesia, what an amazing, eye opening, adventurous and delicious time I have had. I have done things I never would have thought I could do, met people who I hope will be in my life for years to come, seen some of the most beautiful places on earth and can happily say I have no regrets what so ever. On to the next chapter, a sad goodbye but exciting things to come!
Thanks for reading,
Emma x
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