Lombok

Sengiggi
Lombok began with a day on the beach. Due to the early flight, we had all day to relax. Our hotel was on a black sand beach with a large pool to play horse basketball in. All of Indonesia is pretty quiet this season. We had most amenities to ourselves which was very nice. Town was filled with anxious sellers which was a bit of a turn-off. We were able to enjoy a nice dinner while watching a large gecko attack a moth above our heads. That night we packed up for our trek and put everything in Sam's backpack so we could take turns sharing it.


Mt. Rinjani
We got picked up at 6am for a two hour drive to the mountain village of Senaru (600m altitude). We met up with our guide and three porters. Each porter carries a bamboo stick with a wicker basket on each end. They place them over their shoulders and walk up the mountain in flip-flops, amazing! Oh, and they beat us up and down the mountain every step of the way. The plan was to climb to the crater rim at 2600 meters, sleep for the night and trek down to the crater lake and hot springs (2000m) the next morning. We would hang out at the lake for the day and climb out and back to camp for another night before heading back to the village. The company doesn't tell you that if it's raining, the climb down to the crater lake is not possible or that sleeping at the crater rim is not recommended due to shelter. We were informed of this by our guide on the way up. In actuality we spent the first day climbing to Position 3 (2000m). It rained the entire time, no, it poured. For the most part, the path was a waterfall. We made it to camp around 3pm and enjoyed dry clothes and good warm food. It rained through the night forcing us out of our leaky tents around 11pm. We brought our air mattress under the shelter where the three of us cuddled together to keep warm. (The air mattress was the size of a double bed). Needless to say, none of us got much sleep, especially since our air mattress was wet and deflated most of the night.

After breakfast the next morning, we climbed up to the crater rim (see photo above). The climb was extremely steep and took us about 2 hours. Once we made it to the top, the view of the clouds 20 feet from us was amazing. Fog up close is incredibly beautiful. (Note the sarcasm). In reality, the clouds and mountain landscape was eerily beautiful. Part way back to camp, the sun came out! At this point the view was incredible! The landscape around us was more of a mountain prairie with few trees. Below you could see lush forests and the city far away. Once we made it back to base camp, we changed and set in for a relaxing afternoon. Throughout the afternoon, we were joined by two other groups of trekkers, making it quite cramped and full of testosterone (14:1). The sun peaked out now and again until nighttime. The three of us squished together again with a dry air mattress and more shelter from the wind and rain.


In the morning, we woke up at 5:30am for breakfast and hiked back down the mountain. The local monkeys said goodbye and wished us well. It rained lightly throughout the trek down and we made it back for lunch. Overall, the trek could have been enjoyed more in the dry season but was fun and a memory not to be forgotten. We took our transport to the harbor and said our goodbyes to Sam. We went off to Gili Trawagan while Sam plans to head to Gili Nangoo (an island to the southwest of Lombok with only one restaurant and one hotel).

We are currently on Gili Trawagan and enjoying our last couple nights on the road. We hope to add at least one more post before we leave for home. Stay tuned!