Indonesia | Mar 21-23 2023 |
Day 1 of my Bali to Flores tour. After breakfast at Zanzibar, an all-time Bali fave, I set out from Legian on my rental Yamaha Aerox 155, 7:30 am-ish, for an anticipated 2.5-hour ride to Padang Bai to catch the Lombok ferry. Was expecting a total 6 or 7 hour trip to Kuta Lombok. A catalyst for the early start was the fact that the next day was Nyepi, Bali's annual "day of silence" where restrictions range from no travel to no talking!
On the ride I saw some of the build-up for Nyepi - many large/huge demon models and parade floats for processions - very impressive. Traffic was moving well and I got to the ferry terminal just after 10:00 am. But boats were not leaving every hour (Nyepi....), and I didn't get on a ferry until 3:30 pm. On the bright side, I connected with a lively group of expat locals and locals in party mode who were all heading to Kuta Lombok. On the downside, the planned 5-hour sailing took closer to 8-hours, arriving at Lombok after 11:00 pm. While I was not keen on driving, there was no choice, so next up was a grueling 90 minutes ride to Kuta Lombok. End-to-end, the trip took about 15 hours, the kind of travel "adventure" one can expect to experience from time-to-time in Indonesia, where schedules are often flexible (jam karet or "rubber time", I think they call it).
Kuta Lombok and the whole south coast of the of island was excellent, a throw-back to Kuta Bali in the early 90s when I first went there - good food, great beaches, a surfers paradise, economical. There's some interesting development in the area, including the new MotoGP track. Stayed 2 nights, toured around a bit, hung out with my friends from the ferry. Next up: Sumbawa!
Ride: 167 km including ferry / 15 hours (5.5 hours on Google Maps!)
Stay: JM Hotel Kuta Lombok 4/5
