Stairway From Hell



Our cottage up on the mountain.





P- It was so wonderful to sleep in a/c without frog noises, rooster's crowing, and geckos making their loud noises.

G- It was nice. That a/c unit struggled all night. If you hadn't just come from 5 days without a/c, you'd have been bitching that it wasn't cold enough.

P- You're right, my perspective is very different after those sweltering days in Ubud.

G- My throat is sore this morning. Are we going to hang out by the pool today?

View of the ocean in the background

P- Yes, and I'm not climbing up and down these 82 stairs very many times, so let's get everything we need for the pool and we'll go straight there after breakfast.

G- Sounds like a good plan. You hang the clothes line on the balcony and I'll rinse and wring out the clothes.

After we had hung our laundry to dry, we went back down the mountain on the 82 steps and into the dining area. All areas are open to the outdoors, so the sugar bowls on the tables sit in a saucer of water to keep the ants out, and just like in Nola, the salt is clumped due to the humidity. The hotel had a very nice Indonesian breakfast spread, but it was weird breakfast food by western standards: a vegetable that resembled merliton sauteed with onions, a very spicy crab in tomato sauce dish, a rice dish and a noodle dish. We tasted everything and I ate a good portion of the merliton. We also had watermelon juice, which is not as sweet as one would expect. We spoke to a pretty Lombokian girl who told us that it was getting hotter than it use to be on Lombok; “global warming” she said. It was very hot on Lombok, and we were very thankful for the pool.

G- When you go to the bathroom, don't freak out, but look up.

Sangiggi Beach

P- Why? What's there?

G- A very, very large lizard. I can't tell if it's a gecko or another kind of lizard, but it's about a foot long.

P- Why'd you tell me that? Now I'm never going to be able to go to the bathroom.

G- It did not budge the whole time I was in there. I just didn't want you to freak out when you saw it.

P- Great!

G- It sure is nice to have Wifi again. I missed it very much.

view from restaurant

We went out for a late lunch/early dinner and ate delicious seafood pasta on the beach. Reading menus has proven to be a very comical past time due to misspellings and food descriptions that make no sense. (What is beef bacon or sea pood pizza? How yummy must Fujiama Chicken be if it is “served with good tasted sauce and mashede potatos”?) Typically we try not to make eye contact with hawkers while we are eating dinner, but Phyl has been so hot in her wicking shirts that she finally bought something from a hawker........2 sleeveless Lombok shirts. It hardly matters if we're wearing tourist clothes because we stand out as tourists no matter what we're wearing.

P- You suck at negotiating.
G- I know.  I agree on a price too quickly.
P- I could have gotten him lower.
G- I know, but I just feel bad for the poor people trying to feed their families.  It's not a game to them. And now is the low season & there aren't many tourists in the area. The price we agreed on is cheap for us.
P- I agree with all of that, but remember...the less we spend, the longer we get to travel!  Every penny adds up, so from now on, I do the haggling!
G- I just can't forget that they're not traveling, they're trying to survive.

We walked on the black sand beach, past the colorful boats and the little Balinese kids swimming naked, and enjoyed the sound of the surf. Back at the hotel we began our nightly showers to wash off suntan lotion, sweat, and bug spray.

P- Will you bring in the laundry while I take a shower? It should be dry by now.

G- No problem.



Long boats on Sangiggi

 Unlike Ubud where it took 2 days for our clothes to semi dry, everything was dry. I folded the clothes, took down the clothes line and was gathering the last items when a large gecko (about 8” long) jumped off the wall after a big green praying manthis looking thing (about 4” long) which landed on my arm.

G- Augh!!!!!!!!!! (When I jerked my arm, the manthis landed just inside the door.)

P- (Yelling from the shower) What's wrong?

G- Shit! A giant bug jumped on me and now it's in the room.

P- Get it out! What is it?

G- I'm not sure. Ugh!! How am I gonna get it out? (I threw a towel over it, scooped it up, and threw the towel on the floor of the balcony.) Yay! I got it out.

G- Arrrrrgh! (I jumped back, flailing my arm and dropping my laundry.)

P- What's happening now Agnes?

G- For gawd sake!! I can't find the manthis, so I'm just going to leave the towel on the ground, but I picked up your bathing suit on my way in and that damn gecko jumped onto my arm. I'm being attacked by freakin wild kingdom!!!! Whah! I don't want all of these critters touching me!!

P- Better you than me. Get in here and close the door.

Clean and smelling good for a change, we lay on the bed enjoying the cool of the a/c.

G- My throat is really killing me. Where did you put the cough drops?

P- Here, I put them in the bag with the other drugs.

G- Damn! They've melted and the paper is stuck to them. Ugh!!!! Whah!

P – Why are you whining?

G- There are dead ants stuck to my couch drops and these are the only ones I have and my throat hurts. Whah!

P- I told you to put them in a baggie when we were in Ubud.

G- I kept moving them! I'm unaccustomed to having my abode open to the outdoors. Damn ants! Screw it! I need these cough drops. Whah! I'll just pick off the ants and suck it anyway.

P- Oh, Agnes. I may have to kill you.

G- Whah! Yes, please do.