Lazy Day on Lombok

P- I heard you coughing during the night, did you sleep ok?


G- No, not much. I was asleep, but then had to go to the bathroom. My head was fine in the a/c, but once I went outside into the humidity to use the bathroom, my head clogged, I started sweating, and I went into a coughing fit. Who thought putting the bathrooms outside would be a good idea? This humidity is killing my head.

P- I don't know, muffin. I'm sorry you don't feel well.

G- A cold and the woman scourge..............just shoot me now. Whah!!!

P- Keep up that whining and I just might have to shoot you.

G- WHAH!!!!!!!!! And now I'm down to only 1 ant encrusted cough drop. This a/c really cranks, but this bed sucks. Since it dips in the middle, I had to cling to the side all night to keep from being crushed in the middle by you.

P- Yes, this is the worst bed we've had.

Because this hotel is far from everything and we have no transportation, all meals were eaten at the hotel restaurant. We had breakfast in the open restaurant. The hot tea was soothing to my throat, but the heat and humidity was not helping my cold. Over breakfast, as we debated what we would do, the black clouds rolled in. We jumped into the pool to cool off and soon after it started to rain. We retreated to our patio where we talked to Julie and read. Once the rain stopped, we watched one of the hotel workers, machete in his waistband, climb the palm trees around the pool to prune them.

P- Holy crap! Do you see that guy? Really, he climbed that tree faster than a monkey.

G- And he is not even using a wrap, like Gusti did, he's just using his feet. That's unbelievable!

Around 5pm we went to the restaurant to watch TV (it had HBO) and play cards.

G- Look at that gecko on the TV! It was there last night too. It must live in the TV cabinet.

P- Perfect place to live because of all the bugs that fly around the TV screen.

G- Ha! And it adds some humor to watching TV as the gecko chases his bugs and runs across the screen.

P- Look at the frogs hopping across the floor in that corner.

G- I almost never see frogs at home. Not toads. Just those green tree frogs we had on Newman. I used to see a lot of them when I was a kid.

P- Me too. Crazy, they use pesticides to kill the mosquitoes, but instead it has killed the frogs, lightening bugs and lizards that eat the mosquitoes, but we still have mosquitoes. Guess that plan didn't work out so well.

After a while, Nenga (one of the hotel staff) asked to play cards with us. We were playing Rummy and he caught on very quickly, telling us that there is a similar Indonesian game. We played for about 2 hours and he told us about his life. Nenga was 27, and had an older brother who was married with children. He had worked at the hotel 6 years and was going to try to get a job at one of the new resorts, currently under construction, in order to make more money. He advised that he earned 800,000 rupiah per month (approximately $80.00) and lived in a boarding house near the hotel, for which he paid rent of 50,000 rph per month. We asked if he had a girlfriend, but he said he didn't because he did not make much money and dating was expensive. This, a universal truth. He told us that he was from a village about 1 hour away, into the interior of Lombok, and his father was a farmer. Then he complained he sent 400,000 rph, half of his monthly income, home to his parents to help support them. His heart tells him that this is the right thing to do, but his head tells him that he must have some money to date and find a wife. He recently had an argument with his mother, telling her that he's has to stop sending money home because he wants to marry and have a family, but she put the guilt trip on him (another universal truth) and “made his heart weak” and he agreed to keep sending the money. However, he confided that he must stop sending the money soon so that he can move forward with his own life. We talked about what it was like to live in America and about the fact that all people, no matter where they live, have the same concerns about life.

The hotel owner arrived and put an end to our game and talks. We ate dinner and went to take our showers.

G- I'm glad for the screens to keep the mosquitoes out, but don't freak out because I just saw a centipede or something run past the soap dish.

P- Are you sure that's what it was?

G- Well, it was moving too fast for me to count it's legs, so I don't know if it was a centipede or millipede, but it definitely had a lot of feet.

P- I meant, smart ass, are you sure it was not a roach?

G- I did see something that looked like it could have been a roach run past the shower head, but I'm trying not to think about it. Let's just finish the shower and get into the a/c.

P- No, I saw that one, and it was a beetle. What the hell? (Just then the water shut off.)

G- Well this is just great! I'm covered in soap.

P- Do you think it will come back on? (Just then, the water came back on; cold at first, but then it heated up.)

G- It must be on a timer. Rinse quickly before it goes off again.

P- And dry quickly before we start to sweat again.

The second night passed the same as the first. I clung to the side of the bed and every time I had to use the bathroom to address the 'woman scourge', my head clogged up and I began to sweat.

Woo-Wooed in Lombok

The Puri Bunga Cottages was a very beautiful place, but the 82 steps were killing us and the price exceeded our budget.  We had been told that Lombok was cheaper than Bali, but we were not finding that to be the case.  We had searched the internet and found cheaper accomodations further north on the coast.

G- I feel like shit this morning!
P- Your throat is still hurting you?
G- Yes, it's killing me, I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, and now I've been attacked by the scourge of all women.  Whah!  I wish I could snap my fingers and be home until I feel better.  And we're moving again.
P- We're not going far and we'll stay there until you feel better.

G- (whimpering as I pack) Ok.

We checked into Hotel Bulan Baru (new moon) and were thrilled over the fact that it was on ground level. 

P- Praise Gawd!  I'll be happy to stay here until you feel better and my legs stop aching.
G- Me too.  I'm sweating.  Let's get into the pool.
P- What do you think of that bathroom? (It was attached to the room & private, but it was outside.)
G- I'm not sure. I guess it'll be cool showering under the stars, and there is a screen to keep out the bugs.  I guess we'll find out.

After cooling off in the pool we left for a walk on the beach.  We crossed the road, walked through, what we thought was the correct coconut grove, but ended up being the wrong path, past a cow and piles of construction garbage being picked through by a woman and a boy.  We were happy when we reached the beach.  As we walked along the beach, we spotted, off to our right, a group of naked boys swimming.  We headed left and began picking up pieces of coral that were scattered all over the beach.  In short order, we were approached by the group of 5 naked boys (ages approximately 7-10).  They smiled and spoke animatedly in Indonesian.

P- Hello.  Do you speak English?
Boys- Speaking in Indonesian.
G- I guess that's the answer.  No.  (we continued to slowly walk down the beach)
Boys- Laughing & talking to each other.
P- I know it's no big deal, but all the naked children on the beaches still surprises me.
G- Being naked is great!  I'd like to be naked.
P- I think once you reach puberty, you're required to keep your clothes on.  I'd like to be naked too, but I think we'd better not. Please keep your suit on, Agnes.

G- Wait.  They're not just being naked.  Are they doing what I think they're doing?
P- I believe so!
G- I'll be damned!!  Little bastards!  I haven't been woo-wooed in almost 20 years.
P- And I've never been woo-wooed by a group of little boys.  I find it kind've disturbing.  The little perverts.
G- Well, I think they're trying to get some kind've shocked or startled reaction out of us. (The boys continued to dance around yanking on their weiners and flapping them at us as we walked off ignoring them.)
P- I got news for them, I wasn't impressed when a grown man woo-wooed me, I'm surely not reacting to those little gerkins.
G- Freaking boys/men, they're the same all over the damn world, so proud of their weiners.

Once the kids realized that we were uninterested, they ran off.  We continued to walk the beach and look at the beautifully colored coral pieces and shells.  There must have been a great coral reef just offshore, but the waves were very rough, we had no snorkels/masks, and there was a rocky barrier (like lava flowed there and hardened) between the beach and the water.

After a while we returned to the hotel and the pool where we met (left to right) Edward, Amanda, Olivia, and Julie, Aussies from a little town outside of Perth.