Chapter Ten: Lombok and the Komodo Islands

There is always a little surprise traveling in these parts of the world, but you are getting used to it. I thought I had a direct boat trip to Senggigi, but it appeared that I went to another place and from there I needed to take a bus to Senggigi. On arrival the usual crowd of people who want to sell you everything, taxi, bus drivers and so on. I know where I am heading to, and once I have walked deaf through the crowd I am 'released'. In the back I still hear: "do you want a bus boss", "I have a cheap taxi boss", the usual guys who want you to deviate you from your plan and earn a little bit extra.

I rented a scooter to get to the capital of Lombok, Mataram. Lombok has much more higher mountains than Bali, more clouds are generated and thus more rain. On my way to Mataram it started to rain, delicious, finally some coolness. I had no phone, no map, I was driving 'blind' to a specific shop in Mataram. Along the way I just asked people if I was going the right way, at some point a lovely lady just made a map for me. Indonesian people are extremely friendly and helpful, they always want to help you, you are an attraction to them. Forget the little crowd at the jetty who want to sell you something.
 Lombok has more nature, is more relaxed and the traffic way more civilized. In the end I needed to be in Bali to get my phone fixed, but the drive was worth it.

The trip to the Komodo islands wasn't planned, I wanted to climb the volcano Rinjani. On the Gili's I saw that it was constant covered in clouds so I decided otherwise. That turned out to be a very good decision. The first day we took a bus to see some various places in Lombok, temples, local workshops where they showed how to grow 'old school' rice, making hand weaving, pottery and other handcrafts, and a kind of school. Very interesting and unexpected again, unexpected situations are always good. Along that bus ride I met the group who joined me on the boat trip. You have to a bit lucky who join you, are it boring people or people with the right mindset, it was the latter fortunately.
That night the boat left for its sailing. We left in the dark, once we were on our way I realized I made a the perfect decision. I was on my on the front deck of the boat. The lights of the harbor were fading, sailing into the dark. The wind was getting stronger, the wobbling of the boat was getting more intense, lighting all around me, the sound of the splashing water turned heavier...yep this was what I wanted. It felt like the feeling I had when I was in the Gobi dessert, but this was more....difficult to describe actually, but goosebumps electrified my body. I was sleeping on the upper deck, that means that you lie on the deck of the boat with only a plastic sail to protect you from rain. But it felt so natural, you could here everything, wind, water, but also the salty taste they bring to you.
We were sleeping with 10 others on the upper deck , all the mattresses next to each other, an unusual way to sleep, but I felt right. I mentioned already a bit of my fellow travelers. All of them were European, except for one American. They came from Spain, Slovenia, Germany, Sweden and the U.K. Luckily, a madman from the U.K was joining us, spoken with the utmost respect. He knows how to get a group connected, but more of that later.

Ppfff how to describe the following days. How to describe a sunrise in front of a remote island on a boat, how to describe an extremely salty lake with hardly any life in it, again on a remote island, how to describe a cuddle fish surrounded with an unimaginable colorful scenery of fish when you are snorkeling, how to describe a dive into the deep blue when you just awake and swim 500 meters to the shore, how to describe again a long thrilled swim from the boat to the shore when fish are jumping out of the water....scared of probably something much bigger, how to describe the way Komodo dragons walk with their tongue constant looking for rotten food, how to describe a tiny island which you can walk around in 15 minutes, how to describe jumping of waterfalls...hell I can continue for a while.

But after a night sailing again, the sun is welcoming us and there it is: Komodo island, the only place (with 5 other islands nearby) where the Komodo dragons are living, dinosaurs, ancient relics of a forgotten time. It is impossible to get untouched by this climate, that morning it is humid oh so humid. I stepped on sea urchin a week and a halve ago and that morning one spike decided to force its way out of my heel (5 more to go). It all perfectly fitted that morning, half ill , carrying the massive humid on your shoulders entering the land of the dragons. 
We woke up around 05.00 am, there is a reason. The dragons need to warm up before they are getting active. One bite though and it is game over, they have more than 60 poisonous bacteria in their mouth. If they bite an animal, depending on their size, they have their kill in days or weeks. With their long tongue, they can smell a dead animal 7 kilometers away, hunters but also scavengers....just my kind of pet.

While we were hunting dragons, our group passed a dragon hiding in the bushes, bizarre thing was that our guide at the back of the group discovered it when everyone passed it just 2 meters away from the path. This was definitely something that wasn't mean to happen, too close way too fucking close...but yeah nobody was bitten. 

After seeing more than 10 dragons we were released on Pink beach, I think I described several sceneries of crystal blue water and white sandy powder beaches, so I will no do it again.

After again a night sail, we arrived at Rinca islands. My fellow uk madman Sean and I decided to jump in the water to swim to the shore, it became a habit... Then our guide yelled at us.."there are crocodiles here" we thought it was a joke......but not when he became really serious, I never swimmed so quickly to the boat in my entire life. Afterwards we saw that this was another dragon island and they are good swimmers too...
The night before we left Flores, a party was given by the tour operator, but it was a party for the locals. Several boats docked into our boat, fun to see how they were having the time of their life. We stayed in the harbor just to be awakened at 04.00 by the mosks again...in my dreams in the twilight zone I started a new holy war together with my fellow travelers. 
My last night on the boat was an unforgettable night, sleeping on the upper deck, but with no sail above me, just stars and in the distance was a thunder storm catching up on us....here again how to describe a night full of stars with an awesome light show in the back, seriously I don't know how. But it didn't end there, I woke up with a sunrise greeting me, swimmed to the shore and after a little hike I was 14 years old again....jumping of waterfalls , they hang a rope above the waterfalls so you swing yourself from the waterfalls...is this really happening!!! Yes Lucas it is...it is!

I am thankful of my fellow travelers, mad Sean, my vegetarian Mattej, tattoo Paul and Chelsea, the sweat Swedish girls who's names I constantly forget (I know they forgive me), lovely Linda and guitar player Steffan. All in all this was a trip never to forget, I hate it is over, but it is necessary. I need to recharge my battery, like I mentioned you never will walk out of these kind of trips without something. I need to get healthy on Bali before I get to Borneo. That is,what I heard, a life sucking experience with jungle tracking, cave diving and volcano climbing.

I definitely not mentioned all the cool and nice things, so expect some updates, also I'm staying a couple of days in Bali and I'll write down those experiences in this chapter as well.

Pictures will be uploaded as soon as I have connection to my email and phone again.h