9:22 pm saturday 9 october 2010 (sembawa)
We arrived in Lombok right on schedule and quickly set off towards Mataram, the capital city to find an ATM and some well deserved coffee. It didn’t take long to arrive (around 30 minutes from the ferry). We settled into a roadside coffee stand for coffee and met a man who spoke pretty decent english. Turns out he works for a nice hotel chain in Lombok. He gave us some directions to reach the other side of Lombok where the port is located. We set off. No more than 15 km into this leg of the trip the rain started in – and didn’t let up until we were on the ferry to Sembawa. Andrew exclaimed that it may have been some of the toughest (and probably most dangerous driving he’s done – I tend to agree). For two hours straight we rode through the drenching-sprinkling-drenching-sprinkling rainshowers. I more than once considered pissing myself rather than stopping in the rain – I doubt anyone would have noticed if I did – but I refrained. In fact, I seriously doubt anyone would have noticed – it was almost as if I was swimming through Lombok. Along the way we encountered three musical and dance processions – no clue what they were all about. The ride was long and I was glad to be back on board a dry ferry at 6:00 pm.
The ferry to Sembawa was quiet (minus the live entertainers who sang and put on some sort of a comedy show for money). By the time we arrived in Sembawa, Nash and I were both on the brink of utter exhaustion and still soaking wet from Lombok. We considered trying to push on deep into Sembawa to a town called Sembawa Besar – a 72 km ride from the ferry town of Poto Tono, but by the time we reached Alas after 20 minutes of driving we were too tired to go on. We settled into a small guesthouse on the edge of town which is where I am writing this. We have no sheets, no aircon and plenty of mosquitos, but otherwise it’s comfortable enough. Time for sleep. -b
