Sailing in and out of weeks and almost over a year

After traveling across Flores, and ending up in Labuan Bajo, the island's westernmost point, I was unwilling to spend the money on a flight to Java, my next destination. In searching for a cheaper way to make the trip, I discovered that I could island hop, using a series of ferries and buses, from Flores to Sumbawa to Lombok to Bali to Java. It would take a long time, and be less than comfortable, but it was cheap and seemed straightforward. I was also interested to see the island of Sumbawa, generally ignored by tourists making the Flores-Lombok hop.

View from Labuan Bajo port

There wasn't a lot of conclusive online information about the boat to Sape, the port in eastern Sumbawa, so a day before I planned to head out, I moseyed down to the ferry dock. I was told that the boat would leave at 9 AM, but that I should be there around 7 to ensure a ticket and a seat. I arrived about 7:30, bought my ticket and headed up to the passenger deck. The boat was enormous: it carried huge banana-bearing trucks, a couple of tour buses, and private cars and motorcycles, in addition to the passengers. The passenger deck consisted of three separate areas: one filled with bunk beds lined up side by side, where several local people had already claimed the mattresses on the lower bunks (the tops were bare). There was quite a bit of space left there, but I didn't feel much like lying down all day, so I moved on. The second room was lined with metal benches, and open windows letting in the breeze from the harbor. There was a small cafeteria there, selling noodles, drinks and snacks. The third room was marked "Kelas Bisnis," although there hadn't been any choice of classes when I bought my ticket. Inside were rows of comfortable (ish) leather seats, and the room was air conditioned. It was also at the front of the ship, allowing for views of the sea ahead. I settled in there, and no one said anything, despite my ticket being, officially, "Ekonomi." The cafeteria room filled up quickly, but only a handful of people sat in the Bisnis area. I was the only tourist on the boat and stood out like a sore thumb, but people more or less left me alone. We finally pulled out of the dock at 9:20, and the grainy TVs in all three seating areas started playing "Captain Phillips" (a strange choice of movie for a boat ride, I thought). We passed several, apparently uninhabited islands to the south as we sailed past, rising beautifully out of the sea.

"Ekonomi" Class

Horse cart in Sumbawa

When the eastern coast of Sumbawa came into view (around 4 PM), everyone stood and crowded near the front of the boat. A little cluster of homes were set on a hill along the coast, and  there was a mosque right beside the dock (a reminder that Sumbawa is one of Indonesia's more conservative Islamic islands). I followed the crowd off the boat and was snatched up by someone as the token lost Westerner. He brought me to the bus stand located conveniently at the far end of the dock, and settled me on a bus to Bima, Eastern Sumbawa's biggest town (the few tourists who take this route tend to board a bus to Lombok straight from Bima). The bus was no luxury coach: a small, hot, cramped, public bus with no air conditioning or leg room. My backpack got strapped to the roof and I squeezed in, already hot and sticky. The port town of Sape is small, with nothing to appeal to travelers. The streets are dusty and, aside from the economy buses, the only vehicles on the road are horse carts, carrying people and goods (I saw one loaded with bananas). The ride to Bima took some two hours, along winding mountain roads. The views weren't as nice as in Flores: a lot of dusty streets, roaming goats, and the occasional mosque. We reached Bima, and I ignored all the touts selling tickets to Mataram, Lombok, instead grabbing an ojek (motorbike taxi) to a hotel nearby. I hadn't booked a room, and was dismayed when the receptionist told me that the economy rooms were all sold out and I'd have to pay for a VIP room. I turned to leave and he called after me, saying that he could turn off the air conditioning in a VIP room and sell it to me for the economy price. This satisfied me, and I headed upstairs. The lobby of the hotel was very grand: marble floors and staircases, and even an elevator, but the room was pretty shabby. Fine for just one night, though. I went out to find some food, and found that there was very little, and I was one of very few Westerners spotted in Bima (I attracted so much attention to make me uncomfortable). After walking a while in the dark and nearly empty streets, I picked up some rice and tofu to go and returned to my room, where I had a much needed relaxing night.

Even after 14 months, I still find
it odd to walk barefoot in museums

I'd planned to head to Sumbawa Besar, the island's major central city, the following day, but after a night in Bima I decided I didn't want to stick around Sumbawa, and would head overnight to Lombok directly, where I'd at least see a few of my own kind. I therefore spent the morning bargaining the ticket price down, and then I headed out to see the handful of sights in Bima. I went first to the old palace, which is now the sight of a very strange museum. The outside is pretty, but inside, not so much. It's a bit crummy, with dusty bedrooms and portraits on the walls. I think I accidentally wandered into an off-limits attic (at least, it should be off-limits, as some kind of squeaking animals live there). I walked down into the courtyard, which was nice, until it started to drizzle, when I headed back to the hotel (passing a rather lovely white mosque on my way).

For lunch, I headed down one of the main streets, ignoring the shouts of "Hey, missus" from everyone I passed. I ate in a nice little restaurant, and then wandered back around the bus station. I followed one road up and around a mountain, from where I had a decent view over the city. Walking through the small villages around was much nicer than in the city itself: people still watched me, but I didn't feel as uncomfortable as on the main street, and the houses and landscape were very pretty.

View from mountains over Bima

That nice view aside, I wasn't too bummed to leave Sumbawa that evening and head to Lombok. Around 6 u headed over to the bus station, and we pulled out around 7, bound for Mataram, where we'd arrive the following morning. The bus ride was easy, if long. There were a handful of other western tourists straight off the boat from Labuan Bajo, and it did make me feel more at ease not being the center of everyone's attention. I slept on and off overnight, and around 4, we parked on the ferry and got out to stretch our legs. The boat was more or less empty apart from our bus load so we had plenty of space to lay down across the benches during the two hour ferry ride. Ok the Lombok side we hopped back on the bus for a quick hour-long trip to Mataram. I talked a motorbike driver into giving me a ride to Senggigi Beach for a decent price and was relieved to check in to the hostel for a couple of nights.

I headed to the beach in the morning, which I found almost completely empty, except for a few fishermen and a couple of batik-sellers. I sat near a resort where two other sunbathers were, hoping for a little bit of company, and enjoyed the morning in and out of turquoise water.

Overlooking the beach at Senggigi

Completely deserted Senggigi Beach

Even though the beach was nice, I was disappointed by the lack of other people, since I'd ditched Sumbawa in the hopes of being around other travelers. Since I didn't want to lay on the beach alone the next day, I booked a diving trip to the famous Gili Islands, a group of three tiny islands off Lombok's northwestern coast.

When I arrived at the dive shop in the morning, I asked how many people would be diving; the divemaster literally sang: "only youuuuuuu". I was surprised, since most trips require a minimum of two or three people to justify the trip. Perks of low season, I guess! Three divemasters ended up coming with us, so I was very well looked after.

The dives were good, but nothing compared to the Komodo Islands (I may never be impressed with a dive again). We stopped for lunch on Gili Air, where I walked around on my own for a while: it seemed like a nice, low key place, with more tourists than Senggigi but not crowded, with cozy cafes and bars lining the beach.

Can't get enough of these little guys

The following day, I left the hostel at 7:30 for the last leg of my trip to Java: a bus/ferry/bus/ferry combo to Banyuwangi, where I was planning to meet a friend heading there from Bali. I'd been told there was a bus at 9:00 and that the trip would take about 6 hours. This seemed like a remarkably low estimate, given that the ferry from Lombok to Bali alone takes 5 hours, and from there we'd need to travel across Bali and hop another ferry to Java, so I extended the estimate to 8 hours. This turned into my biggest travel disaster to date. At the bus station I was told the bus would leave at 10, not 9. It didn't end up leaving until noon, but everyone was content to just wait on the bus while snack tours and guitar players got on and walked through the aisle, hoping for some cash. It was only an hour to the Lombok ferry port, and we were given a lunch package of (cold) rice, tempe, lettuce, and (questionable) chicken. We got off the bus and joined to other ferry riders on the passenger deck. I sat next to a local woman who offered me a little banana leaf packet of sticky rice. I thanked her and took one: it was bizarrely spicy and sweet and salty all at once (I think there was both banan and meat inside) and she spent the next five hours insisting that I take more, completely disregarding my replies tbTi wasn't hungry. I was relieved when we reached Bali around 7 pm and could get back on the bus. Meanwhile, my friend had expected me in Banyuwangi around 6, and I had no means of contacting her without wifi. As it got later and later I tried everything I could think of to reach her, but was unsuccessful. In the end, I just hoped that she'd given up and headed to a hotel (although since we'd never agreed on one I had no hope of finding her until I found wifi). Traveling across Bali took hours - much longer than I'd guessed because of traffic. It was also dark, meaning that I didn't even get to enjoy the scenery during the ride. We stopped for dinner (rice, tempeh, egg) at a small restaurant around 9, then hit the road again. I was so relieved when we finally got to the western dock in Bali and boarded the second ferry of the day, around 11 pm. This one was shorter: less than two hours, and I ran off the boat. I felt like kissing the ground, I was so glad to have reached Java. It was too late to head up to Cemoro Lawang, though I'd planned to spend the night there; instead I grabbed a motorbike taxi to a hostel in town. Finally connecting to wifi, I saw that my friend had reached Cemoro Lawang. I wished I had just headed there (I could have motorbikes all the way up there from the ferry): instead I promised to get there early the following morning and instead slept in a profoundly crappy hotel room (dirty sheets, cold bucket shower, suspicious stains on the walls). At 1 am,17 and a half hours after leaving the hostel in Senggigi, I was too tired to worry long about it (although I did wrap the pillow in a t-shirt before putting my head on it). The clock striking midnight outside, reminding me that Java is an hour behind Bali and Lombok, was very little consolation.