Our great time in Toraja had come to an end, and we had booked some tight travel plans to make our escape. We choose to do an overnight travel bus to cover the wild, 8+ hour drive back to Makassar, where we would fly out then next morning to Lombok. The goal being to make it to Gili Trawangan, a tropical paradise I had loved 4 years ago.
Night buses in SE Asia can be a bit of a nightmare for tall folks like myself, however, the Toraja version was like a floating castle. Huge amounts of space, the most comfortable seats I’ve ever seen, and a nice temperature, Julie and I were actually a bit giddy when we got on at 9:30. Not to have overlooked every detail however, the driver cranked Indonesian love songs until about midnight. Pretty classic, who doesn’t want to fall asleep to cracking speakers, with arguably some of the worst music on the planet. But I digress.
The ride ripped by, and before we knew it, we were at the airport. No literally, it was a bit before we knew it, and shuffled off the bus quite sleepy and confused. They had made great time, and we were a couple hours early. This meant a few hours sleeping on the Makassar airport floor, but so be it.
The flight was great, and we landed in Lombok. Lombok is the beautiful little island just east of Bali, and has tried to compete in recent years for tourism. The crowning jewels being the Gili islands where we were headed the next day, and the beast volcano Mt. Rinjani. Our trip was just a pass through, and a night in the little port town of Senggigi was necessary.
It is low season here, and in Lombok, well, that means desperate locals trying to sell you stuff and rip you off on prices. Lombok has had the taste of tourism, and it has felt both times to me like it hasn’t quite made it, and frustratingly tries to be the Bali without capturing the true spirit. I would like to visit in high season to compare but for now, it has a strange vibe. The natural beauty however is awe inspiring. Lush green shades of jungle, with high up ocean views do make this a lovely place to see.
Indonesia is predominantly Muslim, and nothing makes you more aware that you ain’t in Kansas anymore like the regular call to prayer played over the loud speaker from the Mosque. A haunting sound booming across the land. We didn’t hear this in Toraja, as the local population is a hybrid of Christian and Torajan local religions.
After 17 hours of travel, our ride from the airport was dragged a bit longer by our driver eagerly wanting to show us some cool local weaving, just along the way. Well, not really along the way, but you know after 17 hours, whats another 30 minutes of locals peddling some of their wares. Julie kicked in some cash to the local economy and bought a nice hand made ( we think… ) scarf. I asserted after this to please take us to our hotel, and he obliged.
We had a giant villa basically to ourselves for the evening. Filled with ocean views, a giant restaurant to serve just us, and a beauty pool to chill by. And chill we did. A few swims, and many drinks later we had managed to unwind, and also practice some hula hooping. We booked our boat the next morning for Gili T, and hit the hay after some laughs at our luxury.
See you in Gili T.