Going solo.

I have a million and one ideas about how I will be blogging about the most awesome 11 days I've had in Bali and Lombok, and so, I guess I'll most probably be splitting them up into a few different posts. Anyway, I've debated with myself about coming clean with my parents for having travelled solo for the first leg of the trip, but I decided against it after dinner tonight. I hate keeping the truth from them, but I've come to understand tonight that, they're never going to be supportive of what I've done, or am going to do. And it's also not like they haven't been worrying enough about me. So, if you're reading this now, my friend, never ever tell them that I've been travelling alone. Please.

Getting back to the main topic, travelling alone on this trip has been a real eye-opener for me. There was a lot of getting used to initially, especially when it was my first visit to that part of Indonesia. I wouldn't lie and say that it was all easy-breezy, because it was definitely not at some points in time, but I wouldn't trade anything (and I do mean anything) in the world for that experience I've had, because it was amazing and fantastic on the whole.

What I thought made everything really tough at first, was my unfamiliarity with the place. I knew that I should have taken a Blue Bird taxi, but I didn't know that Blue Birds were not supposed to pick up passengers from the airport; you'll have to walk out of the airport in order to get one. I knew I was headed for Poppies Lane 1 but I didn't know how narrow the street was going to be and what it was like there.

And if you don't already know, I am not exactly the most sociable person around, and I found it really intimidating to strike up conversations with random strangers. I kept to myself for the first two days in Bali before flying to Lombok; and it was the most horrible feeling, me needing to speak but there was nobody in sight that I was comfortable enough to strike conversation with. Okay, that's exaggerating, I was really just shy.

By the second night, I'd felt so terrible about not being able to speak to anyone, I was desperate to start talking to anyone. Only I didn't. I headed back to my $25/night room with a McSundae in hand, feeling just a little better, but things didn't really pick up when I couldn't sleep; I ended up watching Animal Planet (I know I've said this many times, but I do love Animal Planet. Truly do.) and Superman on cable TV till 5 a.m. before waking up at 9 for breakfast. You should've seen my bloodshot eyes at the breakfast table.

Anyhow, that not-talking part of the trip kinda stopped before I boarded the plane to Lombok. An elderly Indonesian gentleman and his wife who were also waiting for a flight (to Surabaya though) asked me for the time, and we started talking. He claimed he wasn't really proficient in English, but I understood him entirely... while he was telling me about the rest of his family in Surabaya, and how he was in Bali to visit his brother then. We had a nice conversation going back there, and it instantly made me feel better about the whole no-one-to-talk-to thing. Things definitely picked up from there, because I also had a great time chatting to the American lady sitted beside me on the flight to Lombok. She summed up her life in the past year for me in a short 20 minutes, and I was full of envy of what she did and was going to do soon; volunteering in Chiang Mai and starting a business in Lombok, and staying there for good, hopefully.

And after I was finally able to start conversing comfortably with random strangers, I came to realize that sometimes, I do appreciate alone time. Alone time where I don't have to spend talking when I don't feel like it, alone time for me to read (I've read Gerald's Kite Runner 6 times over during the trip, no kidding.) and alone time for me to do whatever I feel like doing. I is犯贱or犯贱, always wanting what is not.

Anyhow, I think I learnt to take better care of myself while I was alone. I had to think about safety issues, health issues, money issues and blah blah blah. I planned my budget daily, took care not to overspend, and hydrated myself with as much water as I could. And since I was travelling alone, I couldn't really afford to stay in luxurious rooms. While at Gili, I stayed at a 130,000 rupiah/night home-stay; that's roughly about SGD20. I could probably have bargained it down for a little less, but I wasn't too good with haggling, so, SGD20 it was.

For 4 nights, I stayed in a non air-conditioned room with no fresh water, only cold showers, and electricity that was only generated from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. I would wake up automatically at 8 a.m. every morning because it got so stuffy in the room when the fan stopped spinning, and head out for my daily activities. I learnt to deal with cold water showers and despite all these little gripes (which I didn't really mind), I really enjoyed my stay there.

And while there were plenty of eateries around, most of them weren't so budget with all the western taste-buds they were catering to. I settled most of my dinners and some lunches at this local warung called Kiki's, and had 15,000 Rupiah vegetarian nasi padang meals everyday; while I had almost the same dishes for every meal, I'm not complaining because everything tasted so good. I could eat the same savoury pumpkin, tempeh, lady's fingers, bergedils and vegetable tempuras with rice, over and many times over.

My favourite post-dinner activity turned out to be chilling out by random beach bars with new friends whom I've made at Kiki's and the dive school. Bintangs (the local beer) are cheap at 10-15,000 Rupiah per bottle (that's about SGD2.50 or a little lesser), and ALWAYS served cold in the night even though most parts of the island do not have electricity during the day. What is really cool about the island (if you're a fan of parties) is that the different bars take turns to host parties on different days of the week, so you get to check out all the different places on different nights.

I had the chance to meet several nice Dutch visitors, and a Japanese dude who's been living in Mataram, Lombok for the past 3 months. My new friends have such great travel stories to share since they've been travelling for the longest time ever, and their travel tales make me feel as though I've yet to experience so much of the world.

Rene, me, Mandy, and Rene's neighbour Jack at the Blue Marlin Bar.

Rene's quit his job back in Holland and sold his house to travel around the world since August this year; and prior to that, he's also done his fair share of travelling, with Indonesia being the 42nd country that he's been to. Makes me wonder if I'll ever hit the 40th-mark. He showed me the photos in his D90 and I showed him those in my G10 too; it was such a joy hearing him talk about all the travels that he's done, home-visits in India, school-building in Kathmandu, Nepal and so many more. Anyway, he should be in India celebrating Christmas right now.

And Mandy, she must be the very first Dutch I spoke to on Gili T. She was my dive-buddy for one of the six dives I did on the island, and she is such a nice person. She's been on a 3-month long holiday, and had been to most of the South-East Asia countries that I could think of by the time I met her. We met Rene at Kiki's for dinner together for the last 2 nights of my stay on the island. Last heard from her on Facebook about a week ago, she's back safe in Holland some few weeks back and she's probably enjoying a very white Christmas now!

This is a little klomp from Holland from Rene. After having our drinks at Blue Marlin the night before I was to leave Gili T, Rene walked us girls back to our rooms respectively but before we got back to my room, he said that he had a little present for me and so, we walked to his room and he pulled out this little klomp from a bag in his room. I thought that was really sweet of him, and while we hugged and said our goodbyes at my doorstep, I was really touched by the kindness shown to me so far from all the people that I've met. And just when I thought things couldn't get any better than that, I met an even nicer couple the next day.

shy, little islander.

Having read so many reviews about the aggressive touts found at Bangsal Harbour, I was terrified of having to go through them on my own when the boat finally reached mainland Lombok. I scanned the boat that I was on and saw this elderly couple sitted opposite to me. Just as we were about to get off, I asked if the lady if they were headed for the airport in Mataram, and if they don't mind, we could share a cab because I was afraid. Turned out, they were headed to a beach resort in Senggigi, and it was along the way. They insisted that I follow them to their resort on the same cab, promised to get me a metered taxi at the resort, and refused to accept my money for the ride we shared. I was so touched by their kindness, that I almost teared on the cab while making smalltalk. So they were from German, and have been to Lombok at least 8 times in the past 10 years. Throughout the cab ride, in broken English, the gentlemen was telling me about how expensive things have become over the years and what are some of the other places in Indonesia worth visiting, with Flores being one of them. When we finally reached the resort, the lady made me put my backpack down while the cab was on its way to pick me up, and had the gentlemen show me around the resort. I was even more touched. Hugged and kissed goodbye when the cab finally arrived, and I thanked them for their kindness.

Those were the last few moments of my solo stint in Bali and Lombok, before I reached the airport 2 hours early and had to wait an additional hour because of a flight delay. So there you have it, my first-ever (really) solo travel. I really enjoyed the whole thing, and guess what (no prizes for guessing right), I'm definitely going to do it again soon.

ps. I'm sorry I took such a long time to finish typing this entry; there were plenty of distractions in between (SATC being the main one, and the Langkawi trip, surf camp, Melaka). This entry is dated 08 December, but it's already Christmas now!