That was fast and intense!
I ferried into West Nusa Tenggara one day, and out of the other side of it the next day.
The ferry into WNT was much more pleasant than that into ENT. There were a few corners where I could hide from the noise and smoke, and I even snuck into the VIP room for a bit of extra quiet. Very pleasant.
I understood the wrong arrival city from a Google Translate conversation with one of the passengers, which mixed up my booking for that night. It wasn’t really an issue except it left me wending my way through a very dark, narrow, mountainous roads with the usual crazy traffic. My night vision isn’t what it used to be, and it was quite disconcerting just how little I could see of the way ahead. In the end I tucked in behind a scooter, borrowing their headlights for a bit further vision, and borrowing their confidence in the lack of obstacles ahead.
It was just over an hour later that I arrived at an AirBnB home stay I’d booked as the ferry ride had begun. We had a bit of disagreement over whether or not I’d paid, but otherwise it was perfectly fine. Other than the 11/10 volume of the calls to prayer. This morning it woke me at 5am, and literally didn’t stop until 5:25am. I think it might have been the whole prayer, not just the call thereto. Excruciating. I fail to understand how even a Muslim would value it (clearly that’s just my ignorance). But even granting that, I do wonder whether i. they either think non-Muslims like it (at 5am?!?!?!), or if ii. they just don’t care. Is the perspective just that the Muslim faith is superior so non-Muslims are persona non grata? I can’t believe that to be true. I might have to find a Muslim with warm disposition and good grasp on English, and find out. Watch this space.
Today’s ride has been long (Google quoted 8 hours), but I’ve made good time and there was really not much to report. I plotted a course directly to the ferry terminus to at least find out about the trip to Lombok. As it turned out, I rolled in 20 minutes before a ferry was scheduled to depart. So without even getting off my bike, I bought a ticket, rode immediately and directly onto the ferry, took off my riding gear, bought a packet of chips, and hadn’t even sat at a table before we were under steam. How’s that for timing?!
An Indonesian family joined me at the table upstairs on the back deck, and we’ve been wrestling through all the normal conversation topics starting with “where you from?”. Of course that leads to “were you going?” That’s a long story, especially through Google Translate, but we got through a short version. Of course the reality is that “where I’m going” today is Lombok. And this family knows Lombok like I know Melbourne. So they’ve recommended that I check out Kuta on the island’s south. I was going to scoot through on the way to Bali and beyond, but on a whim I’ve booked a hotel to really splurge for a night (or two?) in a resort-style place. Why not. It’ll add an hour of travel time (ie “nothing”) and however much time I’m having fun in the place. This will be the first time on this trip that I’ve stopped anywhere by my choice.
That’s a bit different.
What’s not different is my ongoing silly blunders. It turns out there’s a “Kuta” both on Lombok island, and in Bali. I booked a non-refundable night in Bali, which is another 8 hours from here by bike and ferry. D’oh. I’ve emailed to see if they’ll have mercy on me, but in the meantime booked a second hotel for tonight as well, in the correct Kuta.