Traveling to New Zealand

OK, the trip from hell begins!

We left Gili Meno on Monday morning to get to my flight to Australia which leaves Monday night. It arrived early on Tuesday morning, then I get to Aukland by Tuesday evening, to get to Tonga on Wednesday afternoon! That is a lot of traveling!

So there will be pictures, eventually on the picasa site, and one of the pictures you will see donkey carts -- one of the methods of transport in Indonesia (the roads are about 15% cars & minivans, 5% bigger trucks -- dump trucks, big busses, about 60% scooters or motorcycles and the rest donkey carts.) Anyway, there is a picture of donkey carts in the mud at the large city on Lombok, and the picture doesnt really capture the smells. And you may be surprised, but the smell isnt necessarily "bad" (or maybe I am just very de-sensitized by now). Anywho, it did NOT smell like a barn, or like donkey shit per-se. It was a combination of smells, donkey shit, mud, moisture, spices, flowers, with the ever-present smell of burning deisel. So it is not what one would expect a donkey cart stand to neccessarily smell like.

So we had a nice four person ride across Lombok in a minivan, comfortable by Indo standards, we shared the van with two guys from Denmark, and they napped while Ange and I observed the changing landscape. For example, the very mountainous island is covered in lush green tropical forests. Because unlike the very dry low Gili Meno, Lombok is wet and lush. Monkeys are occasionally seen along the road (including one pair that was involved in copulating, which got a big laugh from me, our driver, Angie and the awake Dane! -- unfortunately the picture didnt take!)

Also, once thru the forest we come to flatter land, and let me also stress that there are a lot of people here, so that very often along the treck we see not just traffic on the very narrow (by US standards) roads, but also stands of people selling all sorts of things along the roadside. Anytime we stop we get accosted by people trying to sell us all sorts of things from the side of the road... newspapers in about 7 different languages, beads, touristy trinkets, etc. These seem to be the equivalent of Indonesian entreprneurs. Even including guys with guitars and other instruments, who come up (to the cars stopped at the traffic light) and sing a bit of song, waiting for a hand out. If one is not forthcoming, then off to the next car, and on and on. I got a picture of one guy, and he was actually quite good.

So the city on lombok, probably holds 4 million or so people, but occupies an area perhaps half the size of Corpus Chrisit, Texas. With a 4 story height limit, to say that it is crowded is understating it quite a bit. There are Mosques everywhere -- sort of like Churches in Oklahoma, and quite a bit of new Mosque construction too -- including a blue domed one (see the picture eventually!). So when it isnt full-on urban crowded, the landscape quickly gives way to agricultural use -- bananas, tapioca, casava, cocunut trees, tobacco, coffee along with the ubiquitous rice terraces.

Often a smile goes a long way. I drive by and i smile, i often give a smile to someone, child or adult, and i get a smile back, a bigger smile then leads to another bigger smile in return, and often ends up with the two of us, random indonesian and myself, laughing together.

Naturally it rained as we traveled across this small amount of Lombok, and that was nice since it was cooller when it rained.... did i mention how hot it is at the equator?

Anyway, i know i told the story of the ferry dock, so next it will be the story of the ferry and the rest of the trip to aukland!

until next time -- newo out.