Indonesia - Step 7.6: saying the first goodbye and 6 days in Lombok

In total we stayed two days in Labuan Bajo, even though before arriving to Flores, I was thinking of doing a 7 days Scooter-Trip on that island. In the end, plans changed and we switched to a very cool hostel for the second night.

We knew already that this is the place to be, so we headed there for breakfast to stay all day. They had very spacious terraces around the pool, a restaurant, café, bar, sunset DJ and (what made me the most happy) - a gymroom. So first thing for me after arriving was hitting the gym.

I think while traveling I sometimes forget how good it feels mentally and physically to have a good gymsession and that it also feels like letting go of ballast.

The rest of the day we planned what will be our next move on our travel and chilling by the pool. This was the moment where in our group of 5 girls, we will have different plans for the rest of our stay in Indonesia. So three of us decided to go to lombok for some days, one decided to stay one more night as she got a little bit sick and then join in Lombok and to one we already said goodbye as she went to do a surfcamp in Canggu.

It was the first goodbye of our group and it will be so weird if we all go our own ways or back home after almost 2 months together, going through so many experiences like a yoga teacher training, snorkelling with whales, being on a boat for days and hopping islands.

Lombok

day 1

As the next day was a travel day, I woke up early to do a little bit yoga before we headed to the airport. I don't know why, and maybe I thought you get used to it - but the travel days or also being on airports really exhausts me. Maybe on that day even more than usual. We left the hostel around 7am and arrived in a surf-hostel in Lombook around 9 hours later.

For all of us it was energy draining, so we just walked to the beach for a little sunset-moment and then went for dinner in a very nice mexican place. We decided to do a movie night this day, which stared later than expected so we watched half a movie before finally getting rest.

day 2

The second day we all slept longer than usually and I think we needed this rest after our last trips. To make our lazy morning complete we took a walk to a breakfast place.

We sat there, had breakfast and journal and started a really intense and deep conversation about fate, love, destiny, suffering, therapy, giving and taking, the past, future and present, blessings and connection. I tried often to describe the connections I made while traveling, also this one with these unique girls and we came to the conclusion that it is beyond words.

I tried to journal a bit after our talk because during my travels I felt like a lot of things have built up and I didn’t took the needed time to process. To do that in a better manner I went to another café alone and started with some of that.

The girls went to a yoga class in the afternoon and I took more time alone at the hostel. We met later for dinner and had a good time in a place with delicious food and nice music.

We are in Kuta - Lombok which is way less touristic than Bali, yet there is one “main street” full of cafés and restaurants. Most of the people come here to surf, something we will do as well. You need to rent a scooter as there is no grab or gojek here, but the traffic and street is totally good to go on a scooter by yourself.

As we came back from dinner this day our friend arrived as well, unfortunately she is a little bit sick so we all went to bed then.

day 3

If I would need to describe our morning, I would say “breakfast with mental breakis”. Even though mental breakdown is not really what happened, but again we had intense exchanges in our conversations this morning. This time they lead us to the topics life, death, sickness, loss, guilt and family. It feels good to be surrounded by humans that we can all open up so profoundly and without any limits.

Before breakfast we rented a scooter and for some of is its the first time riding a scooter so it was fun. Going around an island on a scooter is a feeling of freedom for me. We attended a yoga class after this breakfast-experience and I think it was really needed for all of us.

I got to get my nails done and to the same place I journaled the day before to do the same.

As we are more flexible now with the scooter, we decided to go to a beach more far away to check out if its a good surf spot.

But the more worth mentioning thing than the beach, was the scooter drive to go there. Its like 30 minutes of being on a dreamy trip through green lushery, phenomenal views and little Indonesian villages. Especially the way back was so much fun as the sun was setting between the hills, the oceanview promising freedom and peace.

Being at the beach we just chilled and watched some surfer trying to catch small waves. It was a good place for surf beginners. A group of three little kids came along and played with us which was the cutest thing.

Later on our way back on the scooter, we stopped on a hill to enjoy the view as the sun was setting.

We closed the day with pizza and white wine, talking about life and again playing with some kids, as they always try to sell their bracelets in the restaurants. We saw the same little boys every evening and they play games with you or try to lure you into buying their bracelets or icecream and food for them. So one if us went to the supermarket and bought some things with him because he won in arm wrestling against her.

Two of my friends went to check out a bar after dinner as my and my other friend went back to the hostel.

day 4 & 5

Starting the day with a sweaty yoga session on the rooftop and breakfast at bush radio - another cafè place. Half of our group made our way back to the same beach we went the day before to surf. We rented some boards and tried to catch some waves. It was not so easy as the waves were small, irregular and I am just a beginner. But even with failing and not really getting a lot waves it was fun.

There are also like 1876 little, tiny crabs all over the beach that we watched them for a while. We got some sunbeds with a fresh coconut and beer after the surf.

Later after scootering back we met the other girls for dinner close by which was a really cute place. We wanted to walk around after this, all in a silly and explorative mood. We went to a big supermarket that I discovered earlier and we stayed there for a long time just to walk around and get something. We went back to the hostel and sleep as we all were kind of tired.

The next day I moved to a private room as I needed some space and calmness for the last two nights. I feel like after the boat trip we all still didn’t really recovered energy. Either we were sick or just low on energy. I wasn't about to mention here as well but who cares:

When I was still in Barcelona I got lice (piojos) and they came back 2 times after some weeks (I don't know whats going on with these bastards as my friend was there 4 hours with the comb 🪮) . So thos day my friend discovered that again they are back. I was really depressed and sad the rest of the day, as I did so many things and procedures to get rid and they keep coming back. Now traveling its the worst because you don't have someone that is willing taking hours to help you with that shit.

So I even considered canceling everything I planned and go home to get help there but then I would be lice-free and sad in Germany so no.

My dutch bestie had the idea to text spa-places or hairdresser in Kuta, maybe one will help. And yes one woman, that her Spa is currently closed said her daughter has it often and she will help. She didn't talked any English so there I was sitting, on the site of the street, sweating, communicating with translator, for hours while she fumbled around in my head and said "kutu!!!" whenever she found one. (This time there was barely a lice as they just came back but still I am frustrated how persistent these devils are. 🥲

Anyways we met in the evening for dinner and it turned out to be really intense in a good way. We ended up having really empowering conversation as we each said things that we love about each other and it was such a wholesome and loving moment.

This day I had a phone call with a friend that she told me things about her life that contains work, study, friendgroups, weekly trainings, relationships and as she told me this I realised: traveling right now, I don’t have any of these components in life that give you structure.

That is the reason why traveling is also giving room for expansion: there is more space and less distractions. you spend everyday with yourself if you want or not and you will find out if you even like yourself so much to spend so much time with yourself. I also believe this is why with the friends you make while traveling, you often talk about deep topics, the expansion of the soul and behaviour analysis. We can’t talk about our regular job, studies and hobbies, as in this chapter we don’t have any of this.

After this enriching talks we all met in a bar to dance and have drinks which was really fun. The next day was our last day all together and we started it by playing cards against humanity in a café. I needed to leave early after this breakfast to meet my Indonesian mum for a 2. lice session.

We took a interesting scooter ride in the evening to see the sunset and the place we ended up was magnificent. A lot of green hills surrounded by ocean breaks.

It was a good way to close our time in Lombok as the next morning two if us made our way to Nusa Lembongan and the other two girls will to the Volcano Hike in Lombok (Rinjani).