Mar 19 - Off to the bus pickup point in Kuta at 6:00. Traffic fortunately is not bad yet, though I can really tell it is winding up, with trucks full of people in festival dress and procession paraphernalia rolling down the avenue. The 7:00 bus is a bit late, but we are off by 7:20. The only passengers are us and a Muslim family who undoubtedly are not celebrating this holiday. It doesn’t take long to get out of town, so I am lulled into thinking we will have a quick trip. However, several towns along the main coastal road also have large temples, and we get stuck in traffic for the assembling of Hari Raya Nyepi processions in three different places. This turns an hour ride into 2.5 hours.
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The good news is that we got some good viewing of people dressed in the festival costumes, and the processions as they were forming.
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Off the bus at Ketapang, a lot later than I was hoping. The touts at the harbor entrance are all trying to put me in a panic about the ferry leaving immediately. I figure it is just a tactic to ‘help’ me find the ticket booth for a small fee so I let them. However, I am told by the ticket counter that I cannot pay with card or cash, only with a pre-paid ferry line card, which is available at booth in another building. At that moment the guy who showed me the ticket counter produces his own ferry card and says it is better I just let him by the tickets for an extra fee (about 40%) on his card, and not bother getting my own ‘because the ferry is leaving right now’. No one here seems to want to tell me exactly where to get the ferry card so I leave Janet with the bags and go looking for it. I see some tourists on motorbikes with that card, and they tell me where to get it. Eventually I get the card, buy the tickets, and off we go to the waiting ferry. I still am not sure what time it leaves, but turns out there are plenty of seats and everything seems really quiet. It is about 9:45. We sit there until 12:15, when the ferry fills up and we finally head east.
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It takes about four hours to cross between Bali and Lombok (at Lembar harbor). Most of the way we have Penida Island in sight to the south of us. I can actually see our destination, Gili Gede (island) to the south once we begin passing the southern peninsula of Lombok, but alas we must backtrack once we land. I had arranged a ride from Lembar to our destination today, estimating that we would be in port by 16:00. It looks like I am on the money, until the ferry just stops within sight of the dock and sits for two hours. I am told this is because of some bridge situation, but it really isn’t clear. At 17:45 we finally go the last ten minutes to dock, and lucky for us the driver is still there, having been waiting for three hours.
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It starts pouring, but fortunately we are already in the taxi and winding through the rumpled volcanic terrain of southwest Lombok. This area appears to be the remnant of a very old volcano and associated flows, very weathered down and unrecognizable now. It is after dark when we offload from the taxi and take a quick boat ride to Gili Gede. Nice and quiet here, just waves and insect sounds, we are the only people staying at the resort tonight. The trip today took a total of about 14 hours.
