Day 359: Senaru - Sumbawa Besar

Mar 28 - Get a taxi ride at 8:30 from our homestay at Senaru across the north part of the island to the harbor at Kayangan. It is mostly rural landscape for the two hour trip. The two lane road, in places, is reduced to almost one due to the encroaching vegetation. It has the feel of a place with very little traffic. The beaches we pass all have dark gray sand, typical of highly volcanic terrain. Pass a large shrimp farm, still under construction.

The mass of touts that have accompanied all our previous ferry terminal entries are absent this time. Just a tiny parking lot and a ticket seller behind the window. Our driver asks about a ferry straight to Sumbawa Besar and we are told one leaves in 20 minutes (11:00). Get our tickets and walk out to the dock.

There are two buses here, going on the same ferry. A tout is there, asking us if we want seats, but I assume the bus is going onward to Bima from Sumbawa Besar so I ignore him. The ferry is full of food hawkers, mostly old ladies selling chips, nuts, bird eggs, and rice wrapped in banana leaves. I humor myself watching Odette try to ignore them as they dangle products in front of her, hypnotically chanting the names. “Nasi, nasi”, intones the old woman, pushing the banana leaf wrapping into her field of view. Once the buses board the ferry all the chairs fill up and we are off. Just out of the harbor we pass a large sand bar and reef, looks inviting for snorkeling.

To my dismay we come into port at Poto Tano, on the extreme western end of Sumbawa. This is the port I wanted to skip and go directly to Sumbawa Besar, another four hours east. But the ferry empties out as we dock, and it is clear that somehow all my inquiries on this matter were misinterpreted as meaning I just wanted a ferry for Sumbawa. Defeated, we drag our bags off the ferry, and the buses that I probably should have agreed to board are long gone.

The port of Poto Tano is even quieter than Kayangan. There is just a little ticket booth, and an old guy offering a taxi to Sumbawa Besar for IDR 600,000. This price seems about right for a taxi for that distance. Wait around for a bit, trying to get a lead on any bus transport, but its crickets in the ferry terminal parking lot. Odette entertains herself watching the swifts build mud nests in the ticket office waiting room. Decide to do the taxi, and within ten minutes we are off going east, along the north coast of the island.

This part of Sumbawa must be in a sort of rain shadow, because the vegetation is scrub brush, small trees, and grass. It is an odd ecosystem to see after all the lush jungles up until now. The coastline is muddy with occasional clumps of mangrove trees. It takes two hours to reach the city of Sumbawa Besar.

It has been interesting how each island going east is perceived by the last. In Denpasar, someone said to me “Bali is easy place, but you have to be more careful in Lombok”. And while in Lombok, someone said the same about the difference between Lombok and Sumbawa. Also, a German couple, who have spent many years coming to Indonesia, said “When you get to Sumbawa, remember they don’t get tourists, and may not be very friendly. Also, watch your gear.”

The taxi brings us to a rather inconvenient spot outside of downtown where the hotel is. This particular city was difficult to book my usual way, I imagine because it isn’t on the tourist route, similar to the limited choices I had in Saudi Arabia.

There is a subtle change in Sumbawa from Lombok, in terms of religiosity. I feel the life here is a bit more conservative. Our hotel conforms to Sharia law, meaning Janet and I would not have been allowed to share rooms if we weren’t married.

There isn’t much to see in our part of town. We go out searching for a restaurant but there is nothing, just an Indomaret where we buy some ramen. I can tell tourists do not come here by the bemused looks of storeowners and people passing by on scooters.

We are standing by the road, waiting for a break in the stream of scooters to go to a fruit stand. I man in a brown uniform stops by us, jumps off his scooter, and asks it we need any help.

“No, we are just waiting to cross the street.”

“Oh, I can help you,” he runs out and waves down some scooters to make a space for us.

I start using my translator app more. Basically everywhere we go requires some interpretation to Bahasa Indonesia. I organize a ride to the port for tomorrow, as there is meant to be a ferry going to our next destination. We eat our ramen at the hotel and I make good use of the strong wi-fi signal.