Day 363: Labuan Aji - Bima

Apr 1 - Up at 6:00 to make sure we get on the public ferry back to Sumbawa Besar. Gunawan prepares us an early breakfast as dawn breaks. Head down to the pier along the beach and the boat leaves at about 7:30.

At the dock, there is a ‘fixer’ waiting for us. But all I want is a ride to the bus station. He is fine with that, and doesn’t pressure us unduly with other taxi services. The station is very basic, and there is a bus for Bima sitting there, waiting to fill. Tickets are IDR 100,000 and it is meant to leave at 11:00.

They want to charge us if our bags are inside the bus, so I pass them up to the roof instead since they have a tarp to cover them with. We head out about 15 minutes late, which seems like a victory. The trip is long, about eight hours. We wind up over a few passes and along several stretches of coastline with mangroves and what appear to be crude shrimp farms. Many tarps out by the side of the road, drying corn. At about 15:00 is gets stormy, the inside of the bus starts dripping and we pass through deluge after deluge. The last bit is a run around a bay and up the east side to Bima. Off in darkness at a small bus station, everything muddy and drippy. Odette really needs to go potty so we find one at the back of the station, in a dark room. It reminds me of a horror movie, bare tile floors, water dripping from the ceiling.

The rear view mirror of the bus has a sticker on it that I write down out of boredom, since the trip is so long:

Dibalik pria sukses ada mantan yang jadi stress

translation: Behind successful men there is an ex who becomes stressed

Note the borrow words. Both ‘sukses’ and ‘stress’ are taken from English, and are similar in Dutch.

The Marina Hotel is an upgrade from what we’ve been at for the last week, with hot water. We eat at a basic restaurant, with the food in the window covered in flies. I hope I don’t eat too many fly eggs.

Later, in the room, there is an earthquake. Like last time, probably about a magnitude 3.