Nusa Lembongan and back to Bali

Aaah, this island is on my top 5 list of best islands visited! It may not have been in competition as one of the most beautiful, but just the feelling of the atmosphere here made it such a good experience.

A short boat ride from Gili T, and I arrived at the beach in Lembongan in the afternoon. The company I`d booked the boat ride with also had a transfer to my hotel, and after pushing in too many people in a way to small bemo I was in my hotel to min later.  I was so happy with my choice of hotel, my room was big and open, with a wildly comfy bed. And two meters, literally two meters , from my balcony was the pool. Mmmm, let me stay here forever.  As soon as I`d dropped off my bags I went down to one of the dive shops I`d been recommended and booked a dive for the next day. It was getting dark and late when I returned, so I just had dinner at the hotel and went to bed early.

The next morning I headed over to the dive shop again, and we headed out to the water. It was me, a couple from Australia and a woman from Holland. After a 20 m boat ride we reached our first dive site of the day. It was a drift dive, but the current wasn`t as strong as it was on Gili, so it was easier to stop and look. It was like diving in a completely different world from Gili, the reef here was GORGEOUS! It might have been the best I`ve seen so far 🙂  It was a rather uneventful dive, meaning that there wasn`t anything extraordinary to see.  If you`re diving twice (or more) in one day, you have to wait for a while between dives. We waited about an hour and had lunch before going back in the water. Stunning location yet again, I just love love love to dive!

Several people I`d met on Gili told me about this restaurant that had a movie on every night and if you ate your dinner there, you could watch it for free. So I met this nice girl, Djuna, from Luxenborg in my hotel earlier that day, so we headed off to get some dinner and watch a move together. I mean, this is just the BEST idea ever. They had a couple of place like this in Thailand as well, but on those islands there was always something else to do. On this one on the other hand, it was a quite one and no parties to speak of, so it was the perfect setting after a long day of diving. They had these bean bags to sit on, and it was just perfect. Djuna was also traveling alone, and we found a connection in our travels as she`d also gone to Zim as part of a tour around the southern African countries. Really sweet girl and good company for my days in Lembongan. After the movie I went straight to bed and slept like a baby in my kingsize + bed.

The next morning I`d asked the manager at the hotel if one of the guys could take me to a beach further up the island. I`ll admit it, I`m too scared to rent a scooter and drive. There`s not a lot of traffic on Lembongan, but the left side driving is sure to get me in trouble. So, one of the guys drove me up and we agreed he would pick me up again after a couple of hours. The beach, Dream Beach, was indeed beautiful, but not a dream. Again, not so lucky with the weather so it was mostly cloudy that day. Might have looked better in clear sunlight. The waves here were absolute ape shit crazy 😐 I`ve never come across waves with that kind of power and to go in the ocean I had to wait in between the set and then run in and out before they could catch me. But I had a lot of fun watching people being washed up on shore like ragdolls, sometime in their swimwear and sometimes not 🙂
But not all fun, a woman was being dragged out to sea fast, and three guys had to jump in to save her. After that I didn`t go back in.

Anyway, my ride back came and picked me up again. He had put on A LOT of cologne, and was flirting his ass off. I`ll take it as a compliment, even though he almost ran off the road when I told him I was 29 and unmarried 🙂  I had maybe an hour after lunch before the rains came, and so I just sat in my room and read.

During my day at the beach, the earthquake that hit Nepal was taking place. I got a few concerning messages from my friends back home asking if I was still in Nepal or that they were glad I was out. I hadn`t read the news, but when I did my heart sank in my body and I got physical sick. The first reports didn`t give much information, but I sent a message to all I knew in Nepal and just hoped they would all be safe. As the day went, more and more information was coming out in the media, and the worse it got. I cried and cried and cried. It felt so close, so surreal and awful. Djuna and me went to eat and saw a movie that night as well, but I wasn`t present. All I could think about was Nepal. And every time I read the news, it escaladed and got worse. I was up until I couldn`t keep my eyes open, but even though I was exhausted I didn`t sleep much. And the next morning again, the news was unbearable. I`d booked a dive for the day, but I wasn`t sure if I should go or not. I ended up going, and it was maybe good to have something else to think about for a couple of hours.

The dive was good, I was with the same couple from Australia from the other day, and a Canadian. We had two dives and I managed for a few seconds to distract myself from not breaking down in tears. It`s not a very nice feeling when you`re under water and trying to enjoy your surroundings and it just feels wrong. So even though I knew there wasn`t anything very specific I could do, I would rather sit in front of my computer and read then to go off somewhere and have fun. I`m glad I went for the dive, but was happy when it was over. I got back to the hotel, and there was still no word from anyone that I knew in the affected areas. I talked a lot with Marit, the girl I was in Nepal with, and for the first time in 4 months, I really wanted to go home.

The next day was my last day in Lembongan, and I didn`t feel like doing anything, so for the most part I stayed by the pool or in my room reading the news. I walked down to the harbor to confirm my ticket back to Bali the following day, and then had lunch at Eco Deli two minutes from where I was staying, extremely good ecological food. They day went on rather fast, and so by night time I`d packed and was extremely ready to just leave. I went over to have dinner and watch a movie, and when I came back I finally got word back from Nepal that everybody in our team was safe. I was so extremely relieved and could sleep a little better than the two previous nights.

I got up early the following morning to catch my boat back to Bali. I had a day and a half left here before setting off to my last adventure of the trip. I had somethings I needed to do before leaving,  so I spent most of the time just running around doing errands. I stayed in Seminyak this time, but I must say I liked Ubud better, fewer people and a calmer surrounding.  The hotel I`d booked was one of the cheapest places I could find, but in the same time one of the most beautiful. Just off one of the busy streets, and with a gorgeous pool area, 5 m from my door. But, I was still struggling to enjoy it all, and so when the day came for me to leave and go back to Zimbabwe I couldn`t be happier about it! I`ve been here for two weeks now, I`ll post what I have been up to with Sabona as soon as I`m back from Dopota 🙂