-While getting a foot massage:
--Did you go jungle trekking?
---Umm no, just walking around Kuala Lumpur
(Testament to how clumsy I am and the amount of bug bites and bruises I've obtained!)
- There so many Australians in Indonesia. Considering this is a 3 hr flight from Northern Australia this is like Mexico for Californians.
- How many mosques are there in Lombok?! There seems to be one per family, one every block.
-Another morning of being wakened by cannons and firecrackers. The Imam hasn't taken a taken a breath in 4 hours of prayer. Amazing to be here and even as a complete outlier feel the energy of the Ramadan celebrations and the days after
-How was your day?
--Great, finally done fasting!
-Did you eat lots today?
--Oh man, got some KFC, smoked some weed and had a few beers.
Ramadan is clearly over ;)
-Got attacked by a little boy with a bamboo stick.
-Family of 4 on a scooter? Not a problem, plenty of space! Zero helmets are also apparently not a problem here. Driving age is 15 for motorcycles, 20 for cars. We have definitely seen some 10 year olds operating scooters.
- Our 28 yr old driver Zul told us he wanted a Western girl and that he is not interested in locals. First cousins marriages are OK and arranged marriages are common. He was curious if cousin marriages happen in the US. Good thing he was seated when we told him our ages too, pretty sure he gulped!
-Traffic alert! Can't drive through here, gigantic lizard in the way so we just wait.
-There is a scream on the road as I try to negotiate a boat to take us to an island. Lots of people run to see who got hurt.
--"Is everything OK?" I ask.
---"Just a local."
Guy continues to negotiate, some people are assholes, regardless of what happens around them.
- It's hard to tell which side of the road you (are supposed to) drive on in Indonesia but I assure you that there are more than 2 lanes at play here. One lane, the other lane and whatever needs to happen in the middle to split the traffic and go around.
- Heather saw her first wild monkey!
- "Are you an artist?" Heather and I agreed that's a pretty awesome compliment of a question. We wish?
- Wahid, our tour guide was so smitten with "the teacher" and wasn't afraid to show it. My name went out the window and he continued to refer to me as "the teacher" the entire time. It was a good reminder for me that it's a sign of respect since I'm known to get annoyed when some of my students call me that instead of my name.
- Our local driver readily volunteered that he doesn't understand any Arabic that has been chanted over the loud speaker for days as Ramadan has been wrapping up, just like majority of people residing in Lombok.
-Keluar, hati hati, teremakasu, sama sama. The only words we learned here. Exit, be careful, thank you, please.
-A regular menu has food, drinks and cigarettes on it. Smoking is everywhere. Inside and outside and everywhere in between. Upon further research, it is no surprise that lung cancer is the leading cause for death in this region.
- In the last two days I've lost a hair clip (while snorkeling), sunglasses (climbing rocks, went back and retrieved!) and shoes outside of the car. I guess my luggage lighter!
- Local children smile and let out hearty helloooooos every time they see us. It's so sweet and of course we smile right back. It's a great memory to take away.
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