We left Gili Lawa Laut early on the 30th of August, destination depending on the amount of wind we encountered. If there was no wind we would stop at the next island about 20 miles away, and if we had wind we would continue on to Gili Banta about 125 miles away. This would mean spending a night at sea and arriving there about midday. Once we decided to press on, naturally the wind died out and we got the current against us. The wind eventually came back and we sailed on through the night.
The moon was bright, there were millions of stars reflected in the sea and enough wind to move us along slowly, what a perfect night. As we approached Gili Banta, the anchorage looked to be exposed to the swell so we decided to do another overnighter and head straight to Medana Bay Marina on Lombok. Being 80 miles this would get us there around 10.30 a.m.
As you can see, Medana Bay is a delightful place. The staff are extremely helpful and speak excellent English. They also serve great meals at around $3.00, so why would you cook?
ENGLISH CLASS
The owner of the marina has organised English lessons once a week for the children from the local village. They are also taught about hygiene and not beg. We attended school, but as it was school holidays only 14 turned up. Class turned into a mutual lesson, they learning English and we learning Indonesian. I had brought along some of the dolls that mum and her group of ladies had knitted, and they just loved them. Even the boys were clamouring to get one. So as they were tested on their knowledge of English and got it correct they were given a doll. Four days later they are still carting them around everywhere.
We booked a tour of southern Lombok. Neil and Margaret off Bluestone, Chris and Nancy off Amulet (americans, but we won’t hold that against them) and Tony and myself were going. When it came time to go Tony wasn’t feeling well enough (yep, Bali belly strikes again) so the five of us plus driver plus guide took off at 07.30a.m.
MONKEY MOUNTAIN
First stop Monkey Mountain. Feed the monkeys peanuts, they really are quite cute and very friendly.
Next stop a traditional village with traditional weaving. Once again different patterns and colours, and the village is indeed traditional. This one is a little different as it is set up as a commune and all the weaving gets sold in the community shop and the income shared around.
Then off to the local pottery where they make: yes you guessed it pottery. Bought a lovely bowl that consists of a pottery base and woven sides. Very effective.
WATER PALACE
Next stop the Water Palace. As a young man the king had to make a pilgrimage to Mount Rinjani every year to make offerings at the temple there and to prove his worthiness as a king. Even now it is a hard slog to visit the lake in the crater of the volcano. As the king got older he found it more and more difficult to climb the mountain so he built a replica of the temple and built pools to represent the three lakes. The largest represented the big lake, and the 2 smaller ones represented the pools at the temple. One was for himself and his wife, one for his Harem and one for the soldiers. There is also a spring which is said that if you bring offerings and then drink the water you will stay young. When we asked where the king was now, the reply was “he is dead” so we figured it didn’t work too well. Then we found out he died at the ripe old age of 115 so I guess it did him some good after all.
Yesterday, the 9th September was the last day of Ramadan, where the Muslims fast from sunup to sunset for 30 days. To mark the end of Ramadan all the local villages make floats with religious themes and then have a parade. There are prizes for the best float etc. and a lot of work goes into them. The staff from the marina were going so took six of us along with them.
There was a large crowd and quite a few floats, each one representing a local town. Our town, Medana had a big Koran on the back of a big Ute with flashing lights and music blaring out. Other floats were much more impressive although at the end of the day we think our village should get the prize for the most spectacular performance. While they were waiting for their turn to present to the judges the Ute caught fire. Well, nobody had a fire extinguisher, and even though there were fireworks going off all over the place there was no fire brigade present. Luckily it was a diesel and it didn’t explode, but it did burn out. So now the local Bupati (chief) has no Ute as I am sure there would have been no insurance.
BLAZING UTE
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