Senggigi

I had a 'transition' day yesterday - Sunday 12th October - as I wanted to relax. 

I left Heri's place - De Chicktoria Hostel - which was like a little paradise in the forest amongst the rice fields. It was more of a home-stay than a hostel

Heri's little homestead.....makes me see (again) what - perhaps - may be the key to happiness.......

There was a communal table in the garden of Heri's place, for people to sit and talk. Heri and his wife and friends were often there too. Every time they had food or snacks or bananas off their tree, they wanted us to try it and share it with us, so I got to try some really true traditional Indonesian cooking. 

This morning a vegetable soup in a broth with rice....  I had already eaten some scrambled egg which I'd ordered for breakfast....  I ate that with a sauce they call Sambal.  Its tomato, chilli onion & garlic.. .         ...A bit like the chilli sauce or hot sauce. Very spicy!

Heri was lovely. He had worked in tourism before on the Gili Islands, and was a partner in a business. He is a businessman, so he had all the tips on trips and transfers and - I believe - we got a fair price on these.

People are friendly...mostly.......obviously you have to be wary. Heri was saying there are a lot of scammers at Bangsal port. .....one girl that was in our hostel got cheated on her taxi...the guy said it was 4 hours to the hostel...  Heri said, "Why did u believe him..  you have google maps!"...

So the driver, Ivan, that took me to the waterfalls, drove me through the monkey forest (you might just be able to spot monkeys at the side of the road) to my next place - Indah Homestay and cooking classes - it is called, since they run these. Funny enough, Heri said he wanted to start running Indonesian cooking classes too. I think it's a great idea! 

This place is run by a Dutch lady, Suzanne, since 2009. She was married to an Indonesian local, who sadly died, but she has kids and lives on the site of the home-stay. It's nice - the rooms have little porches to sit and chill and there is a garden. I have a mango tree right opposite, although they don't look ripe yet.

Indah means beautiful in Indonesian and I discovered that Gili means island.

I just sat and read my book and it was peaceful.

They gave me the wrong room initially - I was supposed to have the standard room & they put me in the deluxe next door. - The guy was very apologetic but I didn't mind. As you can see my room is great and I have my own bathroom - which was all that was important to me! 

The only difference was that the other room has hot water and complimentary tea and coffee. (and as I'd already showered, washed my clothes and had 3 cups of tea before they moved me, I think I did OK 😂)

I realised later, why the mistake was made, when my neighbour turned up - a Dutch girl called Lisa! - she had been on the Mount Rinjani trek. We chatted for a bit, she seems nice.

I have discovered that I can drink black tea with some sugar in it and it doesn't make me feel sick like straight black tea does. I have coffee that they gave me from the forest tour. On the tour they talked about the con of the 'Luwack coffee' - this is coffee beans eaten by an animal called a Luwack, then pooed out and sold at an exorbitant price. This is clever marketing and business, they said , to make money from people who want 'the exclusive'......but of course it's a con! It wouldn't matter if the beans had passed through the digestive system of a unicorn, it wouldn't make the coffee taste any different. Plus its cruel to the poor Luwacks!!

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kopi-Luwak

I am absolutely covered in mosquito bites from the last place - despite the mosquito net so I hope the ceiling fan here will blow them away. I am struggling with the noise pollution of the constant whirring of air conditioning everywhere. 

Even here, it is peaceful but it is behind a big hotel, with the constant whooshing noise of it - like white noise. This is the price of tourism, I think because most people here can't afford air conditioning in their homes and don't need it as they have more natural ways to cool their homes.

Still hate myself on videos!! - I hope you can hear me - I was speaking quietly as it was early morning - probably need to speak up more! - not so bad through headphones....