On the boat we met Julian (from Necochea), his girlfriend Vicky and her sister Eli (from Tandil). We ended up spending all our days in Lembongan with the 3 of them.
The first night we stayed in some bungalows which were not really nice, this was then compensated by a very nice place, 3 brand new bungalows just for us. It’s always important to keep looking for a nice room after you arrive to a place, maybe the first night you crash on whatever place you find, but then the next day it’s good to look for a pleasant place to enjoy the stay. Good connection with the local people is the key.
Negotiating is a recurrent task in these countries; and sometimes the first contact is not easy. In our case we got along really well with owner of the bungalows, Maikubu, a kind and friendly Indonesian. One night he and his wife prepared a fish BBQ dinner for the 7 of us... delicious!
The first move was to rent motorbikes. Lembongan is a small island but in order to reach the nice beaches you need a vehicle, since there were no cars and big hills, a motorbike seemed like the best solution (the alternative was a bicycle but distances were a bit long up hill).
The days went by driving around the island, girls spending the day on the beach (despite the weather that wasn't that nice), and the guys surfing.
The best spots were: Mushroom bay and Dream beach.
We also found a nice restaurant for watching the sunset, unfortunately the weather didn’t help but the sight was very nice!
One of the highlights of the visits to Lembongan was the religious (Hindu) ceremony we attended. It was definitely a very special day in Hindu religion, because everybody was dressed with their best outfits: women were wearing nice dresses, flowers decorating their hair and the best jewelry on. Men were wearing a traditional skirt, white shirt and a white hat. The purpose was thanksgiving, something we never have to forget... good we were there!
The ceremony started with some traditional music played live and was followed by prayers that the entire congregation repeated. Everybody had a sort of homemade nest with flowers which they were gradually blessing and putting in the hair. Incenses were turned on and the smoke gave a special atmosphere. The priests were passing with holy water and throwing it on every single person, even on us, and also offering rice which they stick on the forehead. Martin ended up pretty decorated!
By the end we went to the front part to see what it looked like and the ceremony still went on with a group of people carrying something similar to the Chinese dragons, flags and the women enormous fruit baskets on the head.
All took place in a very relaxing and friendly atmosphere, seems like Hindu is a "friendly" and open religion. Locals were offering us a smile everywhere we looked and making us part of what was happening.
Snorkeling was amazing again. Maikubu arranged a boat that took us to 2 snorkeling points. The first one called "the wall". It seems it’s one of the only coral reef where no TNT fishing was practiced; it was beautiful, full of colorful fishes everywhere. The second one (no idea the name...) was a bit more disappointing, as the water was so dirty we were swimming in between plastic bags.
This is something that shall be improved in Indonesia, the absolutely zero consciousness of the locals towards the environment. SAME FOR US! It's amazing to see how locals through trash into the sea, you often see them going surfing with a cigarette on and just throwing it into the water.
Something interesting about Lembongan is that their main activity is the cultivation of sea weed. When the tide is low, locals go into the water to collect the sea weed which they export for the pharmaceutical industry. Spiruline is the main product, 60 cents/kg. It’s funny how each one owns a portion of the shore, which is divided in squares were they cultivate the weed.
Then they dry it under the sun, pack it and it’s ready to be put on a boat, direction… who knows…
Next stop should be the Gili islands, lets see how we get there...
