04-05-09

Another early wake up to start before it's getting too hot. A beautiful 2 hrs walk through the numberless rice paddies and tobacco fields around Tetebatu. Pretty scaring, because you have to keep your balance to avoid falling either into the water or in the valley; the rice paddies being laid out in terraces on different levels in order to facilitate the transport of water needed for the rice production. Happily our own and local guide were very helpful, so we all survived with dry feet.

Our first cloudy day with our first rain, but fortunately nothing serious. The clouds protected us against the sun in the open fields, so not too bad that it was cloudy. We continued our walk to a waterfall in the Gunung Rinjani National Park. On our about 2 hours hike we saw some black monkeys jumping through the trees, fascinating.

Then we made a short ride with some horse cars through a village, being welcomed by lots of villagers. Interesting to see the enthusiasm of Muslim women ready to be taken their picture, usually no problem at all in these parts of Indonesia.

Off to the weavers' village at Pringgasela (sorry Trijnie, still nothing bought), an excellent lunch and the pottery village at Masbagik Timur, where we bought some souvenirs. Last part of the excursion consisted of some traditional dances Sanggar "Bao Daya" Lenek, something we usually dislike, but this was quite nice: all the villagers - in these remote parts of Indonesia there are a lot of children .... - of the neighbourhood were waiting for our arrival as well as the musicians. The latter accompanied us from our bus to the simple outdoor stage, where lots of other villagers were waiting for us. We tourists were as much part of the show as the dances ... Well, let's call it social wellfare.

Dinner again at the hotel under typical Indonesian conditions; this time we returned the soup because it was not warm enough.....

Tomorrow we leave this island Lombok for a full transfer day to our next destination: Gili Meno, 1 of the 3 Gili Islands, just off the north-western coast of Lombok, described as a vision of tropical paradise - a trio of tiny coral-fringed islands, each with white sandy beaches and pellucid water teeming with a kaleidoscope array of reef fish. Some new snorkelling adventures are waiting for us!