Getting Up Is Easy, Staying Up Is Hard

Highlights from my weekend trip to Lombok (an island near Bali, Indonesia). Sorry about not having any pictures. I will try to add some soon :) 

1. Relaxing weekend away from Jakarta.

2. Absolutely breathtaking scenery of blue water and green trees! 

3. Surfing lesson. I was so much more successful than I ever thought I would be. I could stand up fairly well, which just meant I went further on the wave, which lead to my having to paddle back out even further. Needless to say, I was exhausted quickly. I also have some great bruises on my arms from my tired, paddling arms hitting my board. I was not injured while surfing, but almost. At one point, Nicole and I somehow crossed paths, which caused me to jump off my board, over her, so that I wouldn’t crash into her. Later, Kristina was taken out by a wave and her board came after me and hit me on the top of the head (good thing my head is so hard). Lastly, I accidentally hit Kristina in the face, with my hand, while I was paddling out (which I told her was the payback from her board hitting me earlier). Last, but certainly not least, I drank more than my share of ocean water.

4. Renting motorbikes. Something I was convinced I would NEVER do, simply because I have heard so many horror stories of injuries and warnings against tourists renting motorbikes. Well, I did it, and Nicole even rode with me because she refused to drive her own. We drove to two different beaches and just hung out for the day, before our evening flight. Driving the motorbike was extremely easy, and much less intimidating than any of the Jakarta traffic.

5. Our ride to the airport was fantastically exciting/terrifying. Since I was the timekeeper for the day, using my cell phone, we ended up getting back from the beach one hour later than we had planned (Jakarta time, which is what’s set on my phone, is one hour earlier). The people who had set up our weekend for us, basically, got us to the airport in less than 20 minutes, just in time to check in when our flight was supposed to board. We quickly learned that all you need to do, while driving, is to honk your horn in order to make it okay to speed around anyone or anything on the road (at least that’s what our driver did on the way to the airport).

6. All in all, another successful weekend (easy when I don’t think about school for more than 5 minutes of it). I can’t believe I hadn’t known about Lombok sooner than now. I am already planning my next trip back. I will take anyone who comes to visit me!