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Three Islands conquered: Compact Lombok, Beautifully Arid Sumbawa and Isolated Sumba, 2000km driven on a 110cc semi-automatic scooter, accumilated over 24hrs floating on a boat somewhere in the indian ocean and scored some of the best waves in Indonesia, possibly...... ever.
About three weeks ago (time seems to merge). After a two week stint in Kuta, on the island of Lombok, we headed North to Lampang Kgnanka which is a village just south of the active Volcanoe Gunung Rinjani. Here we spent one night at Rahdias Homestay where he showed us around the local matket at 6am and explained alot of traditions.
Lampang Kgnagka - Scar Reef in Sumbawa. Sumbawa is an 1.5hr ferry crossing from Lombok. From there we drove 3 hours south along the west coast to a little spot called Scar Reef. This is a sick left-handed barrell that Rip Curl have held pro contests at. Unfortunately there was enough swell to make the wave break. Back on the bikes and another 2 and half hours southt to Maluk where there are two top quality waves Yo-Yos and Supersucks.
We stayed right on the beach at Yo-Yos. Yo-Yos is a powerfull right handed beach break that gets blown out by the wind by 10 oclock so getting up early for the dawny session is a must. Stayed here for 3 or 4 days. After the early morning surf there was alot of time to kill. Luckily one of the indo guys who"works" (doesn't really do much) at the beach house is a keen spear fisherman. He took me and an aussie guy to the next beach along which is really good for spear fishing. We walked along and over a headlang to a little wind protected reef. We jumped in off the rocks and swam around for an hour or so. Spear fishing is alot harder than you think. A combinatino of holding your breath, equalising your ears, diving deep, keeping your bouancy, spotting a fish, getting close to a fish, shooting accurately in a critical spot then making it back to the surface before your lungs burst, is a bit of a mission to say the least. I didn't catch anything but the more experienced aussie and indo fellas caught 4 fish between them. Getting out of the water was pretty dodgy. The sweel had picked up while we were in the sea and the tide has become hire so the rocks were now being pounded by waves. You had to time the lull between the sets to swim into and climb onto the rocks. Gets the heart pounding for sure. Poker, s***head, table-tennis, ring of fire was the entertainment in the evening.
Three days, 500km from the West to the East Coast of Sumbawa. We had a deadline. Had to be in Sape on the eastern tip of Sumbawa by Monday afternoon as that was when the once a week ferry to Sumba left. First day we drove 5 hours, Maluk-Sumbawa Besar. Then Sumbawa Besar - Dompu which was another 6 or 6 hours. Dompu to Sape was the thrid day that took 4 hours with a lunch stop in Bima. Bima is a complete hole of a place. Dirty, Hot and busy. For lunch we eat at a Warung, little stall with a seating area behind it. How and me had a Nasi Campu (Mixed Rice). How got more than me which i did't mind as the added extra was a dead baby cockroache. When informing the 'chef' they just replaced as if we were some fussy westerners. To keep us company we had a rat running around the floor. This place was not highlighted in the Lonely Planet for some reason. Sumbawa is a beautifull country and some of the roads were proper fun to bomb it around on a bike.
Indonesia has on average 10 000 deaths a year on the road. Its no surprise really. There are several factors to consider when driving about. First off other drivers. Youve got scooters, horse and carts, cars, lorrys, buses and coaches. The Bus drivers are the worst. They speed it around corners taking up about 3/4s of the road so you dont dare take a corner any more than half a metre from the side of the road just incase luck isn't on your side. Animals are another big factor. Dogs, Chickens, Goats, Cats, Cows, Water Buffallos all apparently have the same right of way as any other object on the road. The winner of the biggest bluddy idiot has to be the goat. You think your doing alrite going about 50kmh down the middle of road with no other vechile insight. And them Bam! 5 goats run across the road, stop in the middle, panic and run back then change there mind and continue running across the road with there original intentions. Keeps you on edge for sure. The road conditions are mostly good. Veer off the main road and things are gonna slow down. Pot-holes and unsealed roads are the go.
The Ferry ride from Sumbawa to the isolated island of Sumba is one i'll remember. After three days on the road we arrived at the port in Sape at 2 oclock. If P&O Ferries are the Premiership League then ADSP (Indonesian Ferries) are the Conference. There was not a timetable, a specific place to park, no one to ask, not an obvious ticket office, pot-holed bridge to the ferry. The Lonely Planet was brought out, a couple of handy indonesian phases revised then off to ask the policeman, the locals, the random 4 englishmen in a car and one bloke wearing a sort of ferry uniform. We eventually worked out that the ferry left at 10pm, the ticket office opens at 4, the tickets cost about 5 pounds, you should board the ferry at 4pm and it takes about 7-9 hours (sea conditions depending). It was a mad dashand sqeeze in a spontaneous cue to get the tickets once the office opened. We boarded the ferry and claimed our floor space for the trip. After waiting 6 hours on a docked ferry it finally left port. The only deck by this point was jam-packed with people, was quite hot and stuffy and misty with smoke. When taking my sea-sick pill i accidentally picked up the water-bottle filled with spare petrol. Before realising i took a swig in the mouth and abruptly spat it out again to the amusement of How, Maaike and a bunch of indos. Luckily for the indonesians they had some entertainment for the trip in the form of watching everything that Westerners (ie us) do. Apparently we are rather interesting, especially when playing cards. One week later when we got the ferry back to Sumbawa we realised that there is a small room at the front of the boat which is the VIP area. Smoke-Free, Reclining leather seats and Air-con. All this for the astortionate amount of a pound extra. I felt like i was in BA first class after the fun we had the week before.
We arrived in Sumba just after sunrise. We decided to drive 30mins to Pero on the western tip. While driving you notice an instant difference to all the other places I have visited in Indonesia. It is not densely populated at all. Locals look at you with an array of expressions such as interest, amusement, excitement, caution. The kids go mad for it as if you are David Beckham. The tiny villages have thatched houses made from Bamboo. The men wear sarongs with machetes tucked into their waist as well as the odd womens breast here and there. I was surprised and confused when i first asked a guy for directions. All around his mouth was covered with red stains, his mouth filled with red saliva and his teeth all brown and jagged. It looked as if he'd just eaten an animal raw. To my relief it turned out that it was just the local "Betel Nut" that every man and his dog love to chew on in Sumba. I tried some later on and it is disgusting. Really bitter and dry even though it absorbs every bit of saliva in your mouth and makes your spit red.
We stayed in Pero for a day, the swell was not big enough for the waves to work so we carried on out road trip. On the map there were lots of beach breaks all along on the SW coastline and a road that runs parellel the whole way. A total distant of about 60km max. This took us 6 long and harduous hours. The roads condition made the worth way look like the M25, some parts were verging on inpassable. Along the way we drove through some isolated villages. We stopped a couple of times to ask for directions. Within a minute the whole village populatoin of 30 people were around you. They didn't speek any indonesian let alone english, only their local language. We'd just smile and laugh at eachothers funny languages and pretend we understood each other. They were rather friendly especially with a nice blond white girl where the occasional cheeky grab went down. We arrived in Rua as the sun went down. Upon arrival we discoverd that the two local homestays are no longer open. A lady offered us dinner and breakfast and a raised covered platform outside with mattresses and the essential mosquito net. It was a rather uncomfortable night as my stomach took a turn for the worst. In the morning i drugged myself up and we drove a further 6 hours to Tarimbang where we stayed for three days.
Tarimbang is the place to be in Sumba. It is a little village a short walk from a big bay which has a lovely beach and an epic reef break. There was a homestay that catered for 12 people. When we arrived there was just a couple of aussies there (they seem to be everywhere except the east coast of Australia). The reef break is called Millers Right and it is the most perfect wave i have seen in Indoesia. A right hand reef break that breaks for 150 metres. Big, solid walls with the occasional barrell. After a wave my legs were tired and i was out of breath. The paddle to and from the beach to the wave was a bit of a killer as it took 15 minutes. We were there for three days and the most crowded it got were the 10 people you spent the day with at the Homestay. Plenty of waves to go around. The wave was about head high - overhead (and a bit more) over the three days. The best thing was one of the Kiwi surfers had a waterprood camera so he took some good photos of us surfing. So i finally have some photos of myself!!! and of the perfect wave we surfed. He has to email them to me when his home in a week or so.
The wildlife around the area was pretty cool as well. In the sea we saw dolphins, a turtle giving us the heads-up 5 metres from the line-up and a mysterious Dugong (sea cow) that would come up for a brief second or two then dissapear. This gave me the spooks when i was paddling the 15 minutes back to the beach just after sunset. It was getting dark and the nearest surfer was 50m away from me. All i saw was a brief something which was dark came out of the water and left a ripple. This happened twice. Once on the beach i looked back out and How was the last surfer to get to the beach, pretty much on dark. I asked him if he saw everything and he was oblivous to it and didn't get any shark fever at all. When waiting for a set i witnessed (this ones for you Stu) an Eagle circle above then dart down and catch a sea snake with its feet. This was about 20m from me. It then flew off to the nearby clift. At the Homestay Water Buffollos, Wild Boars and chickens wander around your huts. I saw several tropical frogs and one snake on my walk to the beach.
From Tarimbang, Sumba to Kuta, Lombok it took four days of intense travelling. Apart from a serious sore ass and stiff back not alot went down. The scenerary was great but the appreciation of it slowly deteriatede over the days as we just wanted to get to Kuta and back in the water. The longest day was from Sape - Sumbawa Besar which took 9 hours, 8 hours driving time. Killer.
Now back in Kuta its nice to have a Pizza instead of rice with noodles and a couple of cold beers. When i went into one of the restaurent they called me "Hello Mr Tumis Kangkung" as this was the dish i had every pretty much every lunchtime for two weeks when i was here a month ago.
This time next week ill be at home and probably jet-lagged. Im just gonna hit the surf hard making the most of the freedom i have left!
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