VOODOO IS ALIVE AND WELL

We stayed at a friendly place called Bukit Bungalows on Gili Trawangan. As we were there for several days we got pretty chatty with the young guy running the place.
One day he and I were talking in the garden after the usual omelet and Lombok coffee breakfast. I had heard people in Indonesia get married quite young and asked about his situation. He got married in his early twenties. His wife was seventeen at that time. This was interesting, but not surprising. However, what he told me next was very surprising.
He used to be a rice farmer in his home town. He earned 25,000 Rupiah for 8 hours work. That's less than 3 US dollars. But when he came to Gili Island and started working in tourism his earnings greatly increased. He was able to pay off his small house in just a couple of years. And, according to him, this caused one of the other farmers in his hometown to become jealous and start using voodoo on his wife. His wife, who lives alone in their hometown is now having mental problems because of this voodoo. Sometimes she just starts screaming or freaking out for no apparent reason.
So every time he visits his hometown, he searches his land for voodoo related items. He told me in voodoo to make the spells stronger, the person who is cursing the other often hides a magical item close to the home of those he is attacking to increase the strength of the spell.
I asked about the possibility of visiting the village elder for help because I'd heard of that being done. But he seemed reluctant to do so and said he would just keep searching his land.
I'm not sure what I think about all this and I'd love to learn more about Indonesian believes, but I'm certainly flattered that he spoke to me so openly. And for the following weeks in Indonesia I experienced a lot of this openness and willingness to share personal stories with strangers from Indonesians.

GILI ISLANDS

Following our tough hike at Rinjani, we all fancied a bit of R&R on the beach so we caught the boat over to the Gili Islands. Getting around Lombok is an absolute hassle despite the island being so small. There's no organized public transportation between towns and always people are trying to overcharge and rip off travelers to use the private means of transport. And of course it's never on time and often involves stops or changes that were unexpected. So the idea of being on an island small enough to walk around for five days really appealed. The Gili Islands are three and we stayed on the largest, Gili Trawangan, which has nice beaches and a decent nightlife.

It was a great place to chill. The beaches are nice and there are enough people to create a good vibe, but still with a peaceful atmosphere and not too many vendors hassling. The water was beautiful and clear with mediocre snorkeling right on the main beach. We had heard big sea turtles were often visible there, but didn't spot any when we rented gear and snorkeled by ourselves.
However a couple of days later we went on an organized snorkeling trip which stopped at three different sites for snorkeling. Despite major hangovers (obvious from the above video) and a shortage of sleep, we all enjoyed that. And at the second site we were lucky enough to see two huge turtles with shells as big as my torso. We even got within three feet of one of them.

Brothers forever. I think.
Best friends forever.Gay.
We like snorkeling. But the deep water is scary.

A REAL HAPPY PLACE

If you do yoga or meditate or get tortured sometimes then you'll know what a 'happy place' is. It's a place you invent in your head. It doesn't have to be real. It's just somewhere that you feel very comfortable, safe and relaxed. And of course it's usually somewhere beautiful in nature.
Well for years my happy place has been behind a waterfall. I had never been to anywhere that resembled my mental happy place. I had just made it up from snippets of movies, things I'd read and my own imagination.
But, unbelievably, two days into our Rinjani hike I visited somewhere even better than my happy place. When we arrived at the crater lake of the volcano I told the lads I fancied a swim. But before we had a chance to jump in, one of the porters beckoned us to follow him.
About a twenty minute hike later we came across some natural,but mediocre undeveloped hot springs with a handful of other hikers sitting, looking at them or dipping their feet in.
"Not here", said the porter, "walk more", and he pointed further down a slope. We followed him and as we rounded a corner we could see a beautiful, green, steaming, hot waterfall. Lovely mossy rocks lined a natural bath at the base of the little waterfall. And just a handful of other bathers serenely basked in the perfect warm water. Following two days sweaty, dusty hiking and a night's cold camping, we were in dire need of any form of bath, so this was like heaven to us.
We all had big smiles as we scrambled over the slippy rocks into the liquid paradise in nothing but our underwear and layer of dirt/sweat. I'll always remember that feeling of being surrounded by warmth in a place of true beauty.
After bathing a while, I spotted a little cave behind the flowing water of the waterfall. Although it seemed a little dangerous because the rocks were slippy and water blocked visibility, I decided to try to climb up and into the cave in pursuit of a real happy place.
Wow! It was even better than I'd imagined. Once I got inside, I was wet and would have got cold quickly, but for the warmth of the water and rocks. It was also much more comfortable than I imagined because moss lined the rocks on which I was sitting. And because the waterfall was not too heavy or big, I could still see the view well and wasn't deafened by the roar of water. AND the view through the water was down to a deep, lush valley with not a single sign of development or even a hiking path to be seen. I wished I had a waterproof camera to capture that image. It was so much better than the happy place I'd been imagining for years. Added to the fact that this was a real place, with hardly anyone there and needing a two day tough hike to reach it, I was totally elated to be there.
I wish I had taken better pictures to capture the place, but I guess I was too busy enjoying it.

Ronan and Karol in the water. Happy place is top center.

RINJANI PHOTOS (DAY 3)

RINJANI PHOTOS (DAY 2)

Drinking tea and warming up after swimming in the hot springs.
View of our goal for the following morning; Rinjani's summit.
The porters carrying all the tents, food and water. 20kg each on bamboo poles.
The porters navigated even the trickiest parts in simple cheap flip-flops.
Ascending further above sea level.
We begin our descent to the lake.
To the right you can see a new cone of the volcano formed from a recent eruption.
Taking a welcome break for a photo and catching our breath.
Very fashionable locals fishing/hanging out at the lake.
Ditto.
Argument because Ronan thinks I like him more than Karol and vice versa. Calm down lads! I like you both.
Sunset dinner. My hair's not really that ginger; it's just the light.Sleeping in the tents was so cold even fully dressed and with two sleeping bags. But Ronan still wouldn't let me cuddle. Damn that stubbornness!

RINJANI PHOTOS (DAY 1)

In the pickup truck on the way to the base of Rinjani. Happy and energetic.
Some porters cooking lunch. Food was always very good.
First part of the hike on Day 1 was through forest. Misty and lots of monkeys running around.
Little bro leading the way with a stick for ankle support and monkey defense.
My gaff.
Camping above the clouds.
Irish whisky nightcaps for everyone! Look at those German smiles.

RINJANI MOUNTAIN, LOMBOK

I just spent a month in Indonesia. Well, actually just the islands of Lombok, Gili and Bali. It was my first time properly backpacking in three years. Little brother Ronan flew over for a couple of weeks and my mate Karol came for three.

The highlight of our trip was a three day hike to the summit of Rinjani Mountain. Rinjani, on the island of Lombok, is Indonesia’s second largest mountain and said to be the most beautiful in the country. It also happens to be an active volcano. But the last eruption was over a year ago, so things were pretty safe. The hike is notoriously difficult with reports of lots of people crying, puking and quitting. So of course, this is just the kind of “holiday” that calls out to me. The summit is just over 3700 meters and the volcano has a crater-lake on top as well as natural hot-springs. It’s a three-day hike with the goal being to reach the summit for sunrise on day three (which requires a 2:30am start).

I felt pretty confident about the hike to be honest because I’ve done longer and higher hikes before. But my confidence quickly dissipated after receiving a link to a tripadvisor page from Ronan. Reading the experiences/complaints of the other hikers, I reassessed the situation. I spent August hiking every weekend to get in decent shape, even hiking up to three times a week when possible. Unfortunately, most of the mountains around me in Seoul are about 600 or 700 meters high, so it certainly wasn’t perfect preparation.

The holiday plan was for us to climb the mountain as early into the trip as possible before the hedonism took tole on our bodies. But it took a couple of days to get orientated and travel from Kuta Bali, our meeting point, to Rinjani by public transport. And by the time we were ready to go, there was already a considerable dent in our four litres of duty-free Jameson whisky.

We intentionally didn’t book in advance as I’d learned from past experience that we could get it much cheaper if we haggled on arrival. It worked out perfectly well. We paid only 700,000 Indonesian Rupiah each. Much cheaper than anyone we met and half of the 1,400,000 the guidebook cited as the going rate.

Our group consisted of us three, four Germans, our guide and five porters. Everyone was real cool. The Germans were all university students and surprisingly well-traveled and worldly. The porters were nice, hardworking and friendly. And the guide, seemingly a teenager, was a cool kid, but appeared to be in the worst shape of the whole group. Perhaps due to his incessant cigarette smoking. In fact, we felt so bad for him on the first leg of the trip, Karol offered to carry his backpack for him.

I brought my phone on the hike and made a couple of short videos. It was my first time to ever try this so I apologise for both the video and narration quality.

And here in this second video you can see Ronan and me at the top of Rinjani, tired, but elated to have achieved our goal.

And this third video is kind of pointless I guess, but I hoped to show the view a little better from a different angle.