The Beautiful Island of Lombok

So since I'm a few posts behind I am going to skip forward to my trip to Jakarta. I arrived on Tuesday night at around 8 pm. I eventually made it through the customs line and found Mike. He had been waiting for a while because he came straight from work and still had a birthday cake from his office celebration. I was happy to see him and catch a cab to his apartment. Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia and it is full of people, cars, mopeds and smog. I don't think it is as dirty as Beijing but it could give Beijing a run for the title. We chatted for a brief bit and then headed to bed. Both of us were exhausted and our flight left for Lombok the next day.

In the morning, I gave Mike his birthday presents, some terra cotta soldiers and an 2008 Olympic pin set. My real present was being here on his birthday. After all the gifting, we headed back to the airport and left for Lombok.

We had a small layover in Jogjakarta which suffered so badly from the recent earthquake. We didn't even have time to leave the plan but did see some of the relief crews unloading supplies. Hopefully, the city can find some quiet time to recover. This is questionable given the continuing aftershocks and the worsening situation with Mt. Merapi, an active volcano located nearby. However, we got out to Lombok with no problems. We arrived in Lombok and taxied our way to our hotel, Quinci Villas. If your ever in Lombok, its a great place to stay. The pool overlooking the ocean makes for great relaxing and the staff and the food are really great. The outdoor shower and bathroom were interesting especially when the geckos showed up at night. Here's some pics from the hotel:

After relaxing by the pool, we agreed to do a little treking in the mountains near our hotel. It was supposed to be soft treking but the uphills killed me. I swear I could swim forever but a flight of stairs will have me gasping for air. First we started off at the monkey house. Mike had a ball feeding the monkeys and talking to them. He really likes monkeys. They were a little agressive but would take the peanuts out of your hand. The monkey king didn't like the smaller monkeys getting in on his action and would routinely chase them off. After the monkey action was done, we began our trek up to the ridge top. As I huffed and puffed my way up, our guide just kinda ambled his way up while smoking a clove cigarette. He does this everyday but I was dying. After we got up to the top, the views were great and the hike much easier. However, going down was pretty treacherous and wiped out a few times and will have some small scar reminders of the trek. Here are some pics of the adventures of Mike and Jen on the mountainsides of Lombok:

After treking, we took the next day off to lounge by the pool. I of course got too much sun but had a restful and relaxing day. Here are some pics from my deck chair:

The next day we headed out for some snorkeling on the Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok. We took off on our small boat, the Kura Kura (or Turtle in Indonesian). Mike and I were both a little tenative about going very far in this little outrigger boat, but we had a great time and the snorkeling was great. Lots of sea turtles, reef life, and colorful fish.