Day 1 - Leaving Surabaya

11.00 WIB Called Blue Bird taxi and picked Rina up to the airport.

Juanda airport, Surabaya:

It took soooo long to check in. I was getting impatient again. What the hell were those people doing in front of me? I sharpened my hearing and laughed not long after. What made it long WAS those people, who brought like tons of boxes along with them, insisted to bring all those into the cabin. When the Citilink staff told them that it was the regulation to collect the heavy big things and keep them in the luggage storage, the people reasoned that it wasn't safe. So yeah, the deal was mostly to convince these rarely flying people that their belongings would be safely kept and given back to them.
Anyway, when it was my turn, it took less than 3 minutes to check in.

We were boarding at 12:30 (flight at 12:45) and the plane left on time. Yippee... 1 point for Citilink.

Selaparang airport, Mataram:
15:00 WITA

We waited for our luggage in a very small room. I was a little shocked to see it. But yeah, what can I expect from a small domestic airport. There was only one roda berjalan (don't know the right English term, not even sure I use the right Indonesian term, hehehe) and we had to wait until the Garuda passengers took all their belongings. It was about 30-45 minutes wasted for waiting.

We got out and looked for a transport to Kuta Lombok, but it was super expensive (or I was just too stingy)!!! Rp 120,000 for one way ride. So we took a taxi to Senggigi beach for Rp 35,000 (Mataram Rp 20,000 but what could we see in Mataram? and the Gili's Rp 50,000). After that we could decide where to go later.

Ray Hotel, Senggigi

We stayed at Hotel Ray in Senggigi in a fan room for Rp 40,000 (I wasn't in the mood to bargain. I paid only half of it anyway, Rina paid the other half). AC's Rp 60,000. At first we wanted to take the AC one but no room was available. Later we were quite happy with our clean room. Besides, it wasn't very hot there.

Rina and I rested until 5 o'clock. Then we walked out to find the beach.

Walking... walking... walking... Where is the beach?

Rina said, "Well you've been here before!"
"Well it should have been in front of the hotel!" I told her.

Walking... walking... walking...
We went to the wrong direction. (Walah)

I saw a bemo and asked Rina to be adventurous. "Hey, what about hopping in that bemo and just following its route? We can stop when we saw a good site!"
Rina agreed.

I asked the driver where it was going. "To Ampenan," he said.
"Great!" We jumped in and he started to drive.

"Where is Ampenan?" (hihihi..)

One lesson about Lombok.
Ampenan (the port), Cakranegara and Mataram (the capital of the province) are actually different disctricts. But they are mostly associated to be one for their closeness and their important functions.

The driver asked us where we wanted to go.
"We don't know," replied us. (hohoho)

But not long after, we saw a veeeeeery cool beach and we shouted excitedly and asked the driver to stop right away. The driver suggested to drop us to the next turn in Batu Bolong temple. Even better, I thought.

To enter the temple we must contribute some money (amount is not important, but I wrote Rp 5,000; to find out later that I only had Rp 4,000! Ya ampun! Rina didn't bring any small money, either) and exchanged it with a single piece of yellow selendang to be tied around our waist. The old lady just smiled to see us and told us not to worry about the money. 4000 would be OK, she said.
"Terima kasih, Ibu!!!"

THE SKY WAS AMAAAAAAAAZING.

The clouds gathered and made a nice formation with a hollow hole in the middle, where the sunlight got through and created an incredible effect that I don't think Photoshop CS and a pro digital manipulator could do.


Heaven above..

I shot sooo many photos with Gabus' camera (Thanks, Bus!) and got a lot of beautiful nature photos with Rina as my model (I mean... sillhouette model. Hehehehe)


Pura Batu Bolong, Senggigi


Sunset in Pura Batu Bolong, Senggigi. Model: Rina.


*blush*

There were 2 children playing nearby. I greeted them but they were just too shy to have their photos taken. But they kept following us. There was also an old man in traditional Hindu clothing who smiled at us. And later we were talking about the great nature and how we should bless our good life. It was comforting.

The old man left and the children still sticked around. I decided to bribe them.

"Hey tell you what. I'll buy you some roasted corn outside the temple, but you must let me take your pics."

They were happy with the idea. Hihihi... gotcha.

They're my first paid models. Hahaha... Cheap, though. One roasted corn cost Rp 1,000. Hahaha...


Erna and Fauzi

It was fun today.