I woke very early that morning. Most of the surfers were still sleeping, only some early birds were catching the last waves which were small and inconsistent. I took a walk along he beach, looking for shells and enjoying the morning. It is my favorite time of the day, even though I often sleep in I really like being awake before the others and have some time on my own. I had actually planned to go out and try my luck in the waves but they were so small that it wasn't really worth it to rent a board. I felt really bad about that because I had told myself to wait the day before because it was still quite big for me and going down to low tide which made it very shallow and dangerous for an inexperienced surfer but I wanted to surf that wave, only to be able to say that I have surfed desert point. When I got back from my walk the others were up and we had breakfast while watching the fading waves. Later Bekki and I went for another walk together to say goodbye to this beautiful place before we packed our stuff and ourselves on the bike and started our journey to Kuta.
On the map the most direct way is along the coast and we planned that we would need about 3 hours to get there. We were wrong.
The road led us through nearly untouched regions of the wild Lombok, in which we found tribes that have never seen a "white" man before and discovered formerly unknown species of flora and fauna.
Well... to be honest... it wasn't really that wild but it didn't seem as if a lot of tourists took that road, which is much better described as a path or a track, because everyone we saw on our way would make a huge fuss if they saw us, wave and shout at us and the kids came closer to get a good look. But the "road" also gave us the impression that not too many people who care about such things as a road came along that way because the asphalt was mainly washed away by the rain and it looked more like the course for an off road motorbike challenge than something you would want to travel on. It was very exhausting to drive on such an underground because I had to concentrate on every bump in the road and therefor not take my eyes off it and the seats of such a bike aren't that comfortable anymore after you have spent more than three hours on them. At one point I almost ran over a snake which was on her way across the road because I didn't realize it was one. It was a green snake that was so green that it really looked like plastic and I kept driving towards it because I thought it was a toy. Another time I almost drove us down the side of the road as I lost control over the bike because I had allowed my mind to slip away for a few seconds. I drove straight into a big hole and the bike slipped away underneath us.
The landscape down there however is amazing. Only a few kilometers inland from the flat coast the hills rise up and, mainly in the north, soon become to mountains. It changed so quickly that we didn't even notice at first and once you are on top of the hill you look down on to the reefs and bays that lie beneath you in a beautiful turquoise.
Finally we arrived in Kuta, exhausted and in pain. My bum was hurting like hell because we didn't take a break and we were stuck on that motorbike and because I had our big bag between my legs my feet didn't have enough space on the foot board and my knees were bent outwards which started hurting really badly after some time. We had a look around for a hostel and found one run by a really nice family which was cheap and offered breakfast. We went back into town and I had a swim, glad to wash all the dirt and sweat off at last.
Kuta once was a little fishing village before the first surfers came and made it their central to explore the southern coast of Lombok which offers a huge range of waves hidden in tiny bays and reefs far away from the coast. After the surfers the tourists came and Kuta changed more and more into one of the tourist hot spots on Lombok. Now the main road along the beach is full with souvenir shops, bars and restaurants and all sorts of accommodation and you will not find a single local hut at the beach and no local place to buy food, except the market for which you have to get up early. It has the flair of a town that has been growing too quickly and forgotten the essentials. The beaches and bays around Kuta and the majestic headlands separating these are beautiful though and definitely worth to be seen when you are on Lombok.
We left our hostel after banana pancakes and tea in a very friendly atmosphere under a huge mango tree. Unfortunately the mango season only starts in October and the fruit were still hard and sour. It must be so good to be there when they're ripe. The trip back to SenggigiKuta and Materam. It was about the same distance than the way from desert point to Kuta but we made it in about 2 1/2 hours. It really didn't take us long but I must say that it was really boring to take that way. Always straight ahead, lots of trucks and buses passing and only a few mountains to see in the distance. Back in Senggigi we got our room back and booked a shuttle to the Gilis for the next day. We had rented the bike til 7pm that day so I took it out for another ride up the coast to find a nice beach for a swim. The rest of the day we spent relaxing and started to organize our flight back from Bali to KL.
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