New neighbours, power cuts and having to pack again!!!

So, as previously described, there were many things which fell into the “out of comfort zone” category, to get used to, in Indonesia. I, as you know, was struggling big time with the bathroom facilities, getting used to the heat and humidity was also taking a while, the general lack of sanitation and the fact that everything seemed to be so basic were issues which I had to come to terms with................oh, and then there were the power cuts. The first time everything went off it was daylight, so beyond a lot of grumbling about the internet.........amazingly this was something which actually seemed to work.........we generally had a really good signal in our “room”, so good in fact that we were able to watch a lot of stuff on the BBC, ............the impact was not significant at all. Of course when the power went off during the hours of darkness it was a very different kettle of fish......particularly if one was in the “bathroom”, and especially so if one was in the middle of washing one’s hair,........this was very tricky as not only was the shower floor extra slippery, but eyes full of soap suds did nothing to assist in the task of negotiating uneven tiles with gravel in between to find the door into the “room”!!! The people of Gili were obviously used to the power going off as everyone had a generator. The procedure was always the same...........everything would suddenly go off.........there would be a pause for about a minute..........then the sound of motors would start up and shortly afterwards normal service would be resumed.

On one particular night the power went off just as we were going out to find dinner........certain hotels along the track got the generators up and running, but a lot of the restaurants were in semi darkness, their only illumination coming from the candles on the tables and the bar-b-que fires. Not that they were a lot brighter when the lights were working......and I for one had no issue with this, apart from not being able to judge much about what I was eating..........in terms of complexion enhancement I was generally all in favour of it!!!!

So, we made our way onto the track and turned in the direction of the run of restaurants along the beach. apart from the candle light all was pitch black!!!Dear Richard was all for making our way a little further on, but there were no lights to be seen anywhere and so I vetoed that idea and we went the other way to where we could not only see where we were going, but also what we were eating as well.

And so to the other hotel guests........there were only about 20 rooms and apart from the Russian family their occupants only tended to stay for a few days Before moving on. We were unusual in that we were staying for three weeks.........and so we witnessed many comings and goings and counted ourselves lucky that no-one had moved into the room next door to us. That is until a young couple from the UK arrived. The walls were thin and we were in a connecting room so there was a door between us and they were either both deaf or lived in very large families where they had to speak loudly in order to be heard above the noise of everyone else. They didn’t talk, they shouted and so we shared their conversation, which was amusing to start with, but quickly became grounds for doing them serious harm. Just when Dear Richard was looking around for sharp implements, they left the room, only to sit outside, she by the pool and he on the patio, shouting into their phones at their families back at home......... and so we shared every word of that conversation............finally they went out and the silence was deafening...........we also went out for dinner.............came back and went to bed................our neighbours had clearly enjoyed a quantity of strong drink when they staggered in at 1am.........slamming the doors and shouting at each other once again............there was a point when I feared that Dear Richard would require to be physically restrained............and then all went quiet............and then they started having sex..........never have I wished so hard for Scotty to beam me up!!!, luckily, the effects of alcohol on key parts of the young man’s anatomy meant that we didn’t have to endure the disturbance for long...........which is just as well, as by that time Dear Richard was at the end of his tether and merry hell threatened to break loose at any moment.

Things didn’t improve much the next day either, and so to avoid having to offer my body to the local chief of police in order to get Dear Richard out of jail, I went to the shack with the counter, where the manager was awake and attending to his duties for a change, and asked if we could be moved to another room. Without turning a hair he offered us alternative accommodation without a connecting door...........and so..........yes you’ve guessed..........we had to pack up all over again and move to the other side of the pool, where we could still hear them shouting on their phones, but it was a lot more peaceful inside and I didn’t have to resort to putting Valium in Dear Richard’s tea in order to prevent him from commiting a regretable, but understandable crime of passion !!!

The packing went well until I got to the things on the shelf in the wardrobe near to the spot where the ant invasion began......as I was taking things.......mostly my knickers I have to say!! ........out of the wardrobe , it became increasingly clear that this was where the ants had decided to set up their new home, and so I had to shake everything vigorously to dislodge them as I had no plans to share my undergarments and delicate areas with a family of displaced insects, thank you very much!!!

The new room was an exact replica of the old one.......except it was a bit cleaner .......we unpacked.....AGAIN.......and decided that as the pool was mostly empty and the shouty youngsters had gone out somewhere to deafen some other unfortunate tourists, we would have a bit of a sunbathe and a swim. We really had to pick our moments to go to the pool, apart from the Russian family, there was a bloke who came out of his hut several times day at the same sort of time, walked to the pool, jumped in, got out and walked back to his hut again. I quickly learnt to get out if I saw him coming as it didn’t matter who was in the pool at the time, or what they were doing, he just jumped in anyway. Several times he narrowly avoided landing on an unsuspecting swimmer.........who didn’t have time to complain as by the time they had come up for air, the phantom bomber was back in his hut having a fag.

And so we settled down by the pool while we there we got chatting to another couple who hailed from up North somewhere. They had been travelling for a month and were only a few days away from the end of their holiday.......he was a custody sergeant.........and she was a hairdresser. I think I upset her a little when I asked if she had her scissors with her as my hair was, by this time, in dire need of some attention......her reply was a little indistinct, but I have a feeling it was along the lines of ” not F**king likely!!!” Later, in one of the bars along the track, we fell into conversation with two women who were seasoned travellers to Bali........and one of those was a police detective.......I was very glad that I managed to talk Dear Richard out of his plans for the shouty couple.........and from then on refrained from discussing any past or possible future misdemeanours in public ...........just in case the people on the next table were also British police persons who might be noting down everything I said in order to use it against me one day.

And so the days passed by............the sun shone almost every day..........sometimes the sky was overcast and it often rained in the afternoon which made using the bathroom difficult.........I would often reflect as I sat on the loo that never before in my life had I had the opportunity to get a sun tan while having a wee........or re-enter the room looking like a drowned rat after paying a visit in the middle of a tropical rainstorm...........and yes I know I could have waited..........but we are in a hot country eating unfamiliar food............thats all I’m saying ......OK!

We attempted to explore the island‘s interior..........what an adventure that was..........we went on foot........there were bicycles to hire at the hotel but I had witnessed on many an occasion the futile attempts of brave tourists......... who obviously thought “let’s give it a go”, and who clearly hadn’t thought through the difficulties one encounters when trying to ride a bike through loose sand!!.......attempting to negotiate the track, with hilarious results as it was nigh on impossible to keep a bike moving, no matter how hard you pedalled. Every now and again there was a patch of firmer sand where the hotel staff had watered it down, but those were few and far between........and so progress for the cyclist was slow and frustrating to say the least. Add to that the constant danger of colliding with one of the taxis, a very real possibility if your attention was focussed on staying upright and not the road ahead or behind, and walking became the safest way of getting around, at least along the coastal track anyway.

And so we ventured along the track and then into the middle of the island. Once we left the sea,the air was so heavy with heat and humidity that we both immediately regretted thinking that exploring was a good idea. The track had morphed into a road of sorts but it was narrow and heavily populated by the cyclists who had managed to free themselves from the sand, other pedestrians and those lethal taxis, which were stopping for no-one. We passed other hotels, many of whom I had checked out on Booking.com, several of which I had almost booked........and I was bloody glad that I had not gone ahead with any of them, if we thought our “hotel“was a dive, then I would have been suicidal if I had booked three weeks in the shacks we passed along that road!! Once again we were reminded of the perils of believing everything that is on the internet...........heaving a huge sigh of relief, we ploughed on through air that was now thick with woodsmoke. We were looking for a supermarket as our biting bastard repellant and sun tan lotion supplies were getting low. We passed shacks offering yoga, shacks where your washing would be done for about 10p an item..........I’m guessing that ironing would be extra at that price!!! Shacks with no proper windows, shacks with very unsavoury looking residents sleeping in the entrance, shacks offering a pool that was nothing more than a large tank full of water and shacks which were either bars or restaurants or both and which had very clearly been missed by the Health and Hygiene officers who regulated such establishments on the island.

By the time we found what passed for a supermarket ( I was stupidly expecting something along the lines of a corner shop...) ........how very wrong was I !!!!, we were both suffering from heat exhaustion and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, as we had narrowly missed death by taxi several times, and the further we ventured into the centre of the island the thicker and more cloyingly hot the air became. I am not one to sweat in large amounts, but even I was considerably further up the scale than moist and Dear Richard was in dire need of a 10p T shirt wash.

And so we entered the “supermarket “ and once again my heart descended into my flip flops............Dear Richard, having lived for a while in the Dominican Republic, didn’t turn a hair, but I’ll be honest I was really struggling.........the heat inside was even more stifling and there was an extremely unpleasant smell..........I couldn’t even start to describe it..........I promptly stuck my nose into my T shirt and adopted the mouth breathing technique I used to use when changing particularly pungent nappies.......it didn’t help...........luckily the merchandise for sale offered very little in the way of choice, and so we selected the few items that we needed most urgently, paid a ridiculously little amount of money, and made a dash for our “hotel”which by now had become considerably more attractive and upmarket. Intrepid travellers it appeared we were not.....and we both decided that we wouldn’t be bothering to investigate the rest of the island anytime soon!!

It was around this time that we started to feel that 3 weeks on Gili Air might be a little too long given the lack of facilities and things to do, we had fallen into an easy daily routine which started with breakfast on the beach.........we were both getting heartily fed up with having the same thing every day, I for one was craving a hot, soft, poached egg on toast......and Dear Richard had started to dream about a full English.........and ended with the F**k you bird serenading us as we went to bed. We still hadn’t managed to find out what it looked like, but had grown quite attached to its evening song and found it highly amusing. And so, we started to consider moving on......which turned into a definite plan when we found a lovely looking hotel on Lombok, a much larger Island, a short boat ride away. We booked both the hotel and a boat, and looked forward to staying somewhere a bit more upmarket ( I had made very sure that our next accommodation did not accommodate its guests in thatched huts and that the bathroom was completely enclosed on all sides and overhead!!!!)

Of course once all this had been arranged we found a place just up the track which served a delicious breakfast, with freshly squeezed orange juice, and .......... this was the clincher......proper lattes........The bar/restaurant was owned by a plump, shifty American called John, who gave a whole new meaning to the expression “smarmy bastard”. He generally held court at one of the tables in the shade near the bar and was loud and full of crap..........we got chatting to him one morning after breakfast......well he chatted, we listened..........ok I wasn’t really listening as he was a one man blow my own trumpet band, but as we went there every day for breakfast he recognised us and when we said we might go there for dinner, made a big thing of saving us a table by the sea ( the restaurant was always busy as the food was actually quite good). Unfortunately the price we had to pay for this was another monologue about how rich he was...........I found it very difficult to stay focussed as I had had a couple of strong vodkas..........but made an effort to ask relevant questions....when he started telling us that his son had been kidnapped and held for ransom by Mexican bandits I’m afraid he lost me completely, I was hungry and having to listen to him banging on about guns and other stuff was the very last thing I wanted to be doing. To give him his due though, his staff were all very well trained and the food was very good, but thats all the lee way I was prepared to give, otherwise he was a knob of the first order, and if it hadn’t been for the breakfasts he wouldn’t have seen us for dust!!!

And so the last few days on Gili, were saved by breakfast. We enjoyed our morning repast on the terrace looking out over a slightly different bit of beach and dreamed of the luxury which our next hotel looked to provide.........the only downside was of course..........packing our bloody cases once again!!!