Back to Oz !

Wed been doing it real tough at the Sheraton Sengiggi making decisions that even Bear Grylls would have struggled with - how many of the available 75 courses for breakfast could we possibly stomach, how many hours could one swim in the Hotels tropical style swimming pool without becoming a prune and how cheap could we possibly get an Indonesian T shirt for !

In search of the answer to the latter we decided to leave our hotel by the beach front heading into Sengiggi noting previously that hawkers had been kept to a certain point on the beach front by the hotels security guards.

We soon found out why that exclusion zone existed when we were accosted from all angles by people selling everything from pearls to sunglasses sadly though for us at a price higher than that at the nearby shops we'd visited yesterday.

Not wanting to discourage the local black market economy though we bought up enough tee shirts to allow us to make a gracious escape with a number of shirt hangers indicating they'd look out for us on the way back !

Even at 9.00 the heat and humidity was oppressive with the sweat just rolling down your foreheads forcing us into a quick retreat back to the hotel and of course the swimming pool - what else !

Having checked out we spent most of the afternoon poolside before finally jumping into our prebooked car for the 1plus hours journey back to Lombok airport. While our outgoing driver delighted in sharing historical and geographical Lombok facts our returning driver seemed more interested in the macabre- "see that pool of blood / smashed motorbike - the rider is dead our driver said bluntly - " no helmet no licence no rules" he remarked as a general comment about the thousands of scooter riding Indonesians who ride accordingly while compressing 5 lanes of traffic into one !

Back at Lombok airport we coincidentally had the same guy who dealt with our missing luggage a week ago checking us in - "hope you don't lose your bag this time" he said with a wry smile !

Having met up with Mark and Katrina who'd also been luxuriating at a Senggigi resort for the last couple of days (read bored with nothing to do) we progressed through Customs to the departure area where I realised with some aguish that I'd left my i pad at the Sheraton Resort

In an amazing act of customer service a phone call soon had them racing to Lombok airport with my IPad making it just 5 minutes prior to our boarding - Wow with a big W !

Now back in KL it's one final lazy day of more relaxing (did we really trek Nepal) before we head back to OZ tonight courtesy of our midnight flight - after a week of oppressive heat were looking forward to it !

R&R Days - Gilli Air & Sengiggi Indonesia !

A pre requirement (Monika & Katrina) to trekking in Nepal was that we'd spend some days recovering doing "nothing" prior to our return to OZ !

With that in mind and a number of Thai and Malaysian Island destinations off the list because of the extreme weather conditions pre monsoon we thought we'd try the sauna like conditions of the reputedly beautiful Gilli Islands a 3 hour flight from KL in Indonesia !

Gilli Air has a reputation for being quiet and we couldn't have picked better - no motorised transport (donkey carts , push-bikes and a few electric scooters) no activities other than swimming, drinking and eating and you guessed it after 2 days I was starting to go stark raving mad ! The beaches were OK the locals were great (so was our accommodation) but the average age of those on the Island was a little over 16 - just under our age group !

From Gilli Air we escaped back on to the Lombok mainland to the Sheraton Sengiggi a resort where against doing nothing is the main aim !

The Sheraton though has offered us some unique firsts -

- Where arriving cars and luggage are checked for bombs - makes you feel a little less comfortable!
- Where the hotels gym has the most unneeded attraction a sauna where simply stepping out into the sun (32c and 100% humidity) is enough to have you sweating bucket loads in seconds !
- Where I sighted my first full sunbathing burqa covered woman - yep you guessed it she had to put sunscreen on her nose and her feet the only uncovered bits on her whole body !

Needless to say both Gilli and the Sengiggi have offered us a chance to relax and add back a few of those KGs lost from Nepal !

I will progressively update the blog with trip photos - in the interim have a look at how tough were doing it post Nepal !