Lombok, My three days spent mainly in my Hotel Room

I thought I would be able to sum up my time in Lombok in one post because most of the details I want to leave out for your sake, as this was the location that I would finally be ridden with Bali belly. With that being said, it was a good place for it to happen, as it was the first day of my trip here, meaning I could stay in bed the whole time and didn't have to worry about missing a ferry or flight. I had a big, clean, and cozy hotel room to myself, and it was a homestay and the owners were helpful in times of need which was nice. One big downside was that it fell over my birthday, and I wasn't fully recovered meaning I had to cancel my big boat trip to Komodo Island. But, on the bright side, I decided to spend those three days back in mainland Bali. I was so sad to leave mainland Bali, and I feel like this is my opportunity to bookend my Indonesia leg with one more stop here, and relish in the gifts of the island and give it a proper send off, feeling more content about the time I gave to this island.

To start back up with my day, August 3rd I moved from Nusa Lembongan to Lombok via ferry. I went to this amazing breakfast place that I wish I knew about earlier and could have come back. What was so perfect about it was that I craved both savory and sweet for breakfast but could never have the best of both worlds, I was always required to pick one. But, here they offered a “vegan board” that had my favorite avocado scrambled tofu sourdough toast along with some fruit and a chia pudding. I also got a coffee to fuel my day and it was a yummy and filling meal. I am glad that I had that because the boat trip ended up being much longer than I anticipated. 

I was an hour early for my first ferry, so I thought this time I’d only be 30 minutes early, not wanting to miss my boat to Lombok, and again I was the first one there. Lesson learned, even later for these ferry rides. I read my book while waiting, finally finishing it and starting a new one (current read: The Millionaire Next Door). Finally, it was time for us to board the boat and this time I was also smart and wore my water shoes instead of tennis shoes. I waded into water up to my knees so thank goodness I had those on. While I was waiting to board the boat, a teacher from Barcelona who was traveling solo as well charmed up a conversation with me and the both of us tackled this ride together. Sitting by each other and helping out the other when needed. She was about 15 years older than me but was so kind and helpful, likely thinking I was this youthful child like one of her students that was in much need. And this boat ride did put in me in a state of distress that I did take her up on it. 

It was three hours in a sauna of a boat. I was ok at first, we got put in the upper level because we were the last stop and we were cramped tight in this small room with a few seats and our body heat radiating off the already existing heat from the sun. I wore my typical travel wear, long pants, and I was boiling in them. And I had no food. It got to the point where I was getting some heat sickness and I asked my new friend next to me if I can sit by the door to get some airflow, and kindly they let me even sit outside the doors and under the shade with the wind blowing past me, cooling me down to a more appropriate temperature. 

We had a few stops to make before we got to Lombok, and one was to an incredibly busy island, Gili T, where we had to wait for almost 45 minutes in the bay before it was our turn to go to the dock to drop off the people. I think I could have swam to Lombok in that time (not really but it was so close it felt like it). We were just a 15 minute boat ride away from our destination but were stopped here for ever so long to make a stop that wasn't a necessity for the Lombok crew, but here we were. It was quite frustrating having to wait to port, wishing we just had our own boat. But we preserved and I was beyond relieved when we finally pulled up to the dock, dropped off the Gili T people, and made it to our island. 

I got a car to my hotel so I could drop off my stuff before grabbing some desperately needed food. I got dropped off finally, it being close to 3pm at this point. I threw the bag off my shoulders, and took a minute to enjoy my lovely homestay. It was actually a really nice, big, clean room. I was happy with what I got, as some of my other places were fine, livable still but not ideal. Here was actually more of a luxury than I anticipated. I looked up places for food and found a walkable place about 15 minutes from me and on the beach, score. 

I walked there, and upon arrival I walked through this palm tree field with some cows roaming around which was actually really peaceful and pretty. The restaurant was really cool, it was called warung coconut beach, and I got my own little hut that had a low table and cushions on the floor for a seat.

I ordered some tempe and rice, along with a coconut water to get some electrolytes back in my body, and then a fruit platter for dessert. I stayed at this adorable table for a while, it was very comfy and had an incredible view of the ocean. The one thing about this island compared to Bali is that it is not busy whatsoever. You feel as though you have this beautiful place all to yourself which made it feel so special. I was one of few people that was at the restaurant, I just chilled there until sunset, which I migrated to the beach and saw it from there. It was so gorgeous as you could see a balinese mountain in the background and the shades of orange that flooded the beach were spectacular.

I walked back to my hotel, making a stop for a snack at the local convenience store, but then taking the rest of the night to take a call with a friend from home. Funny enough, I mentioned that I hadn’t gotten Bali belly yet, lucky me, and as soon as I hung up I felt a little funky before going to sleep, hoping it wasn’t anything to serious… boy was I pranked.

August 4th, the next day, Because I was half asleep for most of it, I didn’t fully understand the pain I was enduring so that was nice that I don’t remember it as well, but in the morning I was worn out. In sum, I got food poisoning from my dinner and spent the night sick. My body was tired but I didn’t feel terrible. It was my first full day in Lombok and I didn’t want to just sit in my bed all day when I felt alright, maybe a 5/10 energy and I’ve done more feeling worse, so I thought after a few hours in bed I was totally capable of at least going to a cafe on the beach. 

I took a scooter to the beach, called my mom and grandma to catch up. I also did contact my sister as I do anytime I have a medical question (and I do this because I LOVE it when she reaches out about a finance question because what better use of our college education than to help the people we love the most when they need it). Rena was very helpful, taking my call when she was at a wedding because I wanted to know the best way to treat this. 

At the cafe, I ordered a coffee because I got breakfast at my hotel, a cup of tea, banana, and toast. It wasn’t the best but it was nice and plain which is what I needed at the time. It was a bit to early to have coffee for what my stomach went though last night, so I left the cafe with my hand gripping my gut because I was now in pain that I hadn’t felt yet. I was planning on ordering lunch there, but I became more sick that I no longer had the appetite anymore, and I also wasn’t testing my luck anymore with the food I get. Lombok doesn’t have as many trendy cafes that you can trust to use clean water in their cooking, so I was on edge now about where I was eating, as it was my local dinner place last night that did me in. 

So, I found a nice western bakery, hoping I could pick up sourdough and peanut butter because for some reason that sounded so nice and plain for me to eat. But, they only had a farmers bread with some seeds on the outside, and it was good for when I had it, but soon I would get sick of it too that I couldn’t eat it anymore. I picked up the bread and a jar of peanut butter and then got a grab back to my place. I was feeling much more weak and realized that I pushed myself well past the point I should have. I learned my lesson though, I had to give it a shot and show myself that I really didn’t have the strength to do what I thought I could. I was back at my hotel and I spent the rest of the day in bed. I worked on my laptop and did random things to catch up from all I had piled up for me to do, or passion projects on my laptop I haven’t had the time to do that I could now finally tap into. 

I had recovered a bit after my four pieces of peanut butter bread that I wanted to see the beautiful sunset, like what I witnessed the night before. I wanted to go somewhere closer but didn’t want to pay for a grab to just go to the beach and back. I regret that. I had to walk along the highway in order to get myself to an area in which I would have any shot at an unobstructed view of the sunset. I made this last minute decision to muster the energy to go watch it that I was fighting the clock, all in which I walked 15 minutes to a spot I thought I could see the sunset, then in fact not be able to, to then have to walk back in the dark and my body more tired again because I pushed it once more when I shouldn’t have. I was mad at myself I even went out to see the sunset because I did not end up seeing it and instead tired myself out on a 30 minute walk in which I was uncomfortable the whole time because I was wearing shorts in a muslim country and I learned my lesson for that as well, ugh, the struggles I was going through today. Literally all I wanted was someone to hold me and give me a hug. I just went to bed after that, watching a little more of the karate kid and then calling it a day.

August 5th One day until my birthday and I was still feeling so worn down from my sickness. I was barely eating and the same happened today. I actually listened to myself and stayed in bed all day. What helped passed the time the most was the three hour phone call I had with slaks, it feels so good catching up with my friends, finally having the time for these genuine conversations, and obviously we had enough to talk about for that long that it was much needed. I stayed in bed after that, worked on my laptop literal all day, getting my website ready to the point I would be confident enough to share it with everyone. 

The day passed and I didn’t do much wanting to feel better for the next day as that was my birthday. I was feeling fine, tired but not the worst, until the night. Around 5pm, I think I starved myself all day that I got too hungry to the point that by the time my food arrived, I had one sniff and was nauseous, and then one bite sent me to sickness. I was literally so weak and just gave up on having food, knowing that I needed it but maybe not at this exact time. It was really disheartening to get this sick, I cried a bit because I was in that much pain from being sick. I called my sister again about what to do now, and then I caved and told my mom that I was sick and she was really reassuring and less worried than I thought so it was good that I finally told her. I just thought sleep was what I needed, so I just passed out at 7pm. At 10pm, I woke up starved. To hungry to the point I felt even more ill and my stomach retching with pain. I was craving something, I clung onto that food as I knew my homestay had it because they served it every morning for breakfast, banana. I stumbled into the kitchen with a hunchback, my whole arm gripping my stomach, searching rampantly for a banana. I finally found a bag of them and took two and went back to my room to have them. They were literally so young and not ripe enough to the point they weren’t even edible. I went back out because I was literally that hungry and desperate and just knew there must be one ripe banana there. This time I went out a worker saw me in the act, and I didn’t even care about my criminal acts, I went back in the kitchen to look for a ripe banana. He spoke up and asked me if I needed help and I desperately exhaled a yes. Told him I was gravely ill and needed a ripe banana. He found some thank the lord and gave me all three because of the plea he probably could see in my eyes. He asked me if I was sick, I responded “very” and stumbled back to my room having no energy to continue a conversation past that point. I could not believe when I got the whole banana down, kept it down, and my stomach pain subsided to the point I could go back to sleep. I woke up at 3am hungry again, and with more of an appetite, I looked over at the cinnamon roll I ordered at dinner time because I wasn’t sure what I would be hungry for and I definitely needed the calories, and thankfully I ordered that because it did just the trick. I was able to keep it down, so desperate for food that I enjoyed the sweetest of it but it was more eaten out of survival than enjoyment and I was so happy that I was already able to keep food down. I went back to bed until 7am and I got up to examine how I felt. 

I had plans to go to Gili Air with Maya and Charley who I met on the Nusa Penida day trip, but I almost canceled on them twice because I was so sick. I was also trying to rush myself to feel better for my Komodo Boat trip that was a four day three night tour around the Indonesian islands and I was going to be sleeping on the deck of the boat and sharing one bathroom with twenty people. That no longer sounded desirable as I was so sick the thought of being trapped on a boat was my new nightmare. So once I canceled that, with my mom encouraging me to not worry about the deposit loss, I was also well on board with that because it would mean that I could go back to mainland Bali and enjoy my favorite place for a few days longer. Also, that meant that I could put all my energy into following through on my birthday plans as it broke my heart thinking I would spend the day in bed. So I went to Gili Air, read about it in the next post!

P.S. I took almost no photos when I was sick hence why they stopped after the sunset the first night