Trip to the Rinjani

During Our Christmas break Ade, Inge and I decided to go to the Rinjani for two nights.

It was quite an adventure to climb the third biggest volcano in Indonesia with my old moped. Sometiems the road was so steep, I almost had to push my moped up the hill!

We stayed at the Rinjani Mountain Garden, Inge and Ade have been there several times. It is a beautiful tiny resort on the northern slope of the Rinjani. Beautiful view!

And the owners are German so I got my long awaited homemade German food!

The journey to the Rinjani turned out to be a real odyssey though. We passed so many great places that we just had to stop and take pictures. It took us a long time to get there.

 

After we stopped in Senggigi to buy snacks and water, we took a little break here, to take pictures of the view. Behind Inge and me you can see the Gili Islands.

 

And again, the three Gilis. Gili Trawangan, Gili Menor and Gili Air...if I remember correctly.



Concession stands are all over the place because tourists stop here often to enjoy the view.
And people always try to sell you stuff. Sometimes they sell young coconuts. They cut the top part open, put in a straw and you can drink the fresh coconut milk.

  

One of the many bays at the west cost f Lombok. Nice vacant beaches with clear blue water.



Our next stop. Ade's and Inge's moped had a flat tire. Poor Ade had to push the moped all the way to this repair shop.
Funny how they fix a flat tire here. Because the people have no money they have to be really creativ when it comes to fixing things. To repair a flat tire they melt the part with the whole back together. Tada! Works! Who needs a new tire?

 

The next stop. We are getting closer, the sand is already dark from the volcano ashes.



This time, it's a coffee break. It is so exhausting to be on a moped for so long in the heat.



 I also met my new friend there. Isn't he so cute with his yellow back. The first huge spider I saw here and Inge keeps saying 'Oh, this one is still small!'....aaahhhh

 

Our last stop was rather undeliberate. It started raining heavily and we decided to stop and wait for it to stop. This is me in my rain cape.



We finally arrived and it tuned out, the long journey was worth it. :)



Inge and Ade slept in this Bungalow. Of cause they slept in the top part, this mattrass was just to relax during the day. And we did, all day long. It was awesome!



 

  

And here again, an amazing view.



Inge and I. She read 'White Masai' and I 'Kafka on the shore'.
There is no better way to relax.



And this was my humble abode. It was a luxurious version of a 'ricefield house'. While the workers were working on the ricefields they stayed in little provisional bamboo houses. And at the end, when all the rice was harvested, the houses were burned down together with the rest of the rice plants.

 

Ayu and Rocko. Rocko is only 2 months and a huge puppy. Ayu, his mother, is already very old. Those two live at the Rinjani Mountain Garden.



You meet all kinds of animals in the middle of nowhere. No Idea what this was but it looked harmless.



This fellow, however, didn't look harmless at all. This is not my first Komodo Dragon I have seen on Lombok, but it's always exciting to meet one.

 

The Rinjani Mountain Garden is surrounded by ricefields.





The Rinjani.



There's a fish pond in which you can swim also.



Ade, going for the duoble-decker...



...and failing. :D

 

But I didn't do any better. :D

 

 

Ade and me, sitting in a berugak. On our way home we stopped for dinner in a restaurant at the beach.

 

 We were watching the sundown while waiting for our orders.



It was a really nice trip and I am looking forward to going there again next month with my brother and my father who are coming to visit me.

We also went to a couple of waterfalls on our way back, but more to that later. 

Dengue Fever

Hello everyone,

I've got some bad news from the Oasis. Last Thursday Inge and Ade decided to close the Oasis for now because there were just too many cases of dengue fever in the village. Since then, the number of sick people has been steadily increasing. Jagaraga is a really small village and almost 40 people are sick and 13 of them are kids from the Oasis. Many have already been hospitalised since this illness is really none to play around with.

In some cases the dengue fever turns into 'Demam Berdarah' and when the fever sinks the number of thrombocytes also sinks extremely. If the number of thrombocytes sinkes too much, the patient will need blood transfusions. And getting a blood transfusion is not easy here! Usually that means that the relatives of the patient have to start looking for donors themselves.

As you can tell, it is a serious illness, so in order to not get infected, too, and since not many kids would come anyway, the Oasis was closed down for now.

The 'bathroom'.

We don't know yet when we are going to open up again. That depends entirely on the villagers of Jagaraga. The dengue fever is spread by mosquitos and there are way too many in the village right now.

That't because it is so dirty. The people usually don't have drains and all the water from cooking, cleaning plates and washinig themselves can't drain away, which makes perfect breeding places for mosquitos. And all the trash that is everywhere makes it perfect for mosquitos.

No, this is not a junkyard. It used to be a lawn.

Before the village is cleaned thoroughly the number of mosquitos is not going to decrease and therefore the dengue fever will not go away either. Unfortunately the people don't feel responsible for all the trash and don't seem to want to clean up anytime soon.

 

Let's hope that everything gets better and that we can open up the Oasis again as soon as possible.



This Ibu just casually hangs up her laundry next to a pile of trash. Cleaning it up would never come to her mind or to anyone elses. Usually people here wait for the government to clean up because they feel that it is their responsibility.



I don't even want to know WHAT all this is! But this dirty water must've been standing there for a loong time!



Since there are no drains there are always puddles of water next to the wells, the cooking and the washing places.



The department of health already got involved. In this picture they are showing a cartoon movie about giant mosquitos who are attacking the village to the people. An important issue. The whole village was supposed to come but only women ended up coming. Apparently the matter wasn't important enough to require the mens presence.



Of cause we did a grand clean up at the Oasis! :)

Nasi for everyone!

 Before the Hollidays we had a special event at the Oasis. One of the sponsors decided to sponser a meal for every child. Every Tuesday a cook, Om Alwi, comes to the Oasis to teach the SMP kids how to cook. So this time they cooked a lot of Nasi Goreng, enough for everyone.

Cooking with Om Alwi.

The children are always looking forward to Tuesdays, because that means everyone gets something to eat. Not much though, of cause. But every child has to be able to try a little. Like this one time, when they made donuts with jam (Berliner), they made many very little ones, so that everyone could have a bite.

Astawa making the sauce.

And this is how it turned out in the end. Doesn't it look delicious?

Many kids means a LOT of Nasi Goreng!!!

Inge explains everything first.

The kids were very excited and liked it very much!

And everything was gone within minutes!

Isn't the little one on the left so cute! :D

Dear sponsor,

Thank you for this delicious meal. 

The children enjoyed it very much and were so happy about it!

Sincerely,

Lara and the Oasis

Happy new year!

Selamat tahun baru!

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year!

While you guys probably enjoyed Christmas time by going to Christmas markets, decorating your house and eating delicious food from morning till night, I didn't get to do any of this. 

No Christmas decorations, no snow and no bratapfel for Lara this year.

Since most of the people here are muslim people don't celebrate it.

Fortunately Inge, Ade and I were invited for dinner on Christmas Eve by a muslim couple. I know, funny constallation, a muslim couple preparing Christmas Eve for christians. But it was really nice, the food was delicious and they have a piano we played Christmas songs on. Not to forget, they have a big pool in the backyard! My first Christmas on which I jumped in a pool. :)

Me, enjoying Christmas Eve.

Of cause we don't have Christmas trees in Indonesia, but some girls of the Oasis made one for me and everyone wished me a merry Christmas. This little tree made my Christmas! :)

Playing Christmas songs on the piano. This little girl has lots of talent!

So I, too, had a nice and calm Christmas.

New Years was very special!

We spend the night in the Oasis with the children from 5th till 9th grade. A big sleepover which they were soooo excited about! Inge and Ade wanted to surprise the kids and bought a New Years- trompet for everyone.
Ade was to shy to bring them with the motorcycle, so Inge and I had to take a taxi to the Oasis.

And that's what it looked like:

We decorated a lot, to get in the right mood.

Unfortunately some of the kids had the Dengue fever. Bunter did, too, and it was not only New Years but her birthday also. So we brought her a birthday cake with candels. She and many others are still sick, some of them even in the hospital. Since so many people in Jagaraga are sick, I got off for the rest of the week, because the risk of getting the Dengue fever, too, is pretty high and moscitos have always liked me!

She turned 15. Kadek and Ilu gave her the cake.

If you walk through the village there are always at least two kids that follow you. :) In this case, Ayu, Pandu, Leber and WK.

We had special visitors that day! Katharina and Bastian came from afar to celebrate New Years with us. Ida Ketut came also.

Dion and I.

The kids made Kolak. An Indonesian specialty. It is sweet and eaten warm. With bananas, coconut and jelly. Delicious, but you can only eat a little or you will get a sugar shock.

We told each other stories about the last year and talked about what we were thankful for and shared our hopes for the year 2012. Some of the hopes were that 2012 will not be the end of the world...they watched the movie 2012 and actually believed that the USA was already gone and that Indonesia would also be destroyed in 2012. Despite all the explaining some of them are still convinced that it was not just a movie.

Later we sang, played games and watched a movie!

Let's get the party started.We played 'journey to Jerusalem'.

Leber obviously had fun playing this game.

Not yet twelve o'clock and everybody fights sleepyness after watching a movie.

YAYY, finally New Years!!! Everybody, grab a trompet!

Ranti, Moni, Mayang, Ayu and I at the berugak. We were too loud trompeting, so Inge send us away. ;)

Budi. Tired but still trying to make as much noise as possible. After all, when will they get a chance like this again???

Inge and I slept in the berugak. Or at least tried to, the kids weren't really ready to sleep...ever.

Still resisting sleep by trompeting from time to time.

The troulemakers Budi, Made G and Astawa FINALLY fell asleep, too.

It was wonderful and the kids had a lot of fun!

I hope you all enjoyed New Years just as much as we did!

Have a great year 2012!