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.