It is 08.30 local time, and at our request we were woken with breakfast on our verandah to the sound of crashing waves.
However, first things first. We arrived at CGK from SYD at 17.30 local time in Jakarta, as ALH is still dealing with mobility issues after the accident, we were met with wheelchair assistance. What we hadn’t counted on was the speed and efficiency. First off, straight through passport control (we didn’t even have to stand at the passport counter), then queue jumped through customs without being questioned then straight to the kerb side for our shuttle to the domestic terminal (1B). The terminal while close, requires a long and winding drive, with the shuttle bus driving what seemed to be long distances only to double back on the route. It’s complicated, but for those who have transited in CGK to Domestic terminals, you know what I mean.
This is where we began to slow down. We initially had just under 3 hours on the ground before our connection to LOP. This stretched out to nearly 5, as the flight (Lion Air) was delayed for. Thankfully the terminal was nicely air conditioned. The flight was in a single class (no seat recline) 737 (900 ER?) which was barely 20% subscribed. After being up since 05.00 BNE time, we were beginning to feel the weight of sustained flying, flounging and waiting at the gate. I was in dire need of a sleep, even trying to lie down across 3 vacant seats wasn’t working for me. So it was with great relief we finally landed, and as with boarding we were disembarked via stairs to the tarmac. Interestingly, we had a gate change included in our delayed flight, this required a walk down the air bridge, then a 3 flights of stairs to the tarmac, a bus ride to the next gate, then another 3 flights of stairs to walk up to the air bridge for boarding. All fairly chaotic with no one in charge. As we are travelling HLO and ALH still not fully fit, it was left to me to carry our bags. Dragging them is a piece of cake, balancing them on stairs which are not in perfect repair was something else.
However we managed, without incident to make it onboard.
Once on the ground at Lombok International airport, we were assailed by a legion of taxi touts and sundry tour operators. As we had a transfer arranged this was a mild annoyance, mainly due to the fact that our driver was waiting, not in the terminal arrivals hall, but in the airport car park. He eventually found us (after we hastily obtained some local currency from an ATM) waving his A4 sheet of paper with our name printed on it.
By this time, I’m really ready for bed, only to have my hopes shattered by the news that we now had an additional 1 hour drive to the resort :-(
However, I was just pleased to no longer be in an aircraft.
The drive was interesting, not that we could see much, as it was now quite dark.
The traffic was light (it’s past midnight) and this seems to encourage all of the local domestic dog and cat population to sit in the middle of the road, or wander on and off it at will. We needed some skilful driving by our minivan driver to avoid two near certain collisions with a dog and cat respectively.
What little traffic there was seemed to be mostly confined to large numbers of young men and women riding around, or parked on the side of the road, without using any safety gear, helmets etc.
They appear to drive with an almost sullen disrespect for other drivers, riding 2 and 3 abreast, and as close to the centre line as possible. Yet everyone seems to make it work. It is certainly much less harrowing than driving in Bali!!
So nearly an hour later, we pulled into Qunci Villas and began our check in process. We declined the quick tour of the resort as we were really quite done in by then.
And so to bed.
Our first encounter this morning is with “Andie” who brought our delicious breakfast, he will return in an hour with a cappuccino for us before we head poolside .
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