[tabs]
[tab title=”The Details” icon=”icon-entypo-info”]Date: 9 March 2011 to 11 March 2011
Where I’ve Been: Kuta, Lombok – Indonesia
Where I’ve Stayed: Tri Putri Guesthouse. [/tab]
[/tabs]
Earlier this week something happened that made me realise the enormity of what I have done over the past 18 months and just how quickly that time has gone.
Celebrity Status
It happened on Thursday evening (10 March) when Cristina and Lisa, who I am travelling with, and I went for dinner at a little Warung in Kuta, Lombok where we were. That evening we had made our way to the view point in Kuta, where, alongside a few other backpackers, we watched the sunset. It was lovely evening.
As we walked back we stopped for dinner in the Warung where some of the other backpackers sat round a table chatting and eating.
The group was made up of a mixture of nationalities and were reeling off where they had been and what they had seen. As each person told their story there was a gasp and murmur of appreciation as one of the group told the others about their eight months of travelling.
Finally it got to me and I explained I was one year, 5 months and 3 weeks into an 18 month trip. All of a sudden I felt like a mini celebrity as they seemed stunned by how long I had been travelling and fired questions at me about where I had been and where they should go.
Suddenly my mind went back to my first night in Bangkok almost a year and a half ago, when I’d met someone who had been away for 11 months and I couldn’t get my head around being away for that period of time and having seen so many places, met so many people and experienced so many things.
Now I was that person.
Don’t mix up your Kuta’s…
After 18 months on the road I fly home in just a couple of days. I’ve really enjoyed spending most of my last week in Kuta, Lombok, which is in stark contrast to Kuta, Bali.
Whereas Kuta, Bali is busy, bustling, packed with restaurants, bars, accommodation and people trying to sell you stuff Kuta, Bali is very much untouched by the tourist industry in comparison.
I spent my couple of days there Lisa who I met on Gili Meno. We stayed in pretty basic accommodation but it met our needs. We spent our days wandering around this little town and perhaps my 18 months on the road affected my perception of it.
I am sure if you had thrown me here 18 months ago, fresh from England, I would have been amazed by the dramatic rolling hills, the lovely beaches, the cute little warungs and locals selling their wares.
As it was, having seen the Gili Islands, Ko Phi Phi and Ko Pha Ngan and the Yasawas it was nothing out of the ordinary for me. Simply a nice little place too relax and reflect on my trip.
All Change?
Kuta, Lombok is well worth a visit though and immensely preferable to Kuta, Bali. Lisa and I had some relaxing afternoons sitting in a little hut on the beach watching various types of wildlife wander past and the cute little monkeys that hang around!
It is a strange place because at the time of writing they are building a huge international airport on the outskirts of Lombok so there are these massive roads, extremely well made by Indonesian standards and no traffic!
I hope the new airport, when it opens, doesn’t change the face of this sleepy little town, but I think it is inevitable it will.