Gili Islands - Lombok, Indonesia

Our last night in Lombok was spent on Gili Trawangan, the biggest of the 3 Gili Islands. There are no cars on the island - only horse and buggy, which is a nice change from the craziness in Kuta. We walked the whole island in about 3 hours, looking at all the coral that washed up on the beach. The coral is being destroyed by all the activity, which is a bummer. You can imagine that these beaches were pristine and gorgeous before any people came along.

Brennan went scuba diving on Gili Meno and Gili Air. He saw lots of coral and huge sea turtles and said it a great diving spot. We enjoyed our last day of island life before heading back to Bali for our flight.

Puri Mas Resort - Sengiggi, Lombok

Paradise found. We highly recommend Puri Mas to anyone considering a trip to Indonesia. This beautiful boutique resort is located along a beautiful quiet beach north of Sengiggi. The design is incredible - amazing landscaping, beautiful Balinese statues, tasteful bungalows, a classy restaurant, and an infinity pool overlooking the ocean and Bali's volcano.

We LOVED it! The staff learned our names and made us feel like family. A couple of expats (one aussie and a kiwi) live here in huge villas year round - they never want to leave this paradise. The aussie (who looks like a British rocker) is so removed from the world, he asked us if we heard there was an earthquake in China. You mean the one that occurred 3 months ago? Then, he said he kind of heard about a storm in Burma. This guy was a trip.

A group of Russians were also staying there and they were so pleased that we made it to the summit of Rinjani that they bought us a celebratory shot and gave us cake! We feel like we made friends with everyone there (guests and staff), it is so small and intimate. The people thought Brennan was a hollywood celebrity and wanted to take pictures with him :)

After such a tough hike, we treated ourselves to hot stone massages at the spa. The spa, about a 5 minute drive from the main resort, is an exotic retreat nestled in the mountains. Wild animals roam the grounds (huge peacocks, expensive tropical birds - even a toucan!, and creatures we had never seen before with shimmering feathers). I can't even describe it - it feels like you've been knocked on the head and woke up in a fantasy world with mystical creatures and incredible decor, incorporating nature everywhere. And, the massage hadn't even started yet! By the pool, we met another animal lovingly referred to as Osama - check out the pic of Lassie with sunglasses and a turban. He was one cool dog.

We stumbled upon Puri Mas when staying next door at a bungalow and ended up staying 4 nights. It was truly the highlight of our trip. We felt completely relaxed and fully restored after only a couple of days. We cannot recommend this enough (and its only 1/4 of what you would pay at home) - we would love to come back here one day. A truly amazing paradise.

Gunung Rinjani

What an adventure! The Rinjani volcano is the second highest in Indonesia. It blew up a long time ago (maybe one million years ago?) and created a huge crater with a lake at the bottom and another volcano ("baby volcano" as Brennan lovingly calls it). Baby volcano erupted as recently as 2004, when people went trekking to see it!

It was a long 3 day trek to the crater rim, the summit, the lake, the crater rim, and to the village. We awoke the first morning at 5 am to the mosque prayer songs, blasting from the speakers in the village nearby. We met our guide, Ishmael, 5 ft 3in, known to the locals as the "Mountain Devil." Our ride to the beginning of the trek was an adventure in itself - we picked up children on their way to school, stalled 6 times down a road filled with potholes, allowed a guy to ride on top and then jump off the roof 45 min later, and stopped at a grocery store to pick up a case of Bintang beer - great service, huh?

We were nervous at the start of the trek - Rinjani looked so far away - the summit is over 12,300 feet and we started at about 1,800 feet. We made it up to the crater rim in good time (by 4pm), climbing over rivers of hardened magma, hiking above the clouds, and doing the stair master up dirt for the last 2 hours. We set up camp and fought off the monkeys for our dinner. We watched a stunning sunset and set by a fire and saw the most beautiful sky, including the southern cross and the milky way.

At 2:30 am, we awoke to a bunch of Bahrainian sissy boys complaining about their breakfast before the summit hike. If I had ever known the hike would be so tough, I wouldn't have done it. We quickly passed the Bahrainians, and kept trekking towards the summit before sunrise. The first 1 1/2 was a steep ascent in brown dirt with sheer drops on either end - good thing it was dark and we could only see one step at a time because it was really dangerous!

The last hour was pure hell - hiking up at a 60 degree angle on lose gravel. Each step forward required about five steps - and endless stairmaster on the highest level. After the first 15 minutes of this with the cold wind blowing us and seeing the drop off to the lake below, I wanted to quit. But then Brennan started cussing "Rinjani you mf'er!" and I cheered him on. It was scary, cold, and challenging - a total test of one's mental perseverance. I came up with a rhythm of taking 12 steps and then taking 4 breathes and step by step, we made it to the summit an hour later, just as dawn was breaking.

The sunrise was amazing - we were cold and shivering on the summit's edge, with only a few other people that actually made it up (10 people out of 50 attempting). We could see 360 degrees around Lombok, and could see Java, Bali, Samboa, Komodo, and the Gili Islands. The descent down was pretty fun running on the loose gravel - it felt as if we were skiing down, and it didn't hurt when you fell - the soft sand that we cursed going up did us a favor on the way down.

That day, we hiked down to the crater lake and the hot springs for some much needed rejuvenation. Even these simple hikes were tough - steep descents along rocks. When we had to climb back up the crater rim to camp for the next night, I felt defeated - it had been a long day - at least 10 hours of hiking. But the sunset at the crater rim, with the view of baby volcano, was worth it.

We hiked back to the village with mountain devil running down the mountain. The porters who carried our gear and food in flip flops are amazing and sprinted down as well. By the last day, all we could think of was our upcoming spa resort - we were so stoked for hot showers!

It was an amazing experience. Despite it being so strenuous, we are so happy we did it - the view of the stars and the sunrise at the top will always be with me along with the confidence that we accomplished this difficult goal.

Bali

We are spending a few days in Bali on the end of our Lombok stay. We are staying at the most crowded beach, Kuta, which is a big maze of stores, restaurants and surf shops. So far, everyone has been very friendly and we found a great mexican restaurant called TJ's. It's too crammed here for a long stay so we are just doing some souvenir shopping and heading out. There are tons of surfers here. From what I saw, the waves were big and closing out - looked difficult to surf. There are lots of tiny alley ways and streets here filled with scooters - we are constantly dodging them, as well as the alley cats - gross. They also put offerings of flowers and herbs on a banana leaf for the animist spirits. Petrol is sold in absolut vodka bottles in convenience shops as seen in the picture.