Natural Beauty
- Aug 24, 2016
- 5 min read
Location:
Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia
From time to time, one can find themselves in the most random of places. A world where everything is pre-planned is such a boring world. Life should have more randomness! The best thing about being a backpacker is the freedom that comes with it. Having the freedom to move on as you feel and having the opportunity to not only explore places you have wanted to see but also the places you simply find yourself in. This is a gift not to be taken lightly! A gift to be cherished!
The boat ride to the island was longer than what it should have been. At one point we found ourselves at a standstill in a queue each time we had to enter a port. As the captain turned the engine off as we waited outside one particular port, the wild waters swayed the boat severely from side to side. It was not a pleasant experience. Eventually we found ourselves at our destination, Nusa Lembongan. As the port is quite remote and trying to get a taxi from here is no easy task, on an up, at least our boat ticket includes transport from the port to our hotel. As we all waited, all of us were eventually called and divided into a number of different vehicles.
The drive through the island was not the nicest of drives I have ever had. Let’s just say the scenery was little to be desired. Passing a landfill at the top of the island is something I would rather forget. With waste, flies will cherish and if you disturb them, you might find yourself in a battle to get them off you, which is what happened as the vehicle drove through with many of these small, rather dirty creatures hovering inside our 4 wheeled, open air vehicle. The island in many parts seems to have been forgotten by man’s modern engineering advances for many years. Only now one can begin to witness how the modern world is beginning to reach many parts of the island with buildings being constructed for the first time. Man’s expansion to new territories is even more evident here!
After our ‘Tour’ of the island, we eventually found ourselves at our guesthouse, ‘Kubu Nusa.’ With the accommodation being quite modern and spotlessly clean, it was a good find by my Jay Jay. Being close to the village and the sea is always a plus. In Asia, one has to be careful where they walk, even down tiny little laneways you will always find a man or even a child on top of a scooter! There is no trek immune from Asia’s overreliance on man’s invention of the motorised two-wheel device, often transporting things it really shouldn’t, like whole families and shop owners entire inventory. They seem to squeeze their way down the tightest of routes. Who ever knew they were so useful, and so adaptable. Seeing children driving them with little to no safety is not something one can witness with much enthusiasm, but for these people, it is simply a way of life. Ironically, accidents don’t seem to happen that often with locals, only with tourists that simply don’t understand or respect these vehicles’ and the set of road rules that are completely out of the ordinary for most foregniers.
After making ourselves at home, Jason with his itchy feet was up and rearing to go! Feeling hungry, we made our way over to the beach where we enjoyed a nice coffee, food and a sunset. Surprisingly, the coffee was actually pretty good. On the beach, there were two adorable little puppies. They were so tiny. So cute and adorable! The beach itself is ok, definitely not the nicest we have seen. I guess three years ago we would have thought it was amazing, unfortunately, the more you travel, the higher your standard becomes!
Later on that night, after a stroll through the town, we found ourselves in a bar. No surprises there then. Jason, who loves a game or two of pool, noticing a young couple playing, decides to go up to them and offer to play the winner. Before we knew it, we were having a good night with Daniela from Liechtenstein and Matteo who was from Switzerland. Enjoying their company so much, we met up with them again the following night. To be fair, we did have two very enjoyable nights with them. That’s what we love about travelling, the people you meet and the friendships you create! Now that is special!
Bright and early, it’s a new dawn, it’s a new day! Time for our water adventure. A guy from the tour came to our guesthouse to pick us up. With Asia being the ‘Scooter capital of the world,’ myself and Jason found ourselves on the back of a bike together, being driven down tiny little laneways as we made our way to the beach. Thankfully it was only a very short journey. There wasn’t much room for poor Jason who didn’t know where to put his hands! After a ‘Balinese coffee’ and a short wait, we were on the boat, battling through some rather big waves. Definitely not for the fainted hearted. Up, down, bang, splash! I suppose it makes the tour all that bit more interesting. Who wants calm waters! Sorry, but that’s just boring. We’d rather have ‘Up, down, bang, splash!’
After a bit of a search, the driver stopped the boat and everyone jumped out with our fins and snorkelling gear as we looked for the ‘Manta Rays.’ We had to look down, all the way down, as right on the ocean floor they could be seen. It would have been nice to have been able to have seen them a little bit closer, but at least we got to see them. After a little bit of time with our new water friends, we were back on the boat, heading over to ‘Crystal Bay.’ I thought this part of the tour was my favourite. The coral and the fish were stunning with so many colours of each. The underworld contains an abundance of beauty, but yet we don’t understand just how important it is to keep this fragile world intact for future generations. Let’s just hope, when we are old and I’m pushing Jason in his wheelchair as he is screaming ‘F*** off! Get me a whiskey!’ this beautiful coral still exists. Our final leg of the adventure was pretty cool. All of us jumped out of the boat which then drove off without us, forcing us to catch up with it, by simply letting the current take us. Each of us were dragged by the current as we admired the mangroves beneath with lots of interesting fishes. We must have travelled easily two kilometres by the time we back in the boat, but what an awesome experience! I don’t know about Jay, but I had a really enjoyable morning!
Sometimes, we just need a bit of randomness in our lives. As travellers, we can have our itinerary set out in stone. Or, we can take inspiration from the people we meet along the way or from other places we have visited, and go off plan. We could just make it up as we go along. While it’s great to be organised, it’s also great to expose yourself to a little bit of, ‘Randomness!’ Sometimes it works out well and sometimes it doesn’t, but not taking a risk, well that is just disappointing, especially when you consider what you could be missing out on. While the island is not that big, we didn’t get to see much of it, so I guess we will have to return at some stage. Just not in the near future! If you are reading, please raise your glass or cup, or even just your hands, and join me for a cheers simply to ‘Randomness.’ ‘TO RANDOMNESS, CHEERS!’
By Andrew
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