Lombok: Day 7

After listening to our British friends' idea, we thought renting scooters sounded like the perfect way to see the island! Especially since our hotel was a little outside the city. We asked our front desk to help us locate a few "motorbikes". Note, that is not what we wanted. We wanted scooters. Automatic. Small, easy to control scooters. After a trip to their shop, they returned to the hotel with what wanted.

Next, we negotiated a price. We got them for the day (til the next morning) for 65,000 rupiah. That's like $7. Awesome! We signed a sheet of paper with the license plate number and our hotel name on it and when they asked is we had an international driver's license and we replied "No", their response, "That's ok, no problem." No insurance, no credit card, no medical waiver.

We rode with them back to the shop to get a different helmet for Krystal and a map and we were off! First stop, the Scuba shop. We found the place recommended by Lonely Planet and signed up for a two-dive trip the next day.  Next stop, gas. They brought the bikes to us with no gas, but assured us if we returned them with more, "it would be alright..." I'm sure it would be buddy.

Gas is either sold at a station for about 4500 rupiah a liter (like 50 cents) or on road side stands like this for about 6000. Yes that's gas. And those are probably old vodka or whiskey bottles.

We found a road side stand and got some gas. Here's a video Krystal made:

Our original plan was to check out a few markets in the towns further south of Sengiggi. Most of the towns turned out to be pretty sketchy so we didn't make many stops. We just zipped around and enjoyed the scenery. Well, I did. Krystal, the nurse, kept thinking about the head trauma we might suffer and how there were no hospitals. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.

We stopped for lunch at a hotel that we had tried to stay, but was booked. It was a bummer because the scenery there was beautiful! Sand between my toes while I eat lunch, perfect!

We continued our drive along the coast and stopped to take pictures at some of the look outs.

We stopped in a few antique shops and did some shopping before heading to one of the highest points on our side of the island to watch the sunset.

This was another day we thought we might die, but that's probably pretty obvious. I really enjoyed the scooter when we were on an open road, but when we got to an intersection with no stop light, cars, scooters and horse-drawn carriages, then it got a little sketchy. It ended up being one of my favorite days of the trip. Maybe I'll have to get a scooter when we get back to the states!