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So, enough of lying around on the beach, time for some serious exercise! We booked ourselves onto a three day hike of Rinjani mountain which dominates the northern part of lombok. checked into a guest house in Senaru which is in the mountain foothills.
This picture is us starting off, all smiles, on the great trek. Six hours later I wasn't smiling.....!
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The trekking route
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Mark's Journal
Senaru is a pretty cool place in its own right. We walked around and drank Lombok coffee with some guys who ran an activity centre. The views were amazing. We had a meeting in the evening to discuss the trek. We were booked in to do 3 days, 2 nights but a guy from Argentina who had just completed it said his one regret was not taking more time...so we added an extra day. Anyway, it was an early start the next morning and we set off in a truck to the starting point, Sembalun Lawang.
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At position 2 it was still ok to have a laff, we'd only walked about 2 hours and it wasn't very steep. "Baseman" Jason decided to do a rap....
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The campsite....as you can see we were not alone
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The jolly porters
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Mark's Journal
It was a 6/7 hour hike to the top of the crater starting with a slight incline and gradually getting steeper and steeper. The last two hours were hell as the sun was out and I was exhausted...stopping every minute for a break. The view was of course amazing, the crater rim, the lake and the volcano which at first were all hidden by mist were suddenly revealed. It was another half hour walk to the campsite and that just about killed me. I was feeling a bit nauseous, had a headache and just needed to lie down...a bit of altitude sickness no doubt. Then I got some agonising cramps and it was around this point that I realised i'd never make it to the summit which was due to be tackled at 2.30 am.
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Some views from the crater rim.
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View of Gunung Agung on Bali
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The trek to the summit was rather tough apparently...
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Edwards on the summit
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The boys at the top while Jason and I were sleeping!
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Mark's Journal
I was awake around 3am when they set off, had considered going but really was not in tip top condition for another gruelling three hour uphill. Edwards said it was the toughest three hours of his life! Anyway, after breakfast we had to head off down into the crater where camp was made next to the lake. The inner volcano is still active and had a steady stream of smoke rising from it plus the occasional boom was heard...very impressive. Bedtime was about 9pm as there was nothing much to do except play cards under torchlight. Next day was the climb back up and some really superb views. We camped in the rainforest which was a completely different experience...sat around the campfire listening to tunes on our mobile phones!
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The final part of the trek was all through rainforest until we arrived back in Senaru
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The grounds of our hotel
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Mark's Journal
The boys wanted a bit of luxury after four days in the bush so we headed straight of to Senggigi on the coast which is billed as Lombok's upmarket beach resort. Our hotel was plush but situated in vast grounds where you had to walk ten minutes to get anywhere. First night was a piss up but nothing too lairy as Senggigi is in fact rather quiet. Next day made it up for the buffet breakfast which was great....but no sign of Calvert. When he appeared he revealed he's been sick all night, vomiting and with Diahorrea. A few hours later I was reading a book on the verandah when I started to feel a slight bit of stomach pain so went inside to lie down. Edwards phoned to say he was crook so I went to get some medicine for myself.
The main road through Senggigi
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An hour or so later I was completely struck down and only a fraction away from death's door. It appeared Edwards was in the same boat and only Jason had escaped the mystery bug. The next day he went the same way. So, rather ironically, the the place we went to recuperate in was the where we all got really sick!
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After we'd recovered the next stop was Kuta in the south of Lombok
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We decided to try our hands at surfing so were taken off in a boat
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Edwards on the board
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Mark's Journal
Kuta in Lombok was nothing like Kuta, Bali. Quiet, chilled and a surfer hangout it was the best place to recover from our Senggigi experience! We tried our hands at surfing but I hated the experience. Our "instructors" were useless and just used the time to take their own boards out at our expense. The waves were big and offshore...not ideal for the beginner. I gave up after a few attempts and after getting trashed by several enormous waves.
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One of the annoyances of Kuta was these young kids constantly badgering us to buy bracelets and necklaces. We got the idea to organise some "rat racing" with cash prizes to have a bit of fun with them
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Edwards and Jason started to lose the plot after Calvert and me spent so much time on the computer checking our shares!
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Surfing action in Kuta Bali!
What the lens was really focused on!
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Mark's Journal
So, our time in Lombok was over. Jason, Calvert and myself opted to fly back to Kuta whilst Edwards, who's afraid of flying took the boat. We checked into a far nicer place(with pool) in Kuta Bali and I decided to get a crew cut! Last chance to top up on the rays and you can see I very nearly caught Edwards up in the ray stakes
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This is part two of the Indonesian movie with the boys now in Lombok. Scenes from Trawangan, Rinjani and Kuta
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