Lombok, Indonesia

I have been in Indonesia for three days. I have written hardly anything and only in my notebooks. I have had time to write only notes. 

It's been quite strenuous. On the first day I was getting over the travel fatigue and getting used to the heat. We had slept only for an hour and a half before we had to jump on the plane in Beijing. I got a couple of hours of sleep on the plane, thankfully, otherwise I could not have made it through the day. Both of our planes were delayed and when we finally arrived in Lombok and got to go to bed, it was already almost midnight. The whole day had been lived on just a three to four hours of sleep. 

Sleep is a big deal for me. I need to sleep. Especially when I am travelling and having new experience after another, I need a lot of time to recharge my mental and physical batteries. That kind of day that the travelling day was completely wore me out. Just one night of sleep wasn't enough to restore me, especially as the body and mind were simultaneously getting used to the new and different environment. 

And the environment on Lombok is different indeed. I can't even begin to explain all the different aspects of it – it feels like there are too many. 

The people and the animals of this island are strongly touched by death and disease. The island itself is still lush and thriving, but you can see the signs of how the people – both local and tourist – are exploiting and slowly destroying it. There is too much plastic trash around and the waste management is very poor. Lombok is growing faster and becoming more popular than it can handle. Tourists who have been fed up with neighbor island Bali's high prices and tourist masses are now migrating to Lombok which is seen as cheaper, less crowded and more authentic. But of course, that is quickly changing as the local people are trying to accommodate the newcomers. 

There are a lot of animals on Lombok and there are a lot of dead, dying and diseased animals as well. I don't know why. Most of the island's cats are born without or with a short tail because of incest. Dogs get run over by cars. Accidents happen everywhere. And when the animals get sick or hurt, it happens so much that the locals have started feeling powerless about it. It would require massive collective action to help all the animals here. Right now the people are living with death and disease everywhere.

A slight fear has arisen within me here. Feels like danger is present everywhere. Like if you cut your foot on a sea coral while surfing, the wound has to be disinfected, however small it may be. Coral can get into your bloodstream and poison you. Or if you eat meat or chicken or seafood (which I don't of course) there's always a chance that it has gone bad. I have started being afraid of dogs, insecs, food, people, touching anything, doing anything, going anywhere... 

I'm exaggerating here. Of course it's not so bad. Especially when I think of the alternative – our chemical induced West where the littlest bacteria have been eradicated because of this exact same fear that I'm having. Maybe we have achieved an illusion of clenliness, but in reality, it's just as bad, with the chemicals poisoning our oceans and our bodies. Maybe dirt and death is a small price to pay for being chemical free. (Mind you, I don't even know if Indonesia is chemical free. I just assume based on everything that I've seen here that there are at least considerably less chemicals than in the West. Or at least there were before the imperialism of the plastic.) 

On our second day we went for a waterfall tour. I would have preferred to rest for another day, but our Swiss neighbors asked us to come along and it sounded like fun so we went. 

The waterfalls were, indeed, beautiful. I almost don't regret going. But at the same time I kind of do, because I got so much more tired during that day, on top of all the previous tiredness. It's not like you can just ride in a car for five minutes, get out, take a photo of the waterfall, and go home. No.

First you ride on a scooter for two hours. In that process you get a flat tire, which makes your journey longer and hotter. Not having ridden a scooter or a horse for over a year, you get a sore butt. Then you take a slippery and muddy jungle walk to the waterfalls. The hills are steep, the tree roots are slippery and the air is humid. Sweat is running down your back, you're covered in mud and dust. It's a mess. There are insects everywhere.

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Here I had to stop writing, because I was getting sick. I seem to be a great match to stomach problems. On my fourth day I started having diarrhea again. Before that I was constipated for a week and before that I had diarrhea.