Bad News at Bangsal, On to Sengiggi

Amazingly, things worked out perfectly with my budget trek up to Rinjani, and I was actually surprised that there was no attempt to tack on any extra fees or not provide food or something like that, though I wondered how the next portion of my trip would work. In addition to booking the hiking trip, I had asked about booking a few airfares for my next stops, knowing exactly what the prices should be and when the flights were, though I wasn't able to book anything myself on Gili Meno, as I needed a travel agent, since you can't book the flights online with an American credit card. So, I had asked Abbi's brother-in-law to help me out, but I didn't expect much when I got back. He had sold me a slightly overpriced boat ride back to Bali and said he'd take care of the flights, but the more I thought about it, the more I worried that his boat connections and assurance that some random person would meet me at the jetty in Bali and take me 1.5 hours to the airport wouldn't work out as well as he claimed, as nothing really does in Indonesia, even when you do have details and work with a reputable company. Frustrated that I had already given him the money, I prepared for the news, expecting the worst. When I showed up, he asked how the trip was and then said, "So, what were the flights that you wanted to check on?" As I had guessed, he had done nothing with the flights, which was a little worrisome because I was trying to fly out the next day from Bali, and the flights often sell out to some of the smaller islands.

Frustrated, I explained that this was exactly the reason why I told him that we needed to do this before I went to the volcano, though he still seemed fine with it. I was already not too happy with him from the start of the trip, as I was told that I'd be able to use a money changer to use my credit card to get cash (there are no ATMs here), and they tried to charge me a 10% fee for doing this, which is a pretty large sum as I was trying to get money for the volcano trip and my upcoming flights. Earlier I had been told that the fee would be around 3%, so I eventually talked them down to 7%, which was way too much anyway, but I didn't have any other options. So now I attempted my struggle to get back the money I had given him for the boat back to Bali, explaining politely that I didn't think it would work out. In the typical, culturally Indonesian way, we argued back and forth for about ten minutes, though smiling and laughing the whole time, as it's bad form to directly criticize something. Finally, he gave in and gave me $20 back (out of $30), and offered to provide transport to the next town down the coast where I could buy my own ferry ticket from the company I knew and preferred. I tried to bargain, since $10 was way too much for the short trip, though he told me that taxis would be $15 for the hour trip there. I knew there had to be a local bus to make the journey, but he wasn't divulging any information, and I didn't want to hang around that shady town after dark, so I reluctantly agreed to his ride. Not surprisingly, my one hour ride for $10 turned out to be just about 20 minutes down the road, but I was just happy to be finished dealing with the tourist touts of Bangsal. The ride along the coast was actually a scenic one as well, curving in and out of a few horseshoe shaped bays backed by palm trees and large mountains.

In Sengiggi, it took a while to find a hotel, but thanks to the help of a local guy, I found a small hotel down a back alley just back from the main road and settled in for the night. I took a look at the beach just before dusk, though the golden sand and harbor couldn't come close to the beautiful beaches of the Gili Islands. For my next stop, I headed straight to the boat office, hoping I'd find availability for the next day, though these ferries sometimes sell out during high season. Luckily, they had a few seats left, so I booked the ticket and then looked for an internet cafe to try to check on my flights, since Abbi's brother-in-law had let me down at Bangsal. After selecting my flights, I closed my eyes and hit submit, fearing the worst, that the flights were either sold out or the prices had jumped up. I slammed my hand on the desk in frustration and let out a few choice words when I saw that the price of the ticket I wanted had gone from $109 to $330, exactly the reason I wanted to book them the day before when I could have paid the cheaper price. Angrily, I checked on some other flights, trying to figure out if there was another way to do things. Eventually, I came up with a plan to completely change my itinerary for the next few weeks, keeping most of the same destinations but mixing up the order of the stops. Fortunately, this looked like it might work, and I might even be able to save a bit of money from what I had anticipated, so I finally felt good about my next stops again. The only problem was that I was still trying to fly out of Bali the next night, and I didn't want a similar situation as what happened earlier in the day, so I found a travel agent that was about to close and spoke with them. Since I was leaving around 9 in the morning, I wouldn't have time for their contact to buy the ticket at the local airport and get it up to me, so I actually had to pay a $25 premium for a courier to bring it up to town first thing in the morning, but they assured me that I would have it in my hands no later than 8:30 the following morning. Though I was a little nervous thanks to the previous problems with booking, they seemed to be confident and know their stuff, so I paid the cash and hoped for the best. I had a quiet night, avoiding the bars and crowds of the main strip in this somewhat touristy locale and getting ready for the trip back to Bali the next day, trying not to think too much about what would happen if the tickets didn't work out.

(The beach at Sengiggi didn't quite measure up to the high standards set by the nearby Gili Islands.)

(This is a seemingly simple meal of a sort of local water spinach, some rice and chili sauce. I probably should have sampled the sauce before mixing the entire dish, as it was really, really hot. I mostly managed to enjoy the meal, though my tongue was burning, my lips were a bit numb and I was starting to sweat by the end of my spiciest meal in Indonesia.)

(The boat that took us back and forth from Bali to Lombok, about a four or five hour journey.)