Journal Entry 24 Thursday, May 27th, From Poppies Cottages

So, rested and ready after a full tasty fishermen’s meal the night before, we took off for our longest and hardest riding day yet, not by choice.  We had decided (and when I see ‘we’ I mean ‘I’)  to pump up the third-world volume by riding up North to Padang Bai and taking a half-day ferry across the treacherous Wallace straight to the undeveloped Muslim island of Lombock. 

   

After several hours of riding I announce, “This atlas is useless!! Ha, Bali's First ever Atlas!"  Not only did the coast line road just end but the inland roads (which always look perfectly straight on the map, curve so much and there is so much topography it takes several hours to get just 40 miles! Somehow we finally ended up well North of our destination, in Almapura, another village, the wrong one.


Now, this is nothing new, we find ourselves “elsewhere” all the time.  The difference is that, this time, we actually wanted to be someplace in particular!  I can only be thankful that I didn’t have this feeling the entire trip, as neither of us has cared much where we were going, as we had no plans, which is highly recommended for this sort of traveling.










And, to make our day more adventurous, the rain began to fall just after we left.  Rain ponchos just don't do it on motorcycles. The rain drizzled up our arms and down and all around our clammy bodies; we dried out twice.  The third time we never dried out.  


In the end we gave up on the whole second adventure of going to the Islands after we finally arrived at the damp but colorful boat town of Pdang Bai where a taxi driver was boorish enough to point out we were giving our money to the wrong person, “a witch” he announced, of whom I had taken her lovely photo and afterwards gave her a few coins.  

Wet and tired, we climbed back aboard our loyal spicy girl and rode her south in hopes it wouldn't be raining there.  No such fortune however, so at dark and feeling sorry for ourselves we indulged by checking into the very lovely "Poppies" cottages in the most beautiful gardens near the sea, and it even came with a very appreciated, umbrella.  Morgan later chased frogs in the pond gardens and I luxuriated in a hot shower in the private yet seemingly outdoor bathroom with a marble step-down tub.