The Gili Islands are also known as turtle hotel. The reason being are the many turtles swimming around the islands. We tried to seek out some turtles as well. It didn’t take long to find some. If you sit at the beach you can see their heads bobbing out of the water. We wanted to see a few more so we chartered a boat. Swimming over the corals and with turtles is always an amazing experience. However there were way too many tourists, which ruined the experience partly. Anyways they are still remarkable creatures and I blame no one, who seeks to see them. This brought me back to New Caledonia, where I was basically swimming alone with the turtles. That was something truly remarkable.

The evening on the island is great. Live music would be played, drinks would be poured and a bonfire was lit. The evening sun would turn into stars sooner than later. The vibe was so great and we liked it so much, that we ended up staying a whole week instead of three nights. One particular evening the sunset was truly remarkable. It reminded me of Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Bali in the background looked like mount Doom.

While we were on the snorkeling tour I saw a wave breaking. I even saw some surfers out there! I had to get out there as soon as possible. The morning before we left I woke up at 6:30 in the morning and looked for a surf board to rent. It took me a while to find one. The only board they had was a 9′ soft-top. This is usually a beginners board, due to it’s length and floatation. Doesn’t matter to me, a surf board is better than no surf board. Excitedly I paddle out to the wave. This took me about 15 minutes, because the wave is far out on the reef. I could see the reef below me while paddling out. Again I saw some turtles swimming next to me. Happiness was flowing through my body and I couldn’t believe how beautiful this place actually is. To my left the massive Rinjani, Lomboks highest mountain, looming over the place. I was glad to be at this place in this point of time. To my right I see the other Gili islands and behind I see Bali’s volcano sitting in the distance. Below I can still see the lively reef flashing in it’s bright colors.

There are only five people out in the water. First I got weird looks, because of my soft top surf board. This soon subsided as people saw that I knew the rules of surfing and that I was not a beginner. We would take turns, surfing the morning away as the sun rose up higher. I love the morning stillness. The occasional boat was passing by as we all cruised above the shallow reef. Every turn would be carefully executed. If you fall you would seriously injure yourself. After a while all the surfers left until I was alone in the water. The sun had come up so high, that the water was getting too clear. Yes there is such a thing as too clear water for surfing! I remembered a phrase someone told me on my journey. ‘If the sky is blue and the water is clear you get absolutely fucked.’ I had to admit that this is absolutely true. You couldn’t see where the wave was breaking. To make things worse you could see the reef reflecting in the wave. You would look at the wave and suddenly it would crash over you because you miscalculated the lip. However surfing one of these waves felt like floating. At this point I was filled with so much joy, that it didn’t even matter if I made the wave or not. I was just glad to experience such a natural beauty all by myself. It was just too beautiful to be true. I still smile when I think about it this surfing session.

After that we went back to Lombok. Picked up our passports at the immigration and went back to Kuta. I surfed Tanjung Aan a few times more. I developed a love hate relationship to this surf spot. On bigger days it was one of the best waves I have ridden. It was not crowded and really fun. However on smaller days it was an absolute shit show. A lot of locals give surf lessons on this spot. This in itself is no problem. The problem was, that they would recklessly push beginners into a wave even if someone was already riding it. This led to some dangerous situations, that could have been avoided otherwise. We also went to one of our favorite yoga places on the island. Here two good teachers would push us through a session. We ended up coming everyday until we had to leave. To this day it stays one of our favorite places in the world.

Soon after it was already time to leave Lombok another week passed already. We wanted to catch the ferry back to Bali. We learned one important lesson in Indonesia. Timetables are useless! Knowing this we just went to the harbor without even looking. We heard that one ferry was supposed to leave at one in the afternoon. In reality the ferries wait until they are full enough to leave. This leads to a lot of delays and confusion at the harbor. Luckily there was a ferry waiting and almost full. It soon left and we didn’t have to wait long.

After a long ride on the ferry we arrive in Bali just as the sun sets. Back in Bali we were reminded by the crazy traffic it inhabits. There is a traffic jam everywhere and it always takes so much longer than expected. This is something that was way better in Lombok. The southern area of Lombok just isn’t densely populated. In fact it is barely populated. The contrast couldn’t be higher as we were headed to the infamous Canggu. This is the absolute hotspot for expats and surfers. This means it is one of the busiest places of Bali. The line up was crowded, the streets were crowded and the beach you guessed it was also crowded. Still Bali’s culture with it’s Hinduism is truly unique in Indonesia and truly stands out to the other Muslimic islands. Instead of mosques with it’s prayer calls there are temples big and small with scented sticks and ornaments everywhere. Even every homestay has at least one temple.

From Canggu we went to Uluwatu once again. This time we took a few days to explore this part, because we like it so much the last time. The peninsula of Uluwatu is quite different to Canggu or Kuta in Bali. It is not as busy and still more wild once you leave the main road. You can also find beaches, that are not not crowded. Heads up though, there are also crowded beaches as well! For instance the beach of Padang Padang. There was supposed to be a surfing competition. We paid for parking and paid theentrance fee for the beach. When we climbed down we were plainly disappointed. People lying everywhere on this small beach. There was not even a competition going on at the moment! We looked at each other and had to had to admit, that humans are a herd driven species. The reasoning is always somewhat like this: ‘ It must be special, if everyone is lining up, paying and getting down there.’ We left after five minutes, because it was too crowded and not really different to the free beaches around. We went to the closest beach and had it all to ourselves. Humans are truly that simple!

We enjoyed our last days riding the scooter and checking out several beaches. I found a nice surf spot and enjoyed the last waves of Indonesia. It has been two month already! Unbelievable! We only have seen five islands of Indonesia. This means we haven’t even seen the other 13.461 islands. This country is so big you could spend years here, but as always time is running out and our flight to Sri Lanka is scheduled. Everything will come to an end…

Thanks for reading, cheers and until next time!

And then it was time to ascent the volcano. We got picked up at 6 a.m. and we went off to the entry of the park. It is the peak of the season to climb this mountain. This made the entrance quite busy and everyone was ready to ascent. The weird part was, that a lot of locals skipped the first part on a motocross bike. So while we were hiking a dirt bike would zoom past us every few minutes. The first day was a 1700 meter ascent to the base camp. This took us the whole day with several breaks. This was already a bit tiring, but totally managable. Spirits were high and the group was in a good mood. When we made it to the camp we would be greeted by a beautiful sunset and the clouds were flying into the crater below us. My utmost respect goes to the locals, who get all the tents, food and equipment up here in a self made bamboo rack with the weight of around 30 to 40 kg. They were also climbing this mountain with flip flops and are the true heroes of this story!

We watched the beautiful sunset. With the sun gone it got cold pretty fast. We went to bed and on the next morning we had to get up at 2 a.m. to ascent to the peak. This is a tough climb because the dry volcanic sand is acting like fresh snow. You go up three steps and you slide two steps down again. We were cold, sweating, dusty and exhausted at the same time. Once you started climbing you had no other option than to move. This became the balancing act of the night. If you would rest too long you would get too cold. If you would hike too fast you would be out of breath because of the altitude. So step by step we made our progress guided by the cloudless night. Not too fast and not too slow. It was especially cold in the segments where the wind blew the strongest. Luckily the stars would guide us through the night even as my headlamp was getting weaker. Through the darkness you couldn’t see the steep ridges, which would have been another demotivator. We kept climbing until the first daylight hit the mountain. Finally…

We were pretty miserable at this point. My hands were completely swollen from the cold. The last segment was called zombie part by the locals. This was not without a reason. It was so steep in the end, that you could even take less steps than before. Every two steps forward you would slide one step backwards. At this point I was completely questioning human behavior in general. Why does it always has to be the highest peak for a sunrise? Why do so many people try to climb the same mountain? Why would I torture myself with this useless task of climbing up a mountain in the first place? All these questions popped into my head until the light came out and bathed the surroundings in color, these questions would partially stop. Answers would slowly come in. The questions would completely stop once the sun peaked out on the horizon and we finally made it to the peak. The land would fill with beautiful colors of all ranges. You could suddenly see the vast landscape and it’s massive volcanic edges. The unseen mountain parts of the night would turn into visible vast landscapes. Shades would fill in the gaps in between the mountains and it was creating this beautiful light show. We were filled with joy and the warmth of the sun!

Clarity came into my mind. After climbing a mountain I always feel incredibly small. Look at all that land! There are so many things in the universe bigger than you! Climbing a mountain also gives you an incredible feeling accomplishment. You were miserable for some time. However you did not give up and kept pushing and fighting. You are rewarded by the beauty this earth has to offer. Just like in life you will if you reach your goal you get rewarded by a good feeling. The craziest part here, is that you could see so many Indonesian islands from up here. You could see Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and even the Komodo Islands. The rest is covered in the ocean, which made it even more beautiful as the sun was also reflecting in it.

After the short rest and the incredible feeling it was time to descent. All you think about is always how to get to the top. Never how you are getting down. On the way down we noticed what a long way we actually climbed. At some parts the track was just a meter wide with steep edges. I am glad I didn’t see this in the dark! Now instead of being cold and miserable we were sweating and miserable. We reached the base camp at around ten in the morning. We got some needed breakfast and were happy to rest for a while. The rest wouldn’t last long and we had to keep going. We would hike to the lake and then to the other side of the Rinjani ledge. From the base camp we saw the hiking path down to the lake. Exhausted and defeated Sally looked at me and admitted that she booked a tour for advanced hikers. I stared at her with disbelief. I asked what made you think we were advanced hikers? She said well I don’t know, we climbed one volcano already didn’t we? I sat there in silence, realizing that we had some serious hiking in front of us…

We were only half way done… We had to get down and then get up again on the other side. So another full day of hiking. Now each hike separately would have been no problem. The two combined was an absolute limit to the body. We went through vast landscapes, that changed by the minute. By the time we reached the lake everything hurt. There were hot springs nearby and some people jumped into the lake or the hot springs. I did neither of that because of the tattoo. Instead I took a nap. I felt like Frodo in Lord of the Rings….

After lunch we had to go up again for three hours. Hiking this trail I can tell you, particularly these three hours never felt so long in my life! It was so torturous. You just had to take step by step. Every inch of my body was telling me to stop. Everything hurt. That’s the great and miserable part about hiking at the same time. Once you commit there is no turning back. You just have to keep going. Step by step.. Stone by stone… Otherwise you get stuck. This will always push your strength because you literally have no other option.

Oh how far we have come already… The same morning we were at the peak. And still more to go… There were a narrow paths with a hundred meter ledge directly next to it. Some stairs and ropes were mounted to help us. The sun was already on the other side of the ledge. We had to hurry up. With our last strength we climbed over the ledge. The setting sun was smiling into our faces and we were smiling back. You can see how thrilled we were. The land of Lombok is glowing in an orange color. ‘It’s over Frodo’ we jokingly say to each other. We finally made it! What a day! We instantly laid down in the tent, had some dinner and fell asleep right after sunset.

The last day of descent can be described with this picture. No more words needed. Sally was literally on the her limit and took every opportunity to nap. We made it down safely.

After this torture we went straight to the Gili Islands. These are small islands in the north of Lombok. Here a lot of turtles and tourist reside to enjoy the stunning beach as well as many tourists do. The perfect place to relax after the hike. We got picked up without a shower and went straight to the harbor. At this point we must have looked like coal mine workers. I bet we were also smelling like that as well! Sitting on the boat and reflecting on this hike. This might have been the hardest hike I have ever done in my life… It sure was Sally’s hardest hike.

It was finally time to relax. Once we were relaxed enough after a few days we tried to find some turtles. They are usually close to the beach and it didn’t take us long to find them, but this is a story for next time!

We were unsure if we would even leave this place today. After more back and forth it became clear, that there was one ferry leaving at around 1 p.m. Once this was clear you could see how the locals tried everything to get some money. Confusion upon the travelers was big. Which ticket is the official one? Can we board with the ticket for a speedboat. So locals were selling ferry tickets above the official price. We heard that some travelers paid 1.000.000 idr. This translates to about 60€. For reference the official ticket costs 60.000 rupee so about 4€. In this situations you need to stay calm and figure out what the incentive of the opponent is. Once you figured this out you can relax. So instead getting to the Gili islands we went to Lombok instead. If life throws hints to go somewhere else you don’t resist the flow. You just change your destination on the spot. This is the beauty about long term traveling. You change plans and come back a different time.

At around 2 p.m. we were finally boarding the ferry. We were ready to bribe the officials if they wouldn’t let us board with our different tickets. So in the right hand we held the ticket for the speed boat and on the left hand we were hiding 100.000 idr just in case… Luckily we didn’t need to bribe them. After all this fiasco we were tired and exhausted and laid down on the ships anchor part and took a well earned nap. It would take us five hours to get to Lombok now.

It didn’t end there. When we arrived we got hassled by a million taxi drivers. It got so bad, that people would follow us, talk to the cab drivers and suddenly they would demand a ridiculous price… Later we learned that the taxi mafia has a full grip of the harbor in Lombok, as well as in Bali. They jack up prices, won’t allow any of the official Taxi companys like Grab, Gojack or Bluebird and threaten everyone who goes against this. After 30 minutes of negotiating we gave up. We took a driver for way too much money and got out of that place. At least we didn’t pay 60€ for the ferry. It took us one more hour to get there and we were going straight to bed. What a looooong day…

The next morning we woke up and we noticed how we were literally in the middle of nowhere! The second thing we noticed is how fundamentally different the landscape of Lombok looked like compared to Bali. This is something Alfred Russel Wallace already noticed in the 19th century. These two island inhabit different species, even though the two islands are relatively close together. The species in Lombok were more close to the species of Australia rather than Java and Bali. This became known as the Wallace line and helped formulate the theory of evolution by Darwin. There was a time, when Asia was almost one landmass and Australia another. During this time period the species developed differently and moved freely on the landmass. The ocean wouldn’t let these animals cross so there was a natural barrier. The continental drift of the tectonic plates resulted in the landscape we know today. So Lombok actually belongs to a different tectonic plate than Bali. This is the reason vegetation, flora and fauna are so different.

The beach Selong Belanak is usually for beginners to learn to surf. Otherwise there are cows and only a few cafes. It is still a very quiet area and has been one of our favorite places. Here Sally is eager to learn the mechanics of surfing. I am eager to teach again. She is quite afraid of waves and surfing in general. In Guatemala she got hit by her surfboard. The result was a bleeding nose and pain for month. Time to tackle those fears. The sessions mostly go smoothly and she even caught some waves! The landscape is serene. You are surrounded by many of these boats, hills and beaches. These boats were once used for fishing. Now they are mostly used for surf trips for the more advanced surfers.

We were stunned by Lombok. It seemed so empty and wild. It seemed to be the complete opposite of the insanity of Balis traffic. The coast is still underpopulated and you can find empty surf spots, unmarked surfspots and small villages. It becomes clear to us that we might end up here longer than expected. I had to pinch myself, that I was not dreaming.

We ended up staying for a week. In the week I did a few boat trips to more remote surf spots. This was more or less successful. I went to Mawi two times. It is a surf spot that is protected from the south eastern wind trades. However it is a treacherous fast wave. It is breaking over a sharp reef and gets quite big on the smallest hints of swell. The first time I went there I was quite overwhelmed. Big sets would roll in now and then. The surfers were fast agile. I watched the waves go by. I tried to stay on the outside and not get caught by the massive waves. I gave up at some point and went back to the boat. As I watched the waves I noticed that I could maybe catch some on the far left of the spot. Here some other intermediates were trying their luck. Determined to catch at least one wave I went back out again. After some fine tuning I paddled into a wave. The sheer excitement went through my whole body. When I was looking down I saw the reef flying by below my feet. In my head only one thought went off. “This is how it feels to surf such a fast wave!” Just as I finished this thought the wave started to break and ripped the board away under my feet. I was caught tumbling. Damnit should have turned faster… We headed back soon after, but was happy!.

I tried to surf Mawi a second time. This time the waves are about four to five meters big. The sheer power these monsters posses is beyond my understanding. When these things start to form and clash on the ocean they make a terrifying thundering sound. I was too afraid to even surf these. In the end I gave up and wanted to paddle back to the boat. Just as I wanted to paddle back to the boat I see the biggest set approaching. I paddle for my life. I can’t seem to make it over the monstrosity. It is too late… It starts breaking directly over my head. I dive as deep as I can while the first wave rolls over my head. There were three more of those. Diving as deep as I can every time. I am so relieved when the last wave of the set rolls over me. This is my queue to get out. The ocean often puts your ego at place. This was not a successful surf session. Yet again it was a brilliant lesson of life. Never overestimate yourself. In the end you can only control your breath, not the ocean. I am happy to surf somewhere else and I never went back to Mawi. After that experience I had some fun on the beginner beach and on an undocumented surf spot. This is more fun as you are not constantly afraid of looking for the monstrosities of big waves. THe undocumented surf spot only works when the south east trades are not blowing. This basically means to get up as early as possible and go to the spot. Since our scooter didn’t have a surf board rack sally had to hold the surfboard. I had some fun completely alone on these waves. They were not too terrifying and yet had enough power to carve out some turns.

After this we headed to Kuta Lombok. We expected something as bad as Kuta Bali. However we were blown away. It had just the right amount of tourists, so you would have enough western food as well as local warungs. (Warung means something like restaurant). Some Warungs at the beach were catching their own fish locally with a spear fish. You could get a whole feast of barbequed fish, rice some vegetables and other stuff for 3€. We ended up staying another week in Kuta Lombok. Taking it slower than usual. The beach of Tanjung Aan has become one of our favorites. The sand so white and the water crystal clear made us come back many times.

I ended up surfing Tanjung Aan everyday. It became a love hate relationships. On the small days I would curse the surf schools. They were just pushing anyone on a wave. Even if you were already on it. They didn’t care. This can become very frustrating. However since this is an mellow wave I can’t really blame them. You have to learn somewhere. On the bigger days it was the perfect wave for me. Not too soft and not too hard. One morning I was up early watching the tide come in. Nobody was out and I was enjoying the silent morning. I thought it was going to be a quiet day with easy to no surf. Suddenly I see five or six guys coming out with really small surfboards. This is often an indicator, that the swell is about to hit the coast. In thirty minutes the wave transformed from these lush small half meter waves into an absolute fun park of intermediate and advanced surfers. The wave ended up being bigger than me. I went in and had some of the best waves of my life.

Our visa was close to expiration. We couldn’t believe it. Had another month already passed? Of course it did. So we headed out to the ‘imigrasi’, the Indonesean immigration office. Luckily Lombok had one of this office. So we created all those documents in a copy shop neatby. Packed everything and drove one hour to get to the office. It is friday and we have to hurry since the immigration is closing doors at around 4 p.m. I was driving the scooter like a madman. Overtaking people everywhere I could. We just arrived in time about 3:30 p.m. We get everything ready until Sally is suddenly searching for our passports. She says that the passport might still lay at the copy shop… The anxiety kicked in. What were going to do when the passports were lost… Where would the next German consulate be. More questions and more anxiety flashed into my head while we were driving all the way back. This was one tedious hour. To our dismay the copy shop was already closed when we came back. After asking some locals they got in touch with the owner. People in Indonesia often live behind the shop. Luckily this was the case as well. We got there and the owner was already smiling at us and waving with the small case with our passports. I am so glad, that these people are so honest and kind. So far we never had any problem with stealing. Well except when one sunscreen disappeared after surfing (small hint, locals don’t use sunscreen). Other than that we had no problem. Luckily our passports were still here. Whew.

Thank you for reading and until next time!

After a much needed night of sleep we directly travel to Medewi, which is in the northwestern part of Bali. We drive three torturous hours. The driver is really friendly, but like every other Indonesian driver an aggressive driver. We would often overtake trucks and scooters without any visibility. This is pretty normal here. You just honk the horn of the car and hope for the best. This seems to work surprisingly often…

After traveling so much time without surfing I am more than ready to enter the water! It is finally the time. Medewi is a surfspot that is best entered on high tide. Unfortunately it was low tide, when we arrived that evening. I tried anyways… The whole black beach is covered in beautiful round stones. The sun was setting and it took me half an hour to walk over the stones to even get to the water. I paddled out and noticed a very strong current to the right side. After getting blasted by three massive waves I had enough and started the walk of shame. Frustrated and humiliated I went back over the stones. The next day I tried again. Everyone in town was already talking about the massive swell that would arrive this day. I met an older Australian and we paddled out together. On high tide all the stones are covered so it was much more easy. The waves were huge, but I have never seen such clear and long waves. Medewi is a wave that you can surf for 300 meters on such days. Luckily the Australian told me to stay on the outside first and watch the waves roll in. I listened and soon I would know why. The big set soon started to roll in. These were terrifying five meter walls of moving water. Maybe this was still above my level after all. When a big swell hits everybody is in the water. I am always more cautious of other surfers than the actual wave. I am afraid of another surfboard hitting me. This is one of the reasons I never paddle into the main take off zone. This resulted in me not catching a wave on that dreamy but terrifying day. Again I have to try another day… The next day I paddled out and didn’t catch a wave either. I just can’t navigate the crowd. I don’t trust most of them handling their board so I don’t want to come near. After a while of not catching a wave I was so frustrated that I went to the beach break instead. Surprisingly the beach break was absolutely empty. This is not a three hundred meter wave, but you can still surf. For me the choice is clear. I’d rather surf a not so perfect wave alone, than handling big crowds. I had the time of life. Finally enjoying some waves until a big set came. I had to duck several times. Until the biggest wave of the day came. Of course my leash ripped… My board was going to the direction of the beach without me. I had to swim like Michael Phelbs to catch up to my board. Waves crushing over my head. I can say that Bali waves on a big swell are absolutely insane! The things you go through, just to get a wave is sometimes beyond understanding. I can tell you the few waves I got in the big swell were beyond worth it!

Our bad luck seemed to continue as one day it started to rain and it didn’t stop for the day straight. The garden in our accommodation turned into a temporary river. I went to the surfspot anyways. Nobody was out. I met a few other surfers. Under them an older gentleman from Australia. Turns out he came to surf this wave for thirty years! He had some great knowledge about the wave, how to time it and most importantly how to identify the big sets. He told me he would get up in the morning and watch the waves. He would time the interval of two big sets coming in. This is almost consistent over the day. So this old man was sitting far on the outside on the smaller waves. He then looked at his watch he would paddle in but further out than the others. He would take a wave of the big set and would repeat this process. What a legend! This was great insight for me and something I will keep in mind on my next session.

The life in the rural part of Bali is easy going. We didn’t really realize until we went for a coffee in a surf shop. We were enjoying the ocean view with rice patios directly in front of it. A few locals were flying some kites on the rice terraces. After a while we realized our key of our scooter was missing. We went to the scooter and apparently we left it in the ignition. When we looked around we saw that from the other ten scooters that parked at the surf shop about eight had left the key in the ignition, too! We had laugh a bit about the paranoia I had. But hey what can I say? This would never fly in Latin America….

After our time in the north west of Bali we decided to go back. We made only one mistake. We didn’t do research before. We were just booking something close to Kuta Bali. Now if you’re wondering why Kuta Bali is not the place I want to be. Let me explain. Kuta Bali is the equivalent of the Ballermann in Mallorca, or Cancun Mexico. People may be very happy there. Especially on a short vacation to let loose. It is just not the place for long term backpackers. We checked out the beach. It was packed with two hundred surf schools, thousand people on the beach and even more vendors trying to sell something. I have nothing against the people that enjoy this. I just like more remote and wild places that’s all. We rented a scooter to check out Uluwatu. This is one of the most famous surf spots around the world. We didn’t expect much though, because we thought it might be as crowded as Kuta. So we sat on a scooter and cruised to Uluwatu. We were blown away by it’s initial beauty. There were still secluded beaches, beautiful cliffs and and crystal clear water! Also some restaurants, that were more health oriented than in Kuta. I didn’t go surfing here. If I couldn’t handle the crowd in Medewi I most certainly couldn’t handle the crowd of Uluwatu. I enjoyed watching though.

This is definitely more how we like it! We were exploring a few more empty beaches until we decided to check out the ancient Hindu temple Pura Luhur. This is one of the temples of Bali, that is believed to safeguard the island from evil spirits. This temple is standing here since the 11th century. We were blown away by it’s initial beauty on the cliffs. You have to be carful with phones, glasses and everything loose. Monkeys will try to steal it. They wait for an exchange for food afterwards. Otherwise you will not be able to get your things back. Pretty smart if you ask me. We walked around more and watched the astonishing cliffs. When we were overlooking the ocean we even saw some turtles poking up their heads down in the water.

After the temple we had an appointment in the Istana. It is a beautiful place also on top of the cliffs of Uluwatu. At the reception you have to give up your phone, as this place is a phone free area to disconnect. Here we had a specific appointment in the deprivation chamber. This is a completely dark soundless place. You float in a magnesium salted water brine. This is supposed to allow the brain to enter a deep relaxed state without any visual, auditive queues. I entered the dark chamber and tried to relax. It was difficult at first and my thoughts went everywhere. I was locked in this dark thing for an an hour. I thought it might feel like an eternity. After a while my brain entered a flow state. My thoughts brought me back to all those places I traveled almost vividly. It brought me to the beginning, where I was stressing out about everything. “How would I get from place A to place B?” How would I manage this crazy task of traveling the world? I almost laughed out loud when these thoughts came into my head. I learned, that it is not worth it to stress about something you don’t know. I also learned, that when the time comes just figure out a solution relying on myself or by asking others. Eventually you will work it out. Today I am not stressed about this at all. This is something I hope to apply in my normal life after my travels will end. To take one problem at a time, not stressing about the others that are too far in the future. Suddenly I heard a knock on the door. Is it already one hour? That is crazy! In the end it only felt like ten minutes not an eternity… When I got out I was happy to greet the sun and hear the sound of the waves. What a crazy experience!

We stayed in this absolutely beautiful area way after the sunset. People were just reading, taking an ice bath, going to the sauna, were meditating or they were just sun bathing. The no phone policy made it such an amazing relaxed atmosphere. No one trying to post the best picture of the experience and no one was focused on the externalities of life. instead everyone was focused inwards. In my opinion we need more places like this!

After this we went to Ubud. We tried to take the local bus. The bus drivers were telling us that we needed a card and the places that were supposed to sell the cards were telling us they wouldn’t have it. I suspect this is designed on purpose. Maybe locals don’t want cheap backpackers sitting on their local busses. We had to take Grab driver to get there in the end. So we ended up paying ten times more than on the bus, which resulted in paying 6 bucks instead of 60 cents…

Ubud is a weird mix of temples, rice fields and tourism resorts. The water system of the rice fields belongs to the UNESCOs World heritage sights. These water canals date back to the 9th century. Rice itself is seen as a gift from the gods in Hindu culture. The volcanic nature of the soil makes it very fertile. Usually in agriculture there is a crop rotation happening every three to four times to not deplete the soil of certain minerals. In this part the farmers are incentivized by the government to only grow rice. This is not because the soil is so rich or fertile. To the contrary the only reason is the booming tourism. The green and lush rice fields attract more tourists and look more exotic than corn or other crops. We also felt a bit uncomfortable watching the hard working farmers. A lot of people were taking pictures of the farmers. White person watching the hard working rice farmer. Like that never happened in history before…

We managed to get lost in the rice fields of Ubud. Sometimes you need a day where you allow yourself to get lost and see what it brings. We admired the irrigation system. It is truly remarkable. Wherever you go you find at least one stream of water flowing. Sometimes there were three or four streams flowing on different levels at the same time! While we were lost we met a local artist. He showed us his paintings. We were snacking a coconut and then exploring the waterfall and river he told us about.

In the evening we watched a fire show of the local Hindus. This is a dance that is telling an ancient story. The men create music by chanting. I have never seen something this strange. It was a beutiful experience and a good way to end our stay in Bali.

We like Bali surprisingly well. We thought it might be overcrowded with too many tourists. This may be true for parts of the island. However if you take the time to look past the touristy spots you can still find beautiful places, that are not too crowded! Until next time cheers!

We managed to sleep a bit and woke up in the morning in Banda Aceh. This is the north of Sumatra. The people are very religious here and the sharia (Islamic) law is actively practiced here. It is currently the only region in Indonesia that is enforcing these laws. This means, that as a Muslim non married couple you can not rent a room together, because premarital sex is forbidden. Imagine you want to go on vacation. You have to plan for twice the budget. There is also no alcohol sold as well as prosecution on homosexuals. There is beating punishment if you disobey. This area was struck by the tsunami, just like Thailand was in 2004. People took the tsunami as a punishment from god. They think, that they were not faithful enough. The crazy part is that the white mosque ´didn’t get destroyed by the water. If this would have happened to me I would probably start to believe in god as well! The sharia law was legislated in 2011, because local authorities gained more power after 2004.

From here we take a ferry to Pulau Weh. After another hour on the ferry we arrive on the island. People swarmed us every time we got of a transportation. Locals often approached us with a friendly conversation, that always ended up in selling something. We got used to this at this point, but it is still a bit sad on the interaction level. Sometimes someone is just friendly and you directly assume they want to sell something. We were wondering if they would talk to us at all if they wouldn’t have anything to sell.

Pulau Weh is a small island north of Sumatra. Small is of course relative. We still spend an hour driving through the island. Here we booked a small hut in the forest. Unfortunately, there was not much to do, else than snorkeling. In addition to that, I got food poisoning. We ended up staying a week on the island until I recovered. We didn’t do much. We took much needed rest, went swimming once a day. The rest of the time I spend on the toilet. I also didn’t eat much for the week.

On one day, where the food poisoning wasn’t too bad, we visited Kilometer 0 of Indonesia. This is the most northern point of Indonesia. There lies 54.716 km of coastline south of us. Suddenly we get a perception on how big Indonesia actually is. It is the 14th largest country by landmass. In comparison. Mexico is the 13th largest country by landmass. The distance is much bigger in Indonesia though, because of the thousand islands.

The worst part of this place, was the limited food options. Well I couldn’t eat much anyways, except noodle soup. But at some point it was tiring. We were glad, when we could leave this place. The only advantage was how cheap it was. You save some money, when you’re going from five meals a day to zero.

We went back to Banda Aceh. We planned to go to Lho Gna close by. This is supposed to be a great surfing spot. We went with a tuk tuk driver we met another day. Our luck seems to be stress testing us again. It is raining really hard, when we leave. In addition to that we hear, that it is not surfing season at the moment. This spot apparently is firing up from October to March. What a waste of time we think… Our luck really seems to be testing us. Our accommodation doesn’t even has a toilet. We had to use a public one. There is no running water and the showers don’t work. Oh and there was also nothing to do, because it was the day of Tashriq, a Muslim celebration day. Everything was closed. There was no restaurant open, no food to be found anywhere. So we were cold, wet and bored.

We keep telling us, that everything will pass. So did this celebration day as well as the rain. Restaurants were open again the next day. Still there was no wave. We had to wait for our flight which was still a couple of days away. The fun about Sumatra has been the people, that come to us and take pictures. The beauty ideal, is white blond and tall. Sally checks all these boxes. So many people came up and took pictures with us.

The days passed and it felt like an eternity. We played cards, read and killed the time. We found a sweet restaurant next doors. The people were very nice and the family lived there. We enjoyed their wonderful and delicious food. Their specialty was roti, an Indian inspired sweat bread. We probably ate 5 of them each every morning. We usually stayed there, because there was nothing else to do until we get back to Banda Aceh.

Back in Banda Aceh we finally visited the great white mosque. We felt a little out of place. People were giving us weird looks and we didn’t really feel welcome. We also didn’t want to disrespect the people.

At some point a family comes to us and asks for a photograph. We say yes without realizing what we just started. Suddenly everyone wants a photo with us. We ended up taking pictures with everybody for thirty minutes straight. This became a full on psychology thing on the masses. People see, that other people take pictures with us. The obvious reason must be of course, that we are special or famous. In return more people want to take pictures, which turns more people towards us. If we could just let them know, that we aren’t that special after all. So after taking pictures with the whole plaza we left the premise. We didn’t want to disrespect the people by causing such a commotion. Funny how you can misjudge a situation like this. Turns out we were welcome and the people were happy we were there. They were welcoming, and even added Sally on Instagram. Later they asked how we liked their country and what we were doing there! People were telling us left and right how handsome we were. We even caused some local fighting on who is next on taking a picture. Truly a remarkable experience. Being famous must be so stressful. I am glad I am not famous.

These experiences made us happy to travel the less traveled road. To meet people that are so happy to see a stranger was a lovely experience. There are amazing people all over the world. This is what is about in the end and what makes traveling so satisfactory. We soon started to miss this, because our next stop is Bali. This is as far as it can get from the less traveled road. We will see how we will like it.

Cheers and until next time!

We hop onto the bus and it is way too small for our legs. Let’s say it was more build for the local size. The air-condition didn’t work and it got really hot in the car. There was also a traffic jam on the way, so the total journey took us about 5 hours instead of the usual two. When we got out of the hot bus we noticed how cold and pleasant the air is in the mountains. We breathe in deeply, look for our accommodation and explore the local market afterwards. Here a variety of crazy vegetables is sold. Galangal, lemongrass, ginger, thousands of chilies and everything else you can imagine. We buy a fruit that goes by the name of snakeskin. It just looks like the skin of a snake and has a consistency like an apple. However, while we were trying this crazy food we were walking through the market. We ended up in the meat and fish section. Here living chickens were stuffed into a cage. Above someone was butchering some of the chickens. Next to the chicken stall there is fish, that is barely alive in way to less water. All the smells combine and we almost spit out the dragon skin fruit. A fish, while fighting for it’s life, jumped on Sally’s foot. What a crazy market. The meat must be fresher than in Germany!

There is also a volcano in Berastagi. Of course we have to climb it. We rented a scooter and went off to start of the hike. By now you probably noticed, that everything in Asia is done by scooter. Once arrived at the trail we notice how quiet it is. We enjoy the silence in the always busy and swarming Sumatra. It is an easy hike and the jungle soon changes to a field of rocks. We reach the crater. Sulfur is bubbling out of the ground and it is painting the rocks yellow with it’s chemical reaction. It is bubbling and climb higher. When we reach the peak we can enjoy the view without the smell. Sulfur is smelling like eggs. Not a great smell if you don’t like eggs. Sally certainly didn’t like the smell.

Another day we head to lake Toba. This is a popular place among the people of Medan on weekends. They come for a short vacation on the weekend to enjoy the mild climate. Of course it was Sunday, when we went. This means, that the traffic was pretty crazy. It was great to see all these people enjoying the lake. Watching them go fishing, camping and swimming was really fun. The bad side effect? You breathe in a lot of smog from all the traffic, while sitting on a scooter. Luckily our host Smiley painted us a map with a shortcut, that was not too busy. I was a bit mad, that he didn’t show us on google maps. This quickly subsided, when I saw his old Nokia phone. Take a look at this map. Would you find the shortcut? Luckily we did! We also went to the famous Sipiso Piso Waterfall. Also located on this map. It almost felt like a treasure hunt of beautiful scenery.

On the last day in Berastagi we decided to spontaneously check out the nearby hot springs. Smiley, his wife and another traveler decided to come with us too. We hopped on two scooters and went of. Yes you heard that right. Five people two scooters. No problem in Indonesia. Smiley claimed it is nearby. Nearby is of course always relative. He also knew a shortcut again. Later Smiley admits, that we took this route because there was no police and three people would have caused trouble. It was a gravel road, which got really steep with a lot of rocks winding through the mountains. My hands were clenching as I slowly moved down this path. I was sweating profoundly and had to stop a few times to relax my hands. The scooter was not in the best condition, but I somehow managed to get down without tipping the scooter. My mountain bike sessions at home helped a lot. The five of us cruise through the Sumatran mountains. Smiley tells awesome stories, shows us birds and animal traces. He knows a lot about the animals, because he had to hike through the jungle for several days, when the infrastructure was not build out. After a bit of bird watching, and more bumpy roads we arrive safely at the hot springs.

Nearby is a relative concept, that is always changing. Considering big countries like the USA, Mexico, Australia or Indonesia the idea of nearby is usually an hour away. While in Europe nearby would be considered half an hour at maximum. In my opinion this is very amusing. You always have to consider the origin of a person to know what nearby means. We enjoy the hot springs with different pools and different temperatures. Afterwards we enjoy a lunch with Smiley and his wife. Then we travel to Bukit Lawang. We came to Berastagi with a mixed mood after the experience in Medan. We left with a good feeling. Lot’s of locals wanted to take pictures with us and all the people were super nice. Smiley and his wife took such a good care of us. They helped us organize everything. Told us insides of the local cultures and took away all our fears. This is how we can carry on!

Bukit Lawang is one of the most famous places in Sumatra among tourists. The reason to come here is to watch orangutans in the jungle. For the locals and the wildlife this is a positive change, as long as the tourism doesn’t get out of hand. On the way to Bukit Lawang we passed massive palm oil plantations. Kilometers on end there was nothing else. The insects are killed with pesticides. In this conditions no birds can survive. In this case the tourism is shifting the landscape towards protection of the rainforest. No orangutans means no tourism. No tourism would shift the local workforce towards the palm plantations or the many mines, that exist in Sumatra.

You can hike through the jungle, sleep there and watch the animals. This is also what we did. We were hiking through the jungle for two days. Here we saw gibbons, several monkeys and orangutans. It is really hard to see wild orangutans. They actually hide in the trees and don’t move, when they spot humans. The semi wild orangutans were luckily a bit more used to humans and were not as afraid. The semi wild orangutans came from a sanctuary, that closed down. The orangutans got released in the wild, they are still used to humans though. Our guide could directly tell the name of the orangutan we spotted. He also knew way ahead, where they were by reading the traces and listening to the jungle. I was left amazed. You need so much knowledge of the jungle to do this. Most of the orangutans had children. These are the first generation of orangutans, that are wild again. This is such a beautiful story on how to preserve and protect this race from extinction.

The sun sets and we reach the camp for the night. The foggy jungle with it’s ever going on sounds is above us. The chirping crickets, the running water and the burping frogs sing to the sunset. We were sitting by the fire in the evening playing cards and enjoying the food. The guides start to play some games with us. Some riddles and some games that left us stupid for not noticing their tricks. What a crazy experience. Some of the people in our group even had 5G internet. In the jungle! Something unthinkable in Germany, when you pass through a metropolitan area… Traveling so long, I start to notice, that some plants in this jungle are similar to plants in the Latin-American jungle. This is something Darwin must have noticed too!

When we wake up we start to hike soon. We saw more animals and even traces of a honey bear. We hike through the mountainous jungle. I have to admit this is one of the steepest hikes I have done. Luckily all the roots, vines and branches made it easy to hike through. In the end we rafted back to the village. The locals called this jungle taxi. It couldn’t be more accurate. We were rafting down the river for twenty minutes and we were back at the village. Back in Bukit Lawang we meet with Andrea. Andrea is a friend from home and we heard, that she is also currently in this town. How big can this earth be and you still meet some people of your hometown on the other side of the world? This can only be a possibility in a globalized word.

Cheers and until next time!