It seemed that most every tourist in Padangbai was using the town as a stopover on their way to Lombok, another Indonesian island to the east of, and comparable in size to, Bali. Faced with the choice of staying another day in downbeat Padangbai, heading further north to the Candidasa area, or taking one of the hourly ferries to Lombok, I went with the "when in Rome" option of hopping to the next island. From what I'd read, Lombok was a less commercialized, more laid-back island compared to Bali. Having made it all the way to Padangbai and still just beginning to break from the urban-y, touristy parts of Bali, I was looking forward to a different atmosphere from the past two weeks.
But there was a problem.
Technically, to legally drive a motor scooter in Indonesia you need an international drivers license. But this is something not often mentioned in travel guides, blogs, and certainly not by the people you rent the scooter from (they could care less, as long as you can pay). As far as I can gather, despite renting a scooter being such a popular tourist activity, the requirement is not usually mentioned because -- for the majority of time for the majority of people -- it doesn't matter whether you have the license or not. Unless you are pulled over by a police officer no one will ever ask to see your license -- with some exceptions. And if you are pulled over, it's common for the officer to assess you a "fine" (i.e. ask for a bribe) of 50,000 IDR (about $3.25) to incentivize them to look the other way, figuratively speaking.
Long story short, boarding a ferry for another island with a motor scooter in tow is one of the exceptions where they expect to see your license, and I had no idea of this requirement until I was far past the point of being able to obtain such a license (you need to obtain the license in your home country).
So I thought I was looking at -- at best -- a 50k IDR fine, the possibility of being denied boarding, and -- at worst -- the impoundment of my scooter and a much heftier "fine" being levied against myself to be able to leave the town with the scooter.
To dispel tensions: I went ahead with my plan to board the ferry with my scooter, I was asked for my license, I said I didn't have one, I asked "It's okay?" in a good-natured manner and, after a hesitation, the ferry guard said okay. My good charms must have done their work well that day!
The five-hour ferry ride was to a southwestern part of the island, and my hostel was at the northwestern coast, near the Gili islands -- a popular tourist destination -- and so I had to ride my scooter through the western part of the island. Logistically, it would have made more sense to take the ferry to Gili Trawangan, the largest of the Gili islands and the one nearest Bali, and from Gili T. take the ferry to the north coast of Lombok, but from a traveler's perspective I made exactly the right decision.
The ride to the hostel was a terrific vignette of the western part of the island. Between the ferry port and Mataram, Lombok's largest city, there are vast expanses of rice paddies, beautiful mosques and cows and goats feeding along the side of the road. Mataram had it's fair share of traffic jams, but also a mosque even more impressive than the ones I had seen previously (actually the "Islamic Center", which I can't find any non-copyrighted photos of at the moment). From Mataram to the north of the island there are only two roads: one that follows the coast and the other that carves up and down the northern mountains.
I took the mountainous route (the coastal route being clogged with traffic), and that's when things really started to get impressive. On the way up I passed a few waterfalls the likes of which I would expect to see in National Geographic photos. The top and backside of the mountain range is clogged with macaque monkeys. It's eerie having dozens of them watch your descent from atop the adjacent traffic barrier. The peak of the mountain range grants a view of the ocean below and at dusk is particularly breathtaking. All of this I was unable to take photos of, as I was intent to reach my hostel before dark. But I expect I'll be back soon!
After an exhausting day of travel, I arrived at La Boheme Lombok hostel, but not before having to drive through a wall of bugs along the coast.
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