First, I will talk about the Play because that is the best part! This weekend I followed Abdul to a conference in Lombok. I went for fun. He was there to work. I stayed in a different hotel further down the island. I wanted peace and quiet and a hot shower! Lombok is an Indonesian Island across from Bali. I could see Bali from my hotel. People always ask, “Where are you?” Below are maps of where I am staying in Sumatra (at least close) when I am home. Indonesia is just above Australia. I circled Bali in red–most people know Bali, but have no idea it is in Indonesia. The second map is where I stayed this weekend–Lombok. I marked where the hotel is located (generally) and the Gili Islands. This is on the Bali Sea.

Bali is very Westernized (Americanized). If you ever go to Bali and want to get away from feeling like you are just another tourist, go to Lombok. I stayed in a really nice hotel–Jeeva Santai Villas. These are private rooms with a private pool, living room, huge bathroom, and indoor and outdoor tub and shower. The walls are glass so you see your pool and garden all the time!! The restaurant/pool area is really nice and food is good. I sat at the pool and watched the sun go down. In the mornings, I watched the boats come in from fishing. Day 1 was spa day–reflexology, massage, mineral bath, mud wrap, facial, manicure! Awesome!! Really cheap too. My personal waitress was Rima Marati. She was so sweet. When I left, her Mom was sick–hope she is feeling better.

Day 2–I went to the Gili Islands off Lombok. I hired a private guide. Agus (guide) came with a private boat chartered by Captain Jack Sparrow–no joke, the guide called him that. The experience was amazing!!! Google says this about the 3 little islands off Lombok: “Gili Trawangan (largest), Gili Meno (smallest) and Gili Air – in Indonesia, near the coast of northwest Lombok Island. Characterized by sandy beaches fringed with palm trees, they’re known for their coral reefs just offshore. On the smallest island of Gili Meno, sea turtles swim at Turtle Point.”

None of these islands allow gasoline powered vehicles. They allow bicycles, electric scooters, and horse & carriage. All the food and people are moved around the island via horse & carriage. I am using the term HORSE loosely. These ARE NOT big horses, but they work really hard! They are about the size of Sugar Daddy–a pony I had as a child.

If you read the above paragraph, yep I saw and swam with the sea turtles off Gili Meno!!! OK I was really snorkeling, but still amazing! No pictures of that. I saw 5 sea turtles. I felt like Nemo when he was swimming in the sea stream.

I ate lunch on Gili Air–you can see the lunchtime view in the pictures. When I was feeding the fish off Gili Air, I remembered my iPhone is water resistant. Agus took a video of me feeding the fish (see video below). It was an awesome day! I watched their boats on the water the day before and thought they looked like giant water spiders. I wondered about the stability. Just for the record they are very stable. On the return trip we were on 4′ swells and sometimes we would go down in a wave and not see the next one coming. Which is normal in the afternoons, after the wind picks up. I asked Agus if anyone ever got scared. He said, “No. I just stay positive and happy. Then they stay positive and happy.”

Now the Pay. After I returned to Lombok, I was using my card to book a flight. Guess what!!! My card was electronically stolen!!! Yep!! Stolen! Someone bought them something nice at Best Buy!!! Not my bank card. My real CC that I use for everything including food. The Citibank woman said, “OK. We will cancel this card and issue you another one that will be there in about 10-14 days.” I responded by screaming into her ear, “Where in the middle of the rainforest in Sumatra?!?!?!?! I am banging 2 coconuts together here to talk to someone (Of course I was being a little dramatic here). I have no money and no way to get around without my card.”

Please understand this is different than being at home. You do not just mail stuff here–no DHL, no FedEx, no UPS. You can send packages here through the US postal service, but if they do show up it could be 3 months before you get it.

Continuing the conversation. I am screaming, “DO NOT CANCEL MY CARD! If you do I cannot arrange flights to get out of here. I cannot purchase food. I cannot live!” She responded, “Well. To take this charge off, I must process this as a stolen card. If it is compromised and you did not purchase something as Best Buy, we must cancel it and issue a new card.” I said, “OK. Please send that to an address in Jakarta (this is Fulbright in the main city where they CAN get mail quickly).” She said, “I cannot do that. Your card was just compromised and you are asking me to send a card to someone in Indonesia. I cannot do that. I can send it to the address associated with the card.” By this time, I am stomping around the house about to hyperventilate.” I do have some cash to pay for local things like healers and buy smaller amounts of food, but no way to pay for travel. You need a CC for that.

She canceled the card. I asked her to overnight it to the house. Mike got it yesterday and took it to Tim. He mailed it yesterday via FedEx. When it arrives in Jakarta, they will send it to me via a private courier (that is what they use here to move things around). All this for 1 piece of plastic–that I need to live! I am sure the person who purchased them something nice at Best Buy had no idea they were leaving the CC owner in the middle of a developing country with nothing!