Change of scene - change of people. And solid change of health!

Goodbye wonderful Bali - a place that I definitely would like to come back to! An easy day on the bike: leaving Ubud going east 35 k's to catch the ferryboat to Lombok 4 hours boat ride from there.. Apart from the early morning traffic in the city piece of cake going more or less straight all the way. Got late out of the hotel and ended up going with one of the new riders that entered the group in Ubud: Ruth from Vancouver/England.. Finally a female rider that matches my speed - may be a mate for riding days to come.. Would appreciate that after doing most of the riding alone so far. And at one of the traffic lights going out thru Ubud there was another new rider: Jodie from Anchorage that actually also was kind of our speed - may be a team? Well not that it is not fine to go alone - but after a while it sometimes gets a bit boring - and when there are many directions to follow (which there has been most of the time) it is nice that you are not alone to find your way.. I am kind of middle of the group when it comes to speed but maybe a little bit further up when it comes to climbing and going on difficult surfaces. So when you are not committed to ride with somebody particular it does not work to stay together..

On the ferryboat going from Bali to Lombok. New girls in the group from left: Ruth, Jodie and Jacqueline from South Africa/Sweden. 

Arrived at Lombok early afternoon. Surprisingly different from Bali. More dry vegetation wise, more like Sumatra and Java when it comes to the locals where again nearly everybody is saying hallo and smiling at you.. Not that Bali is not friendly - but just much more touristy.. The population here is primarily muslim again - the flash showing in which direction to pray is getting shown at the hotel room ceiling.
 Lombok and the islands further east belong to another continent - having same origin as Australia the  vegetation and bird and animal life here is much more like the latter and different from the western part of Indonesia - Brett just told me.. The change follows the Bali strait that we traversed yesterday.. After another distance like the morning we reached our destination of the day Senggigi. Apparently the biggest tourist resort of Lombok. Again at a decent beach resort hotel for our rest day today.

Sunset view from our Lombok hotel..

Our riding seems to get more gentle (for a while?). Not as much climbing and not as many days riding after each other.. And quite some days with shorter distances. Hopefully I will not get bored with my newly recaptured good health.
 Yes - I am 100% again - and that's just wonderful!