By K&P 
This is the fifth ferry during this trip, it rocks hard despite the nice sunny weather. Every day we do several dozen, sometimes several hundred kilometers on often poor quality roads, mountainous, sometimes in the sun but sometimes in the rain. So far the meter shows 2600 km, different islands each have their own individual character, all partly mountainous and partly not.
Early wake-ups, usually 6 hours of sleep, constant changing of place causes a slight confusion and problem with concentrating thoughts. Traffic on the road, beaches, sun, large tourist scooter with additional large luggage but there is no time to think about fatigue, it is a nice reset for the head.
The whole trip was supposed to last 21 days, it will be about 7 days longer. We have no problem with this, we assumed that it could be like this and even should be because it is a spontaneous trip. There was only a general outline of time and places, or rather islands to visit, without any reservations or specific plans. We still have Lombok ahead of us, but that’s chilling and sunbathing, we plan to lazily sit around for a week and rest, maybe catch up on some materials and travel reports because we have quite a lot of them. After 3 weeks of active travel, it’s hard to even dig up yesterday from memory – as if someone had pressed reset. Now a small travel journal with short notes will finally come in handy.
5 islands are a journey through mountains, volcanoes, jungle but also villages, rice fields and coconut plantations. Each, in addition to its specific beautiful nature, has wonderful inhabitants and a distinct culture, religion and architecture specific to it. Balinese Hinduism, to which we have already got used to and which we can say we know, then Muslimism, which is still a kind of mystery but not as much as at the first closer contact, and finally Christianity on Flores, no different from Europe, but after Hinduism and musli, it gives new reflections.
Returning to Lombok, we feel a bit like at home. We have been here a few times, the first time about 10 years ago and it was a strong experience for us, both because of the beautiful beaches and tropical climate and religion. Driving now in the places we drove then, we see how the world is rushing forward. Motorways, and a decade ago there were gravel or narrow asphalt roads. Kuta Lombok – the tourist capital on the southern coast – had two roads at that time, now it is full of hotels and the access to it is a 4-lane motorway. Only on the roadsides there are still bamboo or wooden huts here and there where ordinary farmers or fishermen lived. Well, we have to rush ahead, because it is already late..