Abbreviated Stay in Paradise

From our first scooter ride around Kuta Lombok, we absolutely fell in love with the small surf town. It's super sleepy, with just one short "main drag", but it's clear by the number of developments under construction that it's up-and-coming.

There are two yoga places in town, one of which (Ashtari - pictured) has an incredible view from their outdoor studio platform. 

There aren't many restaurants, particularly ones that cater to our stupid no-meat, no-eggs, and no-gluten diet, but the two standouts (which, no coincidence, happen to have the same owner) were El Bazaar and KRNK. 

Nick spent our first full day in Kuta surfing, but he hurt his rib in Canggu which made surfing (particularly in the more aggressive conditions) tough. So we took it easy, reading on the beach, enjoying the facilities at the Novotel (for which you can pay 100,000 rupiah, aka ~$7 / day).

We stayed at a really sweet little 2-room villa called Villa Joey, owned by a fascinating Australian guy and operated by the friendliest staff I've ever come across. We could see the ocean from the pool and the sunrise view made taking my 6am phone calls a little less painful. 

We probably would have stayed a couple weeks in Kuta, we loved it so much, and we really only scratched the surface of what Lombok had to offer after 5 nights. Unfortunately, even after 2 mostly-incompetent doctors' visits (Jakarta, Java & Mataram, Lombok) and a couple different types of medicine, Nick still wasn't 100%, so we decided to cut our stay short and fly to Sydney earlier than planned to see a western doctor. Kuta, we'll be back!