Today was the day of searching for food in the land of Ramadhan. The morning is the most food-free – just a few bready things offered by the apologetic closed restaurant owner. Then, after the next small pass at a small place I found open:
‘Are you muslim?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ was the reply as they tucked into their rice and sate, with the sun somewhere in the sky behind the rain clouds.
Misty morning
Little shops offer the most meagre of snacks if you’re really hungry. Some restaurants open at lunch, although seem to hide this fact. The Indomaret and Alfa-mart (Indonesian equivalents of 7-eleven) don’t seem present on the eastern side of Sumbawa. I made my way along with what I could find until Bima where I had a lovely big lunch, and had my water bottles cleaned of their thick layer of mould by the friendly owner.
I was all ready for a 900m climb to get to the end of the island. My app was wrong, and had given information on a small mountainous road rather than the main road. After only climbing 450m, I was shooting down to the harbour, all ready to catch the boat to Flores tomorrow.
View from above
arctic-cycler.com 