Being Beaten Over The Head With A Rainbow

Another Lombok beach with not a soul on it. This one in Ekas on the south-east coast.

You’re wondering, “well, wasn’t there at least a photographer there?” Nope.

How this picture came about: I had to run up the hill, set the camera to auto-picture mode, which gave me 10 seconds to jump off the point of the cliff, swim a short distance, and climb out of the water looking as casual as I can. True story told by a liar.

I’m tired of the blue lagoons. The lonely coves. The palm trees. The white sand beaches all to myself. Too much beauty. It’s like the Englishman Russell Brand said about his short stint in Hawaii shooting a movie there, “yes it was beautiful for a week or two, but after that it just felt like being beaten over the head with a rainbow.” Painstakingly beautiful.

I need a change. I want to be a sardine in a box on an overcrowded Italian beach and fight with other beachgoers over the corner of my towel they are sitting on. Or tell them that they just threw sand on my bags. That they're standing in my sun. And curse at the Mojito inebriated drunkards who stumble over my legs. Not to mention the exorbitant entrance fee I want to pay to set foot on the beach in the first place.

Folks, time’s running out. I’m telling you, y’all come visit me while you still can. The resorts are planned. Development is coming. Hurry before this landscape has changed.