Psoriaisis Pilgrim

I have, like, the WORST psoriasis on my elbows and sometimes on my legs. It gets worse in times of stress so, natch, the past 12 months of global economic meltdown has sent the red un-itchy rash running amok.

Lucky , then, I just got an invite from Indonesia to fly to the island of Lombok for the annual Indonesia Travel Mart. Three days of schmoozing with travel agents and then I pop out the hotel to take advantage of Lombok's main draw. Each year, thousands of diseased ravaged and incurably cancerous pilgrims, mainly from neighbouring Bali, make the tortuous journey to a lake with healing powers, in the crater of the steaming volcano Rinjani.

Offerings are made and prayers are recited as the desperate and dying splash in the the cold mountain water, hoping the Goddess of the Mountain will wash away all afflictions and sickness. And I too , shall hurl myself into the stinking, sulphurous waters of Rinjani in an effort to rid myself of my own particular health burden, Elbow Psoriasis.

The mountain has only recently reopened after the past couple of months as it had started throwing rocks in the air and releasing poisonous gases like a tempramental child , misbehaving for attention - right on cue for the two earthquakes in Sumatra, the earthquake in Samoa and the earthquake in Surabaya. This is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the same, jittery fault line.

So, Yes! Two weeks from now, I will climb the slopes of one of the regions highest volcanoes, right in the middle of the highest amount of regional volcanic and tectonic plate activity in decades. A pilgrim facing hardship and possible death by lava, as pilgrims often do. But whats a couple of tons of molten magma compared to the mental torment of Elbow Psoriasis?

My name is Ian Crawshaw, and I'm a Travel Writer!