EN - Living Life on Lombok

On Monday morning, we left to Lombok, an Indonesian island (next to Bali). After a transfer in Bali, we arrived in Praya, and from there we got a cab to Kuta, a town on the south coast. There we had a beer on the beach as it was getting dark, and after that we called it a day.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we went surfing at Selong Beach and visited Mawi Beach and some other beaches around Kuta. Since these different beaches were quite far apart, we decided to rent motorcycles to cruise along the beautiful coast. In total, we paid 15 euros a day for renting 4 scooters, 7 helmets, and to buy enough gas to fill all tanks. The main roads along the coast pretty good in general, but the side roads were terrible, and quite challenging for someone who had never driven a motorcycle before. Selong Beach was beautiful, and perfect for dummies since the waves were generally not too difficult. Surfing itself was really cool, and I managed to surf some waves all the way to the beach.

On Thursday, we left early toward central Lombok, toward the Rinjani volcano. After a while, we arrived in Tetebatu, and we were introduced to a friendly guide called Chris. He then made us some lunch, and guided us through the rice fields and other plantations in a 4,5 hour hike. The hike itself and the area were beautiful, and we also learned a thing or two about the different crops they grew there (including coffee, cacao, tobacco, rice, chili peppers, and many other herbs and spices). But when you’re hiking through rice fields on very narrow trails, someone was bound to fall off the trail sooner or later (see picture in Dutch version). Consequently, we continued our journey to Sembalun, in a valley near Rinjani, where we stayed the night.

On Friday, we visited the waterfalls at Senaru, after having a nice breakfast made by our dear hostess. The waterfalls were magnificent, and there was a possibility to swim there as well. After our walk to the waterfalls, we drove back to Sembalun to watch the sunset over the valley. In between, we also visited Lombok’s oldest mosque (almost 400 years old), which was made out of bamboo and reed. Our guide took us up to Selong Hill to watch the sunset, and for that we were very thankful because the sunset was beautiful, as was the view over the valley.

On Saturday – our last day – we drove to Mataram, since it was closer to the airport from which we had to depart early on Sunday again. On our way there, we stopped at Pura Lingsar – the holiest place in Lombok – where we visited some temples. After that, we drove on to our accommodation, where we were welcomed in perfect English by the hostess’ infant daughters (the hostess did not speak a word English). Since we still ha d a couple of hours to spend in Mataram, we decided to take the public Bemo (a little yellow van) to the market, the water palace, and the Pura Meru (a Hindu temple). In the Bemo, we were sitting on a shitty little bench accompanied by very loud, Indonesian music, and along the way the driver would pick up other customers too. With 7 people, we were already pretty tight and sweaty, but at one point we were sitting with 14 people in the little van. Very warm, but a great experience!

Despite the small size of Lombok, there is a lot to see and do there. The island is very diverse, and despite that fact that everyone wants to make money from you (there’s a lot of poverty and life there is pretty primitive), the people are incredibly kind and hospitable. Being woken up every morning by someone singing through the speakers of one or more of the many Mosques around is something I gladly dealt with, since Lombok was really worth going to!

Pictures for my previous blog and this one can now be found in their Dutch versions!