Indonesia: Lombok

Ashamedly, I’m writing this blog post in a small summer house in Sweden. I left Southeast Asia over 3 weeks now; now I really must update you on my next stop: Lombok, Indonesia.

After a ten hour layover in Brunei with my American comrades, Amber and Debbie, we’re more than ready to be in Bali.

First off, Indonesia is huge. I ambitiously thought I could cover most of the country in my 30 day visa. No chance if I wanted to see it properly. So I decided to settle for Lombok and Bali. I’m making a mental note here that I want to see the rest of Indonesia another day, from the Komodo Dragons in Flores, to the volcanoes in Java, to the secluded beaches of Sumatra.

After two nights in Seminyak, Bali, I set off to Gili Trawangan island in Lombok, with Amber and Debbie. It was Amber’s birthday so the first night kicked off with a real welcome to the island’s plentiful bars.

At day all you need to do is… relax. You can cycle around the island in under an hour. There’s a great snorkel tour – regrettably I never got around to doing it, even though I stayed there for 6 nights. There are some trendy, albeit overpriced shops, and so many restaurants to chose from. The beaches are beautiful, and it’s where the swings out in the sea are heavily photographed for those Instagram photos.

 

The seafood market at night is incredible. It’s cheap, and the men know how to season and sauce the extensive seafood well.

You can also go to the outdoor cinema. We saw the Beach one evening, and got free popcorn.

Over our 6 nights we hopped across various hostels. We had to move around mainly because it was peak tourist season so accommodation was booked up fast. One place we stayed in was ‘Davy Jones’; a real “character” of the place. We managed to get a 3 person room, which wasn’t altogether private as the door didn’t actually lock.

After a week on Gili T, Amber and I headed off for Lombok. Debbie headed back to Bali to work on her Visa for Australia. We had no idea where to go or what to see. A bunch of Uruguayan travellers were getting a taxi to Kuta, in the south. We figured we’d split the cost and join them. It was a beautiful two hour journey winding through roads next to jungles and rice paddy fields. We hadn’t spotted a Westerner until we arrived in Kuta. Amber and I found a guesthouse, where we stayed in for 2 nights. During that time we saw the waterfalls in the middle of Lombok, and checked out the stunning, desolate beaches along the south coast.

Before I wanted to head back to Bali, Amber and I met up with a local who worked on Gili Trawangen Island, who took quite a liking to Amber. He was back in Lombok for two days, on his family’s farm close the capital Mataram. He kindly let us stay in his family home for the night, where got to meet all his uncles, aunts, cousins, 100 year old grandma and all his neighbours. We munched on fresh papaya and sipped on super sweet nescafe coffee whilst we learnt about his family’s life working on a farm. In the evening we went out for dinner in Mataram, where we ate at a superb local restaurant. So local there was no cutlery, you had to eat with your hand. I also got the chance to buy some real pearls for my Mum and Granny at a nice local price.

The next day I set off to Bali and Amber headed back to Gili T so meet another friend, Bernie, who joins us later on in Bali.

I highly recommend you check out Lombok, it’s very untainted by tourist.s Go before it’s too late! For the keen surfers out there, there are some great surfs to be caught there too.