Lombok, Indonesia

Lombok, Indonesia is a non-touristy island often referred as "the unspoiled Bali." Frankly, the fact that Lombok never became a tourist mecca is what makes the island safe, relaxing and special! Geographically, Lombok is next to the island of Bali, thus the comparison was earned probably because you can find many Balinese palaces and temples, along with Balinese traditions and customs.

About Lombok

Lombok's population is a mixture of Islamic Sasak, 85%, practicing their own form of Islam, Wektu Telu, literally meaning "three prayers", as opposed to five times per day. The remainder is Hindu Balinese, Chinese, Arabs, Javanese, and Sumbawanese. The Sasak live in the eastern part of the island, the rest tends to live mainly in the larger towns and villages of the western and central sections of the island.

Lombok scenery:

Along with stunning beaches, the entire Lombok landscape is quite mountainous and is dominated by the often cloud-covered, active volcano, Mt. Rinjani, which at 3.726 meters (12,224 feet) is the second highest mountain in Indonesia; it last erupted in 1996. Avid hikers take the trails to the sacred, crater-lake Segura Anak, which takes two days to reach but less than one day to come down; however, only serious mountaineers seem undertake the adventure.

For those visitors wishing to take it easy, a very pleasant option is to drive to Pondok Senaru, the little Sasak village at the base of Mt. Rinjani and see the spectacular Sindanggila waterfall. The walk to the first waterfall, from the park entrance and restaurant is a mere 15 minutes; hike another 30 minutes north and you'll be rewarded with the sight of a second waterfall called Tiu Kelep. The landscape in Pondok Senaru is dotted with many quaint guest houses and homes. If you wish to enjoy the cool weather a while longer, you may stay the night at one of the local guesthouses for a mere US$10.00 or so.

West Lombok:

The beaches of Lombok share the excellence of its mountains with white sandy beaches and clear green/blue waters. Driving around you'll see many deserted beaches and if you have a driver, ask him to park on the side of the road and walk to one these beaches to enjoy their beauty and solitude. If you're self-driving, however, it's probably not recommended to leave your car unattended for a long period, although, thankfully, we've never had any problems when we parked our little motorbike to go exploring!

Senggigi Beach:

The village of Senggigi Beach is the heart of tourism in Lombok, with a wide range of accommodations and restaurants to suit all budgets. We always stay at the Sheraton Senggigi Beach Hotel, a 5-star hotel enjoying a prime location on Senggigi Beach.If you crave the ultimate in luxury, I'll recommend the Oberoi-Lombok Hotel, located 25 kilometers west of Senggigi Beach, on the beautiful Medana Beach. The property is gorgeous, removed from any towns, and probably enjoys one of the best locations in west Lombok. If you can't afford to stay there, at the very least, hire a taxi to take you there and have dinner in one of the Oberoi's restaurants.

Senggigi Beach has many bars and restaurants on the main road, and those facing the water are quite popular for watching the amazing sunsets or watching the colorful armada of fishing and shrimping boats in the Lombok Straits.

On Senggigi Beach, the ubiquitous vendor is forever present, offering you the usual array of t-shirts, wood carvings and pearls. These vendors, in my opinion are very aggressive, overprice the merchandise, and can be extremely rude if you do not buy from them. Rule of thumb: do not touch the goods unless you plan to buy them, otherwise, the vendor will not leave you alone!! If you want to buy local souvenirs, then go to the Sweta Market where you can buy the same type of merchandise at a fraction of the cost. Sweta is a large market complex where you'll find food, crafts, clothes, ethnic fabrics, and a variety of household items. It's worth visiting for a bit of fun and the vendors seem to greatly enjoy having their photographs taken, with their permission, of course!

Local food:

Be adventurous and sample the hot and spicy Sasak cuisine, with delicious dishes such as Ayam Pelecing and Ayam Taliwang (a sort of chicken stew prepared with the local chilies and other natural ingredients; quite delicious but it's not for those with faint taste buds!). Other delicious specialties are: grilled lobster, giant prawn and squid. Of course, there is quite a variety of restaurants for enjoying Balinese, Javanese, and Chinese, as well as European cuisines. Eating at the local restaurants is usually less expensive than eating at the hotels but some of the large hotels offer lavish buffets along with a cultural show a couple of times a week.

Getting around Lombok:

Getting around the island is quite easy and enjoyable. There are several options for the tourist; you can hire a car with driver, or just the car and self-drive. Motorbikes are available for rent in all major hotels or various little shops in town. Motorbikes is a great way to get around town, inexpensively. The roads are not congested with cars, although there seem to be numerous, slow-moving pony-drawn carts called "cidomos," which can be easily passed. By the way, a cidomo can be hired anywhere on the island, for a few rupiahs (IDR= rupiah or the name of Indonesia's currency); this is a worthwhile experience to try at least once, as it's a slow and down-to-earth way to explore the small towns and countryside. But before climbing in, make sure you have agreed on a fair fare (ask the hotel staff)!

Another fun option is renting a bicycle for a few hours and explore the vicinity of your hotel; but be aware that there are many steep hills promising to take your breath away!

We typically rented a motorbike for the day to go around town, but always hired a car with driver for those far away excursions. Most hotels have a car rental facility, and the drivers usually speak a good amount of English.

Bemos or the local mini-buses are pretty safe and if you don't mind a tight ride, then this is by far the cheapest mode of transportation, costing only cents. It is perfectly safe to take a bemo around town.

Lombok handicrafts

A unique craft of Lombok, is a woven fabric called Songket, which is an intricately embroidered cloth made with silver and gold threads and are made by women, whose skills are passed from generation to generation. A hand-made songket can take a couple of months to complete, and they make beautiful wall hangings, tablecloths and if large enough, bedcovers.

Another hand-weaved cloth called Ikat is typically made only by men and normally depicts animals and people. Songket and Ikats can be found at hotel boutiques, shops in town and even the airport. But, to really appreciate the work that goes into a cloth, one must visit one of the many villages where the weaving factories are found. One example is the village of Cakranegara where one can visit a factory and see the weavers at work. These factories usually have small showrooms and you'll be able to purchase a hand-made songket and ikat at a lower price than those found in stores or hotels. Shopping in one of these factory showrooms almost guarantees that you're not buying a machine-weaved piece, which is what could happen when buying from vendors on the beach and even the market.

For hand-made pottery, the villages of Banyumulek, Masbagik, and Penujak represent the major pottery producing areas in Lombok. The small shops found in these towns literally sell what the entire village produces; pottery-making is their main source of income. The village women have been making pottery since the early part of the 16th century, and even in present times, the women potters of these villages pass down their unique skills from mother to daughter. The girls begin learning the process from a very early age!

The pottery is beautiful and should you find pottery items you wish to purchase, they can be boxed for you to carry on the airplane or can be crated and shipped directly to your home country.
Snorkeling and diving:

Not to be missed are three small islands: gili Air, gili Trawangan and gili Meno. The word "gili" means "small island" in the Sasak language, and they are located in the northwest section of Lombok island, only 45 minutes' distance by slow boat from Senggigi Beach. These little gilis are coral-fringed formations, surrounded by white sandy beaches and are enormously popular with the Europeans for diving and snorkeling. The coral reefs were somewhat damaged by a recent El Nino, but nevertheless, the reefs are recovering, albeit slowly, are quite pretty, and are teeming with a great variety of marine species, such as turtles, manta rays, giant clams, stingrays, octopus, small sharks, etc.

There are several dive operators on Senggigi Beach Road, and all of them offer snorkeling and dive trips to the gilis. We've only used Dream Divers (5-Star PADI facility) because they have an excellent reputation for their professionalism, safety record and have the newest equipment for rent. You can find them on the Internet under www.dreamdivers.com, You can book a dive trip directly online, or by asking your hotel concierge, or by visiting the shop directly.

All dive operators provide similar services: hotel pickup around 08:00 and depending on the number of guests and the number the different hotels, you can be in the boat around 09:30-10:00. The car ride to the boat-dock is very scenic, passing little villages and catching glimpses of many beautiful beaches. Once you arrive at the boat dock, nothing too sophisticated, you know, you will board a funny-looking boat that looks like a giant spiny lobster. When you arrive at the pre-selected gili, you'll be given your equipment, and meet the dive master. Divers and snorkelers typically go on the same boat and will normally depart around 11:00 to go to the dive/snorkeling site, located only a few minutes away. You'll be back for lunch around 12:30, and after a 1.5 hours or so break, you will board the boat and head out to your second dive site. By 16:00 hours you should be ready to board the boat back to the mainland, and you will be taken back to your hotel.

Some people like to stay at one of the gilis for an overnight stay. Gili Trawangan is the larger island offering a better choice of small hotels, restaurants, and bars. The hotels are not very luxurious but appear to be relatively comfortable and reasonably priced. The smaller gilis (Air and Meno) are equally quaint, but with less choices for accommodations, restaurants and bars.

South Lombok:

We visited this part of the island on our first trip to Lombok. We hired a car with driver to take us to Kuta Beach, in the south coast, where we spent three nights at the Novotel Coralia. En route, we made several sightseeing stops, and the trip, along with several stops, should take about 4.5 hours.

Traveling south feels like a journey through time, suggesting what all of Lombok may have been like once upon a time (very primitive). You'll pass many rice fields as well as villages with thatched houses built on hilltops. This is the land of the water buffalo, women in black clothing, and men tilling fields by hand hoe! As you continue further south, you'll notice that the terrain changes and becomes more arid and less humid. This is the half of the island being divided by the Wallace line!

The tourism in Kuta Beach is not fully developed and as a result, there isn't much to do, except enjoy the hotel grounds, eat, drink, sun-bathe (more like sun-bake) and swim in the beautiful, crystal clear lagoons. Our stay at this resort was quite pleasant and relaxing, but three days seemed to be more than enough!

While lounging on the beach, you will see many local young women/girls walking along the water's edge, carrying massive baskets on their heads. They are vendors selling sarongs and machine-weaved songkets and ikats. The hotel has a rule for the vendors: unless beckoned by the guests, they may not come on the hotel beach. As a result; you'll hear them greeting you from a distance in various languages, until you respond and perhaps call them over! You'll be amused at the fact that these young women have quite a vocabulary in the spoken languages of most guests: German, Italian, French or English, and they're quite good at it!

Kuta village: Small shops and mid-to low range accommodation and restaurants/bars can be found here, catering to the backpacker, or those with smaller budgets. It's worthwhile to rent a bicycle at the hotel and explore the little village, although the terrain can be challenging. Some of these restaurants appear to have live music at night, although we did not venture out of our hotel at night.

Diving: South Lombok is truly spectacular and intact coral reefs can still be found, along with an amazing variety of marine life. Some of the dive sites are in the open sea and subject to strong currents, etc. As a result, diving in South Lombok is reserved for advanced divers (Advanced Open Water and 50 or more recent dives). The Novotel Coralia has a PADI dive facility and can arrange dive trips for a group or a single person. The day we went diving, there were only five people in the boat: the driver, the dive master, an equipment handler, my husband and moi! Prices are quite reasonable for a day of diving.

How to reach Lombok:

Depending where your trip originates, you will invariably fly into Bali or Jakarta. Many tourists will combine Lombok and Bali, and I recommend visiting Bali first and then Lombok, as you'll be able to completely unwind, recharge your batteries, and be ready to face the rigors of the city when you return home.

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