Lombok

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We spent the first two nights in Tugu hotel north of the island. Very nice, antique laden hotel with incredible food. After day two I was a little bored, it's off the beaten track and you don't get a feel of the island staying here. However, the food was to die for - thank you London foodie for the recommendation and thanks Kate for sending on the article. When we left the hotel the staff (who were the nicest people on the planet) saw us off in style. We were given a lovely terracotta ash-tray and when we turned around to wave goodbye from the taxi, we found them standing in the driveway, waving little British flags at us! Suddenly felt like how the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge must feel when they campaign around the globe! Such hospitality!

We took the cab to Sengigi - this the town the boat usually drops people on. There isn't much here - a strip full of gentlemen's clubs and bad restaurants. We did find one place rather good for lunch, called Asmara. We stayed one night (that was enough) and we went to a bar called Happy cafe - the busiest place in town full of tourists and most importantly, locals. They had a good live band and a very charismatic owner who was originally from Oman and we bonded over our arab roots. So much so, he didn't let us buy a single drink from then on and at the end of the night his son insisted on driving us back to our hotel, despite it being just a 5 minute walk away. I say again, such hospitality.

On leaving Sengigi we hired a man and his car to drive us down to Kuta in the south. A sleepy town - the lonely planet plays this place down - it's one of my favourite places. We stayed in another homestay - G'day Inn. Very basic rooms, breakfast included but nothing to rave about - you may need earplugs as it is opposite a mosque and honestly, when I woke up at 5am that first morning it felt like the guy was in the room with us! We soon got used to it. If you want to stay in more luxury there is a Novotel. This is set 10 minutes away on moped and it's just another big, posh hotel.

Each day we headed west of town on our moped to explore the beaches on the road to Mawan. On the way you'll pass a mountaintop Moroccan themed vegetarian restaurant/lounge called Astari. It has spectacular views and good food. A nice place to lounge and drink tea if you're not hungry. Carry on past Astari to pass the gold-mines... you'll hear them if you can't see them. The persistent knocking of someone hammering on stone. We found the nicest beaches in this place. Long, white, isolated but you need to be prepared to go off road to get to them.

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