Lombok

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The thought of waiting out "Nyepi" the Balinese New Year which is celebrated by staying indoors for two days without food didn't seem too appealing so we decided to join the exodus to Lombok and its satellite islands "the Gilli's". The ferry ride was nice for the first hour or so sailing slowly over calm blue waters past green islands... and then it got "hot!" really "hot!!". We had secured a nice bench on the top deck along with some other silly people where we sat and baked underneath the sunny cloudless sky with only a hint of breeze. Luckily we managed to build ourselves some protection with our newly acquired Balinese sarong (blankets). We also got some refreshing, green tea and chocolate flavour ice cream (really good, really!). The ferry passed some nice Gilli's (Islands) as it entered Lembar harbour. Getting off the boat we joined the Lombok formula one racing crew in a beat up six passenger van heading to our beach destination Sengigi. Of course we picked up some local Nasi Campur-to-go (a dish comprised of rice, assorted meat and veggies) a dish found all over Bali and Lombok. This one also had curry coconut shavings, yum! The ride to Sengigi was on a four lane highway that passed recently harvested rice fields or were being harvested the old fashioned way. A dozen or more workers worked a half acre plot at a time with scythes, making piles of rice still on the stalk. Then a separating machine was used to remove the seed from stalk. Some farmers were still using the old technique by slamming the stalk on a round rock and shaking the rice off. The remainder is piled and burned which made the low-lands pretty smokey.

There is not a lot in Sengigi Beach except some expensive resorts. The beach is nice but small and during the day its completely covered by local fishing boats. Cool to see but makes it difficult to sunbathe. We did enjoy the beautifully cold "Bintang" from the Aussie Pub "The Office". The burgers were also especially good and we were happy to have some western food after more than two weeks in Indonesia.

One afternoon we jumped on a Bemo to the nearby town Ampenan. I'm not sure why we did this but it was fun. Ampenan is a small seaside town that doesn't seem to see many western tourists. Its pretty rough and kinda run down. We browsed the market which had some nice fruit but terrible looking "everything else". We felt a little uncomfortable because we really felt people had it hard here and had little of there own. We decided to head to Ampenan's beach to cheer up. Along the way we found a small bakery so we decided to have a snack. Turns out Ampenan's hit is its local bakery because they knew how to make chocolate muffins perfectly. We tried a variety of items and bought some fresh bread which was a nice change from banana pancakes offered as part of your stay at just about every single guesthouse in Lombok and the Gili's. From there we walked to the beach.

Ampenan's beach is very popular with the locals, despite the fact that it was terribly covered with trash. When we got there, there was a tonne of kids jumping in the waves and lots of mom's and dad's had brought their children to swim or to have local treats. Everyone was really enjoying themselves despite the rough conditions. After hangin by the beach and chatting with some locals. Geoff was invited to play soccer. So, the garbage pits were filled with sand, I rolled up my pant legs and prepared to get dirty. I really got my but kicked by the kids who were all likely in their teens or early twenties. I really enjoyed getting my heart rate up and I had fun.

From Sengigi we decided to head in to the highlands around the volcano Gunung Rinjani. First we caught a bemo to Ampenan where we caught a yellow bemo to Mataram city. Mataram is pretty hectic compared to just about everywhere else on Lombok. The bemo wound around some back alleys past Cindos (over-worked-horse drawn carriages) to the local bus station. From here we knew we could catch a local bus to a place called Tetebatu. At the bus station we had to squeeze past the touts to sit down for a bite and a cold drink. While we sat, some local touts started chatting us up asking us the usual: where we were from?, where we were headed?, what our names were?... Then they explained to us that we had to hire a taxi or take a tourist shuttle to take us where we wanted to go. But it was still early in the day and we weren't ready to give up. I walked around the bus station but didn't get any more helpful information despite all the buses around. So, we sat and ate and drank and started chatting to the restaurant server who was willing to give us directions but had to do it in a secretive fashion. Eventually, we were able to get information out of the English speaking touts that a local bus was leaving in about 10 minutes (after waiting for about an hour). So we managed to keep our cool and got what we wanted. It was definitely a test of patience. The key, it seems, is not to be in any kind of a hurry.

Our bus was full and the seats were tight (we both had to sit sideways) but the road past plenty of green rice paddies with jungle in the background. The towns we past weren't big but some had some beautiful but modest mosques (especially compared to Bali's many temples). The bus dropped us on the main highway after a couple of hours in a pretty rough looking place. Pomotong didn't have much except a few dirty "Warung" (open air stall type restaurants) and a strip of dark convenience stalls. Here we got another cold drink eyed a bemo that could take us into the hills and the village of Tetebatu. Eventually we got tired of negotiating a reasonable price and jumped in with some ladies bringing supplies from town, two of them with big-eyed baby boys. We rolled up a road with big pot holes past some small homes and small rice paddies amongst the forest; the women hopped out along the way. Eventually we passed through a busy market town and continued up the road. Passing more rice paddies and getting further up the hills we got to Tetebatu which is just a small little place surrounded by rice paddies and underneath the volcano. When it wasn't covered by clouds the scenery was pretty much perfect.

We stayed at a little guest house with barn shaped huts. The restaurant was really cool, an open one room hut with a thatch roof with a 360 degree view. The eating-area just had a few pillows and short tables. Below the eating area was the kitchen. The two hosts were exceptionally friendly. The woman who cooked didn't speak a word of English but was really intent on chatting with us. With some helpful translation from Apple and from our basic Bahasa (Indonesian Language) we learned she was planning a trip to Java in a few days and she wanted to ask us if we would like some Jack fruit which was much tastier there and she would bring us some back.

Even though it was cool, we sat up and chatted with the hosts enjoying hot Lombok tea. The food was pretty decent as well. The next day we got a ride up the really rough road to the trail head for a waterfall hike. The scenery on the way up was so pretty we decided to hike back. The waterfall hike took us through a short way into the jungle and came down to a small opening in the forest where we could look up at the waterfall. On the way down from the waterfall we past plenty of beautiful rice terraces. Some being harvested by large groups of locals and others being planted. We managed to get pretty wet at the end caught in a big downpour.

Later, our friend Apple from the guesthouse invited us to dinner. We were pretty apprehensive (worried about scams) so we were on our guard but accepted his request. At dinner time we followed him as he took us on a "short-cut" through the narrow paths that bisect the rice paddies (that were all full of water) and beside a fast flowing and overflowing stream. Mazi got a piggy-back a few times as she wasn't wearing sandals. Eventually our host took us back to town to his small but clean house. We sat inside as his sister in law laid out food for the three of us on mats on the clean floor. Outside we were visited by lots of relatives and neighbours wanting a peak. The food was clean and tasty local Nasi Campur with some really nice Tempe and Lombok coffee. It was a pretty authentic experience. Eventually Apple's two young sons woke up from their after school nap and sat with their dad. Apple explained that all the activity around us was due to his friends wedding. He said he was preparing for two days of partying.

The next day we waited out some touts who wanted to take us to the highway and took a bemo. This time it seems our stinginess had gotten the best of us as we had waited for an hour and then we got on a bemo that took us nearly a half hour out of the way and then stopped for twenty minutes at the town down the road. A trip that could have took 25 minutes took more than 2 hours.

We caught a highway bus to Pringgabaya where we could catch a bemo up the mountain too Sapit. It was a busy town with a big market right on the highway. The people at the restaurant we went to were really friendly, a little too friendly actually! When we got the bill we found that it was more than double what a meal normally costs. We protested but realized we had not negotiated the price ahead of time and were told by an older man with a salt and pepper beard not to complain because we had happily eaten everything. Annoyed and cranky we slapped down the cash and left. A short while later we flagged down a bemo and negotiated with him to take us up to Sapit about halfway up the volcano. The road seemed to go straight up from the town passing fruit stands and then got a little windy at the end as it headed up near the edge of the forest.

Sapit is really small and lies on a steep hill like the "Uphill" part of Nelson. We stopped at a small guesthouse that had flowered trees and flowers everywhere. We talked with a small group of travellers who had stopped on their way heading up to the mountain towns. We decided to stay and spend the night and it was really a beautiful spot. Behind us was the local mosque under construction and in front of us was the lower part of the mountain, the coastline, and the island of Sumbawa in the distance. We walked through the town which was really modest up into the rice paddies on a treacherously muddy path. It was beautiful walking here with the sun coming down and the rice paddies so green on the edge of the forest. That night our host cooked us dinner but with the poor light in the small room he had for cooking he couldn't see that it had gotten infested with Ants. We tried to eat it but we had to take it back. Feeling terrible we went to a small convenience stand and bought some instant noodles which we prepared and he made the tea. The three of us shared the night together under the stars, enjoying tea and he smoking his lombok tobacco meanwhile watching the fireworks from a thunderstorm over Sumbawa. Really cool!

Sad to leave, our host arranged for us to be taken to the mountain town of Sembalang Lawang by Ojek (motorbike transport). The two young guys put their bags between their legs and we hopped on the back of the small bikes and we sped off. Of course we reminded them "Hati-Hati" (be careful) and "pelan-pelan" (slowly, slowly). The guys seemed to know the road really well slowing for the many bends and rough parts of the road. The road took us up into the cool forest and up to a pass where we could look down on the valley below. The valley was beautiful with one of the two towns in site. On our left was the green steep slopes of Rinjani partially covered by cloud. We past a slow truck carrying supplies and a bunch of women in colourful head scarfs. The guys whipped down the hill and took us to a guesthouse at the foot of the mountain.


In Sembulan Lawang we chatted with several locals who were also Rinjani trakking guides and learned about the trek. The view of the mountain was really impressive but we didn't have the three days it would take in our itinerary. We hiked to the trail-head anyway, passing tomato, chili, and cabbage fields and with great views of the valley and the mountains around it. The next day we rented a small bike (with manual transmission for extra power for the hills) and cruised around the two towns stopping to shop for a hand woven scarf and twice chatting with locals while avoiding the off and on downpours. Later, we took the bike down the other side of the mountain to find a waterfall. The road was really windy and we passed lots of banana plantations and plenty of cows and had excellent views of the north coast. The trail to the waterfall wasn't long but due to high water we couldn't quite get to it close up. The boy sitting at the head of the trail with the foot long machete that didn't say a word when we passed was a little un-nerving.

The next day we sat by the road on our way down the mountain knowing that there were plenty of people offering to give us lifts. So, we negotiated another ride down to a town on the north coast where we could take a bus to the Gili's. Our drivers were just as good as the previous pair. We past green pasture in between forest and came to a road side stand where a bus was parked. Eventually we climbed aboard the bus with tight seats. The bus crawled the road as it picked up and let off school kids but it didn't matter we weren't in a hurry. We stopped at a small town where a market was going on all around the highway. We stopped and grabbed a couple of sweet pancakes and snapped some pictures of the coastline.

Eventually we left and got to our destination Bangsal the port town for boats to the Gillis. When we arrived we found no ATM which we needed because we thought that there was no ATM on the islands. Turns out there's one on Gili Trawangan. After waiting on the completely wrong highway we managed to hitch a ride with a government worker who seemed to be test driving a brand new Honda Fit. A really nice car for this part of town. He took us an hour out of his way along the beautiful windy coastline between Bangsal and Sengigi so we could go to the ATM. We stopped and had a tasty burger and ice cold one from "The Office" and then headed back to Bangsal. We took a blue bird taxi, who seem to be a really trustworthy transportation option in Lombok.

At the boat terminal we were told there was only a boat to Gili Trawangan so we submitted and climbed aboard. It was just a short ride and we were on soft white sand and beside clear blue water. Mazi found a new clean guesthouse with a couple of self-proclaimed party dudes from Bali running the show. Gili Trawangan is touristy but a pretty comfortable option to enjoy paradise. We spent most of our time in the water snorkelling and the atmosphere was pretty tame with a few loud spots but plenty of options to eat at western and local style restaurants. We spent a full day in the water floating from the north-eastern shore with the current. Much of the coral is damaged but there are lots of fish and on our last dive in the mid-afternoon we saw and followed six turtles grazing and swimming around. To say the least we were pretty excited. We finished the day off with pizza and watched the sunset.

The next day we hopped over to Gili Air where we tried snorkelling around the north west shore for several hours but it was wavy and murky. So we didn't see much. The atmosphere here was kind of depressing and it seemed like if you weren't into mushrooms you didn't belong here. Anyways, we stopped at the main resort and watched a couple of movies in the restaurant with a couple from Kelowna of all places.

The next day we caught a boat back to Bangsal where we met an older Polish couple. Neither couple had the handy Perama transfer back to Bali so we had to take the boat from Lembar. But surprisingly we managed to negotiate a reasonable 40,000 RP to Lembar to catch the ferry. This time we got ourselves a shady spot on the boat and the Polish couple camped beside us. They explained to us that they were travelling extensively in Indonesia and told us about other must see places around South East Asia.

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Photos

Ampenan
Geoff played soccer with locals on the beach

Tete Batu
A guest house at Tete Batu surrounded by rice paddies

Tetebatu
No doubt the people of Lombok, Indonesia do not have a lot of money but there were many houses that looked pretty comfortable and even had landscaping.

Sapit
Entrance to our guest house owned by two canadians

Sembulan
Walking to the trail head of Ranjani

Sembulan Lawang
Guest House view of Ranjani Volcano