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Published: July 12th 2013
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Ever since late Lady Di set her foot at Moyo island, I had wanted to visit it. Unfortunately, it was not easy to reach Moyo Island. You need to fly from Bali or Lombok with either chartered flight or Trans Nusa. Also, the only accommodation in the island was Amanwana Resort (www.amanresorts.com/amanwana/home.aspx), a high end resort run by the Aman Group. A group of us from the office had to fly to Lombok back in March 2012 as we had a joint program with Planet Water (www.planetwater.org) so initially we decided to charter a boat that could take us to Moyo and Komodo island. The plan didn't materialise as the boat claimed the sea was rough and it didn't dare to take us for the long weekend cruise (later on the Manager at Amanwana confirmed that there was a thunderstorm that the entire staff was not able to leave the island due to rough sea). We all had to scrap the cruise plan but I had made a prior arrangement with my friend Nova who had agreed to come to Lombok and joined me for the cruise. She was not able to cancel her flight so she went ahead joining me.
Once arrived on Thursday morning, Nova had been busy checking out how to get to Moyo and learned that there was a flight by Trans Nusa and checked with availability of Amanusa as well. Both were available. We decided to go ahead with the trip and booked the flight for the next day as well as the hotel and left early in the morning on Friday. It was a short distance flight by a propeller plane and we arrived at a small town called Brang Biji (believe me, I have never heard about this place before) at Sumbawa. We were then picked up by the ground staff of Amanwana's agent and were transported to Amanwana's pier (it took about 45 minutes). We had intended to stay only for one night and spend the last night at Bring Biji when we're back from Moyo island (our return flight was scheduled to leave around noon on Sunday).
From there on, we were treated like a royal family. Cold drinks and cold towels were served while waiting for our yacht that would take us to the island. We were so ready to experience our 'Rich and Famous lifestyle for a day'
and enjoy the boat ride to the island. Once we arrived at the island, we were greeted by the Manager who then took us to the villas in an old jeep through the jungle, and we were lucky enough to get our villas upgraded to the beach front (it was a low season). It was just like a dream came true for me. I got to say at Amanwana's tent at last. It was as expected. It's luxurious yet so close to nature.
We spent the entire afternoon lazed around by the beach and also went snorkelling nearby (I was not too impressed by the underwater coral but Nova somehow spot the sea snake while snorkelling). We hardly saw anyone when we were there (there were only 20 tents in the entire resort). The busiest time for the resort was during summer when they expect to see returning customers from Europe and Japan for a long stay (I envy those guests).
Our dinner was at the open air restaurant and was delicious. The hotel price inclusive of room and board. All meals, tea and coffees except alcohol drinks were included. We were then briefed of some excursions available.
We decided we should go to Mata Jitu waterfall the next day, of which rights to use was given solely to Amanwana (no wonder I didn't bump into anyone at the waterfall). We also agreed that we should combine it with the snorkelling trip before we return to Sumbawa in the afernoon.
The next morning after breakfast, we were taken back to the pier where the boat had waited for us which took us to the other side of the island. The way towards the waterfall had to go through a village where another old jeep was ready to take us to the waterfall. I didn't understand as to why would Amanwana didn't have a better transport to take the guests to the waterfall until I was in the middle of the path. The unpaved road was so bumpy that it felt like an hour of horse ride. When we reached the waterfall, we could not help hiding our surprises. It was a gem in the middle of the jungle. The water fell into a turquoise water pool, so clean that it felt like in the pool. Most importantly, there was no one else. Both Nova and I spent
as much time as possible swimming and jumping into the pool and felt like a 5 year old kid again. As this was an excursion with Amanwana, our porter brought fruits and drinks along with them that we're able to enjoy during our break.
Before noon, we decided to leave for our snorkelling trip and was being picked up by another wooden boat. To my disappointment, I didn't see much coral underwater when snorkelling but had enjoyed the boat ride anyway (unfortunately, I got a egg size bump on my head as I accidentally bumped my head at the boat). That evening, we decided to stay one more night at Amanwana and scrapped the plan of staying a night at Brang Biji. We also gave ourselves a treat by having a spa after dinner. Unfortunately, in the same evening, we were informed that Trans Nusa had encountered a technical problem; hence it would not fly the next morning (we heard the airlines frequently cancel their flights if there were not enough passengers). Fortunately, the Amanwana staff was helpful in finding an alternative for us. They had managed to purchase two seats in a local minibus the next morning, which
would take us to the ferry terminal.
Half heartedly, we left Moyo island early in the morning on Sunday, reached the pier and waited for our minivan to take us to the ferry terminal. I had the last seat in the van and had to bear the disco music played at full blast for an hour or so.
I could not describe the feeling as after we experienced a royal treatment over the weekend, we had to be back to reality. This time, the reality hit us hard as we had to continue our journey with a public ferry to cross the strait to reach Lombok, where our driver had waited. It was one of the longest drives in my life, and thanked to our skilful driver, he managed to reach the airport half an hour before my flight departure (his contacts at the airport had made a special arrangement for our late check in at Garuda counter).
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