Hey, it's me again after N months. Here is an update on my trip to an Island in Indonesia back in 15 June 2017. The Lombok island located beside Bali island and there is the mother land of few mini island nearby named Gili. It shared similar cultural heritage with Bali, you can see better and deeper cultural traits here as the island is not been commercialized yet. We flew from KUL to LOP (Lombok International Airport), arrived there in the afternoon.
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| Waiting in line to get on board |
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| Before departure |
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| Flying half way (my face look weird here due to wide angle camera) |
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| The airport is as small as the one in Koh Samui |
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| Heading for lunch |
It took an hour from the LOP to Senggigi and we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. There were no customer at all as most of them were fasting during Ramadhan. The food was not too bad except for the portion is small. Our villa - Villa Senang is located in Senggigi which is a tourist place as there are many hotels.
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| this is the name of the restaurant |
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| the green bibi restaurant |
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| we did not started eating yet and this is the portion for 1 or 2 |
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| tasteless fried tofu |
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| the fried mini quail is so good |
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| this is their usual eating place |
We off to our villa after the lunch, you can see super duper blue and clear ocean along the way. Their life is simple as there is not much entertainment there, there is no shopping malls, no strong WiFi and other entertaining electronics such as Ipad, Smartphones that we can see anywhere in Malaysia. I would said it is a rural place, so don't expect night life there. One thing I enjoy most is the weather, although its June which is mid-summer but it is windy maybe because it is an island. The food is something similar to Malaysia, cooking wise more simpler, I would describe as authentic Indonesian dishes. Now, let me show you our Villa Senang.
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| the mini gate to our room from the public area |
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| the sink-like bath tub we had in our toilet |
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| welcome drinks and refresh towel |
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| happy cousins enjoying their welcome drinks |
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| our villa is right beside the hill which attracts many mosquito |
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| the old-fashioned bath tub |
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| hawaii theme gal |
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| us having fun |
Then we went for seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant and we were told by the tour guide that the night market was not open for Ramadhan or on that day I don't remember. So we went back to Villa and had some games such as charades and jacuzzi at night. The villa was too big and the power were not enough to cater every room, hence we encounter few times power failure in a night. The next morning, 2 aunty prepared a western style breakfast for us. We packed our swimming suit, snorkeling gear as well as some towels and sunscreen before we depart as today's itinerary is to visit 3 Gili Islands.
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| din din at here |
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| apparently their sand were darker than the usual one |
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| morning yoga session by my aunt |
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| don't judge, bare face of everyone |
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| fruit platter for breakfast |
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| egg of your choice (scramble/fried well-done/sunny side), a multi grain bread and white bread |
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| Anson playing with the tortoise |
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| this mini Komodo sculpture scared the shit out of me at night while I was walking from my aunt's room back to mine |
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| blue sky, clear sea, perfect weather to set sail |
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| get on the rubber boat |
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| to the yatch |
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| sunny day |
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| sail, sail, sail your yatch |
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| grandparents enjoy much |
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| ps: not my butt big, its just the wide angle lens |
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| here we go |
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| look how clear is the sea when the bottom is 20-30m deep |
It's snorkeling time at our first stop - Gili Meno. There are about 278 mini islands surround Lombok, and Gili Meno, Gili Trawangan and Gili Air are those famous one, and Gili Trawangan is the most popular island among them. ps: I did not edit the photos here, the blue colors is how it looks like in reality, so beautiful isn't.
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| bloop bloop |
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| my view while I float |
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| that is our yatch |
It was super windy that day, the waves are strong too. We spent an hour + snorkeling before we have our lunch at the next island - Gili Trawangan. This is the only island that have a row of pub and people there fancy night life, mostly tourist. We had lunch at Scallywags, owned by a foreigner that retired there. The food was incredibly good, we loved it. Since we have 3 hours there, we took the opportunity to walk on the beach and swim in the sea, the downside of the seaside are a lot of transparent/white ocean bug that were as big as a red bean biting us all over our skin, it was itchy but nothing happen besides that. Horse carts were the only transportation on the island, it is used for carrying goods from one destination to the other and bring tourists to their destination.
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| the port |
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| the view from the restaurant |
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| exhausted us waiting for our lunchie |
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| he ordered this Indon style nasi goreng |
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| fried meehoo for my grandma |
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| her favorite - fish & chips (the sauce got me hooked) |
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| fried calamari |
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| and nanchos for grazing |
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| Melanie & her bolognese |
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| my bacon,ham baguette |
Basically, almost all the hotels there provide diving class
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| relaxing at the beach |
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| the love for each other exceeds the love for the ocean |
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| found a hammock there |
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| horse cart for tourist if they don't wanna walk for a far distance |
It was 4.30 when we get back to our yacht for sunset viewing. We suppose to stop by Gili Air, but the pilot brought us back to the quay that we left in the morning. It's unfair for us as we had paid for it and the itinerary has stated we booked the boat til 6.30. We called the women incharge and argue for it. They brought us to Gili Air in the end. Can't deny the sunset was the best I ever see after the one in Myanmar.
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| the man and the sunset |
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| the man and the sunset pt2 |
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| that yummy golden egg |
For dinner we went to a restaurant that was recommended by my uncle - ASMARA. I think that is the best restaurant on the island, it was packed by tourist. Luckily we phoned ASMARA and booked a table for 13 of us in the morning. The friendly environment was enhanced by the live band there, great songs good vibes. The food + atmospheric + service = FABULOUS! I love Lombok, you can see hundreds of stars above your head as there is not much lights on the land. That's is it, our second night here.
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| my sate <3 finger licking good whey |
The next day will be our temple tour, showed the historical sights of the former Balinese Kingdom. You can see temples look similar as those in Bali, this is because the religious 15% Balinese minority in Lombok built few famous temples. "You can see Bali in Lombok, but not Lombok in Bali", what my tour guide told us on the way to Nipah and Malimbu cliffs. It is known for the great photo opportunities and to enjoy the beautiful, stunning landscape across the ocean to the Gili islands.
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| love birds in action hahahah |
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| messy hair don't care |
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err my legs are not that long & slim guys |
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| by looking at the view, I will add this place a part of my retirement plan |
From there we drove to Suranadi to see the complex of 3 temples. Pura Surandi is said to be the oldest and holiest of the Balinese temples in Lombok. Bear in mind, females who are having their period are not allowed to go in to any of the temples in Lombok, they see it as disrespectful to the God. They gave us a yellow sash each to tie it around our waist before we go in. While we walk, our tour guide told us we are lucky if we can see the sacred eel in the pond, in order to allure the eels to come out, we bought 3 boiled eggs. The eels love boiled egg they said. We got to watch 2 baby eels and a big fat adult eel ate all our boiled eggs. We then move to another pond to have a sip of the holy water.
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| main entrance |
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| second entrance |
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| the final entrance |
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| desperately looking for eels |
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| the man who peeled off the shell of the eggs for eels |
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| those are holy water, drink it from the right to left |
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| selfie before we go |
Then we had lunch at a local stall, we were served a plate of beef and chicken Sate with Bulayak (rice cooked in leaf). The rice stick were tasteless but having it with the sauce was great. You can try the truly local Indonesian dish despite the fact that the stall was run down and poor hygiene there. We continue our journey to the Narmada Park, the summer palace of a former Balinese King of Lombok. It was created as a replica of Mount Rinjani and its crater lake, Segara Anak. Me, my cousin sister and my brother went for zip lining, the view is splendid while sliding down the rope.
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| Bulayak stack |
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| happy dad and his bulayak stick |
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| mouth watering look |
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| sat on a mat and start to dig in |
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| lays chips found on a local vendor beside |
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| Narmada Park |
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| the view |
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| ready to go on an adventure |
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| there we go |
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| prayer |
We also visited Pura Batu Bolong, a Balinese Hindu temple built on a black volcanic rock and facing the island of Bali across the Lombok strait. We were lucky enough to meet some of the local with traditional clothing who came to pray and took a photo with them. By the way, if you wanted to visit the Pusuk Pass, as known as monkey forest, just stay for awhile is enough as those monkey were quite wild and there is nothing much. Dinner is served at Furama Beachside seafood restaurant, the one we went on the first day.
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| we bought this fish cake as a snack, you can tell its not good by looking at the color |
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| LA feel tho |
We spent the rest of the time in the Villa and prepared to check out the next day. Our flight delayed for 30 minutes unfortunately and there is nothing to do in the airport, can't even find a convenient store that sell candy bar.
Yup, that is the end of the journey, hope you enjoy reading. See you next post!
