Lombok Island, an island overshadowed by its neighbor Bali. Although it has beautiful nature, impressive beaches and authentic Sasak culture, tourism is lagging here.. Gili Islands, located in the north of the island, are the most visited part of Lombok.. Apart from that, Senggigi where I was and Mount Rinjani, which I completed the previous day, are other popular tourist spots.. However, Lombok promises more.
We were quite tired after climbing Mount Rinjani and rested in Senggigi.. We decided to take a Lombok tour by motorcycle to discover the beauties of Lombok Island.. With Dutch friends Heleena, Kirstin and Farid, we jumped on our rented motorcycles and headed south of Lombok island.. We don’t have a set route, we planned to follow the coast. We passed through the dirty, crowded and exhaust-smelling streets of the capital city of Mataram and headed for the town of Lembar.
When we arrived at Lembar, the port town where ferry services between Lombok and Bali are organized, we did not notice anything interesting. We followed the road from the coast and continued to ride our motorcycles for hours through lush green places decorated with rice fields, banana and coconut trees.. We took a break at the beaches we liked.
While we have the sea on our right, our left side is covered with coconut and banana trees.. We used to come across vegetable or tobacco fields in places.. The settlements are very scattered here, it is not a crowded place like Bali. Google map does not work here, we often stopped and asked for directions, as we did not know which direction and where to go.. While asking for directions, we met an Australian who is dealing with a land purchase and sale business in this area.. When asked about the land prices, he said that the price of 1 hectare of land is 20 million Rupiah (4,170 TL).. The price of the land, which has enough garden for you, is appetizing even if you build a big house if you wish.. I have a desire to access as much information as possible wherever I go.. One day (not in the very distant future – I might move to a place I like). If I was alone, the first thing I would do would be to go and have a look at the grounds, but since I was traveling with friends, we thanked the Australian friend and found the bungalow he recommended to us.. We settled in our rooms by the sea, 15 TL per person.
When we learned that the sea was beautiful, we went down to the village and rented a snorkel and threw ourselves into the sea.. Since the waters were low, we almost touched the coral while swimming and the view was not clear.. We saw a lot of fish after we opened about 200 meters, but we came back because of the waves.. For dinner, we ate at the restaurant of another small hotel nearby, and got a lot of information about the Philippines from a New Zealand girl who was staying at the same hotel as us. , from there we headed to the southernmost part of the island, the town of Kuta. After 2 hours we arrived in the small town of Kuta with Desert Point, one of the most beautiful surfing spots in Indonesia.. After getting settled into our rooms at the Hindu hotel GR House, we spent the day relaxing, swimming in the hotel pool and wandering the town.. There are many warungs (restaurants) and small businesses on the street that runs parallel to the seaside.. I can say that it is one of the cheapest places for accommodation, food and things you can buy from the grocery store, including Bali and Lombok. we chatted. Many children, an elderly local and some other restaurant staff accompanied us.. One of the staff brought a guitar and played us Sasak songs. When our fire got weak, we asked the children to collect wood, and they did not break us, and they came by collecting wood a few times.. They are all very happy, they dance by the fire and lie on the floor with laughter.. Just one look into their eyes and your smile is enough to amuse them.. It was cool, we were a little cold and they were wearing only shorts.
Day 366: Indonesia:23 Senggigi, Lombok, 5 August 2011
