Lombok Indonesia

Working the rice fields

The village laundry

Popular transport

We pre-booked a private driver and guide for the day to take Joanne, Garry and ourselves around the sights of Lombok. Since there isn’t a pier on Lombok which is large enough for the Dawn Princess, we were tendered ashore.

 We met early and were able to get onto an early tender, because we were being met at 8.30am. As soon as we arrived ashore, we were greeted by a traditional band, and after walking through the gates, we found our guide, Jos holding a sign with my name on it. He introduced our driver, Addy.

Initially, we drove through a rural area, with rice growing fields along with vegetables and fruit, very labour intensive. The first thing that struck me was the traffic, the constant tooting on the horns, and their uncanny ability to turn a narrow single lane road into a four lane highway – carrying buses, trucks, minivans, cars horse drawn carts and a multitude of scooters all jockeying for position. The horn blasts are signals, although we didn’t quite figure out the sequence it seemed to be that  one blast means I am overtaking you, two blasts means watch out and three blasts  means “*#**#**##**”!!!

Jos told us that there were around one thousands mosques on the island, so Jo and I started to play ‘Spotto’ whenever we saw one, but we quickly became tired of that and stopped at about 30 – there were just too many – some very small and some large and ornate.

Our first stop was at the weaving village – the village is a co-operative and everyone owns the communal land. The women weave cloth for sale to raise income for the village and take care of the children while the men all work in the fields growing the crops. The thread is all spun and dyed with local materials – green thread is coloured with spinach, red from a variety of local beetle etc.

They also use a metallic gold thread which is supplied by the government, since it is too expensive for the villagers to purchase. We bought a table runner with a beautiful intricate pattern – about 1.5 metres long which took 6 weeks to weave – such delicate work for $25AUD.

Judging by the commentary from Jos, there seems to be a lot of rivalry between Lombok, and Bali which is just across the strait – we were told that the leader of Lombok (governor??) is younger, smarter and more handsome that the Balinese leader.

Lombok is described as being “Bali thirty years ago, before the tourists took over” and it is largely unspoiled with many less developed villages where the people still live very traditional lives – Jos says that the government is helping the villages to develop products etc. to encourage tourists cause they realise that is the only way for their economy to grow.

In the village, one lady as sitting on the ground with an enormous pile of empty plastic containers from water and yoghurt, peeling off the labels and washing them for recycling. (we have been warned that often the water bottles are filled with local water and resealed, so I am not sure whether these were destined to be refilled).

The social structure of the village works because everyone in the village has a role that is valued – cooking, weaving, childcare, farming, recycling, construction, tending to the buffalo, showing visitors around, selling in the village shop etc. Everywhere, the people we met were very happy, smiling and humble.

Our next stop was at a pottery workshop – I was intrigued by a technique where batik fabric is stretched and glued over the pots, bowls and plates to give a unique pattern.

We travelled further north to Mataran, the capital, and then on to Sengiggi Beach which is the main tourist area and the location of the larger hotels and restaurants which cater for westerners.

 Jos smiled as he asked us whether we would prefer real  Indonesian or ‘Western/Indonesian’ food for lunch. Since, we knew that the word Lombok means ‘hot chili’ we opted for the western version.  We had lunch at Yessy restaurant – the daily special was grilled King Prawns and was a popular choice – I ordered Chicken with Cashews which were absolutely delicious. It was a very humid day, so we all enjoyed the local Bintang beer – icy cold – essential fluid replacement!!

The conversion rate is about $1AUD for 9500 Indonesian rupiah – our lunch came to 319,000 rupiah, so I had to take a photo of the bill for the most expensive lunch we have ever had. (about $30 in total)Since it is Ramadan and both our guide and driver are Islamic, as are 95% of the population,  they were not able to eat with us and went to prayers at the local mosque while we ate.

We had been warned about the hawkers who approach trying to sell their wares, and we did encounter them outside the restaurant and at the pier, but they were very friendly, not intrusive and when told ‘no’, they left us alone without any problems.

After lunch, we visited the Sengiggi beach lookout for some spectacular coastal views, and the to Lingso Temple which is used by both the Hindu and Moslem people. Since, tonight is a full moon, some ladies were preparing floral tributes and offerings for their gods.

 In the courtyard of the temple, we were confronted by cages of chickens, which are being prepared for cock fighting – a popular sport here. They are kept confined and force fed to build them up -  then have a small poisoned blade strapped to their foot which is used when they fight till the death – so cruel to us, but obviously still a part of this culture.

We returned to the port, and took the tender back to the ship where we opted for a swim before joining our friends on the back deck for sail-away drinks as the full moon rose above us.

Jos and Addy provided excellent service, jumping out to open the doors for us and providing excellent commentary so we got a great overview of their home country for one day – they were both warm, gentle, polite and approachable with a great sense of humour. They spoke excellent English, although Jos apologised in case he made mistakes – since they are also learning German and French for their roles as tour guides, we were very impressed.

Following an excellent recommendations on Trip Advisor, we used Eko Suprajitno to book our tour in Lombok, Indonesia. His contact details are ekomangsit@gmail.com