A WEEK IN LOMBOK

The journey to Lombok began with my random tendency at its finest. One day, I decided I had enough of the rowdy lifestyle of Jakarta and I wanted to have a short escape to revive myself in somewhere quiet, and the next thing I knew, I was in Lombok. I dragged my friend to tag along, because I am not ready to be a solo traveler just yet. So, I took evening flight from Jakarta, and landed safely at 8.30 PM at Lombok International Airport. Then, my dear, dear friend whom already there prior to my arrival picked me up and got ourselves to the hotel at Praya.

The cities in Lombok were most likely didn’t have any means of public transportations. So you should either have your stay planned by a travel agency to make your life easier, or rent a bike/car. As for me and my friend, we chose the cheapest way possible, which was renting a bike. We spend about IDR 75.000 for the bike/day

When the sun shined the next morning, we prepared ourselves to begin our trip to Kuta, then checking out of the hotel. The thing I love about the trip from Praya to Kuta was the peaceful silence, and the lavish greenery it offered. Heavy traffic was nonexistent, as if these two cities didn’t recognize the idea of traffic jam. Along the way, we made a stop on a traditional village of Sasak Tribe namely Ende Village, and took a few picture before continuing our journey.

Sasak Ende Village

The first time I set my foot in Kuta Mandalika beach, my heart was in awe. I was overexcited, because who would not? For the lack of a better word, the beach was so beautiful. It was a luxury refreshment to see a blanket of turquoise oceans compared to a dull grayish vibe of Jakarta that I have to see every single day. After feasting on the beautiful beach, we took a stroll on Seger beach. The soft white sands of Seger Beach encouraged us to keep walking by the seashore as we indulged ourselves in the calming sound of the waves, and the gentle wind that caressed our exposed skin. After we were satisfied strolling and playing around, we went back to the hotel to clean ourselves and called it a day as the rain started to fall.

Seger Beach

Kuta Mandalika

On the second day we went to Bukit Merese (Merese Hill). It was 20 – 35 minutes from kuta by a speeding bike. Lol, we sped up a lot in Lombok because the roads, most of the times were so deserted. We couldn’t resist when the chances presented themselves (don’t do this unless you are an experienced rider). Bukit Merese is formed by layers of hills that stood aligned, which the surface was covered by green grass on every single inch of it. Being there reminded me of the hill in the Teletubbies shows, back in 90s. Here we could see the exquisiteness of the ocean in different perspective, because, well, we could enjoy the sight of sea shelf from above, and saw a refined gradation of turquoise blue to dark blue color that signify the deeper part of the ocean. The locals said Bukit Merese was a perfect spot to watch the sunset, because there is nothing to obstruct your sight, no buildings, no mountains, nothing. You could see the sun set and disappear behind the horizon. Although we don’t have time until sunset because we have to move onto the next city, we hoped there would be another chance for us to watch the infamous sunset at Bukit Merese.

Tanjung Ann

Bukit Merese

Since the distance from Kuta to Mataram was quite far, we decided to take Damri Bus. After checking out, we traced our way back to Sengkol where the Airport was, and took Damri to Mataram. There weren’t much to say from the capital city of West Nusa Tenggara. Just like any other capital city, I can see that Mataram is the most advance and crowded place in Lombok, but still, I like it better than Jakarta. We visited Senggigi Beach and Pure Batu Bolong. These two visits were not satisfactory for us. The beach were dirty and the temple was nothing special, so we just strolling around the town and had an early dinner.

Mawun Beach

For the third day, we went to Bangsal Harbour, and purchased a boat ticket to Gili Trawangan. It took us about 45 minutes to reach Gili Trawangan by slow boat. And my first impression of Gili Trawangan? The island was nothing at all like I expected. It was too crowded and too festive to my liking. This place was for someone who like to party and enjoy the noise. As for me, I was slightly regretting our decision to spend 2 nights here, but since we have already paid for everything, going back to Lombok Island was not a choice. We got settled in our hotel and rented a bicycle to cycle around the Island. We spent about one hour before stopping for an ice cream, but my mood was still sour. I mean, we had been cycling for an hour but we couldn’t find a single spot to enjoy the beach, even when we did find a quiet place, the view wasn’t very nice. Moreover, the locals were coming off too strong for my timid personality, so I found them a little bit frightening. Fortunately, the next day was better. We spent the day snorkeling and hopping from Island to Island, and on the evening, we treated ourselves for a fancy dinner as a remedy for our bad first day here. As the night went, we strolled around and try to enjoy the festivities of the night market. Gili Trawangan night life wasn’t so bad after all.

Gili Air

Snorkeling at Gili Trawangan

Hopping Gili Islands

sunrise at Gili Trawangan

We took the first boat back to Lombok the next morning, but since our flight got delayed until the next day, we decided to go back to Kuta, for Kuta was the highlight of our trip. On this extra last day, we went to Mawun Beach, and once again visited Bukit Merese to finally watch the sunset there. The sunset was Majestic. It left me feeling bittersweet actually, because this was the last day. These past few days were like living a dream, and soon I had to come back to my reality. When the night fall, we got back to Kuta Mandalika and had a night dip. Me and my friend swam by the shore as we were stargazing. It was quite romantic I would say.

All in all, my Lombok trip was amazing. Most of the beaches were otherworldly beautiful. No picture I have taken could do the justice on how magnificent they were. I hope one day I can come back here and do more exploration. Because one week was just not enough.