It was a 3 hours 10 minutes flight by Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to
Lombok and our group of 34 pax were on 4 days 3 nights tour from 11 - 14 December 2014.
On our arrival, we were ushered by our English speaking guide, Mr Taufik Hidayat to our 44 seaters coach and went on an excursion to Rambitan traditional Sasak Village. We had simple lunch with very good sambal belacan at Kute Indah Restaurant before we proceed to Kuta and Tanjung Aan turquoise white sandy beach which are all located at South Lombok. Then drove down to Sukarara traditional weaving village and Banyumulek pottey village. We had dinner at Fortuna Senggigi before checking into The Santosa Villa & Resort located at Senggigi West Lombok.
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| local handicraft |
This Senggigi area was totally opposite of what we have seen at South Lombok. We were glad that our rooms were all upgraded from Terrace to Superior rooms. Just 5 minutes walk our from the hotel, you will reach Orchid Day Spa & Beauty Salon where we had our massage every night there. An hour of massage cost IDR60,000, Foot Reflexology IDR50,000, 2 hours of pacakge included massage, body scrub and body mask cost IDR150,000.
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| Morning view from our hotel |
Next morning after breakfast at about 9.30 am, we started our tour with a stop at Malimbu hill enjoy the breathtaking scenery of Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Gili means small island in sasak language. We ride the boat to Gili Trawangan and then board the Glass Bottom Boat to enjoy the underwater view of fantastic turquoise beach with fishes and turtles. It cost IDR75,000 per person and the boat could fit 20 people but we managed to negotiate to IDR1.7 mil for 2 boats a total of 28 of us. On a note, we were not brought to Sidemen palm sugar village and also Pusuk preserved Monkey forest where beautiful rice paddy field near Bangsal harbour could be seen.
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| We saw turtles! |
Lunch was served on the Gili Trawangan island by Juku Marlin eatery. We left Gili Trawangan and proceed back to hotel before our dinner at Taliwang Irama Restaurant located at Jl Ade Irma Suryani, Kr Taliwang, Cakranegara, Mataram. On way to restaurant, we stopped by to view the sunset and had BBQ sweet maize. The food served here at Taliwang Irama was very good. This restaurant is famous for Ayam Bakar Taliwang (BBQ Chicken) but most of us preferred their Ikan Nila Bakar Madu (BBQ Fish with honey).
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| Yummy BBQ Maize |
On our third day, we left the hotel at 9 am, visited Lingsar Temple, where Hindus and Muslim worship in this one temple. On the way to waterfall, we stop at Narmada, kingly garden, replica of Segara Anak Lake on Top of Rinjani mountain.
We then had lunch at Nuansa Indah Restaurant. Most of our meals were served with a Water Morning Glory (Kangkung) which is famous in Lombok. Even people from Jakarta who visited this island will bring this vegetable home.
Soft treking to Benang Stokel waterfall from Pemandakan took us less 10 minutes, few of us had a nice swim there, whereas the others continued 25 minutes walk passing narrow rainforest to Benang Kelambu Waterfall. The view was amazing and those were there enjoyed themselves.
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Benang Stokel Waterfall
Amazing view of Benang Kelambu Waterfall |
On our way leaving this place, we saw the wedding procession of Sasak. Is a tradition that the groom will kidnap his bride and then inform the parents of his bride about his intention to marry the bride.
We had our dinner at Salsa Restaurant, just 10 minutes walk from our hotel.
The next morning, after breakfast we left for airport with a heavy heart leaving behind this beautiful island. We are sure 5 years down the road, the tourism in Lombok will be much better. As by December 2014, the targeted tourist was 3 million with mostly Australian and European visited this island.
Our local tour agent was
PASATAMA TRAVEL SERVICE
Head Office : Komplek Cahaya Permata,
Jl. Gajah Mada, block A1 No. 5,
Mataram - Lombok - Indonesia
Phone Flexy : +62 370 6666358,
GSM : +62 81915962800, +62 82236689900
PIN BB : 21616FA6
Immediate action:
+62 82144464478, +62 8175787149
Email: johry@lombok lastminutes.com
http://lomboklastminutes.com/
