Lombok, Indonesia – July 2017
Once again our apologies for the extended delay in our postings. Indonesia’s technology infrastructure is no better than Malaysia’s. Our internet access is spotty, slow, and sometimes non-existent making it challenging at times for uploading videos and photos.
After spending 10 weeks traveling around Malaysia, it was time to head to Indonesia. For our planned 60 day stay, Indonesia requires a visa on arrival. Before leaving Malaysia, we tried to visit one of the Indonesian embassies to apply for the 60 day visa ahead of our arrival, but the offices were all closed for an extended 10 day holiday celebrating the end of Ramadan. So, our best and easiest option for a 60 day visa was no longer an option. We had no choice but to purchase a 30 day visa on arrival at the airport in Indonesia and extend the additional 30 days somewhere along the way.
On June 29th, we flew direct from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Praya International Airport on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. We were the first people off of the plane and were directed straight to the immigration area. All airport immigration processes are different, some want you to approach as a group if you’re a family while others want you to approach individually. Lombok immigration wanted us individually. When asked, we both asked for the 30 day paid visa which is extendable, not the 30 day free visa exemption. When asked how long we’d be staying, we each answered 60 days. Both officers stamped our passports and told us to move on. Once through, we both thought we’d be directed to another office to pay the $35.00 fee (each) and show all required documentation, but we were pointed in the direction of the luggage carousel and the exit. We quickly flipped through our passports to confirm the stamp they had given us…sure enough, it was the non-extendable “visa exemption” stamp which means you must leave the country after 30 days. Luckily, we hadn’t walked outside of security yet! We both walked back into the immigration area which caused quite a stir. The security officer stopped us and wanted to know the problem. We tried to explain we had asked for the paid visa versus the visa exemption…this completely puzzled him because he kept saying “you have a free 30 days why would you want to pay for 30 days?”. After several minutes, he seemed to understand, but said he needed to call his supervisor because we were already in their computer system. After what seemed like an eternity, he told us everything was good and he then directed us to another booth to pay for our visas. But, after paying we were only given a receipt showing payment…We then had to go back through immigration with the receipt in order for our passports to be updated. Luckily, the security officer motioned for us to proceed to the front of the line since we had already waited our turn and been through immigration once. Whew – we dodged a close one. Had we left airport security, there would’ve been no going back and no possibility of extending beyond 30 days.
We continue to learn lessons for things that should be so simple… we had both asked for the paid extendable 30 day visa, but the immigration officers couldn’t understand why we would want to pay for something they could give us for free 🙂 Oh yeah, and it seems they could be given a little more training about their own visa process also.
Over the next 18 days, we spent time at four different destinations across Lombok. All of which were unique and fun in different ways. See our below post for details about each area visited.
See video and photos below highlighting our days on the island of Lombok, Indonesia. To see all images of this location click the link at the bottom of this post or go to our gallery.
West Sekotong, Lombok
Silver Fern Beach Retreat was our first destination in West Sekotong on Lombok. The owners, from New Zealand, built the small beach retreat a few years ago. The rooms all have ocean views and are steps away from the beach. The grounds are beautifully manicured around a nice salt water pool right at the ocean’s edge. We spent our first 5 days here and had a great time with the owners, their staff, and several other guests.
We arrived after dark at Silver Fern Beach Retreat and upon check-in received these refreshingly delicious fruit and coconut Welcome Drinks.
Our beautiful view from our patio. Also, where we enjoyed a cup of coffee each morning.
The beachfront salt water pool and palapa at our accommodation. We spent many days swimming and relaxing out here.
Gili Air, Lombok
Gili Air is one of the three islands referred to when people say “the Gili’s”. Gili means island and there are many Gili’s all over Indonesia, but when someone mentions “the Gili’s” they are talking about Gili Trawangan (also called Gili T and known as the backpacker party island), Gili Meno (more laid back and quiet, but still close enough to Gili T to hear the music), and Gili Air (the most quiet and laid back of the three islands). Gili Air is a small island with no motorized vehicles, the only forms of transportation are horse carts, bicycles, or walking. You can walk around the entire island in a few hours at a relatively slow pace. While Gili Air is slightly touristy, the whole vibe is very laid back and comfortable. The beaches and water are beautiful but a reef surrounds the island and most are too shallow for swimming. We were told there was good snorkeling further out or on a boat trip around the islands.
Video – Sekotong & Gili Air, Indonesia (Lombok)
Jetty where we arrived at Gili Air.
This is the main street right at the jetty where you arrive and depart from. All the roads around the island are dirt like you see here. Note the horse and cart taxi on the right. There are many of them if you choose not to walk or ride a bike.
One of the Gili Air beaches. This is one of the areas you can swim. Most of the other beaches while beautiful are too shallow for swimming.
Rick and Alisa walking out to the reef at low tide.
Sailing ship outside the reef at low tide.
One of the many beachfront restaurants and hangouts. There were quite a few people on the island while we were there, but there are times you can catch these hangouts in between the crowds. You can see the reef in the distance where the waves are crashing.
Senaru, Lombok
Senaru is a small village on the North side of Mt Rinjani. Many people who visit this area come to climb the mountain. We thought about climbing to the rim of the crater, but we decided we’d save it for another time. It was busy season and we’d heard there were roughly 900 people on the mountain each day – way too many people for our liking. We opted to stay in Senaru and hiked a recommended Panorama Day Trek with a local guide. The trek took us to two beautiful waterfalls, across rice fields and coffee plantations, and through the old Senaru village. Locals still live in the village in bamboo type huts leading a very simple lifestyle. Our trek ended back in the main part of Senaru with a local lunch made by our guide’s wife. Our guide even took Rick up to the village later that same evening for a haircut by the local barber. Rick said he pointed at a few photos on the wall and clippers came out and before long most of Rick’s hair was on the floor. Rick says it’s the best haircut he’s ever had…and it only cost him $1.10 US including a tip.
Video – Senaru, Indonesia (Lombok)
Panorama view from one of the open-air local warungs (restaurants). The view was beautiful. You can see the ocean to the left in the distance and when the sky is clear you can see Mt Rinjani to the right. Mt Rinjani was covered in clouds most of each day. The few times the clouds cleared it wasn’t even long enough for us to get our camera to snap a photo.
Our guide, Mr Allgood, taking us on a 6 hour trek. This is a portion of the trail along the canal which leads to two beautiful waterfalls.
The first waterfall, Sendang Gila.
Rick and Alisa in front of the lower portion of Sendang Gila Waterfall.
Local kids spear fishing in the river below one of the waterfalls. The kids were holding large pieces of broken glass at the surface of the water to see to the bottom to spear very small fish. They put the fish in the plastic water bottle at their waist. Seems like broken glass in the river is probably not the safest of ideas 😉
The second waterfall, Tie Kelep. There was a ton of water falling from many places along the rock wall. There was so much spray, we couldn’t get near to get a photo as it immediately soaked us and our camera lenses…And, this time of year is dry season. Our guide said in wet season the entire rock wall becomes the waterfall.
As part of our trek, we walked through the old Senaru village. Locals still live in these huts.
Our guide’s wife made us traditional indonesian dishes for lunch after our trek. Tempeh is on the left (made with fermented soybeans then fried) and Urap-urap on the right (spicy vegetable and shredded coconut). Both were delicious.
Young banana stalks in a spicy sauce. The dish looked very strange, but was out of this world good. Both of us said, if we hadn’t been served this as part of our trek it wasn’t something either of us would have tried. But, we were both very glad they made it for us as it was wonderful.
We were sitting having dinner one evening and we heard loud music which continued to get louder. We walked to the street to see what was going on. The music was coming from one of two large sound systems on wheels being pulled uphill in what looked like a parade. We were told this was a traditional village wedding ceremony.
The bride in a traditional village wedding ceremony. This was the start of what we saw moving along in the very narrow main street in and amongst moving traffic. All the village locals walk up the street with the bride with very loud sound systems following.
Tetebatu, Lombok
Tetebatu is a small village on the South side of Mt Rinjani. And until recently, climbing Mt Rinjani was not possible from this side of the mountain. After talking with one of the locals, the trail is new and has considerably less people. We didn’t have the time during this trip to climb the mountain, but have put it on our list for a return visit. We did a day trek with a local guide to two waterfalls and hiked many trails through terraced rice fields. We finished our trek with an afternoon scooter ride to another village to see local women weaving sarongs and shawls and others making bamboo baskets. We both enjoyed this side of the mountain better than the northern side. The weather is nicer, there were less tourists, and it seemed to have an overall slower pace.
Video – Tetebatu, Indonesia (Lombok)
Our guide for the day, Angga, taking us through the terraced rice fields.
On our day trek, Rick and Alisa in front of one of the rice field workers break huts.
Local women planting rice “starts” in the fields.
Alisa stepping into very squishy mud to help the local women plant.
Alisa planting rice “starts”.
View of some of the beautiful terraced rice fields.
Rick and Alisa at the top of one of the terraces.
View of Mt Rinjani from the rice fields. It took us traveling to the south side to have clear enough weather to be able to see the mountain.
Local mom and son digging for eels. Following the harvesting of rice fields, the locals will dig and catch eels for food. They caught several small ones while we stood and watched.
Local kids catching crickets. The kids didn’t speak any english, but were very eager to show us what they had.
Woman from the weaving village making a sarong on a loom.
Women making bamboo baskets. Most of their handicraft will be exported to Bali to sell to tourists. There are not enough tourists yet on Lombok to sustain their work.
