Lombok

The waters of the Lombok Strait separate the island of Lombok from its neighbor island of Bali.  Lombok resembles Bali as it appeared three decades ago before global travel brought an endless stream of visitors.  It possesses both great natural beauty and a sophisticated culture with a rich artistic tradition. The island’s scenery ranges from spectacular white sand beaches to terraced rice fields clinging to forested slopes. The southern lowlands are devoted to agriculture, including spice, coconut, coffee, vanilla and clove plantations. While Lombok appears a mirror image of Bali, significant differences exist.  For example, many species of birds found on Lombok are not found on Bali, just 20 miles across the strait.  A cultural divide separates the islands as well.  The native Sasak people make up 90 percent of the island’s population.  Unlike the Hindu Balinese, who ruled Lombok for two centuries, the native Sasak are primarily Muslim. The people of Lombok are renowned for sophisticated island crafts ranging from weaving and wood carving to ceramics along with hand-woven silk brocade incorporating metallic fabrics.

Gary and I found a driver who spoke English that would take us around Lombok the entire day.  He had an air conditioned crossover and it was great to get out of the heat.  We thought we might go to the Oberoy Hotel, but it was much too far (2 hours) to travel.  Some of the hotels  are absolutely gorgeous which is a sharp contrast to the living conditions here.  The people are very poor and the Lombok is very dirty with garbage everywhere.  However, wherever we went we were greeted with warmth and friendship.  We saw beautiful wood carvings, different fabrics being woven and decorative pottery being made.   Our driver even took us to his home.  We passed rice field after rice field and saw entire families whiz by on motor scooters.  On one bike there were 3 kids along with both parents – a baby in the mother’s  arms on the back, the father had one son in front of him and another child on the floor near his feet with his head crouched down low.  No helmets, thongs on their feet and all in shorts. 

We stopped for lunch at the Jakarta Hotel and had a wonderful lunch of Nasi Gori (sp) which is fried rice wrapped in a thin layer of scrambled egg along with 2 pieces of chicken satay, 1 fried prawn and something else they call a pickle that made my eyes tear and my nose run…hot, hot, hot. We were gone from 10:00 until 3:30 and, once again, had a great day.

By the way, the gal whose husband was evacuated left the ship today and flew to Bali where she will take a flight to Singapore, stay 2 days, then fly back to Perth.  That’s the only way she could get to her husband.  They still don’t know what is wrong with him. We have 3 days at sea before Cambodia & Thailand.  Been impossible to get on the internet as we are unable to get a signal.  If we are able to access it, it’s very, very, very slow and importing a picture has been hopeless.