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Lombok is the next island along, east of Bali. We chose to stay at Senggigi a beach resort on the north west coast. We were glad of a nice hotel in Senggigi. We stayed at Bumi Aditya with air conditioning, hot shower and swimming pool - luxury at £17.50 a night including breakfast. Senggigi was not too exciting, some nice restaurants but no real culture or atmosphere about the place. The beach was also uninspiring and uninviting. We hired a scooter from the hotel for 50,000 Rupiah (£2.50) and headed out to explore the area. We followed what was labelled the scenic drive on the island maps. This took us through the monkey forest (more viscious macaques that humans have ruined with feeding). We had views of the inland mountains and Mount Rinjani a huge active volcano 3,700m high. We then headed out to find some unspoiled beaches. We had a few failed attempts as many corporate resorts have cut off the coast from public use. We finally followed a path to Mendara beach, just a short stretch of sand with one shack selling drinks. The beach was completely empty and apparently good for snorkeling and you could see the Gili islands off shore. There were no other facilities such as sunbeds so we set off again. We stopped at Malimbu Hill on the coast road for even better views of the Gilis and a view of a quiet beach below. We then drove down to the quiet beach, which had a number of beach shacks inhabited by local fishermen. The locals snorkel out and harpoon the fish and bring them in to feed the family or to sell to local visitors. Paul had a look at the day's catch and we decided to stop for a spot of lunch. Rice, fresh grilled fish and sambal - spicy dip. Amazing for 50,000 Rupiah (£2.50). We sat in the shade watching a local swim back to shore with his catch. This is what you call unspoilt! We ventured out to do the coastal drive on another occasion and popped in again to get an even bigger fish - blue with yellow fins. It was edible - actually delicious - hope it wasn't endangered!?! Most of our time in Senggigi was taken up by researching whether or not we could do the trek up Mount Rinjani. There is an 8 hour walk up to the rim of the crater. At the top is a crater lake that has a mini volcano in the middle. Day 2 of the trek would take you up a steep sliding volcanic sand path to the summit - a steep two hour climb. The minimum tour length was two days, one night. My main question for the tour guides was about the toilet situation. Some companies had a toilet tent others said "Toilet is natural way". Then I happened to read a review of the tours on Tripadvisor and I'm glad I did. Apparently, the trek is not only terribly polluted with rubbish left behind by the tour companies over the past few years, but the pathway and the campsites are scattered with human excrement. Well that was my decision made - not a chance!
Disappointed but relieved about our Rinjani decision, we decided to head for one of the Gili islands instead.
The Gilis are three tiny white sand islands off the north west coast of Lombok. Gili Trawangan (the kids call it Gili T) is the largest island and is the party island. Gili Meno is known as the honeymoon island; it is the quietest and smallest island. Gili Air is somewhere between the two in terms of liveliness and size. We decided on Gili Meno. There was a ferry ride to get there and our hotel sorted us out with a cheap taxi/ferry ticket. On the way Paul did a deal (250,000 RP for the two of us - half the advertised price) to get an open ended return ferry and taxi to Kuta a resort on the southern coast of Lombok.
The ferry was exciting, it is used by locals to transport visitors and essential produce to the islands. It was loaded up with braces of live chickens, buckets of gasping fish, water bottles, propane gas bottles and fruit and veg. It is a crazy scramble wading through the water to board the boat. You also have to fight off the porters who try to grab your bags to load them and charge you for the privilege. A couple of older American ladies were caught out with this one and the porters tried to demand 50,000 RP from them which is 10 times what the locals pay. It was a mad scramble getting off the ferry too and wading through knee high waves. We had booked a bungalow through Agoda and were staying at Gili Garden Bungalows on the west side (other side) of the island. Our side, away from the ferry was very quiet. It only took 30 minutes to cross the island to our place. Gili Meno was amazing with white sand beaches and it is completely car free; the only vehicles are horses and carts and bicycles. The island has its own solar farm too and the water supply is from salt-water wells. Salty showers! There's breathtaking snorkeling, a myriad colourful varieties of fish; I didn't see any turtles but they were out there in slightly deeper waters than I was prepared to venture to. Scuba divers saw metre long reef sharks too. Our beach was opposite Gili T and the party kids would kayak over to Meno for lunch or for snorkeling. To say Meno was undeveloped would be an understatement. We walked round the island one morning and it took around one and a half hours. There seemed to be no more than around 15 resorts around the perimeter. Some looked abandoned. Restaurant choices were limited but we had two decent ones close to our bungalow - We'be and Good Heart. It is pretty weird that every paradise island that we visit must have a reggae bar or restaurant - Bob Marley's estate must rake in the royalties. You can't go a day in paradise without hearing "Don't worry about a thing" (Three Little Birds). Every day was pretty much spent lazing in a beach shack, eating and drinking and listening to the waves lap the shore. We ended the days watching the sun set over Gili T and distant Gunung Agung on Bali. We spent 5 days on Gili Meno and we could easily have stayed for weeks, but without an ATM on the island, we would soon run out of money. We reluctantly headed back to mainland Lombok and to the resort of Kuta.
Kuta was a bit of a contrast to Meno. The beach was expansive but like a wasteground, strewn with rubble and rubbish (often piles of rubbish were set alight). Water buffalo herds would cross the beach grazing and packs of dogs would roam, contantly fighting. There's unspoilt and then there's uncared for. Kuta is not a new resort, it has been on the backpacker trail for many years and the region is a surf-dude heaven. Dubai developers were going to invest £600 million in the area but I think that project was shelved back in 2010 when they ran into troubles of their own. We stayed at Sekar Kuning hotel, which was a friendly place and only 200,000 RP (£10) for a double with air con and breakfast included. We hired a scooter for 50,000 RP and explored the coast. The coast around Kuta is rugged and rocky and reminded us of Dorset - strangely. There were many surfers' beaches and it was great to watch the range of skills out there. Some beaches were for beginners, surfing low waves close to the beach. One beach, called Mawi had the scariest waves I've ever seen and was for the pros only. The surfers had to swim out 250m into the ocean to the breakers. I overheard a girl talking about her friend who was spinning about in the waves; she was a female world champion body boarder. We found a great restaurant in Kuta - Warung Bule, which served huge portions of perfectly cooked Mahi-Mahi and Barracuda at really low prices. The main problem on our travels here were the touts. At every place we stopped, no matter how remote, we would be approached within minutes by children selling bracelets, women selling sarongs and men selling t-shirts. Even the restaurants allowed sellers to come in and tout their wares while you were eating. Lombok has a long way to go before it can rival Bali in terms of customer service, friendliness and appeal. Well, that is the end of our Indonesian island hop. It's Malaysia next. Thanks for the messages. Take a look at Paul's photos, as ever. Thanks for following.
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