Lombok Island is Bali's neighboring island, where people usually go for two reasons: surfing in Gerupuk Bay and a three-day climb to the Rinjani volcano. And the southern coast of Lombok is very beautiful (IMHO much more beautiful than Bali) and people go there for semi-wild tourism and picturesque tropical beaches. I even had it on my blog a few years ago, so I myself was a fan of this place and drove there to surf with friends almost every month.

IN last years my personal opinion about Lombok has changed a lot and I stopped going there. I can't even remember how many years ago I last visited Lombok. (The only exception would be the two trips to Sumbawa when we crossed Lombak just to get to the ferry to Sumbawa, but we did not stop at Lombawa itself).

I never blogged about my personal adventures in Lombok and my reasons for stopping going there: I didn’t want to spread panic and spread horror stories. (One was enough for the whole world to start thinking that Bali will soon be washed off the face of the earth :)))

But recently I received a letter from blog readers who told me about their terrible incident on Lombok. And since this is not the only story, I decided to raise this topic. So that every person going to Lombok knows what, hypothetically, awaits him in this place under an unfortunate set of circumstances. And ideally, people would stop going to this place in principle, so that the Lombok government would finally deal with this situation.

I also have my own horror story about Lombok and I will also tell it today. My story took place in 2012, but since then the situation in Lombok has not improved, although there have been an order of magnitude more tourists. And yes, I understand that it is a personal choice for everyone whether or not to go to Lombok, but I want to take the time and encourage everyone who reads these pages to “ban” Lombok from visiting. Because only when tourists start to avoid Lombok en masse, the local government will start to do something about the attacks and crimes that occur on this beautiful, but very cruel island. I do not want to support the economy of the island, where the government for so many years has not found a way to deal with the bandits, and just turns a blind eye to everything that happens for years. Lawlessness in one way or another, of course, is everywhere, even in Bali, but the form in which it flourishes in Lombok is a real tin. And although I miss this island terribly, and constantly try to go there again, it’s not in vain that I deliberately didn’t go there for many years. And I won't go. Not because I'm scared, but because it's my conscious choice to boycott Lombok. And now let's move on to the horror stories from Lombok.

History first.

From a letter sent to me recently about the attack on Lombok.

"Good afternoon!

I don’t know where to turn, we had a problem on vacation. Today, my boyfriend and I were attacked right on the road by two local guys. We stopped in Kuta [Lombok also has Kuta, approx. from me], rented two scooters, the second day we drove around the neighborhood. After lunch at a local cafe in a small fishing village on the bay (Pelabuhan Ikan, Teluk Awang, Lombok Tengah) we drove back to Kuta.

A few minutes after leaving the village, a steep climb began, at the end of which two guys were standing. I rode in front, my boyfriend behind me. The speed on the rise was small 10-15 km/h. As soon as I caught up with the guys, one of them began to swing a big stick at me, the second had a machete in his hands. I did not immediately understand the intention, and when I realized it, I started screaming. The guy at that moment hit me on the back with a stick, I fell and started screaming.

My young man at that moment was just driving up the hill where everything was happening. He heard my cry, but saw everything when I was already lying on the ground. When I fell, I immediately jumped up and tried to run away from the attackers. My boyfriend rushed to save me and abandoned his bike. At that moment, the first attacker had already grabbed my scooter, and the second one ran to meet my friend with a stick and brandishing a machete. We ran back, the attacker got on my boyfriend's bike and both left on our bikes. We ran after them, shouted, called for help, but this did not lead to anything. Everything happened in 10 seconds. The road was empty, people appeared only after 30-60 seconds.

We had phones in the bikes in our pockets, my boyfriend had documents and money in his backpack, the robbers did not take him away. Everything was on a busy highway, we were just unlucky, and at that moment we were all alone there. After that, the locals took us to the nearest police station, and we spent another five hours with the police. First, we went to the crime scene, where there were pieces of the broken headlight of my bike and a stick that hit me. The police also took us to a local hospital, where they recorded wounds and bruises, which were many after the fall.

In the process, it became clear that they had not previously recorded such cases [which is not true, since attacks on Lombok happen regularly - another note from me], but in the same village, bikes were stolen from other tourists three days ago. They stole from the parking lot on the pier, the bikes still haven't found them. It is not known whether these are the same robbers or others, but the crime scene is the same. I would like to warn vacationers that a gang or even more than one criminal is operating close to the tourist area of ​​Kuta. It is not known how their attack will end next time, but they are unlikely to stop there. Our phones are obviously more expensive than bikes, but lives are priceless. Please warn people of this danger in Lombok! Such lawlessness, associated with a threat to life, should not go unnoticed.

Ekaterina K.

Even for me, a person who has been living in Indonesia for a long time and who has seen everything, this story is horrifying. And as I wrote above in the notes in square brackets, this is not the first attack on Lombok and attacks on tourists regularly occurred in the Lombok Kuta area. It’s hard for me to say how often, because most of them simply don’t come to the surface, and only news of the most severe cases, when people were hospitalized in a very serious condition after the attack, reach the surface.

By the way, the story described above did not end there, I learned its continuation from the second letter, which I also quote below.

“Stella, hi!

Continuation and end of the story

The manager of our villa, Amin, was very worried about the scooters, because they are not his. The next morning there was a conversation that the money for the scooters should be returned. We replied that the police should deal with this matter, let them look for scooters, we did not lose them, but we were actually attacked, our losses are also no one in his beautiful country does not compensate. We didn't sign any lease documents. He only replied that all the tourists in our place would pay. And left like the owner of the bikes.

The owner of the bikes, who looked like a bouncer, announced that he needed 15 million rupees per bike, which corresponds to $ 1,150. Naturally, we didn’t have that kind of money, and it’s just a robbery. Of course, we refused, and the owner of the bikes just smiled. He said that until we pay, we will not leave here. Around the same time, we read that in Lombok, among the incidents with tourists, robbery is a common occurrence, after which there is extortion from the owners of stolen scooters. It turns out that the police deceived us when they said that this does not happen to them, only the theft of parked scooters.

At that moment, we were really scared for our lives, because not one person came to deal with us, but two or three, and also some other people were sitting at the exit from the villa, in general, we were surrounded. We did not want to talk to the owner of the scooters, because he did not care about our problems, he was going to fully compensate for his losses at our expense. We called the villa manager Amin for negotiations, we were ready to pay everything we have, just to let us out of this hell. Amin said that his owner, although we thought that he was the owner, is ready to compensate 10 million, and we will only have to give 15 million. But the owner of bikes said that he did not agree to 25 million, and he needed all 30. At the same time, the owner of bikes called some kind of boss of his own to agree on a price reduction, but he refused.

Thus, we had to give 20 million, and we only had 15. We said that we did not have so much money, and we could not give it all away, otherwise we would be completely without money, but they did not want to listen to us. They said that the last price is 15 million for two scooters. We changed the money, gave it to Amin (and not like the owner of scooters), at that time there were already seven people at the entrance to the villa. We were happy to get our feet out of there. We believe that they are all just swindlers and deceivers.

Naturally, the owner of the villa (I think that the owner was invented) Amin will not compensate anything, this performance was only for us, we were deceived, intimidated and our last money was taken away. These people were not embarrassed at all, they did not care at all that we were left in their beautiful country without money.

Later we learned from local residents that the market value of such old scooters is less than 7 million, and new ones really cost 15 million. On one of the stolen scooters, the speedometer did not work, which generally prohibits the operation of this scooter, but it was rented out, and even earned. I don't know if it was possible to get out of this situation with less losses.

We had thoughts of contacting the police to help us there, they judged somehow, and 30 million is generally some kind of space. But then we changed our minds, the local police are at the same time with them, we would only have lost time, and the ending would have been the same. Now I understand Amin's words that everyone in our place would pay. There is no other way here...

Catherine"

The second story.

My personal, although already a little old, but very indicative, it is also about an unpleasant adventure on Lombok.

Horror stories about Lombok have been around for a long time. And if someone, after reading the story above, suddenly thought that, well, he would definitely “wouldn’t let himself be bred like that” or “would have defended himself in front of the bandits,” then I will tell you my story. How did we defend ourselves?

Our story took place in 2012. My friends and I went by car to travel around Sumbawa and Lombok. We ended up in Lombok in the late afternoon, it was August and the high season, so we could not find accommodation for a long time, in Kuta (on Lombok) there were still very few guesthouses and everything was booked everywhere. We traveled around the evening Kuta and got into a small accident with a scooter.

My version of the accident: two scooters were driving towards us, one suddenly crossed the road diagonally and ended up on the oncoming lane, we couldn’t pass without a collision, the car swerved to the side so as not to knock down the one on the opposite side, and at that time the second scooter, did not look at the road, but looked somewhere to the side, so he could not avoid our car. What is important, as a result of an accident, the second scooter tangentially passed our bumper, on which scratches remained and the headlight slightly cracked. All. That is, it was not a hellish accident, it was an accident at low speeds (I think about 40 km / h) with mutual damage to the plastic. No harm done. In any other situation in the same Indonesia, everyone would just leave (there is no OSAGO insurance) or they would exchange a small amount of money and go on business.

But we, like the guys from the story above, were at the wrong time in the wrong place. It was Independence Day, which was celebrated by the whole country, there were crowds of drunken local men on the streets. So literally in a minute a crowd surrounded our car and began to threaten us.

Since I then thought that “we are in the know and they won’t divorce us,” I followed the old advice that if something goes wrong, you just lock yourself in the car and don’t get out of it under any circumstances. So they did. Our car was beaten, we were showered with curses and threats, they tried to open the windows, break down the doors. I don't even want to go into details right now. The main thing is that there were a lot of them and we understood that we had nowhere to go. And most importantly, the crowd grew and became more violent. And all this was in Kuta. No one tried to stand up for us, everyone just joined the crowd.

Of course, I don’t even want to remember all the details of that evening and that night, because even now, when I write these lines, fear for my life, hatred for such savagery and an understanding of complete impotence in front of this crowd again seethe inside me. I’ll just say that all of us sitting in the car then (and they were mostly girls) were scared because 20 adult angry screaming men were rocking our car and pounding on the windows, demanding that we urgently get out of the car, “to talk."

This hell lasted several hours, I think. At some point, there was a “helper” outside who spoke more or less tolerable English and promised that he would help us resolve the situation. The settlement was understood as a translation from Bahasa into English, that we only have to pay for the “repair” of the bike only five million rupees (at that time it was $ 500). It was about an old antediluvian moped, not even an automatic machine, which, in principle, cost at that time half the price requested for repairs. Given that we had a scratched bumper and a cracked headlight, the scale of the repair on that scooter was clearly not worth the money. Therefore, we stood our ground and replied that we were ready to cover the real cost of repairs, discuss everything in a calm manner with the owner of the bike, and not with the crowd, and that extortion and threats would not work with us.

And now to the question of the police. In the story above, Ekaterina correctly writes that there is no point in contacting the police. It's a waste of time, and in most cases, the police will just get their share, so they'll be even more interested in extorting something from you. Welcome to Indonesia.

At some point, we reported to the locals rocking our car that we would not get out of the car. They began to scare us with the police, to which we (naive back then) said yes. Let's go to the police, that's exactly what we would like to see now. The police arrived. We were all forced to get out of the car, put into a police car, and taken to the station. At that moment, the girls and I exhaled, anticipating the speedy deliverance from all this hell. Naive.

The same crowd that rocked the car burst into the station with us. Now only between us and them there was no car body. They yelled and yelled all over the precinct, they shouted curses at us, something about the fact that we are “don't respect the country” and that they will deal with us now. And although we demanded order from the police and that all leftists be expelled from the precinct, the police didn’t give a shit. They continued to extort money from us, and we realized that the police were not only not going to “understand” our story, but it was also not clear which side they were on.

This madhouse continued for several more hours. For which we were rapidly losing nerve cells and faith that we would get out of this area. But we didn't give up. At the same time, we tried to find out emergency numbers of our embassy, ​​the telephones of the tourist police and reported on the Internet, in case someone else knew where we were and what was happening to us.

Since the police at this station realized that it was not easy to withdraw money from us, they decided to scare us by sending us to the main police station of this region, to the city of Praia. We agreed because it didn't seem to us that anything could be worse than a small police station in the village, chock-full of locals yelling and threatening us.

It takes about an hour to get to Praia. There we were handed over to another station, where we spent time until late in the morning. Until the damn morning. Because it was a holiday and there was no one to deal with us. During the 12 hours that we spent in this station, no one took any formal testimony from us, no one drew up a protocol and we did not write any explanatory notes, no one went to the scene of an accident to check something. They just talked to us, convincing us that we owe respect to the country and therefore we must pay money, then they will let us go.

Another interesting point: from the moment of the accident, we did not see the driver of the moped until the next morning. And even then, he arrived only when we asked a reasonable question, where is the other side of the accident and why is she not participating in the conversations. He arrived, but was silent all the time. The policemen and the remnants of that yesterday's crowd, who had arrived in the morning to take part in our lynching again, spoke for him.

All the time we were in the police, we had endless negotiations with the police and with the “helpers” from the locals, who smiled sweetly and sentenced “dont warr ai help yu”. But all their help was expressed in the fact that they simply voiced the amount that we had to pay in order to let us go.

By the way, we were eventually able to contact our Russian embassy in Jakarta. Do you know what they told us? “Oh, well, how many of you are there? Four? Well, don’t worry, chip in a hundred and they will let you go.” I love the officials of our country!

In general, our “negotiations” with the police lasted for hours, there is no other way to call it. They extorted money from us, poured on us with talk in the spirit of “wei yu dont respect my country” and just stupidly kept us in the police. In the end, we did pay money, but our “fortitude” brought the amount to 20 or 30 dollars, I don’t remember now. True, it cost us 12 hours in the police and several hours of meaningless conversations and defending our rights.

I'm not sure that I was able to convey with colors, all the horror that we experienced all this time, not understanding how long they would keep us in the police. Guys, it was really terrible. I do not want my short story to show you that we are so cool and we have defended ourselves. Yes, we defended, but at the same time we were shaking like I don’t know who, fearing for our lives and for our belongings. After all, boards, photographic equipment, laptops were traveling with us in the car. It was scary. From lawlessness and lawlessness and from the fact that your life for these people has no value at all. They'll do anything to get their $500.

I was lucky that I had my brave and cheerful girls with me, whom you can’t just take with threats, so we stood for 12 hours and were able to negotiate the real cost of repairs. (By the way, for our bumper and headlight, we later gave $ 100 to the car rental from our money, although I still think that the fault in the accident was at least mutual. to the side, he would have seen the car and the accident could have been avoided. About the second comrade, who abruptly changed lanes to the oncoming lane (= our lane) and who initially helped provoke the accident, no one ever remembered the police, of course. Yes, who cares about him when there are foreigners from whom you can withdraw money from scratch.)

Summarizing this story, I want to remind you that it was 2012 and in general, locals in Indonesia have not yet been so greyhounds towards tourists. To meet a divorce and an aggressive attitude was rather a rarity. Now it is, to put it mildly, much more common. So if our story happened now, I'm not at all sure that I could defend my money in the same way.

Well, and most importantly, I would definitely not want to be a tourist in the same situation and thus “diversify my vacation”.

Therefore, the choice about Lombok is yours. I made my choice. I won't go there until the local police and government have put things in order on the island. If they treat tourists this way, then in principle tourists can stop visiting them, and Lomboks can return to their old life of fishing and agriculture. There are many other places in the world that are no less beautiful than Lombok. And as for surfing, I'd rather spend a couple of hours on a flight and ride somewhere else.

Lombok is known as a virgin island, perfect for traveling and relaxing where you will find white sandy, quiet beaches, mountains, pristine villages, tropical vegetation and the rich culture of Indonesia. On the island, the rhythm of life is slow, it is here that you will hear the sound of silence in the mountains, you will feel peace and tranquility.

Lombok is often compared to its famous neighbor Bali. It is often described as "Bali before the tourists came". Lombok can be recommended for honeymooners. Here, such a type of hotel as a boutique hotel and villas is very common, in which there is a separate access to the beach, to the pool, and their own servants. In general, the level of hotels is very high, quite comparable to Bali, and prices are somewhat lower. The island does not have as many monuments and other attractions as in Bali. People come here mainly to enjoy nature.

The main difference and advantage of Lombok is that there are much fewer tourists than in Bali. Nature lovers will be delighted with the scenery of the southern coast of the island and the beauty of Mount Rinjani. In the central part of Lombok, Mount Rinjani is visible from everywhere, it is a volcanic cone 3800 m high with a crater lake in the middle. In the same part of Lombok is the 17-meter Otakokok waterfall, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. In the evening, you can admire a stunning spectacle - the sunset between two famous volcanoes - Balinese Agung and Rinjani.

How to get there

Get to about. Lombok from Bali is possible on a comfortable catamaran ferry in just 2.5 hours, and there are also daily flights from Bali, Jakarta and Singapore. The flight from Bali to Lombok takes only 30 minutes.

Population

Most of the local population (2.5 million people) - Sasaki professes Islam with elements of Hinduism and the local animalistic cult of vetu body (wetu telu). The Balinese (about 100 thousand people) inhabit the areas adjacent to the western coast of the island.

Location

O. Lombok is a small island located near Bali and Sumbawa Island.

Lombok is located 8° (375 km) south of the equator, so the length of day and night is about the same all year round. Sunrise around 6.20. sunset at 18.30. Between about. Lombok and about. Bali passes the boundary of the ecosystems of equatorial Asia and Australia - the Wallace line. To the east of it live representatives of the Australian animal world: birds of paradise, a thrush with an orange rim. To the west, Asian, including monkeys and tigers (they met on Bali until the 1930s).

The three main cities of Lombok - Ampenan, Mataram and Chakranegara - are located next to each other, within a six-kilometer strip stretching from the western coast of the island to the east.

Mataram

The city with wide green streets and parks is built up with buildings in the traditional Saka and Art Deco style, shops of Arab and Chinese merchants. He is on west coast O. Lombok.

Metropolis Mataram, formed as a result of the merger of five settlements - Ampenan (Ampenan), actually Mataram (Mataram), Chakranegara (Cakranc-gara), Light (Sweta) and Bertais (Bertais), - stretched for 10 km from west to east along the street with one-way traffic. Traffic in the opposite direction is on a parallel (1 block south) street. In Ampenan, the former main port of the island, several interesting old houses have been preserved. City government buildings, most hotels, shops and restaurants are concentrated in Mataram - the administrative center of the West Nusa Tenggara region (Lombok Island and Sumbawa Island) and Chakranegar, and in Sveta and Bertais, through which the main transport interchanges pass, there are main bus stations.

In the 17th century the feudal lords of Bali, Makassar and Bima (Sumbawa Island) fought for Lombok. In 1838, Matarama, the rajah of one of the four principalities created on the island by the Balinese, became the sole ruler of the island. In July 1894, a Dutch expedition landed on Lombok. Overcoming fierce resistance, on September 29, the Dutch stormed Mataram. and November 8 is Chakranegaru. Until the mid 1990s. the island remained far from historical events and was little affected by the tourism industry. It then suffered greatly from the 1997 Asian crisis and the sectarian clashes that followed.

On January 17, 2000, during the celebration of the day of Muslim solidarity, a group of aggressive Islamists gathered in Amperon. Over the next three days, a Catholic church, an adjoining hospital, and several discos were burned to the ground. During the dispersal of the crowd, several Muslims were killed and injured by the police, but not a single tourist or local Christian was injured. Now the administration of Mataram is making great efforts to return foreign tourists frightened by the pogrom to the island and is trying to ensure their safety.

In Mataram you can visit Mayura Water Palace(Maura). The palace (1744) was built as part of the royal palace of the Balinese Karangasem dynasty. In 1894, the Balinese destroyed the wall of the water palace and killed the Dutch defending it. Now only a lake surrounded by a park with fountains, statues, altars and cannons remains of the palace ensemble.

Temple of Pura Meru in front of the Mayura Palace. This is the largest temple in Lombok with 33 sanctuaries and three multi-tiered pagodas dedicated to the Hindu triad: Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. It was built in 1720 under Anak Agung Karang. Entrance is free, but the priests immediately pounce on visitors, as if they were dear guests, they lead them to a giant banyan tree, make a belt from a piece of simple matter, ask them to sign in the book of honored guests, and after that it is impossible to do without a donation for the maintenance of the temple. Only then can you go through the gate to the territory of the second and third courtyards. True, there is nothing special to look at there - the outside of the temple is decorated much brighter than the inside. In a small lane adjacent to the wall of the temple, there is a very picturesque weaving workshop. There you can see the conditions under which local proletarians work.

Museum of Negeri Nusa Tenggara Barat. The exposition dedicated to the geology, history and culture of Lombok and Sumbawa contains fabrics and ceramics, copper and wood products, archaeological finds, including 1239 manuscripts written on palm leaves.

Water palace of Narmada. The Palace (1727) is built on a hill south of the main road and is surrounded by three pools. They depict the Rinjani volcano (Gunung Rinjani): the central pool represents Lake Segara Anak (Segara Anak), the small pools symbolize the thermal springs near the lake, and the top of the mountain is the Kalasa temple (Riga Kalasa), dedicated to Shiva. In the lower pools, locals bathe and wash their clothes. The water of the upper pool provides eternal life. During the full moon of the fifth Balinese lunar month (usually in December), the pujavali ritual takes place here.

Near the village of Lingsar there is a huge Puri Lingsar temple complex. The complex was built as a sign of establishing friendship between the Balinese and the Sasaks (the indigenous people of Lombok). In this strange temple, sacred rituals can be performed by Muslims, and fans of the Balinese form of Hinduism, and followers of the local animalistic cult. Every year, before the start of the rainy season, the Perang Topat ceremony (Sasak. Perang Topat - Topat War) takes place here for a week. Muslims and Hindus give thanks for the last season's rains and pray for new rains, and after that they begin to throw ketupat at each other (ketupat - rice wrapped in coconut leaves). Hard-boiled eggs are sold at the gates of the temple complex. It is believed that if you feed them to the eels living in the sacred pond, your wish will come true. To the east of the Lingsar temple is the temple of Puri Suranadi (Puri Suranadi, entry by donation) - one of the most revered temples of Lombok.

Pura Batu Bolong Temple rises on a stone ledge with a wonderful view of the ocean. It is said that once it was from this rock that the most beautiful virgins of Lombok were sacrificed to the sea. A small but surprisingly romantic temple, built in the Balinese-Hindu style, is oriented towards the sacred Mount Agung.

Kuta

At the southern tip of Lombok stretches Kuta beach. Pure white sand, indented coastline, high waves attract surfers here, and unusual stone formations attract nature lovers. The main settlement of the resort is the village of Kuta, built up with wooden fishermen's houses.

8 km west of the village of Kuta lies the deserted beach of Mavun. and 8 km to the east is the sandy bay of Tanjung Aan with calm turquoise water.

Mount Rinjani. Extinct volcano - the second highest peak of Indonesia is located in the center north coast O. Lombok. The cruciform caldera has a small but active Baru volcano(a strong eruption was in 1925, and the last - in 1994) and a crater lake Segara Anak, and at the foot - thermal springs. Balinese Hindus revere active volcano like a holy place. Every year they make a pilgrimage to the top to the shores of the steep-walled lake. Local Muslims believe that on the ninth day after death, the souls of the dead come here. Live goldfish and gold jewelry are sacrificed to them.

You can climb to the top of the volcano from almost any side, but the most popular trail starts from the village of Sembalun-Bumbung near the spurs of the northern slope. The ascent takes at least three days. You can do this on your own or as part of an organized group led by experienced instructors (from 55 thousand Rp / day) and with porters (from 45 thousand Rp / day). Sleeping bag, tent and other camping equipment can be rented in Senaroo Village or Sembalun Bumbung.

Best time for climbing - June-August, at the height of the rainy season (November-April) the path becomes too slippery and dangerous, and the view is blocked by clouds and fog. Since 2000, several cases have been recorded when tourists were attacked by armed bandits, so do not neglect the precautionary measures.

There are waterfalls near Senaru Air-Terzhung-Gila.

Climate

The climate in Lombok is drier and hotter than in Bali. Between these close islands (2.5 hours by catamaran) lies a deep ocean trench that separates Asia and Australinesia. The best time to travel is all year round. Rainy season time different islands does not match. The average annual temperature ranges from 26 °C to 28 °C. This is where the transition from western to eastern part of Indonesia begins, its flora and fauna change becomes more noticeable the further you go to the East. The northern part of the island is hilly and covered with greenery of tall trees and shrubs. South - barren, arid land, savannah. The dry seasons are getting longer here, so corn and sago are replacing rice as the main ingredient in most dishes. Lombok is known as a pristine island ideal for travel and holidays where you will find white sandy, quiet beaches, mountains, untouched villages, tropical vegetation and rich Indonesian culture. The island has its own unique charm, not without reason they say "You can see Bali in Lombok, but not vice versa."

Climate and nature

Climatic conditions vary by region. In December-February, the maximum precipitation falls here, their average annual amount is 1600 mm. In general, the climate here is assessed as equatorial-monsoonal. But the temperature fluctuates slightly and averages + 26 ° C.

The relief of the island is quite complex - it rises sharply from south to north, where it rises high volcano. An interesting fact is that in the western part of the island the Wallace line passes - a conditional border between the flora and fauna of Asia and. Thanks to this, on Lombok you can see plants and animals typical of the Australian nature.

Population

The island is inhabited by more than 3 million people. These are the Sasaki people (80%), Balinese (10%), Javanese and Chinese. The vast majority of the population is Muslim, thanks to which about 1,000 mosques have been built on the territory of Lombok.

The largest city, the capital of the island is Mataram. It is also considered the administrative center of the entire province of Western Lesser Sunda, or Nusa Tenggara Barat, to which Lombok belongs. The territory of the island itself is divided into 4 kabupatena - districts: Western, Central, Eastern and Northern. At the same time, the south and east of the island are more densely populated. The most touristic cities are Kuta (not to be confused with the Balinese of the same name) and.

Lombok - what to see?

The main islands of Lombok in Indonesia include:

1. - the third highest point in the country. Its crater contains beautiful lake with blue waters, Segara Anak. This area has been since 1997.
2. Narmada Park- a large landscape and architectural complex with a water park.
3. Turtle Sanctuary on the Gili Islands.
4. Mayura Water Palace(Mayura Water Palace).
5. Hindu Pura Meru and Pura Kalasa.

Vacation on the island

Arriving in Lombok, you do not have to puzzle over what to do here. Although the island is not the most touristy, vacationers are offered a fairly wide range of entertainment:

1. Beach holidays on the beaches of Lombok. The most popular in Lombok are Sengjiji and Kuta. This area is considered the most developed in terms of tourism: all the cafes, shops, entertainment of the island are concentrated here. To the north of Senggiji there are several more good secluded bays. Among other good beaches of the island, travelers call:
   • Pantai Putri Nyale;
   • Seger Beach;
   • Tanjung A'an;
   • AirGuling;
   • mawi;
   • mawun;
   • Pink Beach (the famous pink beach of Lombok).
2. The best in Lombok- on the coast of Kuta. Here, nature itself has created excellent conditions for surfers of medium and high skill levels, there are many different interesting spots. But for those who have never “caught the wave” it will be difficult to study in Kut.
3. on Lombok can be ordered from local travel agencies. Among the guests of the island, the most popular are climbing the Rinjani volcano and visiting Narmada Park. If you wish, you can travel around Lombok on your own by renting a transport and looking into all the interesting corners of the island.
4. Study in local settlements. These are not ethnic villages where ostentatious shows are organized for tourists, but the most ordinary ones, where life has been going on as usual for hundreds of years. Here you can get acquainted with the local population, walk through rice fields and tobacco plantations, see the beautiful waterfalls of Lombok Sindang Gila and Tiu Kelep, look into the jungle where black monkeys live. And, of course, buy souvenirs.
5. Nightlife. There are clubs and discos on the island, but only in the resort of Senggigi.

Where to stay?

Mostly active lovers, backpackers and unpretentious tourists who are not looking for comfort go to Lombok. However, if you wish, you can find good hotels. Among Lombok with good reviews vacationers worth noting:

• Kila Senggigi Beach Hotel 4*;
• Katamaran Resort 5*;
• Pool Villa Club Lombok 5*;
• Kaleydo Villas 4*;
• Living Asia Resort and Spa 4*.

In addition to them, the island has many guesthouses and inexpensive hotels. by the most budget options are:

• Sonya Home Stay;
• Puri Rinjani Bungalows;
• Indah Homestay;
• Mina Tanjung Hotel.

Where to eat?

Traveling around the island, you can only eat. You can only find establishments serving Western food in Sengjiji and Kuta. Since Lombok is mostly Muslim, alcohol is not welcome here.

Shopping features

Tourists bring many interesting things from the island of Lombok:

• pearls and products from it;
• figurines made of rattan, bamboo, teak;
• wicker baskets;
• clay figurines and dishes;
• wooden masks and boxes;
• sarongs;
• designer clothes and accessories.

The most popular places for shopping are big shopping mall Mataram Mall (the only one of its kind on the island) in Mataram, traditional Asian markets in the cities, the villages of Sukarara, Penujak and Banumelek, where you can buy handicrafts.

Transport

On the island of Lombok in Indonesia, there is the only one that has international status. Also here are two seaports: Lembar in the west and Labuan-Lombok in the east. They have ferry connections to Sumbawa and Bali.

Public buses run from the airport to Mataram and Senggiji Beach. For tourists there are taxis and minivans (quite expensive).

Unusual vehicle is a chimodo - a horse-drawn two-wheeled vehicle, which is used as a means for tourist walks.

And the most popular among tourists is renting a bike, on which you can comfortably explore the entire island and visit the most interesting places without reference to the public schedule. Rent costs from $3 to $3.5 per day.

How to get to the island?

There are no direct flights to Lombok from the CIS countries, you can fly here from or from the capital, ($ 30-50). But, as practice shows, it is easier for many tourists to get to Lombok from Bali. This can be done by air ($20.45 minutes) or by Bali-Lombok ferry ($4.5 hours).

... In the morning I had a quick breakfast with a cup of coffee and a pancake, scanned the documents at the hotel reception (two airlines canceled a couple of my flights in the Philippines in April and offered extremely clumsy replacements - as a result, I had to cancel the paid reservations and return the money to the card. And for a refund, they demanded a copy of the passport and the card used for payment) and uploaded Balinese music to a flash drive - I have a hobby of collecting music from the peoples of the world and their national instruments. Then there was a checkout, a road on a bike with a suitcase to the center of Seminyak to hand over the bike - this is where I once again mentioned the fact that my suitcase has not only wheels, but also backpack straps. The office where I bought the combined tour to the city of Senggigi on the island of Lombok is located next to the bike rental and I got to it in a few minutes. The bike owner complained me plaintively for some time, they say, why didn’t I buy tickets to Senggigi from him, he’s like me with all my heart. and this transfer would have cost me 300 thousand local money without a ticket for a boat or ferry .. Still, they were spoiled a lot with free money here.

I didn’t have time to settle down to continue breakfast with pre-purchased yogurts, when the transfer minibus arrived - 40 minutes earlier than I expected. I was his first passenger, then we went to some pretentious hotel, where we waited another half hour for a couple of leisurely Germans to leave. At some point, I got tired of waiting and I went to the all-inclusive restaurant of this hotel for a coffee. Then I caught a local girl dressed in bright folk Balinese clothes (she is there at the reception like a live attraction for tourists) and took a picture with her on the iPad as a keepsake. I drove a bus, having learned that I was from Russia, the first thing I said was that “Russia is waging war against Ukraine in Crimea” - he was told so on TV ...

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the speedboat set sail from Padang Bay in the direction of the Gili Islands and further to the island of Lombok. For some reason, Canadians dominated among the passengers, judging by the maple leaf patches on the bags. I wonder what is the reason that there are so many of them here? It is clear why there are a lot of them, for example, in Cuba - they are relatively close, the best beaches in the world (IMHO), inexpensive by their standards, Americans have not been allowed to go there for half a century (it seems now the situation has begun to change ..) - Canadians stand out there numerically. Or why there are a lot of Australians in Bali is also understandable - on a fine day and with some luck from Australia to Bali, you can sail by boat .. But the Canadian phenomenon is still unclear to me, especially when you consider that Canada has a sparse population (all of Canada is like two extra Moscow).

This fastboat sails really fast - but in my case, the advantages in speed were leveled by the route: first we sailed to Gili Travanan, one of the three heavenly islands of Gili, located almost off the coast of Lombok, and lost half an hour there to unload and load passengers and luggage; then history repeated itself on Gili Air, and at the very last turn the boat sailed to the island of Lombok, losing about an hour on these Gili. As a result, the sea part of the journey was about 3 hours on a “fastboat” against the declared 5 hours on the ferry - the gain in time is not as significant as it is painted by traders in travel agencies, motivating their desire to have a price from you of more than half a million local money. At least two of me different places they swore that it would take about an hour and a half to sail to Senggigi on a fastboat. Nae..t really didn’t..li, but they didn’t tell the truth in advance - I went to the shore of Lombok at 16:15, the total travel time was 3 hours and 15 minutes.

As usual, I was surrounded by taxi drivers on the pier, tormented by a burning desire to take me somewhere. The price they advertised for my Ressa Homestay hotel sounded like 120 thousand at first, but after a couple of minutes of bargaining, it dropped to 50 thousand. By the way, by local standards, I had to drive quite a bit - 6-7 kilometers towards the city of Mataram.

After checking into the hotel, I asked about renting a bike - they didn’t have bikes. I went on foot to the nearest cafe - after a diet breakfast in the morning in Bali, I really wanted to eat something. In a cafe, in addition to dinner, I agreed with a local lad that, after I sing, he would give me a lift on his bike to Senggigi for a symbolic 10 thousand (less than a dollar). In Senggigi, I rented a bike for 50 thousand a day without any problems and swam a couple of times near the pier.

The beaches of Lombok

I woke up at 8 am, had breakfast at the hotel with a cup of coffee and a sandwich and went for a drive around the island of Lombok. First, swimming and taking pictures in suitable places on the coast:

I drove in this way to the town of Bangsal and specified the price and time of departure of the boats to the Gili Islands - this info will come in handy for me tomorrow. Then from Bangsala I went inland through the Pusuk pass to Mataram.

Now impressions from Lombok:

firstly, the pros: firstly, the roads (at least the road along the coast from Mataram to the northern tip of the island) are simply of perfect quality, I would envy such a road.

Secondly, this road is very picturesque - the relief resembles a rollercoaster and almost every climb offers wonderful views of the surrounding beauty. Thirdly, the crystal clear sea. Fourthly, very welcoming and friendly people

Adults smile at you and willingly try to help if you turn to them, children along the roads wave their hands to you. On the Pusuk pass, a huge number of monkeys sit along the road, if you wish, you can apparently feed them.

Cons: firstly, almost all the beaches are densely littered with the local population (there are still not a lot of tourists on the island of Lombok, you should not sin on them). That is, on almost every beach, if it is located near some village or town, along the edge of the surf lies an even strip of empty bottles, pieces of paper, cigarette butts, etc.

Secondly, the sand on all beaches is either gray or almost black (volcanic). The color of the sand varies from this:

before this:

In itself, this is not so hot, what a minus - nature is nature, but I would like to ask the authors of Thomas Cook's guidebook "Bali and Lombok", who in their book repeatedly use the phrase "snow-white beaches" in relation to the island of Lombok - were they even on it? Or they wrote on the ball, like, and so it will do? I repeat, this is not a complaint against Lombok, this is a question for the authors of this guide. I was not particularly embarrassed by the black sand, I would have gone to Lombok anyway. Thirdly, the exchange rate of dollars for rupees on Lombok is worse than on: 11300 for 1 dollar against 11400 in Bali. So it makes sense to change money either before Lombok or after it, depending on the route.

Lombok Island is a place with a predominantly Muslim population, and after Hindu Bali, this immediately catches the eye: firstly, there are many women in hijabs, mosques often come across along the roads, in the morning the muezzin woke me up .. As a result, the architecture in Lombok is noticeably more boring than on Bali is just houses with no frills and just functional mosques (and many of them give the impression of being unfinished) - white walls without any special decorations, a green dome, a couple of minarets with megaphones, and that's it. In this sense, the architecture of Bali is cooler than Lombok, about the same as Grand Theatre cooler than any regional philharmonic society.

Lombok photo:

Life hack: how I save on hotels and insurance

In addition to traditional and well-known tools such as Booking or Hotellook, new online services have recently appeared that make life much easier for the traveler and pleasantly protect the thickness of his wallet. One of them - roomguru I use it all the time and recommend it to all my friends and family. This service compares prices for an object in 30 booking systems at once, and offers you the most interesting options. In addition, it tracks discounts and special offers.

As for a good working travel insurance, it was not easy to find it before, but now it has become even more difficult due to the constant fluctuations of the ruble against world currencies. For the past few years, I have been taking out insurance for my travels through an online service - here you can compare the products of different insurers and choose what is best for you:

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First, let me explain that we chose Lombok as a place to relax and beach holiday on the advice of Vivian, a girl friend from Indonesia. We were going to Bali, we didn’t know about Lombok yet, but she advised Lombok and after that I read on the Internet that there are a lot of people in Bali, the ocean is surrounded by currents and this place is not for a relaxing holiday. Having visited both there and there, we realized that we did the right thing by turning to Lombok, it’s a pity that not for a long time.

In the morning, the territory of the hotel charmed us - a beautiful garden and a swimming pool, a fairly clean beach and sea.

We arrived on the island of Lombok late in the evening, besides, it was raining there. We left the airport at ten o'clock, not hoping to find a cheap taxi. But there they attacked us with offers of transport and, in addition, for some reason there was a crowd of those who met, we did not understand whom they met. Knowing the real price, we hired a driver for 200 croup (after a little bargaining, I asked for 250), to go to the hotel quite far, in Senggigi. We got to the Mascot beach hotel already barely alive. The driver did not know where our hotel was and called someone endlessly, at first he drove past, it turned out that he had to turn a little off the main road. Outside the capital city of Lombok, Matarama, north towards Senggigi, "all civilization" is located along this road, which at times runs right along the shore of the strait.
In the morning, the territory of the hotel charmed us - a beautiful garden and a swimming pool, a fairly clean beach and sea. Despite a little rain, we swam in the sea and in the pool. At this time, my camera got wet and then stopped working.

The hotel is excellent also because its territory adjoins the sea. The sea and the coast were clean, the water was clear, despite the fact that fishermen's boats moored here. You can swim if the waves are not strong. The staff is very friendly, sheets are changed every day. WiFi is good. Our room was the cheapest and didn't have a fridge or kettle. There is a clothes dryer, but there is no shelf for accessories in the bathroom. Sometimes in the bathroom at night you can see a cockroach. The breakfast was a bit disappointing - not varied. You need to choose one thing: rice, noodles or a thick pancake (pancake), you can also add eggs in any form, you can withstand a few days. True, you can still take fruits - watermelons, papaya and pineapples, which are sour for some reason in Indonesia. Behind the hotel fence, merchants and taxi drivers everywhere strongly stick. There are many exchangers on the street, there are good ones without a commission opposite, shops and cafes too. Sunshine Cafe just down the road - not recommended: expensive, long wait and tasteless! Massage costs 60kR per hour, in Orchid massage parlors. others are more expensive. The location of the hotel in Senggigi is very good - everything is close. Further north, the hotel is not worth taking if you do not want privacy, there is nothing there but the road and the locals. Everything is cheaper in Lombok than in Bali, but you get tired of having to haggle all the time. The hotel is highly recommended for a great location.

On the first day, we were not going anywhere, but after leaving the hotel, the driver persistently attached himself to us with an offer to tour the island. We bargained with him for 300 croup for half a day. Moreover, I had to buy a laptop cable - I found that I had lost it somewhere on the road.

Lombok Attractions: Pura Lingsar Temple Complex, Mayura Water Palace, Pura Meru

By car, we traveled all the local modest sights of the capital of the island, the city of Mataram. First we went to the temple complex Lingsar (Pura Lingsar), built in 1714 - the most sacred place in Lombok. It serves two religions at once: Balinese Hinduism and three-time Islam “Vektu Telu” (Wektu Telu), each has its own temple built on the territory. There were no people in the temples at all, neither tourists nor believers. There is no entrance fee, you just need to donate a small amount and you will be tied with a belt.

Mayura Water Palace. This palace was built in 1744 and used to be the palace of justice of the Balinese kingdom. In 1894, a fierce battle broke out here between the Dutch and the Balinese, as a result of which the palace was seriously destroyed. Now there is a lake surrounded by a park with statues, altars and cannons. We did not go into it, there was little time, and we had to pay for the entrance.

Durians were selling all around along the road and we asked the taxi driver to buy us one (so that the price would not be broken). It turns out that a small durian costs only 5000, but there is almost nothing in it, you need to take large ones.

The next temple we visited was Pura Meru, the largest temple in Lombok. This Hindu temple was built in 1720. In the courtyard there are 33 small shrines to the gods Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The roofs of the towers are made of a thick layer of palm fibers, laid with some kind of ornaments. Then we saw the same technology on the temples of Bali, in particular on Besakih. A taxi driver brought us to one village of artisans (we simply refused the rest), they make souvenirs and wooden furniture, including masks inlaid with mother of pearl. The prices there turned out to be high, they were not reduced, although the products are very beautiful, we left there without buying. In the end, the taxi driver also brought us to jewelry shop, how could it be without him! Prices were not marked there, they were called high. Ira liked the pearl earrings and she felt sad. I asked her how much she was ready to buy them for, we returned and I began to bargain, they offered their price, but seeing our persistence, they easily agreed to our “final price”. They also asked the driver to take us to the largest shopping center in Mataram, it seems Mataram Mall, in search of a power cable from a laptop - the locals said that you can only buy it in it. Good luck - we found it and managed to revive my laptop for little money. Galya said that she would like to see a large mosque, we asked the driver and he drove us to a huge mosque under construction. Its dimensions for a small island, which is Lombok, are simply amazing! In addition, besides this one, we saw many other mosques, it is not for nothing that Lombok is called the “Island of 1000 mosques”.

We stopped at the market in Mataram, bought fruits and avocados at normal prices.

Then - to the Chinese cemetery, where the tombstones are very impressive. The children playing there, seeing us, shouted "Hello, mister!" ("Mister" - for some reason they often addressed us like that). We gave them candy. Goats climbed the gravestones. A show was going on nearby - an advertisement for motorbikes, as we understood.

We asked the driver to take us to the Yessi cafe recommended on Tripadvisor, he showed it, but said that he knew something else much better. We believed him and came to dinner at this Sunshine cafe on the seashore, not far from the hotel. There we waited for an order for a long time, the waiters came up several times, they all clarified something. As a result, they brought tasteless food, even the grilled fish was tasteless. Then, in the calculation, it seems that we were deceived. We gave two bills of 100,000, they are red, the waiter came to the cashier, returned to us and showed that we seemed to have given 100,000 and 10,000 - this bill is lilac, but here it turned out to be red too. I had to pay, either they changed it, or we gave it wrong.

Ira kept trying to photograph the sunset, but no luck - the clouds covered the sun all the time. And at night there was a terrible thunderstorm and downpour, it seemed that the houses would be demolished with us and the roof would leak, but everything worked out.

The next day we just rested, it was not hot, cloudy. Ira and I went along the coast, on which an expensive hotel is located, beyond the cape, where fishermen stand and surfers ride on the wave.

There, by the shore, many locals rested and traders pestered. After endless bargaining, we bought several pareos for 45 krupi as a gift for friends, knocking down the price several times.

There was an empty tourist police booth right there, although the inscription on it said that they were always ready to serve!

Returning from a walk, we swam in the pool and my girlfriends managed to get burned to redness, lingering at the pool longer than me. They were going to celebrate March 8 in a cafe with music, but I got poisoned by a pate brought from home, which they decided to finish eating at lunch (in a can of thick foil, it went bad!).

I was planning a trip to small island Meno (one of the three islands of Gili), but since she still felt weak, the next day we did not go anywhere. It was sunny and we were relaxing in the shade by the pool. In the evening we went outside, where I agreed with the Blue bird taxi driver about a trip to the pier the next morning, asking him all about the boats to Meno Island. He gave me all the information about the trip without trying to cheat. We went for a massage for 60 croup and ate at the Yessi cafe, it took about 7 minutes to go up the road from the hotel. The waiter in it turned out to be a polyglot - he recognized Russians in us and immediately spoke pretty decent Russian. As we found out, he also knows other languages, although he has no special education. This was surprising, since very few people here speak English. We also liked the food, which was rare in Indonesia, and we were fed quite quickly (the prices are democratic, but there is a 10% service charge).

Meno Island

The last day of our holiday in Lombok has arrived. If we had not gone to Meno Island, then the trip would not have been complete, so I still insisted on the trip. While driving, we made sure that our hotel is located in the best place for the rest of Senggigi, there is almost no civilization further. We drove to the Bangsal pier for about an hour, paid 110 croup, the taxi driver apologetically dropped us off before reaching the pier itself - the locals do not let us go further. They do business by delivering 300 meters on a horse, but we went on foot. We liked the driver, agreed that he would take us to the airport the next morning. We bought tickets for a public bot for 14,000 and some other fees, like for the environment, for 6,000.

While waiting for boarding, Galya again actively communicated with men, improving her knowledge of English. On the sign on the shore it was written - "tsunami zone, run 500m", far away ...

We loaded onto the boat and sailed to Meno Island. This is one of the 3 small islands near Lombok, 1 * 2 km in size. Beaches and hotels were almost empty. People come there for snorkeling and diving, you can see huge sea turtles. We walked along the coast almost the entire island, returned and settled on the beach under a tree, asking for an unreal amount of 100 groats ($ 9) for sunbeds. The shadow at noon is right under our feet - we are almost at the equator.

The water is really clear and turquoise in color, but there is a lot of garbage in the water and on the shore, possibly due to frequent rains. It started raining and it got cold.