Arriving in Lombok

Riding straight out of the ferry terminal and down the road to Mataram I was immediately aware of the lack of other traffic.

This place was about as busy as Karangasen on a Sunday morning. I’m so used to the madhouse Kuta traffic that I almost couldn’t believe it. I stopped just short of Mataram at a muslim warung for some food. The people who ran the place were friendly and I got nasi campur (mixed rice ) which contained fish, beef and other assorted items, but no pork. The lady asked if I liked it ‘pedas’ (hot) and I said sedikit (a little). She tossed in a couple of chopped chilis for me.

Riding north close to the coast in the direction of Senggigi it was strange to see horse drawn carts with pneumatic tyres, locals getting driven around in them. For me exploring Lombok is like going to a new solar system. I’m used to the busy southern Kuta area with Gunung Agung as a reference point in the east. Now there are other reference points, Mt. Rinjanai and the other peaks.

It didn’t take me long to ride the 8kms to Senggigi furthur up the coast and I soon figured out the score here. All the cheaper accomodation is in the southern part, with 40,000rp guest houses. I cruised on a couple of miles to see what else was on offer and passed the Sheraton Senggigi and other fancy hotels, a couple describing themseleves as ‘Boutique resorts’.

Past those places are small villages very similar to those in Karangasem, the scenery here stunning, with huge sweeping bays, tall thickly packed palm trees.

I passed this lady and stopped to say hello. I asked if she was Hindu or Muslim. She said she was Muslim and asked if I wanted a coconut to drink.

Riding back to Sengigi I passed these folks who were walking back home after a day in the fields. They seemed happy to see me and I offered one guy a lift. We must of made a strange site, me a skinny white guy and him a short local with 2 huge heavy bundles of produce balancing on a pole across his shoulders.

I rode back to the south of Senggigi and chose the Elen beach hotel ( now called Ray’s) on Jl. Raya Senggigi. The muslim guy in the first warung I went to warned me that there are a lot of people in Senggigi looking to make quick buck and I should go into places by myself to check the price and not let someone lead me in. As soon as I pulled up one guy approached me and asked me to come in. I asked the Aussie guy sipping a beer in the bar how much he paid and he said 40,000rp. That’s what the asking price was so I went for it. I had already tried to bargain the place across the street down from 60,000rp to 50,000rp without success.

The room I was initially shown was the typical bottom end room with a fan, bed and toilet. Checkng out the bathroom I noticed the strong stench and the fact that the bathroon had no ventilation. I know what that meant, I’d me laying in bed smelling the sewer all night so I asked to see another room. The next one was on the second floor and has a ceiling fan ventilator installed. I took the room.

Downtown Senggigi has some okay restaurants and bars. I went to the Marina Caf� to watch Man U. play Spurs, so weird to be able to do that here!

Nyepi day in Bali has driven some tourists to Lombok and I have a group of budget travelers in rooms along from mine. I did notice that the tourists from the luxury hotel also head down to the restaurants in south Sengiggi, I guess on a Saturday night they can let their standards down and hang with the little people.

I was quite comfortable and after getting up early slept well.