Off On Our Next Adventure

Our Citilink flight from Bali to Lombok was our shortest flight ever! The plane queued up for about half an hour before taking off, travelled horizontal for about two minutes, and then descended to land at the tiny International Airport of Lombok. While this option was a little more expensive and a little less green, we worked out that this was going to save us a long ferry ride and suited our planned island hopping itinerary over the following weeks.

We’re noticing that transport is one of the areas where travelling with kids is different to travelling as a couple. Shaun and I could easily cope with long bus/ferry/train journeys in order to save money. However, with kids in tow, we need to think about what’s manageable for them and space out the longer journeys. Often with getting around in SE Asia, even short journeys can turn into whole day missions once you combine the different legs of the journey.

It took about 5 minutes for our bags to turn up at Lombok airport, and then we were off into the fray of local drivers waiting outside to find a car to our accommodation at Stanley Villas. We use the Grab app as a marker for the cheapest price, but for longer drives, we prefer to negotiate a slightly higher price with a local driver to keep the money in the community.

The drive to our accommodation was 45km and only 45 minutes away, due to the lack of traffic jams. We were moving at speeds we hadn’t traveled at since Malaysia. It was completely different to driving in Bali, where you spend a lot of time going 0-10km/hr.

Stanley Villas

Our Airbnb accommodation was part of a gorgeous little ‘village’ of villas, amidst a lush, beautifully maintained tropical garden filled with flitting butterflies. It also had a restaurant at the front with great food at very good prices, and a fabulous swimming pool. It was a magical setting, especially at night, when the pathways and balconies are lit up in the darkness.

Our villa was like a treehouse, with a free-form wooden staircase leading up the side to the double room and upstairs balcony, built of wood with a ceiling woven from palm leaves. The bottom story with Leo and Anna’s single beds was made of concrete with a sweet little bathroom on each floor. Both rooms were full of ornate wooden furniture.

We went to sleep quite late on our first night, after arriving about 6.30pm and then going swimming before having a yummy dinner in the restaurant. At 5am, we were woken by the pre-dawn call to prayer from the local mosques, as Islam is the predominant religion here. Lombok is known as the Island of a Thousand Mosques, and on our drive the day before, we had admired the many mosques with their beautiful domes and ornate minarets. When all the chanting comes together across the rooftops, and the air is filled with the sound of prayers, you get a strong sense of the deeply spiritual aspect of life on Lombok.

Our second day started with a morning of playing in the beautiful pool before heading out to Sengiggi Beach to explore. It was a beautiful spot, but it seemed like a tourist ghost town, with so many shops closed, and many empty restaurants. People selling their crafts, fruit and trips on the beach were devoid of customers and we found ourselves feeling awful for declining to buy their wares, trying to explain that we couldn’t fit more things into our bags as we were travelling for a while. The only thing we did buy were a couple of amazing little spinning tops, which have been entertaining Leo and Anna ever since.

Poor Lombok has had a rough ride, with tourism dipping considerably since the earthquake in 2018 and then the pandemic. For an island that depends on tourism to prop up its economy, this has clearly had a huge impact. In addition to this, there is a huge litter issue here, and rubbish is strewn along the sides of roads, on some of the beaches and in the waterways. In order for tourism to thrive here, the authorities really need to do something about it, focusing on education and infrastructure in order to restore Lombok to its pristine natural beauty.

Turtle Conservation

While at the beach, when we were talking to one of the locals about a possible snorkelling trip, Leo and Anna found a trough with baby turtles swimming in its water next to the stall. The guys let the children look at them and even put one of them have one on their hand! They explained that turtles come up the beach and lay their eggs there. Turtles are protected, so people are not allowed to interfere with the eggs or turtles, however these people have special permission from the local authorities to keep the turtles for up to two months to allow them to grow and hopefully ensure their survival, as baby turtles are prone to many dangers in their infancy and only about 1 in a 1000 turtles make it to full maturity.

Temple & Mosque visits

After our walk along the beach, we made our way to a small Hindu temple  just up the hill. As we were walking along, a driver pulled over and offered us a cheap lift. We politely declined, but he was very persistent, offering to also take us to the bigger temple at the other end of the beach. We agreed, and after visiting the little temple of Pura Kaprusan, where we remained outside the shrine, we went to the Pura Batu Balong temple. Unfortunately, I had to wait outside while the rest of the family went in (my time of the month and women can’t enter during menstruation), however Abdul, our driver, was good company and we chatted while we waited. This led to him taking us into Mataram (Lombok’s capital) to see the Islamic Centre, the 4th largest mosque in Indonesia.

Once again, I couldn’t enter the prayer area but was able to walk around the courtyard area while waiting for the others, who were taken inside to see the magnificent domed ceiling. It was a real eye opener for Leo and Anna to go into a mosque for the first time. They were quiet and respectful throughout the visit.

Planning the next leg

Aside from looking around the local area, we used the remainder of our time in Lombok to plan the next few weeks of the journey, finding and booking accommodation and investigating transport options. The children were pleased to be in such a beautiful spot over this time and spent hours playing in the pool. We ate out locally again on our last night (a whole fried fish and delicious squid in a sweet and sour sauce with nasi goreng) feeling bad that we couldn’t dine at every restaurant because there was a dearth of customers.

An insight from Leo

“The people over here work really hard…they are so nice and give amazing service, and in New Zealand people can get rich and famous for this, but over here people get very little for their hard work. Especially with not many people coming here at the moment.”

Leo after our last dinner out at a local warung in Lombok 14/06/23

A Fleeting Visit

We only had a couple of full days in Lombok, and there was so much more to see than what we managed. Mt Rinjani (the local volcano), traditional villages, the sacred monkey forest, and lots of gorgeous beaches were missed off our itinerary. If we ever return, we have a list of places still to visit!