Touring Lombok

I got itchy feet by the pool and wanted to do a day-tour so I could say I've seen some of the island - no matter how gorgeous its eastern beaches are. A part from the beaches, Lombok offers quite a bit of interesting nature with its rainforests ample with monkey sightings and waterfalls, coffee and tobacco plantations, a variety of small islands around the main island known as gilis, and of course Mount Rinjani, island's active volcano raising to 3,700 m over sea level.

The hotel was in cohort with a tour company, Lombok Friendly, who offer a fair selection. Sadly, most of the activities were not possible for me being 7 months pregnant so we had to forget the nature's wonders this time and opt for the south beaches tour that promised both culture and nature adapt to a person who can only wobble around.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect - and hubby was of course of the opinion that it's going to be crap. In theory I am interested in the local crafts but being dropped off in preselected places always make me slightly sceptical... First we stopped at a local pottery which actually seemed fairly authentic. Ladies were forging vases up to their elbows in traditionally made clay, and some more men and women were making paint and decorating the artefacts. Sofia got to try too and made a turtle. 

But then it was time for shopping.... Hubby whose heart isn't as cold as mine felt forced to buy something but, to be honest, most of the items were nice and very reasonably priced (=cheap). They did offer a ww shipping service, and I was very close to equipping my kitchen with clay pots in all sizes! (Be scared, Arabia!)

The next stop at a small village was to witness the local cloth weaving technique, an ancient art that is still very much alive in the rural villages of Lombok. Our guide knew to tell that a woman still cannot marry until she can make the intricate cloth for her own wedding gown. Whilst it was amazing to see that there are still people skilled in this art, passed from generation to generation, the "centre" was more commercialised and geared up for all sorts of photo opps. The cloths that the old ladies and gentlemen were weaving were beautiful but I don't believe that the piece we bought was woven there! 

With the third stop, a local sasak village Sade, I wouldn't even bother. A far too commercialised set up where I'm not even sure people actually live despite the claims. And tourist tat on every step. Plus our guide's English was quite poor so he couldn't answer our questions. He tried to tell us about the local bride kidnapping traditions and marrying your own cousins but we couldn't really understand it....

For me, the best part of the tour was to chat to our guide, and traversing through the countryside, seeing the real local villages (vs the ones built for tourists). The architecture is very different from house to house, money really matters here. Rice paddies are very prominent but our guide told us not many people want to work on farms anymore; too much hard work. The machinery for crop collection hasn't yet landed on the island so it's all manual labour. Many families seem to own cattle and skinny cows wonder in between the houses and on the dirt roads. Depending on where you live within the village, you may have running water. Otherwise it's back to basics. 

The tour ended up on the south coast, still today the poorer end of the island. The new airport was built there to encourage tourism and commerce but so far it hasn't reaped many benefits. People in the south are too lazy, said our guide. And having lived in South East Asia, I can believe in this theory. (But that's a whole other post....)

Still, the Kuta area is beautiful. Kuta village itself is full of home stays, surf shacks and cool looking warungs. If we have the chance to return to Lombok, I'd be happy to stay in the area. Its beaches are long and white, and waters an unusual blue. The whole coast is very popular with surfers. We did visit the most famous beach of Tanjung An but my favourite was a bit more remote Y. Although the sellers have made their way there too, they didn't at least approach you to sell a bottle of sand. I'm ok for sand, thought I, having every crevasse full. 

To be honest, doing a quick taxi tour around the azure coloured bays of the Sengiggi area and chatting to the local waiters in the restaurants and sellers on the beach would have probably achieved the same aim than this whole day's tour. I'm sure the waterfalls are beautiful, though, and a day tour of the various gilis, islands, is worth it if you're not going to stay on any if them. Next time I'll hopefully be fit enough to climb the Mount Rinjani!