Lombok Weekend Getaway!!!

Saturday, 5th July 2014

Nothing could make me happier when Arifin and I just spontaneously decided to have a weekend getaway in Lombok.

We just having a relax Saturday in Virgin Beach, Karangasem-Bali when the idea popped in our head. I directly called mba Eva (she lives in Lombok). One thing that I knew for sure that she will be happy having us visiting her lil family and asking us out to have fun in Lombok.

After a cheerful convo with Eva, Arifin and I got on the vespa and off to the port at Padang Bai - Karangasem.

We got ferry ticket for 7pm and it cost IDR 112.000,- per motorbike. It took 4 hours to get Lombok and I spent my precious 4 hour sleeping in the couch.

We arrived at 11 pm then directly heading to Mataram-the city centre. Eva sent me her location and we thank Google for not letting us get lost in the middle of the night.

Arriving to Eva’s home, we are welcomed with warm hugs from her and warm smile from Mas Alta (Eva’s hubby), her lil bro, Ardi and her friends. Eva served us with delicious foods and we were so exciting that we could meet after plenty of plans on meeting each other.

I’ts 4 a.m and I hoammmm fell asleep…zZZzzzzZZZZZZzzzz

Sunday, 6th July

Yuhuuuu. Welcome sunny Sunday!!! We’re planning to explore Selong Belanak and Semeti Beach at the south part of Lombok.

We are so exciting!! Due to fasting time, we bring our own lunch box and snacks, just in case nobody sells lunch. It’s only three of us, Arifin, Eva and me. We drove motorbike to reach the location; it’s the cheapest and easiest way to travel.

After 2 hours of driving through the corn field, green-yellow hills with palm trees along side of the road, we finally arrive at Selong Belanak Beach.. I can’t stand for its beauty. The crystal blue water, the sun, the hills and the landscape is soo perfect. I just can’t find the right word to express.

Selong Belanak Beach-Lombok

Selong Belanak beach is the perfect beach for swimming, learning surfing and sunbathing or just hang out with friends. The local built bamboo huts (which for me is very eco-friendly) as beach hut café for the visitor. They served us grilled fish, young coconut, soft drinks and snacks.

Semeti Beach-Lombok

Feels like I'm on the top of the world :)

We spent 3 hours at Selong Belanak and at 4 pm we continued to Semeti Beach. Semeti Beach is located 15 minutes from Selong Belanak Beach. It offers scenic panorama along the way to the beach. Once we arrived, I felt peace and happy. For me Semeti Beach has two souls, because when I stood in the middle of the beach, in my right side I could see the beach of everyone’s dream and on my left side I could travel back many years ago. It’s because of the stone which look similar like what I’ve seen in the Flintstone movie. And also, it looks like kryptonite but its black and brown. You could find plenty of them unite and become stunning stone hills.

Me and Mba Eva

I thank God for this wonderful experience and  I hope whoever reads this article will soon go to Lombok and find these two paradises.

There so much more hidden paradises to be explored in Lombok, but times run out quickly and I need to go back to Bali to work and saving for another trip and adventures.

See you in the other thousand words….

PS:

• Special thanks to Mba Eva and Mas Altha. Hope to see you guys soon!
• For my Holland sister, Doris: I wish you were here, enjoying the journey. But I believe sooner or later will be travelling together and I hope Milly would like to join J  Kuss kuss

#SEMETIBEACH #LOMBOK #INDONESIA #TRAVELLING 

Busy Batur

Here’s the story of our journey To Mt. Batur

December 2^nd 2011

It started in a rush. Everybody wasn't ready for the hike. We were invited by Eka and friends. On my group, we had Jovan, Wahyu, Agung, Janet and I, on the other group were Eka, Yoga and Windy.

First, we all went to Bangli, to Penglipuran Village to met Wahyu. Eka and friends was waiting us at Penelokan, near Mt. Batur.  My group went separately. Jovan went first because he had to drop Mrs. Tirta (our lecturer) at Sanur Beach Hotel to attend a meeting. I went with Janet and we waited for 2 hours for Beni and Agung in KFC Sanur, because they hadn’t prepared yet. Damn!!! After two hours of waiting, they came and we just realized that we forgot bring our tent. That was a mess!!! We had a little tension blaming at each other. After had a call with Eka, she guaranteed that their tent met the amount of us. So we decided to continue our trip.

Once we arrived in Penglipuran, we went to Wahyu’s home. We met his lovely parents; they welcomed us friendly and made us feel like home. Penglipuran is one of tourism villages in Bali. It attracts a lot of tourist to come and see the uniqueness it has such as the traditional houses which are all the same and their tradition and way of life. After had a little chit chat with the parents, we all were off to Penelokan, Kintamani to met Eka and friends. We talked for a while and made a little introduction, because most of my team didn’t know Eka’s friends. 

It took 15-20 minutes to reach the Batur centre of information for trekking from Penelokan. We all registered and paid IDR 10.000 for the retribution that will be using for conservation. We got some information about do and don’t while trekking. We didn’t hire a guide or porter. We wanted to keep our journey became our own adventure. 

Comparing with Rinjani, Batur is easier to hike. We only need 2-3 hours to the peak. There were flies around the mountain. It’s kinda disgusting, especially when we the flies covered all our backpack and body. Yaksss. I hate it so much, but kept going. In the middle of the route, we found a white cloth covered around the mountain. It’s the tradition of Balinese which is against the earthquake that happened few months ago. They did it in order to ask God to keep them safe and there won’t be any disaster attacks them.

Hiked Batur is easy and fun to do. It was sweaty, dusty yet dirty and rocky. We had to be careful because it’s slippery. Finally, we reached the peak. It’s cloud up here. But we still had fun. We tried to find a perfect spot to built our tent, and in 10 minutes our tent stand perfectly :D. We took some pictures and made video of us. We crazily happy talking about the hike, there were a lot of silly stories. Most of them were new on hike a mountain, so they were so excited once they reached the peak and built a tent. They happy, that finally they could sleep under the tent. Hahah. 

We stayed in a big tent with a hole in its door, so we could feel the wind came into tent. It’s fit for 9 pax. We collected the branches and lit the fire. We gathered around the fire and had dinner. It was a simple dinner. Biscuits, peanuts and breads become the appetizer. We mostly brought snacks and milks. We were sharing about traveling and talking about jokes. That night was fun and we spent the rest of the night laughing at each other on the tent.

the temple and the white cloth

hike hike hike to the top

December 3^rd 2011

We woke up on 5 a.m. unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy the sunrise because of cloud. We decided to go down the mountain and starting clear up everything. It only needed 1 hour to go down the mountain. After a long way down the mountain, we arrived at the information centre. We went to the hot spring that organized by local people to warm up, but sadly it’s closed. So we went to local warung and enjoyed Babi Guling for breakfast. It tasted good and hot. We went back to Wahyu’s home; his parents served us some tropical fruits and traditional snack called RUJAK CEMCEM. It’s sour and fresh. We cleaned up ourselves and took some rest. On the evening before we went back to Nusa Dua, we explored the village. It’s my 4 or 5 times being there but I never get bored with the village. We took some pictures, then prepared to Nusa Dua.

For me, it’s hard to end a trip. I feel like I lose some energy. But I believe there will thousands of journeys that I will pass ahead. And it’ll be fun, fierce and phenomenal.

See you in my next trip!!!