Lombok

I have just had a very nice 10 days holiday in Lombok, a small island just to the east of Bali. It shares a similar mountainous landscape, and it's also volcanic and ringed by beautiful small islands and beaches, but doesn’t share much culture with Bali, being Islamic rather than Hindu. I didn't see much of the island, spending about a week on a small island off the north coast, and another few days based on the south coast.

My flight arrived at about midnight and I immediately transferred via speedboat to Gili Trawangan, one of three islands off the NW coast. There is too much pollution to ever see the night sky in Jakarta, so on the boat, away from the lights of the islands, was the first time I've seen the stars in almost a year, and lying back in the speedboat, it felt as if I was driving directly into them. I checked into my room and sat outside drinking a beer, and rather than traffic, I could hear the sea. Very tranquil and relaxing, and just what I needed.

The three Gili islands are semi autonomous: there is no police force, they have banned motorised vehicles, and it also means that there are certain things that are overlooked. Things like weed and magic mushroom being easily available, along with an apparently thriving party scene (although not while I was there - it was still Ramadan so the music went off at midnight). The island itself is about 3km long by 2km wide, with white sand, very clear blue water and plenty of coral nearby. There’s a main strip of bars and restaurants, mainly serving western food and seafood barbeques (and a surprisingly good curry place); its busy in the south, but gets much quieter and relaxing in the north.

I suffered a little from reverse culture shock the first day, Gili Trawangan is absolutely seething with bule, many of whom are real tossers. Luckily my brother and his girlfriend were visiting, so I divided my time between chilling with them and learning to dive. I now possess the most basic diving certification, meaning I have logged at least four dives, and dived to a depth of 18m. It doesn’t really equip you with many skills, it’s a lot like being given a driving licence after spending an afternoon driving around a car park for the first time.

Gili Trawangan is a very lovely spot, but probably best to visit at low season, when it’ll be easier to dodge the idiots trying to outdo each other with their boring travellers’ tails and apocryphal stories.

After Gili Trawangan, I moved onto Kuta on the south coast of Lombok. It’s a small sleepy place with some fabulous scenery and beaches around it, populated mainly by locals and surfers. There’s no nightlife as all the surfers have to be in bed by 8pm so they can get up for the morning waves, and the only places to eat are warungs with unspeakably slow service. The coast reminded me a little of the Gower in Wales, very green and rugged hills and long sweeping beaches. Of course in Lombok it's hot, the water is warm and it doesn't drizzle 360 days a year.

I spent the first day relaxing on the beach and exploring the area a bit, and then the next morning I was picked up bright and early for a surf lesson. Most of the surf in the area is brutal, far too much for a beginner to handle, so my board was strapped to the side of a motorbike, I climbed on and we went in search of something easier to surf.

The roads all the coast are terrible, just a thin strip of tarmac snacking its way between the trees and around and over the undulating hills; pot holes are frequent, often hidden, and sometimes as deep as the road was wide. Going downhill felt like skiing an icy, rocky black run at pace, with a sail strapped to your back, and having to contend with chickens, oxen, and various other fauna trying to cross the piste at the same time. It was so bad in places it crossed my mind I was still on Gili Trawangan, and had ingested too much of the local fungus.

After arriving safely at the beach, we had half an hour to wait for the tide to change, so I wandered around watching all the boats coming in from their mornings fishing. The people were very friendly, posing for photographs and proudly displaying their catch, and seemed delighted to see a few foreigners enjoying their beach. The surfing was fun, and I’m getting better, but am still really shit. I surfed most of the morning, until the beach started to fill up. At that point some of the local kids thought it would be amusing to play chicken with me as I was trying to stand up. I was certainly not competent enough to avoid them, so called it a day and gritted my teeth for the ride back into town.

I did a diving trip to Lombok’s SW peninsular for my final day. On the way to our destination we drove though some of the weekly markets, with people still wearing their traditional sasak clothing. I dived off Gili Ringit, a small uninhabited island that was almost converted into a small party island. I say almost as many things have been built; there are bars, a restaurant, a stage and a jetty, but the money ran out so the whole lot has been abandoned, giving the island a ghost town/Chernobyl area kind of atmosphere. That day I did a couple of dives off the beach as part of Project Aware, to help clean up the reef. I was in safe hands, as I was the only non-divemaster in the group, but I was also the least useful as I tended to drift past anything I should be picking up. I did, however, manage to score a nappy, and I confirm that they do NOT biodegrade.

During the drive back to Kuta I saw the most upsetting thing I've seen since I have been in Indonesia. On the road in front of us was a very old and decrepit ambulance. It was missing its back door, or it was open; there was a man lying on the wooden slats on the ambulance’s floor, his visibly distressed wife kneeling over him trying to lend some comfort. He was moving, barely, but there was no medical assistance, and no sign there was going to be a happy outcome. The saddening message seems to be this: don’t get injured, and if you do, make sure you have some insurance, and to probably carry proof of it with you.