South Lombok Jaunt

On a whim, arranged the night before, I contacted new friend Ali and arranged to travel down to the southern part of Lombok and check out the beaches. Except when Ali arrived he insisted we first visit a pottery village, then a sarong village and finally Kuta beach with lunch in between. That wasn’t really my idea of fun, but I was the newcomer to Lombok, so I just went with it I guess.

First stop was at Banyumulek, South East of Mataram. Ali parked at the side of the road at a pottery store. It didn’t feel very commercial, there were no signs, nobody came up to us. It was almost like we were blending in. Though we really didn’t.

Ali beckoned me across the road where he spoke to some locals, making pots.

After, we resumed our walk through the village. Shouted at only once for taking photos, I actually enjoyed this part of the tour quite a lot. I prefer candid photos of folks in their natural environment, and being the only tourist around everyone was super friendly and really not phased at my presence. Although I did have to pose for one photo for being the tallest person in the village.

The last stop in the village, after seeing the bowls, piggy banks and ash trays was the communal oven for all the villagers to use to bake their goods. We found some locals using it as we visited, stacking their raw materials ready to be baked. In total we spent about 40 mins walking around.

The next traditional wares after pottery were of course the sarongs. I wasn’t even as annoyed I should have been. I was kind of enjoying the “they make stuff here, but we’ll wing it and see what happens, don’t feel like you have to buy anything” stops on our tour.

Our next stop was Bilalalafaris Traditional Hand Weaving Sukarara village. Ali warned me that at the end of this tour, guided by local man Billy, they would try to peddle their wares, but that they wouldn’t be offended if I didn’t buy anything. Billy met us shortly after we arrived and promptly walked us to his home to meet his wife and daughter.

As we walked through the village, one local asked me what sports I like and suggested that it might be "volleyball". I laughed awkwardly and gave him the standard soccer and Manchester United fan line. I don't care for soccer at all...But it’s an international brand that everybody knows! 

Billy told me the sarongs take about 3 months to weave and the women of the village cannot marry until they've completed one. I did end up buying one, which will be the only souvenir on the whole trip to Lombok. I paid IDR400k, haggled down from IDR500k. His easy acceptance of the counter offer suggests I could have haggled more... 

Billy was kind enough to offer me accommodation and a wife, should I return, but I probably won't.

On the way to Selong there was a spectacular lookout for photos, aptly named Selong Viewpoint, a great view to enjoy just before lunch. I had Manuk pelalah and enjoyed it. 

Next stop was quiet Mawun beach which carried an entry fee. Ali said it would be nice if the IDR10k went towards fixing the roads, as they were pretty bad.

On the beach I was swarmed by child vendors peddling their bracelets. They were obviously not new to the game with their sales pitch;

"Hello sir how tall are you" 

"185cm no I don't believe you!" 

"You have girlfriend? Maybe she want present" 

"Please Sir, open your heart and open your wallet" 

Ali did warn me not to engage with them, but I guess I'm just too polite. Not polite enough to spend any money though. So in the end we just walked away from the little rascals.

Before we arrived at Kuta, we made an impromptu stop to take a photo of the Kuta Valley, just 100m south of Ashtari Lodge.

As we drove down the hill, there was commotion in the village. Ali said it looked like a wedding and said we should pop in. He spoke to the community leaders and obtained permission to watch and take photos. Except it wasn't a wedding, but a circumcision ceremony. Say what you want about the underlying reasons, it was a great sight to see the community coming to spend time together, eat and make some music!

Kuta itself felt much more Bali like, but as everyone describes, 30 years ago. The place has a large concreted foreshore, with hotels lining it, there are plenty of private security checkpoints and vendors don't follow you around on the beach. It was quite pleasant. No flies either!

We climbed an artificial lookout that looks like an unfinished freeway on-ramp, but upon hearing the sirens and bullhorn from the security office, accepted that was our second photo taking misdemeanour.

Ali have me the option of a further village to visit called Sade Village. As we pulled up and I saw the 3 giant tour buses, I agreed with him that it was likely to be a little too commercial for our renegade tour day. We headed back towards the hotel, with two short stops, one for a quick afternoon prayer for Ali, followed by a quick orange Bintang Radler at the Chill Bar.

Last post of my Lombok trip, and with the Covid-19 virus now in full swing, it’ll probably be a while before I travel again, but hopefully I’ll still post about some destinations closer by.