I've never been to Lombok before even though I travel to Bali a lot.. Lombok was more raw and undeveloped than Bali.. but what Lombok lacks in its isolation and undeveloped places, it wins exactly at that same note too. We stayed in a nice ocean front villa called Qunci villa. It's actually rainy season but we got lucky since the 3 days we were in Lombok, it didn't rain.
Lombok's Kuta Beach (not to be confused to Bali's world famous Kuta Beach) is gorgeous!!! See picture for case in point. Our tour guide took us to a more secluded area where there aren't as many people. There were a total of six people including us (not counting the store owners) when we were there. For those white sands and no waves, it's like having a natural pool but on the ocean.. The waves stop breaking probably 50 meters out because of some rocks formation there. It's insanely gorgeous. I didn't find any beach as pretty as Kuta Beach Lombok in Bali (ok partly also because it was raining so much in Bali we couldn't go to the beaches). Next time if I go to Lombok, I'd prefer to stay around Lombok's Kuta Beach, but not in the touristy area.
In Lombok, we also went to a village that still lives traditionally. The women made scarves/ clothing and they are ornately designed, they're called sasak clothing , i believe. See picture below of me trying to do it, it's hard work because one big cloth is made out of lines and lines of thread... It takes one month to make one finished piece.
Pictures paint a thousand words.. so here goes..
A side note also on food in Lombok. Our first meal Lombok was some old dingy dirty restaurant, with no air conditioning and flies around. Lets just say the place will fail LA's restaurant inspection and we were nervous about whether we'll get stomachache eating there.. The food, however, was delicious! It's grilled chicken and grilled fish with a side of chili sauce. and I love how surprised Arthur was to experience Indonesian's tolerance to chili. Our tour guide said the chili served in this restaurant is not too spicy and it's sweet, when Arthur tried it... he said it has some heat, he hates to know what spicy would be like for our tour guide. Unfortunately, other than the food below, the rest of our meal in Lombok is less than spectacular, bordering taste like frozen food.. Potentially because our tour guide keep on bringing us to some fanci-er looking restaurant that serves western food.. UGH! I want my indo food darn it.. not some failed attempt to create western food.. I'm in Lombok afterall...
