Lombok

21 September 2024

Lombok is often overshadowed by its neighbor Bali, but it shouldn’t be! They say Lombok is what Bali used to be 20 years ago. I certainly liked it more than Bali. Beautiful beaches, excellent surfing, green mountains, and island hopping excursions. The laid-back atmosphere of Lombok makes it a refreshing alternative to the overrun tourist hot spot next door.

Day 1 - Kuta

Tanjung Aan Beach Sunset

We flew from Koh Samui, Thailand to Bali, where we spent the night. The next afternoon we returned to the airport to fly to Lombok. You can also take a ferry, but I’ve had too many bad experiences with ferries in Indonesia. So, we all decided to take a short flight instead.

We rented a full room for the 5 of us at a hostel in Kuta. The room had three bunk beds and no one wanted to take the top bunk. So, we played rock paper scissors to see who got first pick of where they would sleep. Indi and Jocelyn were the 2 losers, so they got the top bunks. The shower never got truly warm, otherwise, I enjoyed the hostel.

Tanjung Aan Beach Sunset

We rented cheap scooters in Kuta and drove them to Tanjung Aan Beach. I was surprised by how good the roads were. There is virtually no traffic, the roads are wide and in good shape, and there are lights at regular intervals. If you are interested in learning how to ride a scooter on your travels, this is an excellent place to get some practice in a low-stress environment.

We parked our scooters near the sand and walked out on the beach right as the sun was setting. It was low tide, so there were a lot of exposed rocks and coral. In that state, the beach wasn’t very impressive. We couldn’t get in the water because it was too shallow. I flew my drone around, but there wasn’t a lot to see.

We drove back to the hostel and played Monopoly Deal. It was super hard to tell which properties were which because we were playing with a bootleg version we bought on Koh Samui, and none of the colors were right.

Day 2 - Kuta

Tanjung Aan Beach
Selong Belanak Beach

This day marks day 60 of our Asia trip! It was crazy to realize that our trip was ⅔ of the way done! I didn’t want this trip to end. I was already strategizing with Indi about how we could come back to Indonesia for a summer in a few years.

Tanjung Aan Beach

I rented a surfboard for 70k IDR from a board shop close to the hostel. When I rented the scooter the previous day, I made sure that it was one that came with a surfboard rack. I put the board on the scooter, and the rest of the group prepared to leave. Brandon drove Jocelyn, and Indi drove Ashley. We all drove to Tanjung Aan Beach for the second time. The beach is covered by businesses. Many of them are restaurants (warungs) that also rent surfboards and offer umbrellas and beach chairs for their customers. We chose one of these warungs based on solid Google Maps reviews. Brandon and Indi rented longboards for 50k IDR each, and we paid 50k IDR each for a boat ride out to the break. It’s possible to paddle out, but the 700-meter swim convinces most surfers to pay for a ride.

The surf spot was packed with kooks, but it was still super fun. Tanjung Aan is a popular place to learn to surf so there were a lot of surf schools and new surfers in the lineup. I’m a high-ranking kook myself, so I suppose I can’t complain. We spent about 1 hr 40min surfing, and I caught three waves with the 7’10 board and one with a monofin longboard. It was super fun despite the crowd. The waves were incredibly gentle. They were 3-4 feet tall but only rarely fully broke. They just crumbled over and then turned back into a swell after a while. It made the waves difficult for me to catch because it was hard to get the placement right. The experience was something I had dreamed of doing but never realized it. The whole thing – throwing a board on a bike, riding to the beach, taking a boat out to a break, and surfing long, clean waves in a foreign country.

After the surf session, we drove back to Kuta and went to a warung for lunch. It was a small place within walking distance of our hostel that was always busy. Warung Bu De had some of my favorite food on the island. The plates cost 20-25k IDR, and the fresh juice cost 10k. I ordered either nasi goreng or nasi kuning, I can’t remember which one. It was so good!

Selong Belanak Beach

After lunch, we hopped on the bikes and drove 30 minutes to Selong Belanak Beach. I found it much prettier than Tanjung Aan Beach. It’s a long and wide white-sand beach with mountains all around. We didn’t get in the water. Indi and I walked down the beach, almost reaching the other end, while the other three lay on towels. We saw a lot of crabs and sand dollars in the sand. There was a good amount of people on the beach, but the beach is so large that it felt mostly empty.

Day 3 - Kuta

Tanjung Aan Beach

Tanjung Aan Beach

We woke up late – 10:00 am. We had such a good time the previous day that we decided to extend our time in Kuta. We set out with the same plan as the day before. Again, we took the scooters to Tanjung Aan Beach to surf. We went to Dede Warung in DD’s honor. We chilled on the lounge chairs for a while because the surf looked pretty small, and one of the guys said it would get bigger with the tide going out in 2 hours. Indi and I were the only two who wanted to surf, so we rented some boards and borrowed rash guards from the warung. I rented a 9.4 longboard, and she rented a foam board.

The waves were way less gentle this time around, and it was just as packed. It felt like I spent most of the time paddling. I did, however, catch several waves that were an extremely long ride. I wore a rash guard with my sun shirt over it and avoided nipple rash. I messed up in attempting to dodge the crowds and ended up in the splash zone with waves that took me too far in to shore. I should have caught the waves where everyone else was, despite it being a zoo. Still, it was a great experience and it makes me happy to think back on surfing in Lombok.

We rode the scooters back to the hostel and ended up skipping lunch. We got dinner at a place called Mia Mia’s, where Brando and I each ate a whole chicken. We went to a speakeasy for a bit before calling it a day.

Day 4 - The Secret Gilis

Secret Gilis Tour
- Gili Layar
- Gili Sudak
- Gili Tangkong
- Gili Kedis

We scheduled a full-day tour to island-hop through the “secret gilis” – a group of small islands off the southwest coast of Lombok. We checked out of our hostel in the morning, then left our bags in the lobby. We were picked up at the hostel by the tour company. They drove us one hour west to a small coastal town surrounding a harbor.

Our boat was waiting for us at the Tawun Harbor. The boat looked like a large canoe with extra things nailed to it. There was a top deck with a large homemade chair that made the vessel look slightly ridiculous.

Despite the boat’s dodgy appearance, she was seaworthy. We set out from the dock and enjoyed a pleasant ride along the coast.

Gili Layar

The first snorkel spot was a wide reef surrounding a small island – Gili Layar. The coral was healthier in the deeper water but also more difficult to see up close.

The shallow reef was quite unhealthy. I was very disappointed at the time. Looking back now, I think I had overly high expectations from snorkeling around Komodo Island y Nusa Penida. As you can see from the photos, there are healthy patches of coral. Looking back through my GoPro videos, I realized that the reef was better than I gave it credit for. The guide sat on a piece of boulder coral, giving us the first sign of how environmentally unaware this guy was.

Gili Sudak

The second snorkel spot was much better! The reef was downright incredible in some areas. Translucent green schools of fish swam over “fields” of healthy staghorn coral. I can still clearly remember that mesmerising sight. Also, we came across the biggest turtle I have ever seen. It was HUGE. The guide would not leave the turtle alone. He touched it constantly and tried to get us to come pet it. We ignored him and swam on, leaving him behind.

Gili Tangkong

I’m doing my best to reconstruct exactly where we stopped on this tour, but I can’t be 100% certain that I’m getting the names right. The company’s posted itinerary on Viator isn’t what we actually did on the tour, I think.

So, after our second snorkeling stop, we sailed to Gili Tangkong. There, we had lunch on the island. There were picnic tables set under a pavilion for shade. We had coconuts and grilled fish. I thought my food was alright, but Indi’s fish was super gross.

We had some time to chill on the island, so I flew my drone around to get shots of the island and the surrounding area. I noticed structures dotting the sea surrounding the island. Getting closer with the drone, it seems that they may have been semi-permanent fishing platforms.

Gili Kedis

We ended the tour at the smallest “gili” of Lombok – Gili Kedis. The island was certainly very small, but for some reason, it was also the busiest. There were at least a dozen other boats anchored in the sand around the small island. Because of this, there wasn’t much space to actually get in the water!

The sand was super soft and white. We all sat in the shallows in an area that was too shallow for boats to enter until it was time to go.

From Kedis Island, we made the short boat ride back to the dock from which we see out. We met up with our driver, Wan. He drove us all the way across the island to the southeastern area. The drive took almost three hours to get to the Ekas Beach area.

When we finally arrived, it was late at night. Our driver, Wan, like the awesome dude that he is, stayed with us until we were sure that we were in the right location. Ashley booked our stay on AirBnb, but the listing information wasn’t right. To make a long story short, we were forced to book two bungalows instead of sharing one. We thought we were staying in some cheap bungalows to be close to good surf, but they ended up being a lot more expensive than we had anticipated. The owner wasn’t there to help resolve the issue. It was late, we were tired, and we just bit the bullet.

The hotel is a series of bungalows on the beach with a nice pool. There are bug nets around the beds, but they didn’t do anything to save us from being eaten alive each night. I received more bug bites staying here than the rest of my Asia trip combined.

I had read online that the hotel was owned by an Italian and that the pasta served by the hotel was unusually good. I ordered pesto pasta for dinner, which I liked a lot. It was much better when I added Thai chilies. Indi ordered Mie goreng again, but unfortunately, it was made with fat noodles instead of the ramen-like noodles that she prefers.

Day 5 - Ekas

Pink Beach #1
Pink Beach #2
Paradise Beach

Pink Beach #1

We rented three scooters through our hotel and drove straight towards what I’ll call Pink Beach #1. It gets very confusing because there are at least 5-6 beaches in the same area, and they’re all called “Pink Beach” on Google Maps. We ended up semi-lost along the way, with no cell service. So, we were on the side of the road when a lady stopped and got us to follow her to the pink beach. The woman turned out to be a restaurant owner for one of the shacks on the beach.

Entrance to the beach costs 10K IDR/pax. We had to drive down a pretty sketchy, steep road to get to the beach. If you’re a beginner scooter driver, you may want to reconsider this one. It was a pink beach, but it was pretty weak. The sand was only barely pink. There were also bands of trash monkeys roaming the area. There were companies offering boat tours, but we had just been on one yesterday, so we decided to just chill on the sand. We heard from someone who went that it was amazing. We stayed at this beach too long, in hindsight. Mainly because “Pink Beach #2” was much better.

Pink Beach #2

We got back on the scooters and drove up the steep hill and back down the road from where we came. We made it to a fork in the road where one way turned into a dirt road. According to Google Maps, the dirt road was the only way to get there. Calling it a “dirt road” is generous. The road is not maintained at all, so far as I could tell. It was partially covered in small rocks or gravel. There was a small groove in the road the exact width of a scooter tire from those that brave the road. If you can stay in the groove, it’s smoother sailing, but maintaining the wheels within a 6-inch wide groove for thirty minutes isn’t easy. It wasn’t for me, anyway. I had to lock in completely for the entire ride. I have experience riding scooters, I rode one regularly for a year in Puerto Rico. Even with that experience, this drive spooked me. I was white knuckling it all the way there and back. I am shocked that Brandon and Indi (the other two driving) never laid their scooters down. All that to say, don’t drive a scooter to this beach unless you are very confident.

The road eventually led us to the better pink beach. As we got off our bikes, I saw a lady smiling at us from her warung. Sometimes, business owners can be pushy about getting people in the door. Her mild approach won me over. I was hungry, so I decided to try some food from her warung. Like other warungs built near a beach, it appeared to be built with cheap materials like bamboo and palm fronds. I ordered nasi goreng (fried rice). Eventually, Brandon, Ashley, and Jocelyn decided to order the same thing. Indi ordered her favorite Indonesian dish – mie goreng. The food was good, and the coconut I ordered was as good a coconut as I have ever had, although not cold.

After eating, I walked to the beach with my coconut in hand. The beach was much prettier and had no seaweed, unlike the previous one. I finished my coconut floating in the shallow water. We all agreed that we wished we had spent the whole day there. We hung out at Pink Beach #2 for the remainder of the day. It was a good time.

Paradise Beach

We drove the scooters for 45 minutes back towards our hotel. Indi, Jocelyn, and I decided to check out one more beach before going back. We drove to the nearby Paradise Beach. We parked our scooters as close as we could get, but we had to walk a while to make it to the sand.

The beach itself wasn’t anything special. Likely because it was low tide, which really limits the area where you can get in the water. The low tide also exposed some tide pools, which aren’t very pretty. They were covered in hundreds of hermit crabs. It was a nice sunset, though. We sat on the sand and enjoyed the view. A bunch of kids came up to me and tried out the few English words they knew. They also requested a selfie with me and my Instagram handle (@westindiestravel).

When we got back to the hotel, I was approached by the owner, Max. In apology for messing up the Airbnb listing, Max organized a lobster dinner for us. It felt like he was doing his best to ensure we had a good experience, which I appreciated. We hung out in the pool until it was ready.

We each got a dish of 1.5 small lobsters cut in half on top of a mound of pasta. I am not a big fan of lobster, but this dish was really good. Thanks Max! Staying at Panorama Ekas was certainly memorable, and I’m glad we stayed there.

Day 6 - Ekas/Tetebatu

Ekas Beach Surfing
Monkey Forest

Ekas Beach Surfing

Brando and I woke up early to surf Ekas Beach. We were outside at 6:00 am. We each grabbed a longboard. We boarded the boat to take us to the surf spot at 6:15 am. We were on the boat with a South African and his son, an Aussie, and a Frenchman. They all went to a bigger surf spot, and we got dropped off at a smaller break. It was a pretty rough surf session, honestly. I caught very few waves. Soon after we arrived, boatloads of people showed up. Competition for the waves was intense. It got much worse when the surf schools showed up. Beginners were being pushed into almost every wave. It was maddening. I caught a couple of decent waves, but I should have been more assertive. We were late in getting picked up, and I thought they had forgotten about us for a while. On the way back, the Aussie convinced me I needed to visit Australia, particularly the west coast and, more specifically, the Ningaloo Reef. I’ll get there in the next 5 years! (Manifesting.)

We got back, got some breakfast, and arranged transport through Max. We needed a ride to the interior of the island, and I had wondered if finding a driver would be difficult. Max took care of it. The drive to Tetebatu didn’t take as long as I had expected – maybe 1 hour and 20 minutes.

We got dropped off in front of our hotel and had to walk down a narrow sidewalk alongside rice paddies to get there. The hotel was super cool – one of my favorites of the whole trip. It’s set in the middle of rice paddies. It has a main building where there are some guest rooms above a restaurant. There are a few buildings around the main building making an “L” shape. Next to the buildings is a pool area and a gazebo. Further down a rough cement walkway is a row of bungalows. They felt new and very nice. I ordered some food and got in the pool. The food took a while, but we were just chilling poolside, so the wait didn’t bother me. The beef rendang I ordered was incredibly good, so much better than I had anticipated! It was one of the best meals I had in Indonesia.

Tetebatu Monkey Forest

We rented some scooters through the hotel and drove to the Tetebatu Monkey Forest. We saw some black monkeys right away. I’m not sure what species they were, but it was cool. The monkeys were super close to the fence, so technically, we didn’t even need to enter the forest to see them. In fact, if you just want to see these monkeys, just look at them from the road. The fact that you have to pay to enter a random forest area is pretty lame. If you wanted to, you could find an entrance where you don’t need to pay.

We paid the entrance fee to enter and took a closer look at the monkeys. We couldn’t stand still for too long because of mosquitoes. We then hiked for a long time without seeing anything besides mosquitoes. We finally came upon some macaques and then decided to turn around. Hiking back, we passed some people who must live further back riding up the narrow trail on scooters.

Afterwards, we went to a waterfall that was a total tourist trap. We had to pay to park our scooters and pay to see the waterfall. The water was cold and full of kids (including one that liked showing off his wiener, yeah pretty weird), so we didn’t stay long.

We decided to chill at the hotel for the rest of the day. We laid by the pool, and Brandon and I launched our drones to get a look at the rice fields around us. We made a big mistake by going somewhere else for dinner – it was much cheaper but basic. I should have ordered rendang from our hotel again.