Archives for July 2020

The next day, we continued our trip in Lombok by heading to Gili Trawangan, which is situated in north Lombok. We were informed that the northern part of Lombok was the worst-affected area after the recent earthquake. Throughout our journey to north Lombok, we saw many houses badly ruined by the massive earthquake. Tents were still put up outside the houses. Clean water was also supplied through temporarily installed water tanks provided by volunteers from all over the world. To reach Gili Trawangan, we had to take a speedboat ride from the beach for about 15 minutes. Gili Trawangan is one of the three islands in the Gili Archipelago. It is the biggest island with high population and complete amenities. The other two islands are Gili Meno and Gili Air. No motorised vehicles are allowed on Gili Trawangan. Residents only travel by foot, bicycle or cidomo, which is a small horse-drawn carriage on two wheels. We found out that the most popular activities among visitors on Gili Trawangan are snorkeling, scuba diving and kayaking. We took the opportunity to cycle around the island. Throughout the cycling trip, we could see many resorts built all over the island. To our delight, each resort has its own distinctive characteristic and design. We also discovered that each resort provides beach swings for visitors to take photos during sunrise or sunset. These beach swings are Lombok’s trademark that is featured in many tourist brochures and leaflets. We also managed to chat with the locals about the recent earthquake. They narrated that, when the earthquake hit the island, the residents and visitors received a tsunami alert and immediately rushed to the hilly area in the middle of the island. We had only a half-day visit on Gili Trawangan and took a speedboat ride again to return to the island of Lombok. At night, we had dinner at the Lombok Epicentrum Mall, the largest shopping mall in Lombok.

We spent our fourth and final day in Lombok by stopping by a few souvenir shops before flying home to Kuala Lumpur. We were thankful that all planned activities went off without a hitch. More importantly, apart from enjoying the beauty of the island, we could see for ourselves the destruction caused by the earthquake. Despite our initial hesitation to proceed with the trip, we took a risk with intentions to help the earthquake victims while enjoying our so-called vacation. Our maiden four-day stay in Lombok was indeed a special one that would always remain in our hearts and minds.

We then went on with our journey to Kuta Beach Lombok. When we heard about this place, we were instantly reminded of the famous beach in Bali that shares the same name. Kuta Beach in Lombok is just as beautiful as its counterpart in Bali that is famous for its clean, white sandy beaches. In Kuta Beach Lombok, we were treated with beautiful coral reef and an amazing view of the ocean. This beach is situated in the southern part of Lombok where the Bau Nyale Festival is held. The word “Bau” comes from the Sasak language, which means “to catch”, while the word “Nyale” means “sea worm” that lives in rock holes under the sea surface. Hence, the Bau Nyale ceremony is a sea worm hunting festival at the beach that is usually held once a year, around February or March. We spent about half an hour taking photos and enjoying the view at the beach. Some locals selling various souvenirs approached us as well. Since some of them were earthquake victims, we felt sympathy for them and bought some souvenirs in the hope that it would lessen their burden.

Our final destination on the second day was the Sasak village. The Sasak clan represents 80% of the whole Lombok population, which is 3.35 million people based on the 2014 Census. As we stepped foot in this village, we noticed that their lifestyle was very basic. We could see that every house was built with wood and bamboo, with roofs being made of straw. Interestingly, the floor was built by mixing clay and cow dung. When we entered one of the houses, it was surprisingly cooling despite the scorching heat outside. There was no unpleasant odour either. Before we left, we bought some handicraft made by the Sasak women in the village.

Misfortunes and opportunities come in all shapes and sizes. When we booked our flight to Lombok in 2017, we did not have the slightest idea that the date of our flight would be only several weeks after multiple earthquakes struck the Indonesian island of Lombok in August 2018. However, after much thought and consideration, we went on with our plan to travel to the famous holiday destination in Indonesia. Given the recent calamity, we decided to limit our fun activities out of respect to the affected victims. We agreed to offer some help and give back to the Lombok community while travelling around the island. Our wishes were granted much earlier during our flight from Kuala Lumpur to Lombok. It turned out that AirAsia launched a relief fund for the earthquake victims in Lombok through the #ToIDwithLove campaign, to which we made a little contribution. We arrived at the Lombok International Airport at night. En route to our hotel, we had Taliwang Chicken Rice for dinner, which is Lombok’s signature dish. Taliwang Chicken Rice is a spicy roasted chicken from Lombok and its name is claimed to originate from a place called Karang Taliwang situated in Lombok’s capital, Mataram. After enjoying our dinner, we were taken to our hotel. The moment we arrived at the hotel, we could see that some blocks of the hotel buildings were closed due to cracks caused by the earthquake.

We started our second day by visiting a songket-weaving centre. Lombok is famous for its high-quality songket products. Unlike the normal songket we used to see back home in Malaysia, Lombok’s songket does not use gold or silver threads. Instead, they use colourful cotton threads that produce beautiful and unique patterns. The songket cloths were hand-woven by the Sasak women, and we were told that one of the conditions for a Sasak woman to marry is that they have to be skilled in weaving the songket. It usually takes months to complete a set of songket. Thus, the rather high price of the songket is not surprising. We were also informed that, the more complicated the songket pattern and the longer it takes to weave, the higher the price will be. At the centre, besides being able to witness the Sasak women using their skills in songket weaving, we also grabbed the opportunity to try weaving the songket ourselves.