[PART 3] Doing Charity While Travelling in Lombok, Indonesia

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.