lombok:gue banget!

this is going to be the last entry of my travelogue on lombok lah...coz tomorrow its time to get back to work :(

but i have to, despite the heavy heart.., get back to work. coz that's how we get the moolah for more holidays rite.


anyway, after the gilli trawangan, we decided to go back to mainland and do one last tourist thing. i wanted to go to one of the villages where they do handwoven cloth.



from the harbour at bangsal we decided to share the taxi with another couple whom we befriended on the boat back from the gillis. they were going to batu bolong which is a lil bit south of senggigi. so we could share a cab. we were planning to stay at holiday inn (since it was the last night, wanted to stay somewhere nicer) northly of senggigi..but unfortunately, we ran out of rupiah and had to change some singapore dollars. the rates at gilli and at the harbour was atrocious, so we figured we change at senggigi..

the london couple paid for our part of the fare first. it was then we decided to change accomodations, as we decided to change money at senggigi central which had better rates than holiday inn would have and pass them the money at senggigi. secondly, we wanted to meet our trek guide who is based in senggigi central.

so we based ourselves in senggigi central..and we booked ourselves in intan lombok village. a hotel with a HUGE compound. pretty okay beach but a bit run down room.

anyway we met our guide nursin at night, and asked him to help us with the transport for the last day..which was the day we did the tourist thing, going to the weavng village, and the not so tourist thing where he brought us to the biggest local market in the capital..which was like geylang serai market but five times bigger. unfortunately it was raining so we passed the area and had a look-see from the car.....



oooh...the last thing for us to do before checking in at the airport was to....search for the lombok kopi. which i fell in love with during this trip. gue banget! it's full bodied and gives a good caffeine kick. i reminded nuhsin i would really love to bring home some.

however it's not sold prepacked and not available commercially in supermarkets or groceries. you have to buy at that geylang serai like market by the weight..but that place was flooded due to the downpour so we couldnt get out of the car..but normally warungs have their own mix and stock. so our kind guide took us to a roadside warung and talked the owner to sell us half a kilo of kopi powder!

we really had a memorable time there. it's not as touristy as bali which also means it's not as polished. but it's not that ulu since there is a tourist industry going on though not as fully developed.

~lombok 2005