Lombok-Oct 10

I had heard lots of praises about Lombok, about how it was Bali many years ago, more unspoiled and less touristic. Thus, we decided to make a side trip from Bali for 3 days 2 nights. We went there from Bali on a speedboat (costs us around $50 one way) and fly back to Bali on Lionair (around $60 one way). There are certainly many options on how you want to make your trip back to Bali. From S'pore, only Silkair flies to Lombok so they will charge a premium.

The speedboat to Lombok took around 1 hour.

After researching very long on cheap and good resort, I finally settle for Puri Mas Boutique Spa and Hotel which was a bit of a dissapointment. And I reallized some booking engines who offer you reward points if you posted review of the hotel WILL NOT put up bad reviews from the consumer (so many of the reviews are actually prejudiced). However, to be fair the surroundings outside the room was not bad, including the infinity pool.

 Looks really rustic but the floor squeaks.

The Princess Bed

Infinity Pool that was not so close to the ocean. There were hawkers that keep selling their fares which spolit the ambience.

We spent the whole afternoon jumping in and out of the pool.

 Buffet breakfast at the resort

We took a taxi out for lunch at Cafe Alberto. Although there were no customers, our food took donkey years to reach

When I tasted the pasta, I knew why the food took so long. The pasta was freshly made.

We had dinner at Asmara restaurant, all the resturants provided free transport to and from your resort. This dish was deep fried chicken with hot chilli.

We ordered a side dish of boiled vegetables which tasted horrid

Lawrence enjoying his corn at the roadside

We booked a day divingtrip to the Gillis with Blue Marlin Dive (www.bluemarlindive.com ). I almost though that we cannot make it as we did not bring our diving licence! Luckily, we just needed to sign a disclaimer letter and off we went to the Gillis. It costs around $120 for 2 dives, including equipment which was a pretty good deal.We felt like the odd one out again as the prople in our dive trip were all angmohs. Where are the Asians? On the first dive out, we saw lots of turtles! So much better than Tioman where I did not see a single turtle. For the 2nd dive, it was just diving around a coral wreck which ended so fast.

The boat ride out to the Gillis

Gearing up for the dive. First time I rolled backwards into the sea.

The Fat One..

After the first dive, we stopped for lunch at Blue Marlin Cafe. Fried Mee Goreng with Egg and Keropok

Seafood and Chicken Gravy Rice

Wholesome spread at a Chinese seafood restaurant at Mataram. The food is really cheap in town.



Next day, we rented a motorbike to travel around. It is pretty dafe to travel on mototbike as there were very few cars around. Originally, we intened to drive up all the way to the waterfalls. However, it simply took too long and we gave up halfway especially we were travelling like a turtle on the winding streets

Lawrence favourite activity

Stopping along the way to take pictures of the blue sky

The pathway that we travelled along

The rocks and the sea and the sun was an awesome sight

Dinner at Puri Mas

Nasi Goreng with Egg and Satay

Waiting at a cafe in the airport to kill time.

Lionair flight back to Bali