Life on Lombok

‘Open your heart, open your wallet’…

Our final few days in Bali were spent in Sanur, hanging out with my folks and recovering from my reef cuts.

A decent swell hit while we were there, so Theo got to surf the waves around Sanur. Fast and shallow was the name of the game, with the biggest day revealing several good set ups along the 7km stretch of path that runs alongside the coast. Theo surfed the main right-hand point break style waves, while others took on a fast, hollow left a little further down the beach.

Right-hand point at Sanur

Left at Sanur

Once we got the OK from Doctor Gigi (yes, that was his real name), we booked a trip to Lombok, opting to take a fast boat instead of the five hour public ferry crossing. We boarded the fast boat from Padang Bay and once again, were left wondering what all the fuss was about. We’d read countless stories about how Padang Bay was full of aggressive hawkers who would instantly hassle you and try to forcefully relieve you of your luggage in exchange for a generous tip. We lugged our own bags down to the pontoon and got on board.

After around 1.5 hours on the boat, and a 1.5 hour car journey from Sengiggi, we arrived in Kuta Lombok and settled in to Kuta Bay homestay. Life on Lombok was off to an excruciating start for me… I was still waiting for my reefs cuts to heal, so couldn’t even take a dip in the pool which looked so inviting.

We hired a motorbike and spent the first couple of days checking out the main spots in the area. Shortly after, our buddy Ed joined us from Nusa Lembongan so the boys spent a few days surfing Are Guling, a pretty bay found half an hour west of Kuta and at the end of a challenging dirt track. The bay boasts three waves – a left, a right and a smaller inside A-frame that works on a bigger swell.

Are Guling inside on a small day

Theo on an Are Guling left

Eventually, after 15 days out of the water, my wounds were finally sealed and safe to be submerged in water again – hallelujah! With a small swell running, we headed to the more exposed spots and I had my first surf at a spot called Mawi. The break is an A-frame with short, hollow rights and longer, walling lefts. On bigger days, the spot gets pretty heavy but at the size we were in it was a nice way to re-introduce myself to surfing and find my feet again.

The next day we went to surf Gerupuk, a bay with five different waves to choose from. Closest in is Don Don (which translates to fat fat), a sheltered A-frame which needs a decent swell. Next is Inside Gerupuk, a fun right hander which doesn’t pack such a punch so it’s popular with learners, and intermediates that want to take advantage.

Then there’s Outside Gerupuk – which also has an ‘inside’ and ‘outside’. The outside offers a big shifty peak followed by a fat section, and the inside is a smaller but usually better quality wave which can get long and bowly. Outside Gerupuk seems to turn on just before high tide when it can be epic for about half an hour. All of the waves are too far away to paddle so you can pay 40-50,000 rp for a boat (depending on how many people you’re with and how many of the waves you want to check). The boat man will anchor up and wait for you to surf.

Outside Gerupuk

On Ed’s last day we took my camera out in the boat and took it in turns to snap some pictures of each other.

Theo at Outside Gerupuk

Theo at Outside Gerupuk

Ed at Outside Gerupuk

Ed at Outside Gerupuk

Surfing Outside Gerupuk

Surfing Outside Gerupuk

For the first time during our trip, the swell in Indo was getting smaller – as little as 2 foot at 11 seconds which is teeny for Indonesia. We decided to go on a little exploration mission and set off heading west on the bike. We found our way to Selong Belanak, a beautiful white sandy bay just next to Mawi. The beach had a few wooden shacks and seemed to be popular with local visitors from Mataram. There were a handful of people surfing a little left hander breaking off the rocks, which looked like it had potential for a bigger day.

White sandy beach at Selong Belanak

Selong Belanak

We could see some other beaches across the bay so we attempted to head in that direction. After winding up hills with some breathtaking views, we turned off towards the coast and carried on. The people became extra friendly, so we could tell we had gone a little further than most tourists bother to. Kids ran to the road shouting hello and waving, and even the adults seemed pretty happy to see us.

Our journey west

Views on our journey west

After a while the road turned to rough dirt track, and we got chatting to a local who wanted to practice his English. He pointed us towards the closest beach and we finally pulled up to a viewing spot, miles above and away from the beach still. We were told the beach below was called Torok Bay, but we decided not to drive all the way down as we’d come a long way already and it was getting late.

View towards Torok Bay

Lombok has some stunning scenery, with long white sandy beaches, enormous rolling green hills and lots of wildlife. The island is the next ‘big thing’ for Indonesian tourism, and while there is only very little development at present, centred around Sengiggi on the west and Kuta in the south, I doubt it will stay that way for very much longer.

Views over Kuta Lombok

Kuta Lombok is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s a convenient place to stay because you’re halfway between Are Guling and Gerupuk, with Seger Reef five minutes down the road. This is the hub of surf tourism in Lombok, so the town offers a bunch of surf hostels and accommodation, plus countless restaurants and warungs to please every budget. It’s nowhere near as lively as its namesake from Bali, but I get the feeling that’s where it’s heading. Every night one of the bars has a party on offer, and there are a lot of young hipsters hanging about for the party scene. Whether or not loud music is playing, even heavy sleepers will struggle to get a full night’s sleep due to the call to prayer that booms across the town throughout the early hours.

Views from Seger

Waves at Seger reef

The town is also amok with young kids hawking bracelets, and ‘open your heart, open your wallet’ is the phrase of choice for the children tasked with persuading you that you really do need an armful of brightly coloured bracelets in exchange for some well-deserved cash.

All day, every day, the young’uns pound the streets with an armful of wares, swarming tourists as they sit down to eat. While they’re pretty good natured and quite entertaining with their sales banter, it is sad to see – if you ask what the money is for, they’ll tell you it’s for school books, but I’ve not seen much evidence of most of these kids going to school.

One evening, we decided that instead of buying yet another bracelet, we’d treat these two girls to a meal. They chose spaghetti from the kids menu, and a while after it came the younger of the two looked like she was wiping tears from her eyes. I said, ‘hey no worries if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it…’, as she wailed ‘no gooood, no goood!’. It was only then that I realised the older girl had covered her spaghetti in hot sauce. Hence the tears! She soldiered on and finished the plate, despite the extra pedas (spice)! Being way too soft for their own good, the boys even bought both girls an ice cream afterwards. Of course, it didn’t stop them trying to sell us another bracelet the next day…

After 12 days on Lombok and with the swell getting smaller, we decided that it was a good time to travel towards our next Indonesian adventure in Sumbawa…

Statues near Seger beach