The Jewel of Lombok's Southern Coast
Since Indonesia is a volcanic, rocky nation, there are countless bays and headlands on the coasts of it's islands. Lombok is no different, and tucked into a larger-sized bay on it's south coast is the small but growing community of Kuta. Although the name is synonymous with it's much larger and much more developed cousin on Bali's southern coast, the towns are much different. Kuta Lombok is a very quiet, very relaxed place. Surfing has been the name of the game here for some time, with some ridiculous and powerful surf being generated just off shore here, and in other bays around the area. As a result, the mega tourism hasn't hit Kuta just quite yet. Apart from a random and isolated Novotel, several small and cheap hotels, and a few local restaurants, the town is very small and very laid back, and is nice to walk around. There are numerous nice beaches in the area as well, as are the headlands separating them. Finally, the sea here is a brilliant blue/green, and the whole place is about as picture-perfect-postcard version of "Indonesia" as you can get.
As our time on the Gilis was coming to a close, we didn't really know what we wanted to do next. We had to fly back to Jakarta in four days time, but we were wide open until that point. So, we decided to cruise down to the southern coast of Lombok, to check out Kuta. After a couple hour transit, we arrived at the sleepy beach town and set about getting some lodging.
Since we had been doing really good on our budgeting for the first part of the trip, we were up quite a bit, and Kelsey decided it would be a nice way to end the trip if we stayed somewhere nice. In Kuta the gap between the top level accommodations (in this case, just the Novotel) and the next level of hotel is quite a big jump. So, we splurged a bit and stayed at the Novotel, which turned out to be a simply stunning way of spending a few days in Kuta. The hotel was ultra-classy, with a nice big room (with CARPETING!), a beautiful bathroom, large pool, wonderful breakfast buffet, and it's own private beach. Kelsey really did spoil us here and it was a magical treat for sure.
Since we had been doing really good on our budgeting for the first part of the trip, we were up quite a bit, and Kelsey decided it would be a nice way to end the trip if we stayed somewhere nice. In Kuta the gap between the top level accommodations (in this case, just the Novotel) and the next level of hotel is quite a big jump. So, we splurged a bit and stayed at the Novotel, which turned out to be a simply stunning way of spending a few days in Kuta. The hotel was ultra-classy, with a nice big room (with CARPETING!), a beautiful bathroom, large pool, wonderful breakfast buffet, and it's own private beach. Kelsey really did spoil us here and it was a magical treat for sure.
Although we try to be busy and active on our vacations, we had been going fairly hard the whole trip, so we decided since we had this fancy hotel that we should stick around it and not do too much. We spent one whole day basically sleeping and doing nothing, and another day on the beach. However, on our second afternoon we decided we'd better get out of the room and go do some thing, so we drive down to the headlands just down the coast from the hotel, which gave us an awesome view over the Indian Ocean. The swells that were coming in off the open ocean were immense, and there were incredible waves breaking all over the place. Kuta Bay itself was blocked by an obvious reef, and it was breaking across the entire mouth. In addition, there was several large peaks jutting out of the sea, and these were getting slammed by the full swells, creating sprays of water that soared into the sky.
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A Wedding
After spending time along the coast we headed into town, which turned out to be fortuitous as we ended up right in the middle of a local wedding! It was a blast, and a neat glimpse into the daily lives of the local residents. First, the party of the man showed up, which consisted of a bunch of young Indonesian dudes all looking ready to party, with a band, Bob Marley shirts & hats, long hair, and a very relaxed vibe. They chilled out for a while, hanging out and smoking cigarettes and playing music. Soon, the bride's entourage showed up, with women and girls all dolled up and looking snazzy. Then, there was a long parade down the street, and everyone joined in one group and escorted the bride and groom in the middle of the pack down to street. We stayed and watched for about thirty minutes, and it was a blast, we were very luck to stumble across something like!
Later in the evening we went and visited a local cemetery, as local cemeteries always intrigue me. Nothing weird about it, just neat to see the different symbolism used by different culture.
Later in the evening we went and visited a local cemetery, as local cemeteries always intrigue me. Nothing weird about it, just neat to see the different symbolism used by different culture.
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Surfing in Selong Balanak
On our last full day in Kuta, I decided to try my hand and give surfing a go. I had never done it before, and was keen to at least give it a go sometime in my life, but just hadn't had the opportunity yet. So, when after the wedding I saw place in Kuta called the Lombok Barrel offering lessons, I said "sure, why the hell not". And twenty four hours later I found myself on the back of a moto with two surfboards strapped the side and holding onto a long haired Indonesia surfer dude of about 22. We drove about thirty minutes over to the next large bay, called Selong Balanak, and I proceeded to give it a go. I missed the first one, but caught my second one and rode it all the way to the beach. I managed to catch 3 or 4 others over the course of next couple hours, and then spent some time watching my instructor go out and have a great time, he of course made it look like butter. After a few more tries I was feeling sore like you do after a new sport, so we headed back to town. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of me on the board! My only bummer.
All photos copyright Kit Davidson unless otherwise noted.