Lombok : Honeymoon Trip - Why?

Salam dearies,

For my first travel trip entry, I decided to write about Lombok.

Lombok holds a special place in my heart as it is our honeymoon trip.

It is the first trip that we go together as a couple.

When we decided Lombok as our honeymoon trip, we received so many comments.

Mainly negative. Things such as

"Korang berani eh pergi Lombok? (You guys are so dare to go to Lombok).

or said to my husband

"Kau berani eh bawa isteri kau pergi Lombok. Tak takut ke?

(You really dare to bring your wife to Lombok. Aren't you guys afraid?)

Even when people ask us where to go for honeymoon, we will just say Bali instead rather than Lombok. Yes, Lombok is popular among Malaysian (Malay especially). Why?

Because Lombok's men use to take away Malay ladies and bring them to Lombok to elope and never return back. So, it is already planted in their minds that Lombok is a dangerous place (especially for Malay ladies).

Question is, why we still choose Lombok?

Yes, we do survey other places that popular for honeymoon, like Bali, Phuket, Krabi etc.

However, I feel that these places just overrated. It is just too crowded with people.

For honeymoon, I want it to be intimate, secluded, private and romantic as well.

After all, it is the best time you really get to know your spouse. Isn't it?

So my sister suggested Lombok to us.

During that time, Air Asia just open up their direct flights to Lombok.

It just perfect for us as it is still new and unexplored (by Malaysian).

As for the budget, I budgeted RM 3,000 for 2 (RM 1,500 each) for flight & accommodation.

But both only cost us RM 2,400 (for 5 days 4 nights including daily breakfast + airport transfer).

I have RM 600 extra from the budget that I can use for others while we were there.

Bear in mind, I book the ticket as early as September 2012 & my wedding is only at the end of February 2013 (5 months early booking).

We never regret our decision to choose Lombok.

It is a beautiful place and we still talk about it.

Seeing the pictures that we took (to choose to blog) just make me miss Lombok more.

All the negativity is just perception and it will just washed away once you were there.

Try to understand their culture &a you will understand why they did that.

As this entry already long enough, I should summarize, why we choose Lombok :

1. Religion : Lombok is a Muslim land. Food is halal & Mosque is everywhere. (1 village must have at least a mosque)
2. Communication : Bahasa Indonesia which is not much differs than Malay. Plus some of them (the driver especially, is good in English). Hence, not much communication barriers.
3. Budget friendly : As I stated above. 

Will we go there again? The answer is YES. How can you not love this view?

There are still some places that we haven't explore and we will go there again in the future. 

Thank You and Salam.