Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Cidomo

Salam readers,

On day 3 of our stay, as I listed here, we went to Puri Mas Spa Resort for some pampering session. This spa resort is a sister resort to the one we stay. Read about it here.

This Spa resort is very interesting.There were many exotic animals that the owner kept. One that I really like were the antelope. They were really friendly and I got the experience to pet them.

At first, we just see them from afar. Lucky for us, the worker is about to feed the animals. So he offer us to come in & play with them.

Other than antelopes, there are many other animals here. Some of which I don't even know what it's called.

Done with the spa & the animals, we leave the resort via taxi. On our way back, we decided to make a stop at Senggigi town to get some souvenirs. Unfortunately, we didn't take any photos of Senggigi town. We were too busy choosing souvenirs for everyone.

From Senggigi town to our resort, we decided to went back local style. Since the day we arrive Lombok, we notice the local always use this ride. We ask our driver what is that and he explains that it is called Cidomo. A ride that is use by the local to commute between one village to another.  

Cidomo is actually a horse-drawn carriage. However, they only use kuda padi (a smaller type of horse. Like a pony). I am not sure whether pony & kuda padi is the same thing or not. Since Cidomo is very popular among Lombokian, we make a point that we must ride it at least once.

Alhamdulillah we got the chance to experience it & we were quite surprise by how fast the thing can go. Like seriously! It is one of the experience you need to try once you in Lombok. With that, I end this entry with a video of us riding a Cidomo. 

Note : This will be my last Lombok entry.

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - The Food

Hello and salam dearies,

I got a question from a reader to write about the foods there. So I will try to write about it. However, I don't really remember what we ate while we were there. Besides, when the food reach us, we were too hungry to even snap pictures. 

This is the first meal that we had. If you ask me what is that, I am sorry because I can't remember it anymore. Haha -_-" But the pineapple juice is complementary as a welcome drink. We were too hungry at that time. That explains the 3 dishes for only the 2 of us. 

On our final night, we decided to have romantic dinner serve by the hotel. They called it Rijsttafel which means traditional Indonesian dish back when the dutch were living in Indonesia.

We have the whole gazebo, which place by the beach only for us. With candle, flower petals, and sound of waves. The setup is very romantic. Then,....it started to pouring rain heavily. Haha. But both husband and I agree that the rain makes the scene even more romantic. 

Here is the menu for our dinner : 

• Entree : Lebui Soup (Lombok black bean soup with sliced celery)
• Main (serve with white rice) :- 
• Empal daging (flavoured fried beef with fresh coriandler)
• Sate pusut (Soft mint snapper mixed with grated coconut moulded onto bamboo skewers and grilled)
• Pelecing kangkung - (Steamed water spinach and bean sprouts in a spicy Lombok sauce)
• Cumi bumbu Bali (Whole small baby squid with Balinese spices)
• Ayam Bakar Madu (Grilled chicken breast with Javanes spices and honey flavours)
• Dessert : Lombok tropical fruits
• Condiments : Kerupuk, acar & sambal

I think this dinner itself already cover most of their local dish. Pelecing kangkung is one of Lombok popular local dish. Their sambal is really spicy and my stomach can't take it.

As I mention in my earlier entry, Lombok is a Muslim land. You won't see any babi golek anywhere you go. So you will have the confidence that the food is Halal. 

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Activities (City Tour)

Salam all,

I've been procrastinating to blog for quite some time. My husband has advice me to write as if people is looking for info. So I should keep it simple and precise. 

We stay in Lombok for 5 days 4 nights. Arrive on Wednesday & return to Malaysia on Sunday. Air Asia direct flight to Lombok only available on these days - Sunday, Wednesday & Friday. The flight already took us around 3 hours & the hotel took around 1.5 hours from airport. So we only left 3 days to explore Lombok. Here in summary :-

Day 1 - Arrival - Arrive at Hotel around 2.00 pm (Lombok time is same with Malaysia)
Day 2 - City Tour
Day 3 - Massage at Puri Mas Spa Resort
Day 4 - Mataram Mall
Day 5 - Return back to KL - Return flight is on 12.15 pm

In this post, I will focus on the City Tour. This tour is arrange by the hotel & it cost us RP 435,000 (around RM 120). Among the places that we went in this City Tour are :-

i) Chinese Cemetery & Temple (This one you can skip as it is the same like in Malaysia)
ii) Fishing Village
iii) Craft Village
iv) Sasak Village
v) Kuta Beach

Fishing Village

Fishing Village - Not much activity done during our visit

Craft Village

Craft Village - How they craft their furniture & household items

Craft Village - The end product

Craft Village - Embroidery

Craft Village - The locals believe if the ladies don't know how to do this, they can't be wed

There are actually a video of me donning the sulam (embroidery) captured by my husband. However, the video is in my husband's playbook & now the playbook can't be switch on. Hopefully we can discover how to retrieve some pictures & videos from there. 

Sasak Village - Outside

Sasak Village - Inside

I think my most favorite is visiting Sasak Village and understanding their culture. Sasak people speak Bahasa Sasak, and only some of them can speak Bahasa Indonesia. Their house is made out of clay (tanah liat). In this house, girls will be sleeping inside while guys will be sleeping outside. (There are days that the husband & wife can sleep together)

To wed a girl, the guy need to take away the girl for a few days. When they return back, the guy will meet the girl's family. Then there will be ceremony to celebrate the wedding. This is the main reason why Lombok men take away so many Malay ladies to elope in the previous years. It is in their culture to do so. It just that they don't return back to discuss with the girl's family. 

The main economy of Sasak people is mainly agriculture. You can see a lot of paddy field in Lombok. So there are still a lot of green scenery to view there. 

Paddy field

Sasak Village - Kitchen

Sasak Village - Shared shower. All the villagers take shower here

Sasak Village - This is where they put all the paddy

Sasak People - This auntie want to take picture with us before we leave

Last but not least, a visit to Kuta Beach Lombok. (Yes Lombok also have Kuta Beach. Not only in Bali). During our visit, they were preparing for Bau Nyale Festival. Read about it here and here. But we don't manage to join the festival as we already return back to Malaysia.

There are many other activities that you can do in Lombok such as mountain climbing at Mount Rinjani & snorkeling at 3 Gilis (Gili Air, Gili Meno & Gili Trawangan). However, we skip that and explore the city. If you want to go to Bali, there's also a boat transfer from Bali to Lombok.

If we have the opportunity to go there again, we would love to go for snorkeling at the famous 3 Gili Islands. Hope you can benefit from this entry.  :) 

Lombok - Honeymoon Trip - Where to stay?

Salam All, 

In my previous entry, I explain why we choose Lombok for our honeymoon. Click here to read.

Today, I will tell you guys where we stay in Lombok.

We choose Puri Mas Boutique Resort & Spa.

The resort is divided by 2 and located separately (1 is Beach Resort  & another is Spa Resort)

If you want to stay near the beach, please take the Beach Resort. Where we stay.

You still can visit the Spa Resort (located near Senggigi town area) and have a massage there.

The Spa Resort also have a Mini Zoo where you can see some exotic animals.

We choose Puri Mas as it has good review and perfect for our budget.

Apart from that, the resort was design with Indonesion culture.

This resort also is a child free resort. So you won't see any children running around here and there.
The rules is for the safety of the children. You don't want any children to get drown in a swimming pool or sea right?

Apart from that, TV is upon request. There is no TV in your room.

But you are in your vacation right? Why you need TV anyway?

We choose Quirky Budget Room. The bed is a four poster queen bed.
With an additional single bed. Water filter & drinks is inside the room. So you won't get thirsty.

Some of the bathroom is an open air bathroom. You can see the sky while you were showering. It's a nice concept. However, I am not comfortable with this kind of bathroom, so I emailed them & ask for an indoor bathroom.

The hotel also provide packages like tour packages, snorkeling packages, diving packages, waterfall tour and more. I request from the hotel what are the packages they offer and they provide me a booklet of it with summary of activities will be done. So from the packages we choose City Tour and I will write about it later.

The downside of this hotel, it took roughly 1.5 hours from the airport. 30 minutes north to three famous Gili (Gili is a popular place for snorkeling & diving). And it is 10 minutes away from Senggigi town area. You need to ride a cab to get there and the cab can only be get via hotel reception. At Senggigi, there are many other snorkeling packages offered. But we only discover it late, so we decided not to take it. Souvenirs can also be found here. 

Hence, if you want a private & secluded place, this hotel is a perfect place for you. The view is spectacular.
But if you want to taste local food, it is better that you stay near Senggigi. Most of the times, we just order hotel food as the price is still reasonable.
If you want to snorkel or diving, it is better to stay at a hotel near the 3 Gili areas.
But if you stay in Puri Mas, you still can go to Senggigi town and see what are the packages they offer.
Decide which one you want & the choice is yours.
Love from us.

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.