"'Just' an extended destination of Bali " a Pulau Lombok Travel Page by ukirsari

Where do I begin, to tell this story .... oh, I'm sorry, I used the lyrics of 'Love Story' --a song by Andy Williams to describe my feeling about Lombok. Landed at Selaparang Airport, Mataram, I am looking for 'something'. A beautiful island in Indonesia archipelago, a forgotten jewel. A place where Javanese, Sasak [the origin tribe of Lombok] and Bali are mixing together so make this land so unique.

that's my note in 2003 .... after my last visit in 2005 .... everything more and more colourful. some new places are ready to be explored! here we come :)

The first words about Lombok I'd heard from Lalu Jayadi --a friend of mine-- is "You can find Bali in Lombok but will never find Lombok in Bali." This statement came based on history where Anak Agung Raja Karangasem [karang means rock --part of this island are reef and rock and asem is tamarind tree] moved his capital city of Karangasem Empire to Cakranegara [situated at Ampenan, Lombok] during the war in Gel-gel Period at Bali.

Then, as a tourist destination so far people thinking Lombok just an "extended" version if we go to Bali. The main destination is Bali, then the travelers can continuing their visits to Pulau Lombok [Lombok Island], Pulau Moyo [Moyo Island] or Pulau Komodo [Komodo Island]. That?s why, Lalu Jayadi tell me a joke about NTB, a provincial name of Lombok: NTB is not stands from "Nusa Tenggara Barat" but "Nasib Tergantung Bali" [the fate of this island depend on Bali]. If there are many tourists visiting Bali, it's might be a good chance for Lombok also. Oh, a bit sad!

Back to my 'Love Story of Lombok, what I found there just make me so in love with this place. The mixing cultures and traditions of Sasak, Java and Bali trully reflecting 'unity in diversity' --the way of life of my nation. I do love to hear the locals saying 'Inggih' or 'Nggih' which means yes in my own lingo [Javanese] in very proper way. Or their smile whenever reading my name as they mention it's part of 'Jejawan basa' [taken from old Javanese lingo; Kawi and Sanskrit of India]. Many, many words seems so dear to me.

Then another reason which make me so in love of Lombok is about their romantic folklore Putri Nyale or Putri Mandalika [Princess Mandalika] which this story 'sending' me back into my childhood memory when my parents reading a book "Putri Mandalika" in my bedtime. A tale about a beautiful princess who loved by many many guys. And she decided not to take one of them to avoid a battle among them. If the King [her father] asking to whom she's fallin' in love, she prefer go to the beach and whenever King calling her name she always says, "Ku ta" [ku means I'm and ta means here]. When several princes pushed her to make a decision, she's runaway to the beach also saying to her father "Ku ta". Then the beach where she's runaway named 'Pantai Kuta' [it's not Pantai Kuta or Kuta Beach in Bali, by the way]. She jumps from the beach and changed into a small worm called 'nyale'. Year by year this nyale becomes thousands colorful sea-worms and locals along the Kuta Beach in Lombok take them for delicious food.
Every February 19th [oh, pretty close to westerner's Valentine on February 14th!!!], the locals of Kuta Beach celebrates this appears of nyale as a part of their tradition. For those who wants to get a partner as soon as possible, they can hang-out in this celebration to find someone there. Pretty romantic isn't it? And the hill in front of the beach named as "The Love Hill".

Last but not least, finding sunset at Lombok is something amazing. After waiting about 3 days, finally I found a clear sunset where God painting the sky with beautiful colors. It's also a romantic moment when colors changing hue. Gold, red, blue, grey, purple and so many.

More presentation on my Mataram page. I was visiting Mataram, Ampenan and Cakranegara. From Senggigi and Kuta beaches, to Cape Aan. From Mayura the Floating Court House, 'till Pura Lingsar [Lingsar Temple]. From Sasak Village 'till trying weaving the traditional kain songket. It's an unforgetable journey for me :)