Lombok and its coast

With all big events done, we are now nearing the end of our 3 month tour around Indonesia. We have just spent the last 5 days in the coastal village of Senggigi on Lombok, just chilling between our beautiful beach accommodation and the spa in the hills. The village, although the original tourist hub on Lombok is very low key and beautifully lacking the mad tourist crowd and traffic which blight Bali. A visit to Old Town Ampenan, Mayura Water Palace, Meru Temple and Batu Bolong temple was interesting. Facing directly east here, at sunset Agung volcano on Bali mysteriously appears on the horizon. Time to move on today, heading for Kuta on the South coast of Lombok for our last week.

From our base at Kuta, today we had a 4:30 am start, destination Tanjung Luar, one of the largest shark and ray fishing ports in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. We arrived in darkness and watched the port come alive with the sunrise. Truck loads of ladies with plastic bowls ready to receive the catch, men ready to handle the weighty fish. Boat after boat landed, an enormous amount of fish, squid and prawns were manoeuvred from boat to land to market stalls to trucks. The highlight was watching the process of unloading the sharks, various types including hammerheads. Hoisted up from the depth of the hull, thrown overboard, dragged to the beach and then hooks into the flesh, roped to bamboo poles and carried into the open warehouse, some so huge it took 4 men to carry them. Fins and tails lopped off by a machete and then measured, a lucrative business. The whole place was incredible, raw, lively, loud, colourful, the stench almost unbearable, a real village in action and not for the squeamish. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos of the shark landings but here are some photos of the rest of the port.

Fisherman houses Tanjung Luar

Our week in Kuta, Lombok has been a very lazy one for us. Kuta town is a small surfer/traveller type of village on the South coast of Lombok with a chilled vibe but still plenty of choice in restaurants and a couple of cool bars. The perfect place for us to wind down after 3 months exploring this fabulous country. The main attraction in the area is the beautiful uncrowded beaches so we spent a fair bit of time beach hopping. Tomorrow we fly back to Java, 2 nights back in Jakarta before our long flight home. It has been a trip of variety and amazing experiences.