I sent my oldest brother, John, a photo of the waterfall we visited in Lombok this past weekend and told him I've never seen one before and he asked me if I've been living under a rock! Alo also made fun of me but he swears I've seen one before. The closest ones I can think of are Great Falls near DC and the place in my hometown near Eagle Rock and neither of those compared to this so I'm going to stick with this as being my first "real" visit to a waterfall.
Alo and I went to the island of Lombok for the weekend which is about a 2 hr flight from Jakarta. We'd been to Gili Trawangan back in February of last year which is a small island off of Lombok but we never stayed or explored around Lombok so we had to check it out.
Alo did a great job finding an amazing place for us to stay and at a pretty good deal. A couple ran the hotel and were so great - we just loved them. Also, the place only had 5 rooms so it was tiny. It was way up on a hill called Puncak and the view was gorgeous. I would definitely recommend this place - it's called The Puncak.
It did rain a TON, and by a ton I mean everyday almost all day. But regardless we still had a great weekend and it certainly didn't stop Alo from renting a scooter for two days for us to ride around the island on - can you tell it's not exactly my idea of fun in the rain? :)
We visited another island off Lombok this time called Gili Air. It's the smallest one of all three (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air). We rented a wooden longboat and headed over to the island. We stopped right off the beach and jumped out to snorkel. I just love the Gili's because you don't even need to get on a boat - you can always just snorkel right off the beach and there are so many beautiful fish. Not a ton of large ones but so many different little fish. At one point I was snorkeling around and the fish were literally all in my face and I couldn't figure out why?? Soon enough I realized I was close to another boat and the guys on it were throwing pieces of bread around me. Grand idea and I plan on always bringing bread with me from here on out. It's just such an amazing feeling to have a hundred or more beautiful vibrant colored fish swarming you and knowing they don't bite :) or hoping they don't! ha. Our camera died right after we started snorkeling but here are a couple I snapped right before...
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| The beaches are beautiful and clear but it's hard to tell with no sun! |
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| If you click on this picture to make it larger you can see all the fish coming straight for me! |
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| This fish says - "pucker up!" |
Soon after we started snorkeling around it started pouring so we went to a small restaurant on the beach for lunch and to wait out the rain. It was called Scallywags and is a great place to just "chill". The rain never stopped so eventually we just made a break for it and headed back to Lombok. The distance isn't far - I think it took like 15 or 20 minutes on the way over because the boat doesn't go too fast. Well on the way back it went very slow - because our engine wouldn't start! Typical day in Indonesia - nothing ever goes as planned :) Luckily as we were floating out in the ocean yet still close to Gili Air, another larger boat with about 15 locals standing up heading to Lombok tied our rope onto their boat and off we went. That's one thing I do love about Indonesians - people are always willing to lend a hand here and help each other out and it's so common. We made it back and of course then had another hour or more scooter ride back to our hotel in the pouring rain. I don't own a rain jacket (i've finally convinced Alo i really do need one now!) and so I suited up with a semi-wet towel on my back as Alo had a nice warm jacket. Alo got us back safe and sound and we even made it home for the sunset as the rained stopped!
Back to the beginning of this post and the true highlight of Lombok for me - the Benang Kelambu Waterfall in Central Lombok. Note to self - don't wear flip flops on these types of adventures - still need to purchase those outdoor shoes along with that raincoat! Anywho - we paid for a local guide to take us through the trek and it's certainly a good idea. There were all kinds of trails so we wouldn't have known where to go alone nor would it have been half as fun. We reached the first waterfall pretty quickly and it was beautiful and there were only about 5 other people there with us. There are two other very famous waterfalls in Lombok however this one is the least publicized so mainly only locals know about it (thanks for our driver who told us!) Alo and our guide both swam but unfortunately I didn't wear my bathing suit so I sat this one out. Quite a bummer though because they say swimming in the waterfall makes you a year younger! ha. Alo said it was freezing!
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| Brrrrr! |
We started the hike to the next one which took some time and was much more of a raw trail in my opinion, meaning no steps just mainly mud since it's rained so much. The next one was my favorite. Just absolutely beautiful. And we were the only people around. I just loved the entire experience. I could have just sat there all day on a rock - it had such a pure and relaxing feel to it. It did rain on us almost the whole treck through the jungle but was still just as great as it could have been. Certainly recommend visiting these if you have a chance. Oh and be ready for the intense bumpy car ride to get there :)
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| Our guide gave us banana leaves to use as umbrellas - Genius!...we did however still get soaked :) |
Overall I really enjoyed Lombok. It is significantly less developed than Bali and has a much more calm and quiet feel to it in my opinion. The "touristy" areas of Lombok weren't crowded at all and there just aren't nearly as many options or posh places like Bali. I also love the Gili's and think their beaches are the nicest out of Lombok or Bali (unless you are a surfer of course). Either way - it's win-win wherever you go!
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On a side note - don't eat a Warung Bule in Kuta-Lombok unless you want to be terribly ill for days! Speaking from experience here...
