Tetebatu....away from the beaches

22.12.2018

After a few relaxing days on the beaches of Kuta, we rented a motorbike and headed north to Tetebatu with small luggage... About 40 km away from Kuta.

The village is located in the middle of Lombok on the edge of Mount Rinjani. Surrounding the volcano is a landscape of rice fields, terraced rice fields, tobacco plantations, and extensive forests. Tetebatu is located at an altitude of 400 meters, so there are slightly more comfortable temperatures here than in Kuta.

After about 3 hours of driving through smaller cities and villages and beautiful landscapes, we arrived in Tetebatu. There's not much going on here. A small village that serves as a starting point for trekking tours to Mount Rinjani and hikes through the rice fields. Few people speak English here.

The sky was already covered. Hardly arrived at our accommodation, the Sama Sama* Bungalows, it started pouring down. And it rained almost all night long. It wasn't really cold, but our clothes felt damp 😣. Only Luise was freezing.

The next day, we took a tour with our guide Edi, who grew up in Tetebatu, through the surrounding villages. We visited a large local market. Here, Paul finally had the opportunity to experience his first cockfight🐓. He couldn't get enough, but such a fight can last up to 2 hours.

We then continued to a weaving workshop and pottery workshop. Here, we were able to demonstrate our "skills" 😊.

The next day, we went on a hike through the terraced rice fields with Edi. He knows every path and bush in the area. He could tell us a lot about the farmers' lives. In addition to tobacco, many exotic fruits, cocoa, coffee, chili, macadamia nuts, vanilla, and much more are grown here. The highlight of the tour was a waterfall located in a cave. To get there, we had to walk about 300m through a river and stood knee-deep in the water. Except for Paul, he was carried through the water on Edi's shoulders. The waterfall was really fun and a refreshing experience for us.

Both days ended with a delicious meal at Edi's Warung, where there was traditional Sasak food... Very tasty.

*Terima Kasih = Thank you

Sama Sama = You're welcome