Loving Lombok

Day 2.5 on Bali's little sister. The morning begins with "Daddy, Daddy" screams from the neighboring room - remember, we are now in a family-friendly (!) resort. There's squeaking and screaming everywhere, but it's no problem. If necessary, we'll push the kids into the pool.

On the day of our arrival, we had room 531. The air conditioning was a bit weak, we couldn't open the windows because of a gecko that had become familiar to us, measuring 30 cm, which was just waiting to join us. But that wasn't a problem, it cools down pleasantly at night.

Our hotel had a different perspective on it, though. When we returned home from our shopping trip through Senggigi, our door was wide open. Uh, hello?! Two young men (were they even of legal age) were repairing the AC, "broken". We changed rooms, now in the main building, a bit closer to the beach, a bit closer to the restaurants, a bit closer to everything. Yay! However, the internet itself is still ... expandable.

The reception is amusing, at least for us. The man at the pool knew more about the tours than the receptionists, the bike tour is booked at the spa, English is a bigger problem on Lombok than on Bali - the word "soy" has to be written down, other receptionists have to be called. Caro is becoming unpopular, she is definitely there or calls three times a day for something, if she's not careful, she'll soon have the gecko from room 531 in her bed.

Yesterday we visited the nearest city, Senggigi, because we wanted to buy water and soymilk. Our nice walk of about 4 km along the white, deserted beach and later the road was repeatedly questioned with puzzled looks and the question "What? You're walking? Seriously? Why?" But as they say, "Only where you've walked, you've really been." In a taxi, we wouldn't have been able to listen to the prayers in front of the mosque or take pictures of Lombok's (and Bali's) version of the gas station. Gasoline in plastic bottles, why not?!

My DKB credit card is still not working, no matter what bank, no matter what location. Withdrawing money is also a little problem. The maximum limit of many ATMs is 1 million IDR, which is about 60 euros. In addition, there are German and domestic fees. It takes time to find an ATM with a higher limit to withdraw more money and only pay the fees once. We had good experiences with May Bank!

Arriving in Senggigi, which was relatively easy to find - there's only one road :) - a gentle rain started, which drove us to the Kila Restaurant on the beach. The food and drinks were good, and it's really refreshing not to be asked if you want anything else regularly. The only difficulty is when it comes to paying; when you have your bill, you may wait half an hour until you bring the money to the counter yourself. :D oh well ...

After a warm day, Caro was motivated! She actually suggested jumping into the sea. So we made our now shorter way down and looked forward to the azure blue sea. Well... the sea was gone. Or gone away. Technically speaking, there's ebb and flow. So it was still there, but about 100 meters further away. It wasn't possible to swim properly, but it made the work of crab searchers easier, as the reef was only slightly washed by the waves. So we decided to go for a sunset walk. By the way, we could have joined a group organized by the hotel for that - it was even free. ^^

Today (12.7.) we're going to Dewi, Chris and Daphne for a cooking class. We're excited, hungry too - although with all the great and constant meals, hunger is less likely.

Dewi picked us up from the hotel together with her adorable daughter Daphne. The drive took about 20 minutes, past Senggigi along the main road. The cooking class takes place in Dewi and her husband's (Greek Chris) private/hostel building. The grounds are idyllic, three buildings on a river, a small stream with fish flows through the extensive garden. Dewi's husband Chris is from Greece, her business partner Linda, an older lady from Lombok, runs her own restaurant in Senggigi and gives the cooking class. She introduces herself... and starts crying, her cat died this morning. Since we had the cooking class, she didn't take the cat to the vet!

Under the supervision of Linda and her assistant, we pounded spices, chopped and poached vegetables; she explained everything in great detail, mentioning European alternatives. After two hours, we conjured up four dishes on the table: tofu curry with rice, poached vegetables with peanut sauce (Gado-Gado), a mushroom-tomato combination in a banana leaf boat (Caro reached her limit when folding these) and a dessert: a coconut-rubber-like thing with a palm sugar sauce, which was so so so so sooooooo sweet and slimy that a small bite will keep us awake until tomorrow. But we were honest; otherwise, how could we explain the uneaten stuff! Apparently, Americans loved it, they even took the palm sugar with them to attract this viscous spider web slime thing!!!!

The remaining food was great, slightly spicy and simply delicious. Absolutely recommendable!

Here are their details: 350,000 IDR (21 euros) per person, minimum 2, transport from and to the hotel included: https://anggrekputih.com/cooking-classes/

They are flexible to accommodate requests, if you have an intolerance or don't like certain ingredients, you can send it via email beforehand. But if you don't like coconut, you're out of luck. It's really everywhere.

Afterwards, Dewi drove us to the foot of a steep hill (name, pfff, no idea). After the meal, movement was more than necessary. The heat is intense, the path is steep, but what a view!! The houses, one villa after the next! And the view over the countryside far from the beach revealed a world of expensive buildings, pools, and high non-visible walls among masses of banana trees and coconut palms. At least in this part of the island.

Along the road towards Senggigi, we passed the Batu Bolong temple. Both the travel guide and the internet said that admission was free, but you could donate if you wanted. At the entrance, we made it clear that we would pay the donation once we returned from the temple. They refused us and a couple from Heidelberg entry vehemently. Their reasoning: hey, look, everyone else paid too! That ticked us off. Snap, turned around. To be honest, I would have liked to show them the middle finger. Donating, sure, but not pocketing money from tourists.

We should have just said, "yes, we have our periods," then we wouldn't have been allowed in anyway.

The way back itself was beautiful, along the beach at low tide, with stray dogs, pufferfish.... In the evening, there was food, a small portion, after all, we had a big breakfast and cooked ourselves.

By the way: Lombok is 90% Muslim. But I don't know, here it seems that people pray more than five times a day, the call to prayer is constantly heard and obviously longer than in other Islamic countries... interesting, worth remembering.