My blue heaven

It's difficult not to believe you are in heaven when you first wade ashore on Gili Trawangan, one of the three exquisite Gili islands, just off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia.

Our brief boat trip had begun in the small port of Bangsal. I had read a few warnings about running the gauntlet of relentless touts, but we had a great cab driver who drove us directly to the ticket office, rather than the more usual terminal about a kilometre away. It was simply a matter of sitting and waiting until there enough passengers to fill up a boat, and we were off.

Bangsal harbour looking towards the closest of the Gilis, Gili Air

The little pony drawn carts in Bangsal harbour called cidomo were a foretaste of those on the island. Because motorised vehicles are banned on the Gilis, the cidomos, together with pushbikes, are the most popular means of transport.

Looking back at Lombok from the boat

My suitcase amidst the produce

Approaching the harbour at Gili Trawangan. Can you believe the colours of the water?
'Fifty Shades of Grey' be darned. Give me fifty shades of blue any day!

Once I had secured a room at Dream Village, which had been recommended by a friend in Jakarta, I decided to head off to see the sights, and what better way to start than to circumnavigate the island by cidomo.

Entry to my hotel, the Dream Village

Apologies in advance for a very poor photo editing on my part. Every scene was so beautiful, it was hard to cut any!

Traffic Trawangan-style!

These simple coral wind chimes are another idea I will take home with me.

Not such a pretty snap, but it gives idea of the dryness (in the height of the dry season).

Loved this driftwood horse with his necklace of coral

Even without that blue, there was so much beauty. For starters, the bougainvilleas.

Palm inflorescence

After two wonderful days, I very reluctantly dragged myself back to the little harbour we had arrived at. I briefly watched the locals at work, then, all too soon, it was time to leave Gili Trawangan. I hope I'll be back.

Exquisitely coloured sarongs like those I saw in Lombok

Discovering Lombok

If you enjoy exotic locations, stunning landscapes, beautiful beaches, and glorious tropical blooms, you have a treat ahead in my next few posts. Mind you, there's lots to see, so you might need to make yourself a 'cuppa' (or pour yourself a glass of chardonnay for that matter) and put your feet up.

I was only back at work for a short time in Jakarta before I was needed to attend a conference to be held in Senggigi in Lombok. The conference concluded on a Friday, which gave me the opportunity to stay on for a couple of days and have a look around the nearby Gili Islands.

For those who haven't heard of it, Lombok is the next island to the east after Bali. (Jakarta where I work is on Java, the much larger island to the west of Bali.) I flew into the new international airport at Mataram quite late and then had a long drive to the Jayakarta Hotel at Sengiggi where our conference was to be held, so it was not until the next morning that I had much idea of the terrain. Needless to say first impressions were very favourable. However it wasn't long before I realised to my horror that I had left my camera battery recharging on my desk back in Jakarta.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it wasn't till day two that I was able to duck out and buy a new little camera and start clicking, although I didn't master the macro settings in time to be able to share any good close ups of the local blooms.

I'm not normally a big fan of kitsch in the garden, but I fell in love with this quizzical monkey.

Garden bed including rhoeo, canna, iris and gokarna jasmine (not sure of the name of the variegated plant though I have seen it often, a type of euphorbia, perhaps?)

 The splashes of lime foliage in the garden beds come courtesy of the Gokarna jasmine Pseuderantermum reticulatum, (also known as the Gold Net bush and the Gold Vein eranthemum) which I featured in an earlier post on Bali. You can see the pretty two-toned flowers at this link. 

Another example of the orchid-coconut shell combo (especially for African Aussie)

Crinum

I love the large-flowered, marblised flowers of this euphorbia

An out of focus Bleeding Heart Vine Clerodendrum thomsoniae

This yellow iris is used widely throughout much of south-east Asia, including Jakarta, as a bedding plant.

Pandanus marked the division between hotel grounds and the beach.

Looking north from the hotel towards Senggigi

Once formalities were concluded on Friday, like many other conference participants my colleague Nantyo and I jumped in a taxi and headed north, past the town of Senggigi about 8 km north of our hotel, and along the Coast towards Bangsal to take a ferry across to the Gili Islands. Luckily, we had a very cooperative driver who was happy to go along with regular photo stops.

Looking back towards Senggigi

Our destination shimmering on the horizon - the Gili islands

I'll share my impressions of the Gilis in my next post. I spent a great two days there before Nantyo, one of the other conference members, and I headed back to Lombok and the airport at Mataram. They had a flight mid-afternoon on Sunday, while mine was mid-evening, so after dropping them off I decided to make the most of my time and continued on to have a look at Kuta in the south of Lombok, as opposed to Kuta in Bali.

To those who know the latter, the two Kutas are a world apart. One brash, commercial, chaotic and tourist-infested to within an inch of its life, whereas I think the images of Lombok's Kuta speak for themselves.

Seger Beach

I just loved the sarongs on these ladies at nearby Seger Beach and bought a beautiful pink, mustard, and turquoise one from them.

Detail of the artwork on a lovely wooden bowl I bought at an artists' market called Sayang Sayang in Mataram on the way to the airport. The diamonds and triangles are inlaid pearl shell.  I gave this one to my friend Adri but have two more that I think will be coming to live at Casa Bella.

In case you doubted the work connection and thought I was one of the idle rich!

I have become quite nostalgic looking back over these photos, although they are only a couple of weeks' old. The beauty of Lombok is that it is so peaceful and undeveloped, but it is tipped as the next big thing due to its proximity to Bali. There are now regular fast boats between the islands. I am so glad that I got to see a little of Lombok as it is now, and I hope that whatever development plans lie ahead, they are sympathetic to the island's natural beauty.