Lombok: Tualang Timur Terjauh

This post is a way long overdue. It should’ve been posted somewhere in June 2021 – an immediate after our landing from Lombok. Mood to write and commitment for doing so are something I urgently need to work on. Muscles constantly needing to be trained.

 And here it is nineteen months later. 

Writing down this journey served more than just memories-recollecting skill but towards looking back into a phase of life where Covid pandemic was largely a puzzle and a deadly threat. Back then in May 2021, where the trip occurred, Covid vaccines was at their deployment stage and some developed countries had distributed and jabbed them into their elderly and most risky citizens. Indonesia also was starting to do so.

Spending my then-27 years in Indonesia didn’t grant me all the access or opportunity to venture into these seventeen thousand islands which we’re so proud of. The furthest eastward I’d been was to Bali and it had already been some time ago. Thus when the opportunity presented itself to spend days in Lombok it was an absolute yes! And why it made it into my now-furthest eastward adventure (tualang timur terjauh).

It was a two-hour flight from Jakarta to Lombok. Ever since we arrived at the airport, voidness was engulfing us. There were only handful of people dragging their luggage and several checkout counters remaining open for business. For lots of people, travelling was not an option as Covid virus was still at large, looming and spreading at uncertain rate (when we look back now, we notice certain bravery and rather risky decision we made as our time of departure was right in the beginning of the Covid Delta wave which to this date remains the most catastrophic and deadliest amongst other variants). Airline business and tourism had been known to be one of the most-heavy impacted from the pandemic. 

On a bright side, current situation in Nov 2022 was already in contrast. On my recent travel to Europe airport was ridiculously packed, even for visa application appointment for under one month was pretty much non-existent, will write about them in following post soon.

Upon our arrival in Lombok, we had booked ourself a travel guide covering car, boat ride to Gili, meals and those local tips you wouldn’t find elsewhere. As this island was rather unfamiliar to us, we thought that having travel guide was a great idea. It turned out better than expected. We booked it through at @triplombok.id

The package included airport pick-up that I believed for the first time ever I was that person where the name was written on a piece of paper in a crowded line of Arrival Gate. A luxury that never been experienced before.

Our travel guide, Mas Irfan, guided us through many parts of Lombok, starting from this cultural village Desa Sade where we experienced first-hand the traditional living of people there including their housing arrangement and their demonstrated skill in weaving the traditional Tenun clothes. Should you interest to buy one, there are various colours and motifs they offer there. It also put your bargaining skill to a test.

Mas Irfan proudly showed us off the Mandalika circuit that were on its finalization stage for 2022 MotoGP. We were in awed to see the development and vast potential when this circuit had come into full realization. The impact of such international venue would ripple to lots of sector. And Lombok was in need for those exposures. It had been too long that this beauty was somehow overshadowed by its neighboring island Bali.

Near the circuit was this stunning Bukit Merese. A picturesque landscape where tens of hills and vast ocean lied together in perfect unison. No doubt, the setting sun in the west added to the already surreal view. It was by all definition and photography rule book to be the perfect golden hour moment.

We spent one night in Senggigi, west part of Lombok, that famous for its hotels and resorts, and planned to go on a boat ride on the next day to the Gili. Gili, which in Sasak literal translation means small island, is a 30-minute-ride group of three small islands on the west of Lombok. They are Gili Trawangan (as hard to pronounce for western tongue as often it’s called as Gili T), Gili Air (pronounce ay-eer not the exactly the air that you breathe. It actually derives from air in Indonesian which means water. Gili Air become the only island among other Gili that has subterranean fresh water) and Gili Meno (pretty much straight forward to pronounce). Gili T being the largest from them all that make it the basecamp for hotels and resorts to stay.

Our travel package too covered snorkeling and islands hoping to those Gili. As worries of Covid existed, we refused to use the included snorkeling gear and decided to buy us one. Well, you could relate how huge the paranoia back then.

Nevertheless, the overall underwater view was stunning. We were introduced to several snorkeling spots including the man-made sinking ships and human-sized statues. We also ventured on this quest to find turtles on Turtle Point which unfortunate to a major success. Yet it gave us unique experience to dive with nothing but the vast lucid blue of the ocean.

Harbored to Gili T. 

This where the realization hit us hard. The impact of pandemic to tourism was all true and devastating. Despite the started deployment of Covid vaccination distribution, the recovery impact might take longer time – a delayed in people’s confidence and the so-called immunity herd. Gili T, which used to be the haven for tourists, was only handful of them seen. The island used to pump with music and 24/7 bars and clubs. Cafés, restaurants, and hotel closures were no strange view. As if the very heartbeat of the island barely came into a halt.

Gili T has this local rule of no motorized vehicle which the only way to go around must be done with bicycle, foot or atop horses’ wagon. It’s not a big island, circumference of it was only 8 km so took around 40-min to do running around it. My friends already acknowledged on my inability of riding a bicycle for they left me alone for walk while they explored the island with rented one.

We discovered more and more closed places around the island and hardly to find a restaurant that offered dinner. Though some well-off owners used this opportunity to renovate and pump up their places in hope of travel rebound after virus had been tamed.

Sunset view was no match here especially when the night came and thousands of stars started to appear. This relative empty island gave minimal distraction for those fascinating starry night view.

Those feeling of sadness and helplessness lingered after our trip. It’s saddened to learn first-hand the full-blown impact of this ever-challenging pandemic. It was hard to see people sit around outside of their stores knowing that pretty much no sales would happen on that day. Some were left unattended while others terribly closed – for God knew how long. All hope and pray that everything would soon go back to what it used to be, if not much much better.

-R

PS: after the successful MotoGP 2022 we learned that tourism has started to go back to pre-pandemic level, at least domestically.