Cambodia 2007, Bateay Kdei

Banteay Kdei 2007-1-12

Workers were marking the position of each stone

After Ta Prohn, we went to see Banteay Kdei temple. The first thing we saw was the large man made pond Srah Srang which was exclusively for the use of the royal family. Some crews were carefully measuring and documenting the position of each stone probably in preparation for some repairing works. They used tube filled with water to measure the vertical position of each objects (stones). This reminded me of the leveling work in hydrography experimented in Bangladesh. One of the workers carried an umbrella, he must be the boss. There were many lion sculptures and benches with naga heads on the landing. The naga head sculptures here were unique and all had the garuda face. It was the same inside the temple complex. 

The gopura at the 3rd enclosure

The garuda face naga

Lion and naga sculptures in front of the 3rd gapura

A dewata carrying a sword

The temple was surrounded by a low pink colour laterite stone walls. It was the east wall  the 4th enclosure, and it had a towering gopura with a similar face in the four sides of the tower like in the Bayon temple. We were in the 4th courtyard after passing the face gopura. There were many large trees and a low causeway with scatter remains of its balusters. The causeway ended in an elevated terrace with many lions sculptures and garuda face naga with their body extended as benches. There was a cruciform gapura on the terrace. The main entrance of this gopura had a column portico and was accessible by a raised platform from the terrace. Its pediment was decorated with many dancing apsara. On both of its side were three large square windows and a side door, and the facade was filled with the bas-reliefs of dewata. The dewata in this temple were all less than life size and their head dress were simpler and pointy conical shape. One of the bas-reliefs was a dewata carrying a long sword and standing like advarapala. The pediment on the side entrance was decorated by many kneeling figures.

The elevated causeway and libray

The wall of the 3rd enclosure beside the gopura was not in good shape. The gopura had a longer rear portico lead to a causeway in the 3rd courtyard. The causeway was elevated over a meter high and had naga balusters. The library was very close to the causeway, and its platform was on the same level as the surface of the causeway. The causeway was short and soon we were in front of the 2nd cruciform  gopura with portico. It was similar but smaller than that on the 3rd enclosure that we had just passed, and  had only two windows on each side. The roof structures were mostly gone, and showed only the corbelled stone on its top.

The dancing apsara 

Beyond this 2nd gopura was another courtyard where there was a building with many pillars. According to guide books, it was called The Hall of the Dancers but I had only one photo showing two smiling dancing apsara in large bas-reliefs. 

The top of the main tower

The main temple complex was made up of three rows of galleries or corridors running in east-west direction, and they were crossed by another three rows running in north-south direction. Four galleries on the four sides was walled and formed the inner closure. And the remaining two crossed and formed a cruciform corridor with a dorminant central tower at its centre. The top of the central tower had been bundled in thick steel wire to prevent any further deterioration or disintegration of rocks that made up the tower structure. There were eight gopura in the main temple complex: four at the corner and four at the middle of the inner enclosure. The roof of the corridor was low and supported by thick and short pillars. All towers had a lotus top.

We exit the main temple complex through the gate of a gapura and walked on the causeway. It lead us to another gopura similar to that of the gopura on the east wall of the 3rd enclosure that we had passed.

A hut for the workers in the temple courtyard

In the courtyard we saw a hut where the workers lived. This was the only temple where we saw workers lived inside.

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Indonesia 2012, Flores

Flores 2012-7-13

An aerial photo of Tanjungbenoa in Bali

We left Senggiti early in the morning, and took a flight to Denpasar by Sky Air. The airplane was a small two propellers plane Fokker PK-ECF. The GPS Canmore 750 FL was working for the whole trip. The maximum cruising altitude and speed were 5,500 m and 400 km/hr. We board the same airplane again to go to Labuan Bajo in Flores while Yet flew to Surabaya to see her friend. Somehow, it was not possible to fly directly to Labuan Bajo from Lombok. The maximum cruising altitude increased to 5,500 m while the speed remained the same. During the processing of the photo and GPS data, I found that the timing on the photo must be increased by 1:20 minute in order to get a better match of the photo location with the GPS track data. Therefore, it is important to take some photos of familiar landmark from the airplane for doing the time adjustment if needed. It is important to remember to revert the time of the selected photos to its original values to maintain the proper chronological order with the rest of the photos.

The islands on the west coast of Flores were all brown

The flight path turned south when we were north of the narrow peninsula at the north-western tip of Flores. We started to see the many islands in Flores which were almost totally brown in colour. As we descended, we began to see some mangrove forests along the coast, and some wood cover in the cleft of the hills. As we approached the northern tip of the peninsula, the colour of the ground turned into dark violet, and we saw a sign of mining operation on a hill.

Trees grew in pockets on the coastal plain

The airport at Labuan Bajo  was small, and the luggage were carried in a manual carriage. A guide was supposed to meet us in the airport, and I found him holding a board with our names on it. All of us including our luggage cramped into a minivan. We were surprised to know that the driver was a Minang from Pariaman which was close to the airport in Padang. He told us that he now had a family and settled in town. He frequently went back to his home town. There were many Minang in town doing all kinds of businesses. A Minang like to leave his village and tried to venture into other places. There was a special word for this called “merantau”, and they liked to show off their achievement from merantau to their friends and relatives.

Luxury yacht for hire

As soon as we stepped out of the airport, we felt immediately of the hot and dry weather. Most houses along the road were simple, dull and had no special character. The ground, houses and plants along the road were covered by dust., and I had to increase the contrast on many photos taken on the road to make them more attractive. The airport was on a high platau, and we descended into the harbour where a large white ferry  belching black smoke from Surabaya was loading or unloading. The colour suddenly became alive and attractive with the addition of the greenish blue from the water and the dark green of the hills in the background. In addition to the many white and simple wooden boats for tourists, we were surprised to see many beautiful and large yachts  mooring in the harbour. Later the guide told us that many of them were for hire and they had luxury accommodation inside.

Our tour boat was similar to this one

We boarded our simple boat. The deck where we spent most of our time was in front of the steering cabin. It had sofa, chair and long laying chair with adjustable ack made of bamboo. Under the deck, there were two cabins. We took the front one in which there was a large bed, and Lan and Lie took the rear one which had a bunk bed. In addition to our guide, there were the captain and his assistant onboard. It had a bathroom behind the steering cabin, and was equipped with a basin, a sitting toilet and a shower head, but we didn’t bother to take shower during this cruise. It was kept clean and not smelly. Behind it was the kitchen where the captain assistant prepared our meals. And on the landing hanging behind the stern, there was a simple barbeque stove where he cooked the fish.

The cruise to Komodo island and Rinja island

A populated small island with a school

Komodo island was one of the two large islands located in the strait between Flores (Nusa Tenggara Barat) and Sumbawa (Nusa Tenggara Timur). Somehow, this island was not shown on Google regular map but it was shown on Google satellite map. Rinja island was another large island south-east of Komodo island and was closer to Flores. The sea between Flores and these two large islands were littered with many small islands. We left at noon, and our first destination was to visit Loh Liang Komodo park on Komodo island. The small islands we passed were very hilly and had  very little flat land. They were mostly bare and covered in brown grass due to the dry season. In rainy season, they would all turn green. Trees grew only in pockets on the coastal plain and in the cleft between ridges of the hills, and they were mostly the local palm. There were mangrove forests on the shore where the hills didn't have steep cliff.. As we approached Komodo island at a distant, we saw a very jagged hill like that illustrated in a mystique and scary novel. Most of these islands were not inhabited due to the lack of fresh water. However, we passed several islands with densely built houses on its shore, and large number of fishing boats moored in the water. One of the small island even had a school built on the slope of the hill. Large villages were found on the shore of the two large islands.

We were all taking photos of our first lunch on the boat

The water was calm in area where the sea was protected by the island, and it became choppy in open water. The assistant would unrolled a small plastic sail to protect us from the water flew into the deck. When it was not use, he would wrap the sail into a ball and hanged it on the mask. He had cooked our lunch and served it at 1 pm, an hour after we board the boat: deep fried bitter melon and fish, sweet and sour tofu and a vegetable soup. They were delicious and all of us were taking photos of this surprise. I didn’t know if he cooked them himself or he simply heated the pre-cook foods. We were all very excited watching and taking photos of the beautiful islands, or resting and updating our journals.

A large village in Rinja island

We saw a large village on the shore of Rinja Island at 1:30 pm on our way to the Komodo Island.  One section of the housing was mostly primitive houses built of wood frame, straw roof and bamboo mat walls. They were built on the higher ground from the beach, and well separate from each other to yield a feeling of more space. There were only small fishing boats found in the water  in this area indicating that the residents were mostly had lower income. Next to it was a section with larger, and better built houses with corrugated iron roof and wooden walls. The houses were also well separated and not too crowd. The last section had bigger houses but were densely built with very little space separating them. Many large boats were moored in the water in this area indicating the much greater wealth of the residents.  The houses with corrugated iron roof all had the feature of upside down V-shape crossing frame in the front. This feature was seen in Bugis houses in Makasar area. It might reveal that the residents were decedents of Bugis, the famous sea fairy people in Indonesia.  We saw more beautiful yachts and simple tourist boats and fishing boats in the water. We saw another large village on the shore of Komodo Island. At the foot of the hill behind the village was a dense palm grove.

The construction of a new concrete pier

We arrived in Loh Liang Komodo National Park in Komodo Island at 3:40 pm. It was located at the northern end of a circular cove within a large dumbbell shape bay in the south-eastern coast of Flores. The cove was like an end of the dumbbell.  We landed on an old wooden pier. A new pier was under construction and a large boat was pounding on the pillar to build up the structure. They wanted to bring in big ocean going cruise ships to visit the island. It would no doubt bring in a large benefit to the local economy, but it would also certainly create a big impact on the environment especially the habitat of the komodo.

A komodo walking on the beach

Local palm trees

A komodo seen near Sulphurea Hill

It was breeding season for komodo, and the guide told us that the chance for seeing a komodo on this island was slim. His sharp eye spotted a komodo on the beach well before we landed. We were all excited, and it was probably a good sign that we would see more.  A ranger briefed us about the park, and handed each of us a stick made of strong hardwood with a fork at one end. This stick would be used to push and discourage any komodo from coming too close to the visitor. He then led us on a trail through the forest. There were few tall and big trees and mostly shrubs of 2 to 3 metres in height and not very dense. One special tree found in the park and other islands was tall palms which bear fruits at the end of its 30 years age and then died. He showed us a cycad plant that bear many dark green colour fruit the size of an egg.  They had piled up rocks in the park to use it as a water hole to attract some local wild animal and the komodo. We saw many deers near this water hole hidden behind the shrubs. Their fur looked dull due to the lack of densely covered hairs and didn’t look healthy. We saw the beautiful king pigeon with the striking green colour back and wings, the white cockatoo, an oriole, and black bird called gunting . It was like a North American black bird and a cleft tail like a whale. We saw a beautiful pink wild orchid, and a large pile of white komodo feces consisting of hair and bones, but we did not see any komodo on the trail. However, one large one suddenly show up from nowhere as we were about to turn back when we reach Sulphurea Hill. It was about two metre in length and half was taken by its tail. The tail was about 5 inches at its base and looked very strong. Only at its very end the tail was trailing on the ground.  Its four limbs also looked very strong as they carried the heavy body crawling fast on the ground. I was disappointed of not seeing its tongue sticking out of its mouth. At this point, we had a beautiful view of the bay and the hills on the islands around it.

A village on Komodo island

We left  at 5:30 pm and again cruised pass the large village on the western end of the circular cove in Komodo Island. This time the distant was closer and we had a better look of the houses in the village. They were all large and very crowd. It seemed there were streets in the village. Later, when I looked at the satellite photo of the village, it showed many rows of houses extended to the foot of the hill. We saw the back of those houses built on the beach side of the street. They didn’t have the upside-down V shape feature like that on the roof in front of the house. And all houses on this side were supported on stilts built on the beach. There were a few large boats moored in the water but their size and number were much smaller than that seen in the village in Rinja Island.

Villagers peddling wood carving to tourists on the boats

Fifteen minutes later, we moored at the entrance of a calm cove on the other end of the dumbbell shape bay  where there were already several boats in front of us.  It was 6 pm and we saw the beautiful sunset as it started to get dark. Soon after we had settled, many small canoes close-in to our boat. The villagers from the Komodo Island that we just passed were peddling wooden carving of komodo of varying size and shape. I felt sorry for them for having to endure this hardship to make a living, and I wondered if they would pedal back to their village in the dark for many hours or stay overnight in their canoes. The place where we moored was very close to a dense mangrove forest. We could hear the noise of fruit bats when we arrived, and soon after the sky was dark, thousands of them flew out of the forest. We each had a whole and large (over a pound) barbequed pan fish for dinner, but it didn’t come with sauces and felt a little dried. We got to bed soon after dinner.

Flores 2012-7-14

Watching sunrise in a bay in Komodo island

The first photo taken early this morning was at 5:42 am. The sunrise was gorgeous with its bright colour reflected by the cloud canvas. We took advantages of the calm bay, and did some early morning exercise and stretching. Our breakfast was the simple toast bread with fried eggs. And we were heading to Loh Buaya National Komodo Park in Rinja Island. We left at 6 am and got there in two hours. There were already many boats ahead of us mooring at the only wooden pier.

Komodo were everywhere in the park ground in Loh Buaya

A modern building in Loh Buaya

We passed a flat dried land where many mangrove seedlings were planted. I was surprised to see a very modern large building with large windows, and many well built buildings spreading in the compound. The guide told us that there were guest house facilities in this park, but it had been close after a cobra was found in the room. I didn’t know if this modern building and many others were part of the guest houses. The guide also told us that there were many komodo in this park, and they could be seen right in the park compound. They were more aggressive and we should be careful of them.  We met our ranger, and after briefing, we were again given a similar stick with fork at one end. We didn’t have to go far, and saw komodo everywhere on the ground  in the open or under houses like seeing dogs in a village. They were all wild and people had been beaten by them and caused serious injuries and death. One was old and sick with an injure hind leg. It lied on the ground motionless like a discard staffed animal. The rangers had been feeding it for several years. Ching and others had seen enough of the komodo, and only me and the ranger took a short trail in a forest around the compound. The ranger showed me the holes where komodo would lay their eggs. The holes were dug in a compose mound left by some ground dwelling forest birds like megapodes.  We also saw a big pile of buffalo dung on the trail. We spent one hour in the park and left at 9:43 am. We met many more visitors coming to the park as we left.

Houses on the small island with school

In an hour and half, we passed a densely populated, small and in perfect cone shape island. This sun was on our back and we could see it very clearly. The roofs of the houses had the similar feature indicating that the residents were decedents of Bugis.  To its left was another smaller island, and the water between the two islands was shallow lagoon and there was where they moored their boats. Behind this smaller island, the photo also showed many houses on another island which I have missed taken its photo. This island also had its own school built on the lower slope of the hill.

We swam and had lunch in the island

At noon time, we were close to the island where we would swim before taking lunch. The beach was light ivory in colour and the sand was fine and clean. The water was crystal clear and we could see big and small fish in the water. The guide threw some breads in the water and it attracted a lot more fish to come to the boat. We all changed into our swim suite, and put on the floater. The floater had a hood to give some protection against the bright sunshine. It was just a perfect place for vacation! We spent less than an hour in the water, and were asked to come on board for lunch. We could have stayed for the whole afternoon in the water.

Sunset at Labuan Bajo

We had deep fried eggplants, tempe (ferment soya bean cake) and octopus. They were delicious. We returned back to the harbour of Labuan Bajo at 1:43 pm, and the driver from Pariaman was glad to see us back. We drove on a good road along the coast and in 10 minutes later, we arrived at Purisari Beach Hotel where we stayed. The large king size bed had an wooden extension of over a foot on its sides. We had to sit first on this extension before we could leave the bed. I didn’t know what was its function or purpose. We were tired and took naps. Fortunately we woke up at the right time, and didn’t miss the opportunity of watching the gorgeous sunset on the beach. As it set, the sun was sitting brilliantly on the crown of a cone shape hill in an island like a diamond on a ring. It was really beautiful. The deep red colour of the sunshine was unique and I had not seen it before. There were a small village further down the beach, and the primitive Bugis houses with straw roof and bamboo walls were the same as those we saw on Komodo Island. Children were still playing in the beach taking the advantages of the last sunshine.

There was no eating place near the hotel, dinner and breakfast had been included in the charge for the room. I suspected that there might not be any decent eating place in town other than in the hotels. There were not many choices on the menu, and we all ordered something simple for dinner. This was the first hotel on our trip that there was TV in the room. It was good and we went to bed early.

Flores 2012-7-15

Morning on the beach

We got up early and had toasted bread and eggs for breakfast and then walked on the beach. It was only 8:30 am, but it was already so hot that we didn’t stay very long and returned to the hotel. I was watching some small birds on a tree but was frustrated that they didn’t stay long and moved fast for me to take their photos. When I came out again from my room, I found an injure bird on the veranda. It was the same bird that I had been watching with a red mark on its chest. We left the hotel at 10:30 am and enquired from the guide about the location of the craters with colourful lakes. He told us that it was located on the eastern side of Flores and was hundreds of km away. He also said that there were many tourist attractions in the locality that we didn’t have time to see, and he hope that we would return to see more on our next trip.

Lie quickly noticed that the check-in counter clerk made a mistake on the tag of our luggage, and asked her to correct it to be checked all the way to Jakarta not to Denpasar. She then argued without any success for having her luggage and Lan’s to be checked all the way to Padang. They would have to check out their luggage at Jakarta and then check them in again for the flight to Padang. In order to enable them to get their luggage quickly, the clerk would put a VIP sticker on them.

Gunung Agung seen from an airplane

The Canmore GPS worked on this flight, and I took many photos of the brown colour islands in Flores; a volcano east of Labuhan Lombok with a large crater and was almost submerged in the water; the dense cloud covering the top of Mount Rinjani, the tallest and largest volcano in Lombok; the Gili islands in Lombok; Gunung Agung in Bali; the beautiful bay and Tanjungbenoa peninsula in Bali; the bridge connecting Surabaya and the Madura island; the coconut macaroon shape hill and the new power plant in Sluke north-east of Semarang; and the many beautiful claud formations.

The coconut macaroon shape hill near Sluke

Beautiful claud formation

We arrived in Jakarta at about 6:45 pm, and Lie and Lan had one hour to make their connecting flight to Padang. They were anxiously looking for their luggage at the carousel. Somehow, the VIP sticker didn’t work and their luggage didn’t show up any earlier than others. When their luggage finally showed up, they had only 15 minutes left to go to other terminal to catch their connecting flight. We left the terminal after they had left, and we saw them still waiting for the shuttle bus to take them to the other terminal as we boarded our taxi. I quickly asked them to take my taxi to their terminal while I would wait the same taxi to come back to pick me up, but the taxi supervisor asked me to get in to simplify the matter. So all four of us jammed into the small car with our luggage, and fortunately the driver didn’t object. From the past experience, the flight to Padang was always delay and I could only hope that it would be the same as they got off the taxi at their terminal. Later we found out that they made their flight because it was delayed. Linki was waiting for us at the entrance to the laneway when we arrived at his house.

Flight path from Labuan Bajo in Flores to Jakarta

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Indonesia 2012, Lombok

Lombok 2012-7-10

Installing underground power cable in Nusa Dua

Harbour in Serangan island

Boarding the speedboat to Lombok

We had our breakfast very early, and left Swiss-belhotel Segara in Nusa Dua, Bali at 7 am. We passed many sites where large resort and hotel were being constructed. Workers were starting to come in truck loaded, on the motorbikes and on foot on the road. The red colour power cables were lying on the side of the road next to a trench where it would be buried. Rocks dug out from the trench showed that the ground was mainly coral rocks. Two metre square concrete castings were sitting on the roadside waiting to be installed underground, I didn’t know its function or purpose. The traffic polices were on duty along the major road and intersections. We passed a mangrove forest and soon arrived in front of the terminal of Blue Water Express in Serangan Island which was now connected to the mainland by a causeway.  There was a harbour with many large and small yachts and boats in the water. And it was a major terminal for speedboat service to Gili Island in Lombok. When we arrived, there were already many passengers waiting in the terminal. The lady who was organizing our trip was there too, and we left our damaged suitcase in her care, and would pick it up on our way back to Jakarta. We waited for about 15 minutes, and were told to start boarding.  The speedboat had seating capacity of 20 passengers plus 3 crews, and was equipped with four 250 HP Suzuki outboard motor. Didi later told me that each motor would cost over US $20,000.

Arriving at Gili Trawangan

Boarding the speedboat to return to Bali

Serangan Island was at the southern side of Bali and the speedboat was cruising along the eastern coast of Bali. We saw the majestic Mount Agung. The sea was not bad, and the wave was probably about one metre high. It was my first trip on a speed boat, and I was impressed of the strong impact banging at the bottom of hull the boat as it hit the water after being thrown up high by a wave. We first landed at Pemenang on the west coast of Lombok mainland to discharge some passengers. Our destination was Gili Islands which were a chain of three islands on the north-west of Lombok. The islands were stretching on a straight line, and 10 minutes later, we landed in the eastern shore of the western most island , the Gili Trawangan. There was one permanent pier but our boat moored on the beach. The opening of the cabin in the speedboat was at its stern. The boat first tried to land with its stern to make it easier to unload its passengers, but it found it difficult, and it turned around and landed on its bow. We were crab-walked along the narrow space outside of the windows of the boat from its stern to its bow, and then waded a little in the water to land on the dried sandy beach.

A girl on a busy beach

The locals were watching a soup opera

All our luggage were stored in the hull of the boat, and they were hauled up piece by piece through the small opening on the deck and carried by the porter to the beach. They were then loaded into a horse cart and taken away to our hotel. We carried only some important items in our backpack or other bags. I was not aware or didn’t find the detail of all these programs for the remaining of the day, and didn’t pack and carried all the necessary items properly. There were many tourists coming and going by speedboats. While we were waiting, I noticed that a big crowd were formed outside the small security office on the beach. I took a peek and saw two strongly built white tourists being interrogated by a local officer. There seemed to have some serious fight between them and one was threaten to kill the other after they left the island. The locals were amused to watch them spoke broken Indonesian like watching a soup opera. A young and beautiful girl lay prostrate alone on the beach in this high traffic area wearing only a tiny bikini. I wondered why she chose this spot rather than enjoying the quietness in some other area of the beach. 

The road on Gili Trawangan

There were many construction materials lying everywhere on the beach. And many horse carts were waiting for hiring. Some of them were for transporting cargo, and they were practically an open box on wheels.  A dirt road of about 7 metre wide ran along the shore with restaurants on the beach side, and guest houses and stores on the other side.  There were many tall trees to provide shade along the road and on the beach. The restaurants were mostly simple with tables and chairs on the ground. The guest houses were also looked simple and not luxury. Most of the stores were gearing for the tourists but they also served the need of the native living in the island. There was no fresh water in the island, and they were thinking of building a pipeline to bring water from Lombok mainland. Many people serving the tourist industries looked from Bali. And most people walking on the street were tourists.

Guest houses in Gili Meno

We met our tour guide and he took us to a stall down the road where we collected snorkeling equipment. We then turned back to the landing beach to board a simple glass bottom boat for our exploration of the islands. The island in the middle was called Gili Meno, and the other one on the east closest to the mainland was Gili Air. It carried this name because only in this island where fresh water was found. “Air” meant water in Indonesian. Two young female tourists asked our guide to give them a free ride to Gili Meno to find their group. It was only less than 20 minutes to cross the strait to arrive on the beautiful beach at Gili Meno. The guide said that there were fewer facilities in this island. We saw some primitive guest houses with straw roof, and some modern guest houses on the shore of this island. The beach was much cleaner as there were no commercial activities on the shore.

The road in Gili Air

Horse cart in Gili Air

We cruised along the north-west coast of Gili Meno to see some coral, fish and turtles through the glass bottom of the boat, and then proceed to land at the south-eastern tip of Gili Air. There were many tall tamarind trees near the beach where we landed. From there we hired 3 horse carts to take us to a restaurant at the northern tip of the island. The dirt road was well shaded, bumpy and was wide enough to pass two carts. Neat simple fences made of bamboos and small woods lined on both sides of the road. Coconuts were the major trees seen on the island. The soil was probably too dry and we didn’t see any vegetable gardens and other crops. Simple houses scattered individually along the road but we didn’t see any village. It took us 20 minutes to reach the restaurant. Along the road, we saw some hardy tourists walking rather than taking the cart. We paid the equivalent of US$2 for each of us to ride the cart, and the driver was complaining that we should have paid more. Each cart could take about 4 passengers, and in high season, a cart driver could make $30 a day. The income was split equally in 3 ways:  the driver, the feed and care of the horse, and the owner of the horse and cart. In less than a year, the owner could easily recapture the cost of buying a horse. I commented that the income was very good for the driver, but he complained that the cost of living was very high on the island. Everything must be brought in by boat from Lombok mainland, and the price for everything was the same for the tourist and the local. The guide said that for the same fee that we were paying, that would take us for a very long ride in Lombok mainland.

Beautiful beach in front of the restaurant

The restaurant was part of a large bungalow guest house complex. All buildings were built of natural materials. The beach in front of the restaurant was beautiful, and I wonder why our boat didn’t land here to save us from riding in the cart. The only explanation was probably to support the horse cart business. We were quickly seated, and a glass of cold freshly blended young coconut with its water was waiting for us on the table. It was for the first time that I had this drink, and it was very delicious. For sure that I would try to make it when I had the chance. The vegetable soup and freshly baked bread were also delicious.We arrived in the restaurant at 2:15 pm and were on the road again at 3:30. The horse cart driver took us on a different road to give us a tour of the island. We came by the road passing the middle of the island, and left by the road along the shore passing many restaurants on the beach. The scene was similar to what we had seen in Gili Trawangan.

Snorkeling near the shore of Gili Meno

We boarded our boat, and went north along the east coast of Gili Air about 1 km and arrived at a spot popular for snorkeling. We played for half an hour and boarded our boat again to return to Gili Trawangan. All boats landed at the eastern shore of the island for a protection against the rough sea, but our hotel Queen Villas and all other big hotels and resorts were at the western shore, and therefore, we must ride the uncomfortable carts again to go to the other side of the island. We got there just in time to watch the sunset on the beach in front of the hotel. We saw Gunung Agung across the strait in Bali. But it was mostly hidden behind clouds, and showing only its cone shape peak. I was disappointed that the colour of the sunset was not as magnificent as that we saw in other places.

The roof of the reception hall of  Queen Villas

The roof on top of the reception hall of the hotel was made of some natural materials, and it had the shape of the crown of a queen with 6 pointy spires on its base and another one in the middle. It had a long, curvedly shape swimming pool. The blue tiles in the pool made the water had the colour of marine blue. With the shortage of fresh water in this island, it must be a great challenge to maintain the quality of the water.

Gunung Agung in sunset

After we had settled in the hotel, we hired horse carts again to go for dinner. We took Jalan Gili Trawangan going south. The road went around the island. We arrived in a village which was filled with expensive sea food restaurants on both sides of the road. The cost of a warm water lobster, for example, was $55/kg, that was many times more than the cold water lobster sold in Canada. On top of that we must add 21% to cover the service charge and tax. And the way of cooking was only the simple grilling. We all ordered something less expensive and the waitresses seem were not interested in serving us. We ended up calling its manager and complained. All the restaurants were own by foreigners, and only the staff were local. We strolled along the road in the village and spent some times in a travel information booth. Vera inquired about the choices for travelling in Lombok mainland, and found out that one option was to visit the water falls. We went back to the hotel in complete darkness by cart. The tiny battery power light on the cart didn't help much. I was surprised to see in a few occasions some tourists walking on the narrow dirt road to or from the restaurant village.

Lombok 2012-7-11

Gunung Agung

We got up early to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant on the beach. The beach was composed of fine coral sands. It was beautiful and clean. The majestic Gunung Agung was clearly visible without any dense cloud cover. It was guided by a few other volcanoes on its sides. The deep marine blue water was broken by the white breaking waves at a distant, and some white boats sprinkled the canvas of a magnificent painting.

Beautiful scenery seen along the coastal road

We left the hotel at 10:30 by carts and 15 minutes later we were back at the landing beach for boats in Gili Trawangan. We took a simple boat powered by one outboard motor to go to Lombok mainland. We left at 10:45 am and arrived at Pemenang half an hour later. We left the harbour and took the beautiful coastal road Jalan Raya Senggigi going south toward Mataram. It was smooth, well planned and maintained. Even the shoulder of the road was well leveled, clean, and free of any weeds and debris. At many turns, we had the glimpses of beautiful beaches and turquoise water. Coconut trees were always ready to welcome us as we wound through valleys.

Kebon Radja restaurant

The road then curved slightly inland, and after passing Jalan Pariwisata, it became Jalan Sadeh Sungkar, and then we turned into a side road going east after passing the bridge over a small creek Kokok Menining and arrived at a restaurant called Kebon Radja (king garden). It had beautiful garden dotted with many pavilions of different styles and sizes for dining. All of us sit along a long table, and many different foods were served in small dishes. It was like going to a restaurant in Padang.

The entrance to the old China town in Mataram

We left at 1:25 pm to visit a craft centre famous for its songket weaving in Sukara. W e saw a neat  Chinese cemetery on the south side of the side road after leaving Kebon Radja.  We then turn back on Jalan Sadeh Sungkar  and entered Mataram. The guide pointed to us the entrance to an old China town on an intersection, and told us that on the adjoining street, one side was all Chinese stores and the other side was Arabic. It probably reflected that in the past these two ethnic groups dominated the economy of the area. The streets were well shaded by big trees, and it looked clean and orderly without any major traffic jam. We turned into Jalan Yos Sudarso going east.  And in a short distant passing a major intersection, it became Jalan Langko.

Paddy field

We passed the busy business section of the city. After leaving the city, we turned south on Jalan Raya Kediri, and then east on Jalan Raya Praya. We had left town and was in the country again. Some paddy in the beautiful fields was newly planted and some were in various degree of ripeness. Those that were ready for harvest had turned into gold colour. The scene of paddy field in Indonesia was always interesting. They had been divided into many small fields delineated according to the elevation contour by narrow walks and dikes. And the scenery was enhanced by coconut and other trees, and the occasional huts or houses. The majestic mountain or volcano in the background, and white clouds in the blue sky all contribute to the beauty of the scenery.

A demo of weaving songket

It took us over an hour driving on Jalan Raya Praya and arrived at the craft centreat 2:20. It had a large empty courtyard and two large buildings arranged in L-shape. There were several primitive hand weaving machines made of wood and used by the local women to produce the famous songket. We were encouraged to try them. The other building was a museum and a store. But it was too dark to see any of the artifacts on display. The merchandises in the store were targeted for the wealthy tourists. They were good in quality as well as price, and none of us bought any manor purchase here.

A paddy field with no coconut tree

We left at 3:00 and went to visit a traditional village in Sasak. We passed lake Waduk Batujai. Its shore was choked with water hycines. Large bamboo pavilion had been built among the hycines and was probably used as a restaurant. We saw a mosque with a tall and special minaret. We then turned east to Jalan Raya Sengkol toward the airport, and saw a unique scene of a dried paddy field in harvest where there was not a single coconut tree. We then turn south into Jalan Raya Kula, and arrived at the traditional village in Rembitan.

Selling souvenirs

Spinning cotton

It was about one hour drive from the airport. The village was just a ghetto of primitive and crowd houses. There was a welcoming party awaiting our arrival. A girl gave each of us a small songket scarf as a souvenir. Some houses had been converted into simple small store selling souvenirs and songket weaving products. Simple table was often set in front of many houses selling the same souvenir items, but surprisingly, there was no sense of competition among the sellers. A small girl in particular that she appeared to help the sale at many of these stalls. There was no more room for expansion in the village, and younger generation would have to move out to set up their own home. The villagers were restricted to marry only member of the village. A mixture of cow dung was used to polish the inside floor and walls of a house. Although this practice was common in many other countries in Asia and Africa, but it was rare in Indonesia because of the availability of other better products.

Guest house near Kuta beach

We spent an hour in the village and then back to the road continuing going south to the beach near Kute on the southern coast of Lombok. The road became Jalan Raya Kuta. Soon we passed a village populated with in-expensive guest houses. We also started to see white tourists walking and on motorbikes on the road. We then turned into a side road, and the change in road condition was immediately noticeable. The road surface was no longer smooth and was filled with potholes. We passed an area of re-claimed coastal plain where a lot of mangrove seedlings were planted. Soon we were in a vast and empty  beach.

Peddlers in Kute beach

We got there at 5:15pm. Many of the souvenir peddlers had left and only a small group selling songket scarfs and T-shirts remained in one primitive hut. I bought a young coconut and drank its water, and then asked the peddler to cut it open. I disliked the meat was too thick and was not tender and didn’t touch it and left it on the bench. When I turned around, I saw a boy was scrapping the meat from the coconut and ate it. He felt shameful when he saw me watching him and turned his face away and stopped eating. Many strayed dogs on the beach were fighting for the coconut threw on the ground. They had developed the skill in scrapping the coconut meat with their teeth.

Kute beach

The beech was on the shore of a large circular bay with a small opening. The sand was soft and white. It was very large and far from the main road, and the condition of the side road was bad. There might not be many visitors and it was reasonably clean. There was a 20 metre high rock outcrop sticking out from shore into the bay, and from its top one could command a full view of the beautiful bay and its beach. It was close to sunset but the bay was facing south and we didn’t see any remarkable display of sunset colours. The boy wanted to show off to me, and rode his parent motorbike, but his parent asked him to stop. The price of the T-shirt seemed reasonable and many of us bought some before we left. We arrived in our hotel Santosa Villa in Senggigi after dark. And we had our dinner individually in the hotel restaurant close to the beach.

Today, we had travelled from Pemenang in the west coast, crossed the rich valley plain in Lombok to Kute Beach in the south.

Lombok 2012-7-12

Harvesting paddy

Installing PVC water pipi

This was our last breakfast in a big group for this trip. We would stay one more night here while Linli and John would fly to Jakarta to see Petrus, and Mei, Didi and Vera would go back to Padang. Vera had arranged that we would go to visit the waterfalls today. We left at 10:30 am, and travelled south on Jalan Raya Senggigi. In ten minutes later, we passed another neat Chinese cemetery before crossing the bridge over the small creek Kokok Menining . We turned east into Jalan Adi Sucipto, which eventually became Jalan Ahmad Yan where traffic polices had detained a large number of motorbikes on the roadside.  We then turned east into Jalan Sandu Baya. We were crossing the northern part of the plain not far from the foot of the mountains in the north. We passed a large fruit market east of Peresak Narmada.  And continued driving east on the good road Jalan Raya Mantang into the heartland of Lombok island. We started to see the beautiful terraced paddy fields. The planting of paddy was staggered in different fields, and therefore, we usually saw paddy at different stages of growth in the same area. In the field where paddy had been harvest, the dried straw was burnt to turn it into fertilizer.

Near the water falls

We continued going east on a smaller road Jalan Pemerak-Kotaraja as Jalan Raya Matang started to turned south-east west of Aiqdareq. We then turned north toward the foot of Gunung Rinjani, the highest peak in Lombok. The road became very bad with many potholes, and we were like riding a roller coaster. We saw work crew dug trench to install one foot diameter black PVC water pipe along the side of the road. The scenery of the terraced paddy fields got more beautiful as we gained elevation. We then reached the top of a ridge with a gorgeous view of the valley below. We descended into the valley and soon arrived at the parking lot of the entrance to the waterfalls.

We saw monkeys playing and feeding on the trees in the parking lot. Several guides gathered to welcome us, and then lead us to a trail descending to the waterfalls. We saw a tall wild fig tree, with many fruits hanging on its trunk and scattering on the ground. A group of teenage students came out off the woods from another trail. They all held a bamboo stick. They squated orderly on a flat ground in front of the waterfalls and started eating their lunch wrapped in wax paper and banana leaves. The waterfalls was only about 15 metre high and the volume was not large. So it was not a significant one at all and I wondered the merit of all the hardship we had to endure in the bumpy car to get here.

The beach in China town in Ampenan, Mataram

China town in Ampenan, Mataram

Since there was nothing special to do there, we left in one hour after we arrived in the parking lot. It took us over an hour and half to get back to town. We were hungry but found no interesting place to  eat from the road, and decided to try our luck in the old China town in Ampenan area in Mataram. We found one ran by a Cantonese family. The decor was simple and was like that I was familiar with in Padang when I was small. The dishes was not fancy but liked those cooked at home, and we like them. The owner told us that they would deliver the foods to our hotel if ordered. We strolled on the street after lunch. The façade was very much like that found in China town in Padang. The large warehouses along the street showed that China town was once a distribution centre of goods coming in and going out of Lombok. There was not many people on the street or sitting in front of their houses. We saw a Taoist’s temple. The caretaker told us that he was a hindu. On its wall, I saw the photos of hundreds of Chinese temples still exist in Indonesia. It would be a nice project to visit and study them. At the end of the street  was  a small park next to a black sand beach. There were not many visitors, and It was much cleaner and orderly than the beach in Muara in Padang.

Sunset in Singgeti beach

We returned to our hotel at Senggiti and rested, and went to strolled on beach as the sun started to set. It was almost empty and only some children playing with the small one man kayaks. A man was fishing with a rod on the shore, and I caught his silhouette backing on the bright gorgeous sunset. It was really very beautiful.

Trip around Gili islands

Trip to waterfalls

Trip to Kute beach

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