Monday, August 13, 2007
Day 3 – Mon 6 August 07 (Lombok)
After a good breakfast, we visited the Pool Villa at the corner of 
the hotel. The Pool Villa has a collection of 16 private modern villas and the area is noticeably better maintained than the hotel. Each villa is 2-storey high, has a living room, dining room, master bedroom (on the upper level), foldout sofa beds and shower facilities on each level, private balcony, private whirlpool, and direct access to the lagoon pool. It is really luxurious living with the lagoon pool at its doorstep.
We could not get our check-out time extended, and had to leave our bags with the concierge. Our mission for the rest of the afternoon was to look for nice white stone-carvings. We embarked on our journey tracking southwards as we remembered seeing some of the shops selling batu paras in that direction.
Well let’s just say that the scorching heat got the better of us, and we decided to take their local mode of transport quarter way through our tracking. We hailed the first vehicle we saw, boarded the empty bemo (passenger-carrying minivans) without negotiating for a lower fare. I think we probably paid 10x the local price for the short ride. Nevertheless we were reminded to spare a thought for the less fortunate.
We arrived at the factory furthest south, but decided to check out the rest of the batu paras store up the street before deciding on our purchase. After some 2 hours of walking, we ended up with a white stone tea light holder shaped like a lamp for just RP35K. The quality is not as intricate and refined as Balinese stone carvings, but it is a nice souvenir piece from the island of Lombok.
We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant by the beach and
ordered their local BBQ ikan and some vegetable. The garlic and onion sauce mix were delicious. We returned to the hotel by bemo although there are many alternative transportation like the cidomos and cabs. At the hotel, we were appalled to find that our luggage were still at where we left them at the lobby. Urgh... what poor service.
Our return flight departed at 1840 hr, and we arrived home at around 10 pm. Thank God for a safe and eventful journey.
the hotel. The Pool Villa has a collection of 16 private modern villas and the area is noticeably better maintained than the hotel. Each villa is 2-storey high, has a living room, dining room, master bedroom (on the upper level), foldout sofa beds and shower facilities on each level, private balcony, private whirlpool, and direct access to the lagoon pool. It is really luxurious living with the lagoon pool at its doorstep.
We could not get our check-out time extended, and had to leave our bags with the concierge. Our mission for the rest of the afternoon was to look for nice white stone-carvings. We embarked on our journey tracking southwards as we remembered seeing some of the shops selling batu paras in that direction.
Well let’s just say that the scorching heat got the better of us, and we decided to take their local mode of transport quarter way through our tracking. We hailed the first vehicle we saw, boarded the empty bemo (passenger-carrying minivans) without negotiating for a lower fare. I think we probably paid 10x the local price for the short ride. Nevertheless we were reminded to spare a thought for the less fortunate.
We arrived at the factory furthest south, but decided to check out the rest of the batu paras store up the street before deciding on our purchase. After some 2 hours of walking, we ended up with a white stone tea light holder shaped like a lamp for just RP35K. The quality is not as intricate and refined as Balinese stone carvings, but it is a nice souvenir piece from the island of Lombok.We stopped for lunch at a seafood restaurant by the beach and
ordered their local BBQ ikan and some vegetable. The garlic and onion sauce mix were delicious. We returned to the hotel by bemo although there are many alternative transportation like the cidomos and cabs. At the hotel, we were appalled to find that our luggage were still at where we left them at the lobby. Urgh... what poor service.Our return flight departed at 1840 hr, and we arrived home at around 10 pm. Thank God for a safe and eventful journey.
Labels: Lombok
Penseur 6:09 PM