Lazing in the Lovely Lombok!
Trip Start
Aug 22, 2011
1
30
54
Trip End
Feb 13, 2012
Where I stayed
Sendok Guesthouse
Senggigi, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia
Friday, November 25, 2011
Surprisingly the ferry set off just after 9AM as scheduled and we arrived at the port of 'Lembar' in Lombok 4 hours later. We were couriered straight onto a Perama mini-bus to take us the extra 15K north and dropped at their office in ‘Central Senggigi’ around 2:30PM. Thinking the hotel we had booked was 5k south of the centre as it showed us on the ‘Agoda’ website when we booked it, we decided to dump our luggage at Perama (they are one of the main tour-operators in Indonesia), and explore the town before checking-in.
Senggigi is a small village and resort known for its beautiful west facing beaches, with a lengthy stretch of coastline, sweeping bays, and lush towering headlands. It is the main tourist spot on the island with an attractive and laid-back resort atmosphere.
We walked down main stretch of road along the coastline, indulged in some souvenir shopping, and perused ’Psar Seni’ - an art market filled with small crafts stalls selling a range of items from across the island.
Part-way through our exploration we stopped at ‘Cafe Bumbu’ for drinks and checked out a free Lombok-guide magazine I had picked up from one of the souvenir shops. It turned out our hotel was NOT 5k south, it was actually right in the centre, opposite the main beach! As the hotel is fairly new the Agoda map had been showing it at a different location - stupid website... but bonus - no taxis or transport needed for us, we were elated.
We wandered around ‘Senggigi Square’ that consisted of numerous boutiques, pretty restaurants, and a lush tropical rainforest in the backdrop with a gleaming mosque peeking out behind the trees. After what seemed like a long trek in the humid heat (we hadn’t actually walked that far as the centre is only tiny) we picked up our bags from Perama and checked into our hotel (only 5-minutes walk away) around 5:30PM.
‘Sendok Guesthouse’ - I have mixed reviews about… on the plus side the staff are young, friendly, professional and the food in the restaurant was yum with a live band playing every night (a good one). The rooms were very clean, spacious, nicely decorated, and set around a lovely swimming pool in scenic gardens. On the negative side, they had a huge mix up with our rooms - we had booked 2 nights in a ‘Superior’ but ended up for the first night in a ‘Standard’ and then had to swap in the morning - annoying.
The manager insisted he would have the difference refunded to us when we checked out on Sunday morning. He didn‘t as he was not there when we checked-out at 7:30AM… and after 30 minutes of arguing with the staff, and numerous phone calls we had to leave as we almost missed our onward bus.
Nevertheless we got settled in our room and enjoyed dinner in the hotel restaurant on Friday evening - eating on a candlelit table overlooking the swimming pool. Excellent food, perfect location, and a good live band playing… beautiful.
On Saturday morning (after switching our rooms at 10am, Grrr) we booked our onward transfer via the Perama Office to ‘Gili Trawangan’ for the following morning, passed through ‘Senggigi Plaza‘ (another square of shops, spas, hotels, restaurants, and cafes) and sauntered to the beach. We walked on the white-sand and settled ourselves on some cosy sun-lounges beside (and belonging to) the ‘Sheraton Senggigi Beach Resort,’ a lavish 5-star hotel that opens onto the beach.
Obviously the staff thought we were staying at the resort, soon bringing over drink menus and treating us like royalty (we didn’t like to tell them otherwise). After a couple of hours of lapping up the beach and surroundings we decided to re-locate ourselves round the pool-area of the resort, and moved a vast distance of 5-metres. The swimming-pool was huuuuuge, overlooking the beach with a Buddha-themed slide, and decorated with stone-carved crocodiles and turtles. The grounds were pristine and covered in beautiful flora. Unfortunately after having fun using their facilities for 4-hours it suddenly dawned on them that we weren't actually staying there... and we were politely ask to leave! Oops!
On route back to our hotel to use our own pool (where we were allowed) we stopped at ‘Gourmet Deli Bakery’ to get some lunch, and soon afterwards it suddenly started to thunderstorm... luckily we were already in the hotel bar undercover! A few drinks later and it had stopped… so we ended our last evening in Senggigi by watching the sunset in a beach-side bar/restaurant - ‘Office Bar.’ Stunning.
Next stop - 'Gili Trawangan' for some diving!
