January 8, 2009
Today was my turn to have breakfast at the hotel. I was enjoying it very much; from toast and bacon, cheese omelette, pancake and yogurt... they were yummy! LOL.
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[me @ KFC Discovery Mall]
We checked out from Jayakarta, then we took taxi to Discovery Mall. It was raining hard and we carried the backpacks which made us quite tired and our bodies were aching for the heavy weight on our backs.
[look at the old lady at the Starbucks!
How modern her lifestyle is!]
We had lunch at KFC in the mall, then went to the airport since our Merpati Nusantara Airlines plane took off by 3 p.m. We arrived half an hour later at Selaparang airport, at Mataram, Lombok.
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[just arrived!]
Dad's friend's driver, Mr. Alimin, fetched us and took us to the hotel, Zaitun Selaparang, on Jl. Pejanggik, just across the Mataram Mall. From the road it looked just like another shop at the ruko (shop+home kind of building) complex. But inside, it was quite big and had nice hotel rooms.
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[Zaitun Selaparang Hotel]
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[the hotel]
After checked in, we went to Narmada, a Bali-Hindustan pool, a place for the Balinese king to have a bath with his queen and concubines. Not much to see here, except for the pool believed to give youth if you take a bath in.
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[the entrance]
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[the pool for youth]
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[the view from top]
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[the only drinking water in Lombok]
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[cidomo, local traditional transport pulled by a horse]
We drove another 17 km to Suranadi Temple, a little far from Cakranegara (eastern of Mataram) and took a short tour about the place. We ought to wear sarong to hide your bare skin. We also have to tie some cloth like an obi on our wrist to 'tie up the secular world'.
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[the name sign at the entrance]
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[wearing the sarong and obi]
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[the pool of pune fish]
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[the tamer calling the fish outta its 'nest']
[Clemy and the tamer tried to hold the fish]
[the inside yard of the temple]
We also saw big 'pune' fishes which had to be called by a boiled egg. The fish is rare and they think it's sacred. Thus, this was the richest temple in Indonesia, by meaning, because it has Panca Tirta (the five elements of water) needed to burn the dead bodies (in a holy ceremony called Ngaben). To hold on a Ngaben ceremony in Bali it would cost hundreds of millions in Rupiahs while in Lombok it would only cost Rp 4-5 million because of the complete five elements of the water needed.
[the monkeys near Suranadi Temple]
In Lombok there grew a belief, blend from Hindus, Buddha and Moslem, which follows the beliefs, rituals and prays of the three religions. But we didn't stay too long here. After meeting the monkeys near the temple, we went to Senggigi beach. But we visited the Lingsar temple, too, for the three were connected as the 'Bali' in Lombok.
[the name sign at the entrance]
[Lingsar Temple]
[inside of Lingsar Temple]
[the view of Lombok's fields]
[one of Senggigi's beautiful cliffs]
[after sunset at Senggigi beach]
[The Art Market]
We arrived at Senggigi just a while after sunset and stopped at the Art Market. Not so many things to see or buy here, so we moved on to the Bumbu Restaurant, owned by an American but run by a local.
[Bumbu Cafe]
[fried chicken with lime]
The meals were nice and we had enough for the day so we asked Mr. Alimin to drive us back to the hotel. But on the way we saw a large crocodile statue beside the police post and we took the pic of it before we go home and sleep.
[the crocodile statue]
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