Pantaiaan

As I've already stayed longer at Bali, as expected, but didn't surf there, due to too crowded beaches, my main goal for Lombok was to have a few surf days. At least one day worked out, before the waves were gone, again. But I could've had two, if I wasn't that lazy, on my second day here... 🙈
All in all I didn't see too much from Lombok, but Kota was really a Bali-like place, extremely touristy, mostly tourists and only few travellers. Lots of fancy cafes, restaurants and bars and unseen massive road infrastructure, obviously built for the Moto GP circuit and further expansions.
Nevertheless exploring the island on my first day was very nice, Téa and I went around to some nice viewpoints and beaches, exploring crazy side roads and were gifted with amazing views on Lombok's beautiful landscapes.
Spent some time on Tanjung Aan beach, an extremely beautiful bay with a surfspot and a very nice and calm beach.
Next day I felt like I needed a lazy day, so I went to the beginners surfspot Selong Belanak Beach quite late and ended up with only watching the waves and several surfers there. Not too crowded, even if waves didn't look very appealing, but definitely worth a try - tomorrow. 😅
So I did so, together with Téa and Niclas, had a great surfing day, made some rides, even if the waves really were tricky: too steep and too short, so stand-up was not easy and surfing was mostly in the whitewater. But still a lot of fund and I felt like I was improving again - until a steep wave pushed me into the ground and as I got up, I realized the board was cracked. 🙈
Luckily not completely broken, so a repair wouldn't be too difficult. As I've already seen some broken boards on other surfspots, especially at Nias and Batu Karas, I knew already that this could happen.
Unfortunately the owner of the board rental was one of these shady guys who immediately wanted to take advantage, so I quickly realized, why I've never ever seen so many nice and brand-new boards to rent at any surfboard rental in Indonesia before. 🤔 He wanted me to pay a whole new board for a ridiculous high amount for what you could even get a nice new softboard in Europe, not only the repair.
So after some arguing, and reassuring about the usual repairing prices, I gave him way more than enough money for a repair and just left. That crazy guy, didn't want to accept, that his usual way of ripping off tourists didn't work and followed us, tried to stop us from leaving, and finally even attacked me with a wooden stick. 😯 He even followed us on his scooter (still with his stick), for a while, until we reached Kota city, again. What a crazy experience. 🤯 Luckily we were able to go away without any injuries, but were really scared. That definitely was my most scary and crazy experience (and luckily my first and only real bad one) while traveling. In the end I once again checked repairing prices and I'm sure, he made a good deal with the money I gave him, but still I can't stop thinking about, what made him going crazy like that. 🤔🤷
In the end, even if this was an extreme experience, it fits into my picture about Lombok's tourism industry. Especially around the touristy places, tourism business people were mostly looking at tourists as they were walking wallets, the usual, typical Indonesian kindness and happiness was very hidden to rural areas, far out, you can see that at many touristy locations in south east asia, probably in any country with general low living standards. But here in Lombok it seems as if it's still a little bit out of control, kind of a "wild west mentality", as tourism is growing massively and governmental authorities can't keep up with that. From all I've heard, it was the same at Bali, before it made its step to mass tourism. 🤷
So I didn't feel like staying at Lombok would be worth it and I decided to leave to Sumbawa - there's still quite a way to go to East Timor and my Visa expires on 2nd of January 😅.
I'll remember Lombok's beautiful landscapes, awesome sunsets and some great waves I rode. 🥰
And for my first broken surfboard, of course. 😅Read more