Lombok food and adventures

We spent three weeks on Lombok so we could learn to surf and do some slow travel.

After a week in Kuta, the hub of south Lombok, we moved to the small town of Gerupuk. A boat ride to the break was right across the street, meaning we could leave everything we didn't need at home - including our shoes. Being a village that centers now on tourism, we definitely felt the hustle vibe. We even had our boat trip on the first day assigned to a different operator because they felt they had 'done the work' to secure our trip.

So many relationships felt all about the money. Somehow we managed to break through this in small ways. We brought homemade desserts to our host family and the surf boat operator. They gifted us back their own homemade foods and fruits. The local restauranteur helped Susanna with her Sasak language skills. The shop keeper across the street chatted us up. It all helped it feel more like travel, and less like tourism.

Besides being close to the surf, moving to Gerupuk meant we had a kitchen to cook food. That helped our family feel settled in such an important way. Eating out for every meal means you can't truly relax at meal time, and that you can't really choose what you're going to eat. Indonesian food can be very saucy, which is fine for a few meals, but...

We adventured up and down hills on scooters to get to a hotel where they were offering a family activity day. We felt disappointed that there were few other families, and no kids our kids' age. However, we learned to make a klepon - an Indonesian dessert made of glutinous rice flour with brown sugar filling, coated with coconuts. It's green from the Pandan leaf extract.

Occasionally we ate dinner with friends from the Komodo Island trip, and surfed with Aron, our Swiss friend from the boat.

Sadly, Mathai got a stomach bug one day, which was (so far) the one time any of us got truly sick from the food in Southeast Asia. Ironically, it was from a restaurant, not street food. While he stayed at home, the three of us contributed to a beach cleanup. A few classes from a local school came to help too, and we enjoyed their laughter while we picked plastic from the sand (ew).

One of our favourite spots on Lombok was Bukit Merese - gorgeous green hills with cliffs overlooking the ocean. We ventured out on a rainy day and had a few moments of sunshine to roam the hills and swim on the beach.Les mer