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BALI & LOMBOK

04-09

We were very happy to be back in Indonesia, even though we went to the most touristy part of the country, Bali and Lombok. And it was at it's busiest because of the European summer holidays. Not ideal for travelling on a budget as affordable accommodation, transport and tours are fully booked or very expensive most of the times

The advantage on the other hand of these touristy places is the great facilities and the western food. Good accommodation with swimming pools, a lot of nice coffee shops with healthy food, cheap scooter rental, a wide range of restaurants, lots of water sports and excellent beach life. So that was how we spent our weeks here.

The advantage on the other hand of these touristy places is the great facilities and the western food. Good accommodation with swimming pools, a lot of nice coffee shops with healthy food, cheap scooter rental, a wide range of restaurants, lots of water sports and excellent beach life. So that was how we spent our weeks here

Nusa Lembongan is famous for amazing scuba diving around the islands so this was our main activity during our stay here. Diving around the island's north side is superb with beautiful coral reefs and lots of fish due to strong currents. The water on the south side is a lot colder and attracts for Manta Rays and Mola Mola. Unfortunately no Manta Ray showed up during our dive on the south. We have been very unlucky, but that is nature! Hylke was in the end very lucky to spot a Mola Mola (sun fish, very rare) on his last dive. The Manta Ray is still on our wish list for this trip..

After Bali and the islands we continued our search for beautiful beaches. Next stop: the Gili Islands! Very touristy, but our boat stopped here anyway so why not spend a few days in paradise?!

And Gili Meno was a turtle paradise! Within a few meters from the beach we encountered a lot of turtles. All we had to take was our snorkeling gear! Unfortunately most of the coral is gone due to coral bleaching.

After the Gili's we took the boat to Lombok. To get to the south of Lombok where the beautiful white sandy beaches are, you have to cross the whole island. This was the perfect way for sightseeing

If Bali is called 'island of a thousand temples' then Lombok must be called 'island of a thousand mosques'. The mosques are everywhere and most of them are very colourful and beautiful

Lombok is still very green and less crowded than Bali. But developments are underway, especially along the beautiful coastline in the south. Not very strange, as we found the best white sand beaches only a short scooter ride away on this coastline. Our base was Kuta Lombok, a very laidback village where we stayed much longer than we expected.

As a lot of construction work is done at the moment and many large projects will be finished soon (a new boulevard, the largest mosque of Lombok, many new luxury resorts and western style restaurants), the village will probably start to look like Bali a lot in the next couple of years

After 3 weeks of sea, sun, beach life and relaxing we are ready for our next adventure in Sulawesi.

Watch our short movie about Bali and Lombok on YouTube