Holiday in West Nusa Tenggara

If you like beaches, may be you can consider to visit West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. I went to Senggigi beach and the three 'Gilis'. I also visited Sasak village and Sukarare village.

Senggigi beach is the oldest and most famous beach in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. It is a white sand beach. It has good waves for surfing and safe swimming areas, so you can surf, swim or only relax and sunbath. However, I do not really like this beach. When I visited this beach, it was so crowded (may be because of holiday season) and a bit dirty.




View from the Gilis

Then I continued my trip to the three 'Gilis', namely Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Gili is in Sasak language, means island in English. The three islands are located at the northwest coast of Lombok. You can rent a boat to go to the islands. On the way to the islands, you will see jumping fishes or you can dive to enjoy the colourful reef and marine life. The nearest island is Gili Air, that can be reached in 10-15 minutes by boat from Bangsal harbour. I recommend you to visit the islands. The beaches at the islands are lovely white sand beaches. You can sunbath or snorkle in the shallow water near shore. The water is clear and you can see colourful fishes swim around the reefs. It is a beautiful view and I like it.


Sasak House

The other places that worth to visit is Sasak village and the traditional weaving centre, Sukarare village. Sasak people are the native people in Lombok. They are still related to Balinese race, but Sasak people mostly are moslem and Balinese are Hindu. In the past, Lombok was ruled by Majapahit Kingdom and most of Sasaks were Hindu or Buddha. Then, in the early 17th century Sunan Giri and Moslem Makassarese brought Islamic belief to this land and most Sasaks at that time converted to Islam. In the early of 18th century, Gelgel Balinese kingdom conquered and took over Lombok. During this time, there was a large population of Balinese came to Lombok and they settled there.


A lady and Songket tools

Sukarare village is located in the southern part of Cakranegara, Lombok. You can see the traditional knitting hand-made process of Lombok's traditional cloth, Songket cloth. The techniques of cloth fabrication and the designs/motifs of the cloth are inherited from generation to generation.