Weekend in Kuta, Lombok

Last year, I briefly stayed in Senggigi (NW corner of Lombok) on my way to Gili Meno.  As I took a boat along the coast of Lombok, I knew I had to come back and tour it on a motorbike.  I had heard that the southern coast of Lombok had some of the best beached in Indonesia, so I decided to explore it over the weekend. 

I flew out on the last Garuda flight after work on Friday.  After a two hour delay on the Jakarta runway, we were off!  I finally arrived in the Novotel hotel in Kuta, Lombok late Friday night.  This is the only real hotel on the southern coast, and I thought it would be good to try it out for future family trips. 

Kuta, Lombok is not be confused with Kuta in Bali. Lombok is about 20 years of development behind Bali, so Lombok is still the way it should be: pristine and uncrowded. :)

 Beautiful Novotel Hotel grounds.

View from the beach at the hotel.  The beach at the hotel was made from ooids (small circular carbonate grains).  The geologist in me thought that was pretty sweet.

I decided the climb the peak in the previous picture.

View from the peak.  The hotel in the center of the image.

I rented a motor bike and headed about an hour to the east.  The road was very rough, and I got a flat tire.  :(  Luckily, I made it to the next small town and got it fixed for $2 USD.

After lunch, I headed about an hour to the west of the hotel.  The roads were new, and the views amazing. 

I visited Mawun beach and the view was breath-taking.  Only a few people there enjoying the beach and small vendors selling drinks and sarongs.

I wrapped up the day with a dinner on Kuta beach.  While I waited for my food, some water buffalo strolled by.  Literally five feet from my table!

Sunday morning, I went for another ride out west and then headed back to Jakarta.  It was an amazing weekend, and I look forward to visiting Lombok again!

Fishing in the haunted pool

Since I had a good time fishing at the apartment the other day, I went to a local mall (Pasar Raya) and bought a fishing pole and some accessories.  I also had my driver pick up some worms (cacing in Indonesian) along the street where they sell all kinds of pets.  I decided to check out an old, abandoned swimming pool next to our apartment to see if I could catch anything.

 

The abandoned pool.  I set up in the shade where the old bar (for serving cold drinks) was.

 

I caught an eating size bawal hitam on my first cast!  I caught two like this.

 

I also caught several of these little guys.  They remind me of sunfish back in Texas.

 

 

I ended up catching quite a few fish in about an hour, and I just tossed them all back.  Right as I was packing up, an indonesian guy strolled over, and we chatted a bit.  Turns out he works (and lives) there, and he is actively stocking the pool and a smaller pond nearby from the other ponds at the hotel.  He said there were 6 bawal hitam, 1 two pound snakehead, and lots of medium size catfish in the old swimming pool I was at.  He said I was welcome to fish as I pleased, and I assured him that I would not keep any as he likely needs them to feed his family. 

 

He also said other ponds on the property had much bigger fish (which agrees with Tedi's account).  I feel like Jeremy Wade as I am investigating where the "River Monsters" are hiding.  Next time, I'll have to try another area of the hotel grounds.  :)

 

He also told me that the staff avoids the old pool area due to the frequent sightings of ghosts.  He said he personally saw a little boy and girl running around the old pool late one night.  I guess I can't say I am surprised as the hotel has been around since the 1970's...

Fishing at the apartment

Yep, that's right, I went fishing at my apartment this afternoon.  After work, I went for a stroll around the complex to a mostly abandoned area behind the hotel that has a fairly big pond.  I decided to sit down next to a local guy with a fishing pole and strike up a relaxed conversation in Indonesian (mixed with English).  Before long, Tedi offered to let me fish a bit with some worms as bait.  I ended up catching two baby snakeheads (one of them below) and a sunfish-like fish. 

For the uninitiated, snakeheads are notoriously aggressive eaters that are currently wreaking havoc in Florida (due their illegal introduction) and are native to SE Asia.  They even have lungs and can survive quite a while outside of the water.  This little guy put up a decent fight for his size, and I thoughly enjoyed the experience.  Tedi told me that they can get as big as 4 kilos (~9 lbs) in this pond during the rainy season and are quite tasty.  Needless to say, I will be back to that side of the complex in the near future with a fishing pole of my own!

Trip to Beijing, China

Last week, I took a business trip to Beijing, China.  The original plan was to bring Julia and the kids, but plans changed when Julia couldn't get a visa (as previously mentioned).  Luckily, my visa came though and so went by myself to the training course. 

My initial impressions:

You have to be careful as the locals like to charge high prices to foreigners.  Sometimes you can negotiate down, but other times not.  I did however, meet many nice people and enjoyed the efficiency of Chinese society.

Public transportation was pretty extensive and traffic wasn't an issue during my stay.  The roads are big and the buildings are spread out in the city, which I didn't expect in an asian city. However, smog was really bad. It made Jakarta air quality look great and that is no compliment. Apparently, they made temporary changes back in 2008 to clean up the air for the Olympics, but unfortunantly, that didn't last long.  The Bird's Nest stadium above was built for the Olympics and now is barely visible as you walk by.  You can feel the air as you breath... not good.

Many people rode electric bicycles with manual pedals as backup.  This is a novel idea that should be used in other places more.

 

 

I did have a bit of time to see some tourist spots like Tiananman Square and Forbidden City (pictured above).

I also visted the Gread Wall at Mutianyu about an hour outside of Beijing.  The Great Wall was the highlight of the trip and after an hour of hiking one way, I had to turn back as my legs turned to jello.  It got progressively foggier as well, so my friend and I decided to move on after about 2 hours on the wall. 

All in all, it was a memorable trip and it is great to back home in Jakarta.  :)