For almost 2 years now I've been posting about exploring Bali and it’s Neighbour Islands during the pandemic with no tourists around.
We have visited major tourist attractions that I've never visited in 23 years because I don't like being around crowds.
During the past 19 months we enjoyed most of Bali's best waterfalls, temples and neighbour Island of Nusa Penida.
Normally this time of the year we would visit places such as Switzerland, Canada and France, often skiing.
And although it's possible to go skiing I do not want to return and be placed in a 10-day quarantine in a Jakarta hotel with my family. We would all go nuts.
So once again I thought up the idea of travelling to Lombok which I am very familiar with after five years of running my Bali yacht charters from 1995 to 2000.
I wanted to see how it has changed after all these years, especially the famous Gili Islands on Lombok's Northwest Coast which I haven't been to for approximately 18 years.
I thought it would be a good idea to take my wife's car over on the ferry.
Although it is a four-hour cruise, and my sons were asking why don't we fly I reasoned it would be nice to see the Islands I use to sail around 18 years ago.
It is also very convenient to have our own vehicle when we arrive so we can go anywhere that we want.
Dreamy Dawn Departure:
My idea to leave at 5:30 AM to avoid traffic cues at the terminal was brilliant.
We arrived 45 minutes later at 6:15 and were the first car in line.
The ferry was just a little over a million rupiah which is only $70 for four passengers and a car for a four-hour cruise.
The moment I drove on the ferry I knew that it was high-quality and recently built.
I was shocked when we arrived upstairs and found large comfortable seats in air-conditioned comfort.
There was even recent Hollywood movies playing for the entire trip.
Free Wi-Fi was also available so our boys can continue to do whatever it is they do for hours on end on their phones,
There was even full-on mattresses behind our section for those who want to sleep the whole route. Due to fears of Covid we decided to pass.
For a short time, I went back down the car, put the seat in fully reclined position with a nice ocean breeze and had a snooze.
Then we arrived in the port of Lembar on Lombok's western coast.
Our G.P.S. told us it would only be one hour and 15 minutes to our destination near Kuta on Lombok's southern coast.
This area of Lombok has change significantly since my old yacht charter days.
There is a modern four-lane bypass like we have in Bali and even faster.
We had to be careful though because the residents often don't use common sense when they're driving.
Villa with Dream View:
For our stay I had booked the very inexpensive three-bedroom three-bathroom Villa Atas Pelangi with a phenomenal view which the owner describes as the best view in southern Bali.
Set 100m above sea level, on top of the tropical hillside above Are Guling, Villa Atas Pelangi (Villa above the rainbow) is a newly built Villa with unrivalled and un-interrupted views.
Guests can relax in full privacy by the swimming pool or relax on the extensive balcony which is the perfect spot for sipping ice cold drinks or just relaxing in the sunset.
The space
Completely surrounded by unspoilt views, Villa Atas Pelangi has arguably the best views in South Lombok, you can relax in absolute seclusion and let the world go by but when you need to be at the centre of it all, its just a few minutes drive
As the owner points out "Our location and our views are the some of the best on the island, however getting there does mean coming through a bumpy road through Are Guling Village and up the hill"
The roads to it were fine up until the last several kilometres which turned out to be farmers roads.
One of their villas managers met us on a motorbike and escorted us up.
Sadly, with the recent rains and someone building a villa halfway up the road there were several areas that were very tedious.
At one point we almost turned around and cancelled the reservation.
When we finally made it to the top and looked at the car we decided right then and there that we would not be driving back and forth to the villa.
There would only be one last trip, down slowly.
We organized with the manager that we would rent a car and driver for the following day for very low fee of Rp 500,000 (roughly $35) including Petro.
Heavenly Pool:
Our anxiety over the trip up the hill was alleviated the moment we put on our swim costumes and jumped in the pool.
The beautiful warm pool with one of the best views in the world was heaven, The whole family enjoyed it.
We hadn't planned on eating dinner in the villa and
certainly did not want to drive down to find any, so we organized to order up
some local chicken dishes and settled into a night of Netflix.
It's always a little difficult travelling during the rainy season in Indonesia and that night it rained hard.
Later after a sumptuous breakfast, which we had brought the ingredients for, our driver picked us up and we went for a drive to an area that I almost purchased property at 17 years ago.
At the time I was offered beautiful beachfront property with a white sand and great swimming beach for only fifteen million per hundred square metres, (at the time that was $1000 for 100 m²). Now I'm sure it's closer to two hundred million per 100 m². for the same property.
At the time I had too many things going on in development, so I decided to pass. I was also concerned about water and roads.
We tried to find it, but my memory was off, and we decided not to waste time trying to find it.
On the way we stopped off at the brand-new, world class motorcycle circuit "Pertamina Madalika" which just had it’s first international race a few weeks ago.
After that we'd started driving West and observed
that there was a massive amount of construction going on. Somebody has some big
plans for this area.
In 23 years of travelling in Indonesia including several of the other islands I have never come across water buffalos crossing the road. This was unique.
We were pleasantly surprised with large meals of delicious fish including tuna and snapper.
Then back up to the Villa which was not so difficult for the driver who lived in the area and knew how to manage the difficult road.
Another lovely evening with a magnificent view and swim made us realize that this was a great idea, especially at the price we are paying.
You can book directly on AIRBNB for this villa.
You will find the owner Mike is English and very professional.
Tell him Lawrence recommended you and maybe you’ll get a special discount.
Continued at Day 3,4 & 5 Northern Lombok and Gili Islands:
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