… the administrative center for Lombok and several surrounding islands. We were welcomed by a local band as we stepped ashore from the tender. Lombok likes to advertise itself as an undiscovered alternative to Bali. Our cabin stewards and waiters, who are mostly Indonesian, told us that souvenirs are cheaper on Lombok than on many of the other islands.
Folks we met who spent a few weeks exploring various Indonesian islands told us the amazing thing is that each island developed independently, apparently with little knowledge of how things were done on the other islands. The houses look very different from island to island, the people on some islands are short and on others, quite tall, the diet changes greatly, and even the style of dress varies.
We started with a bus ride to the NTB Museum, which houses the provincial ethnographic collections.
The museum also provided us with a tasty snack and coffee or a strange pink milky liquid. The pastries were delicious.
Our second stop was the Balinese Pura Mayura Temple, which dates from 1720 and is dedicated to the three powerful Hindu gods - Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma. The island has both Muslim and Hindu temples in great abundance, and it was hard to go even a short distance without seeing a family temple of some sort in a backyard. Before entering the interior courtyard of the temple, each of us had to don a yellow sash, tied at the belly-button on the instructions of our tour guide, who explained that it contained the baser nature of man and prevented it from escaping while we were in the holy place.
This temple contained many very worn and obviously old icons and statues. Most were carefully dressed, or wrapped in fabric. As you can see in the photo above, the gate statues have been provided with parasols to protect them from the sun. There were also many beautiful offerings to the gods, including an unanticipated little green lizard (right photo, below).
There is a western-style mall in Mataram, which we didn’t see. Instead we visited the Lipco pearl market, which was a bit of a rip-off; a single pearl similar to those I bought in Tahiti for $3 was $283! They didn’t make a sale … but we did stop next at an arts and crafts market where the prices were reasonable and the crafts well made. The island is known for its lovely handwoven fabrics, shell inlay bowls and masks, pottery, gold, pearls, wood carving, and basketry, which is used for many purposes, including holding chickens and fish for sale by the roadside.
The island also has charming two-wheeled horse-drawn carriages - and at least one motorcycle per person. The motorcycle traffic was a real challenge for the tour bus driver. Although many people wore helmets, there appeared to be no limit on the number of passengers per bike – the most I saw was 5! The photo on the right is a high school parking lot!
The day was again hot and humid, although the bus was well air-conditioned. The island felt very exotic and different, with interesting sights around every corner. It was a great day.
Awesome! These photos are great.
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