Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Nomad in Lombok

A Nomad has arrived in the port city of Lembar in Lombok after a mere 6 hour sailing with the ferry from Padang Bai in East Bali. We drive our car trough busy midnight Mataram, the capital of Lombok, to find a place to spend the night in Senggigi. The island of Lombok is competing with its' neighbor Bali to become one of Indonesia's prime tourist destinations and Senggigi is its' most developed tourist area.

A Nomad remembers that 4 years ago much of the island was still untouched by the growing tourist industry. But nowadays it seems that travelers have found there way here and the Lombok people are quickly finding a place for them. Some of the bays and beaches around Senggigi had very few accommodations, while now some bays are being covered with beach side hotels and restaurants. Remarkably many of the new places in the area are owned and operated by westerners.

I soon found out that at this very moment real estate sales are booming here and many Europeans and Australians, including a great number of Dutch, are buying property here. As Oom Roos, a retired Moluccan Dutchman said: "Why not buy land here? For the same amount of money you can buy a car back in the Netherlands." It seems that Indonesia is loosening its strict regulations around land purchase by foreigners and buying a home in a place like Lombok seems a solid investment.

As Jack, also a Moluccan Dutchman who moved to Bali years ago and is running a real estate agency, confirmed the new post 'orde-baru' (Suharto) era has opened the way for significant and strong development of both the Indonesia's democracy and economy. There's still a long way to go he hastened to add. But it's undeniable that the country has been in an upward spiral for at least the past 4 years. Lombok is clearly showing the pace of development has definitely increased.

When I was here 4 years back the Lombok people were still slightly ambiguous and awkward towards tourism (Except for the western Gili islands who were already in their post-lonely planet fame period.) However the west with it's large Balinese population is in the obvious lead with building up the industry. And now the south is expecting its first international airport this year, also here the people are preparing for the anticipated tourist boom. It's interesting to see how these developments will benefit the people and how firmly they will be able to hold on to their traditions.

To find more unexplored destinations one needs to move more east of the archipelago. Exactly what a Nomad planned to do. Soon I would be boarding a slow boat to the eastern islands.
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Nomad & Tuhan Menir Benni
It was probably our very first night in Senggigi that we met Benni a young street hustler from a neighbouring village. One of the many street hustlers that give Senggigi that much desired Bali clone feel. We were ordering food at a restaurant slash art shop that had authentic Lombok dishes on the menu. Seeing the local patrons at some tables in the back, it seemed a logical choice to get a taste of spicy Lombok cuisine. Senggigi main street nowadays is a collection of up scaled eateries and the old street hawkers that used to be lined up here (only a few years back) have all been relocated to far off back streets by misguided tourism managers.
Benni likes to chat and his initial approach is friendly and laid back and he quickly backs off when our food is served. TBC tobecontinued

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