Lombok Favorites

3 more images

Favorite thing: The new airport here in Lombok is quiet a distance if you plan to go to the Gili Islands so best visit other parts of Lombok 1st before immediately making your way straight to the Gili Islands after your flight.

The airport is not too far from if you plan to visit Kuta Lombok or Mataram. Also there is not many flights landing here because there is very little planes here at any given time.

Favorite thing: In a dramatic change to the current immigration rules, starting on January 26, 2010, foreign tourists from countries eligible for "visa-on-arrival" will now be given a 30 day visa that can be renewed for an additional 30 days.

As part of the new changes the 7-day visa at US$10 has been abolished, with the 30-day US$25 visa (renewable for an additional 30 days) being the only visa that can be issued to eligible tourists.

Full list @ VISA-ON-ARRIVAL LIST

Please be advised that Visa Free Short Visits may only be extended upon approval from the Minister of Justice and Human Rights/Director General of Immigration of the Republic of Indonesia based on natural disaster, illnes or accident, but cannot be transferred to another type of visa.

Overstay visitors incur to pay a penalty of US$ 20,- per day (for under 60 days stay) whilst over 60 days stay will be a 5 (five) year prison sentence or a fine of IDR 25.000.000,- (local currency)

COUNTRIES / PASSPORT EXEMPTED ARE :
_________________________________

1) Brunei Darussalam (ASEAN member)
2) Malaysia (ASEAN member)
3) Phillipines (ASEAN member)
4) Vietnam (ASEAN member)
5) Singapore (ASEAN member)
6) Thailand (ASEAN member)
7) Peru
8) Chile
9) Morocco
10) Hong Kong SAR (Special Administration Region)
11) Macau SAR (Special Administration Region)

For countries not listed above, they will have to apply entry VISA at their respective country's Indonesian Embassy

Address of Indonesian Embassy in Singapore:
7 Chatsworth Road Singapore 249761
Tel : +65 6737 7422
Office Hours:-
Mon - Thurs: 8.30 am - 1.00 pm, 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Fri: 8.30 am - 12.30 pm, 2.30 pm - 5.00 pm
Sat: Closed

Favorite thing: You have to pay to enter the country and then again to get out! I wish they'd at least get rid of the airport tax as Thailand have now done and incorporate it into the flight costs.

But basically on entry it costs you US$10 for a 7 day visa............but wait - more rip offs yet to come - you're staying for 7 nights "oh no madam, sorry that's 8 days and therefore you have to pay the US$25 visa"!!!!!

total scam

And then when leaving it's IDR 100,000 per person airport tax (international for Lombok at the time of writing). But not all airports charge the same - so check if you're going to other places by air in Indonesia - it's less if you're leaving on a domestic flight but on an international it could be IDR 75,000 or as much as IDR 150,000.

Favorite thing: I found Lombok to be really easy to travel alone.Of course renting a car is more expensive when you are not sharing the cost with someone. Dress modestly would be my only advice...shoulders covered...long skirt or pants.
I travelled to little villages and was greeted by kids waving by the side of the road. My highlight was driving to a village that was celebrating a wedding and following the wedding procession down the road...such a happy happy moment with all the villagers laughing,clapping and dancing.....but a very solemn faced bride!!!!

Fondest memory: If you can’t seem to
disconnect from your real world,
there is a Wartel on the island
to make those urgent or social calls.

If not,
Flexi hand phones are out of range
for making calls from here.

Mentari sim cards do not work either.
The only local sim card that works is Telkomsel.
You can buy recharges,
but not an actual sim card on the island.
Slow internet access is available in several places.
Smoke signals may work depending on the wind.

Favorite thing: People who studied evolution would be most familiar with Alfred Russel Wallace.

He formulated his ideas on evolution by natural selection while observing and collecting wildlife in the islands of Southeast Asia. He was particularly impressed by the sudden differences in bird families he encountered when he sailed some twenty miles east of the island of Bali and landed on Lombok. On Bali, the birds were clearly related to those of the larger islands of Java and Sumatra and mainland Malaysia. On Lombok the birds were clearly related to those of New Guinea and Australia. He declared the Lombok Strait, separating Bali and Lombok, marks the passage of the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia and this divide would become known as the Wallace Line, named in his honour.

Favorite thing: The Indonesian national flag is called "Sang Saka Merah Putih. "Merah Putih" simply means Red-White. The official name however is Sang Saka, that is "Lofty Bicolor". Red represents the human blood, standing for the corporeal or concrete, white represents the spiritual. Together they are a pair, like the life on earth: day and night; man and wife; creation and individual.

Favorite thing: Senggigi is the most expensive place to eat in Lombok because of the high taxes. Of course, eating on the Gilis islands is also expensive.....but that is sort of expected.

Establishments in Senggigi are charged a tax rate of 21% which is far higher than anywhere else in Lombok. Even in Mataram, businesses are charged only 10%.

If you are strapped for money, avoid staying in Senggigi altogether and stay in Mataram where the food and accommodation is cheaper.

We had a simple seafood dinner in Mataram costing us only 45,000 while a seafood dinner in Senggigi (for about the same thing) cost about 80,000R. Hence weighing the cost, we chose to eat in Mataram whenever possible.