Laid-back charm of "new Bali"

For years the Indonesian island of Lombok has been talked up as the “new Bali”. With the announcement of a new international airport providing easy access to a sprawling $700 million mega-resort, the dream was given certain traction. But then came the global financial crisis.

That was four years ago . Let’s see what’s happening in Lombok today.

With great fanfare, Lombok International Airport was eventually opened in October 2011 by Indonesia’s President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The airport now also services all domestic flights to Lombok and while the new location in the south of the island somewhat inconveniences travellers to Lombok’s main city, Mataram, and the more developed Senggigi, it has opened up the island’s white-sand beach paradise, namely Kuta Bay and Tanjung Ann.

Along one of the pristine headlands with 7km of bays and beaches is the site that was supposed to be developed to include luxury hotels, resorts, retailers, a golf course and marina.

Cancelled because of the GFC, the project never got past small wooden surveyor’s pegs left in the ground.

Instead, goats still cling to the cliff face and buffalos meander along the beach.

The only resort in sight is the remote Novotel Lombok, which blends in well because of its native architecture.

The dream of a mega-resort is still kept alive by officials though. Twenty minutes from the airport, the Mandalika Resort is an area of 1035ha with 7.5km of white-sand beaches split into three distinct zones.

Zone one is for luxury stand-alone villas, zone two for hotels, villas, green space and a golf course and zone three for luxury hotels and a marina.

That’s the plan anyway. The Novotel is the only hotel in zone three and is not expecting any neighbours until at least next year. A few villas may pop up before then but certainly no typical international- style hotels.

While the supporting infrastructure and facilities are in an unrushed state, the potholed roads that lead to quiet beaches help to create an off-the-beaten-track kind of charm.

Although Kuta, the current main settlement, goes by the same name as Kuta in Bali, 50km to the east, that’s where the similarity ends. It has a chilled atmosphere more suited to travellers than tourists.

With its shacks selling T-shirts and bars and cafes with bamboo fit-outs, the main road of Kuta is reminiscent of Bali 20 to 30 years ago. The local version of a taxi, unlike the ubiquitous bemo in Bali, is the cidomo – a cart pulled by a pony.

The indigenous people and culture are both known as Sasak. While on Bali most of the inhabitants are Hindu, on Lombok 80 per cent of the population of 2.7 million people are Muslim.

View of the undeveloped Mandalika Resort area from Ashtari restaurant / Picture: Rob Dunlop

The local way of life is on display at Sade, a traditional Sasak village which opens its doors to visitors with an aim to preserve traditions. Seven hundred Sasaks live in the village of 150 thatched-roof houses made of compacted mud and bamboo.

Outside, men herd buffalo while children fish in ponds and cheekily climb trees.

Inside, women work the looms, weaving beautiful textiles from traditional patterns handed down through generations. Along unpaved alleyways, older women sit outside and prepare vegetable for meals, while chickens flutter past small children dancing in the wings. Nearby, another institution perfectly captures the essence of what attracts many visitors to Lombok: great scenery, surf, and laid-back attitudes.

At Ashtari restaurant, surfer dudes rock up with surfboards jockey-strapped to their motorbikes and sit around bare-chested on comfy cushions while drinking milkshakes and reading surfing magazines.

Punters, like surfers drawn to waves, file out on to the elevated platform for stunning coastline views of an area that will one day become Lombok’s long-awaited mega-resort.

Yes, dreams of Lombok’s development have stalled somewhat but this is great news for those seeking less-travelled paths.

FACT FILE

Garuda Indonesia flies daily from Perth to Lombok via Bali (garuda-indonesia.com). Other airlines flying to Lombok from Perth include Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com) via Singapore and Air Asia (airasia.com) via Kuala Lumpur.

Novotel Lombok, which has recently been refurbished, is at Kuta-Putri Nyale beach. With 102 rooms and villas, some with private pools. It is built in the traditional, thatched-roof architectural style of the local Sasak people. Rates start from $165 a night. novotel.com.

Ashtari restaurant is 2km west of Kuta on the road to Mawan and is open Sunday to Saturday from 8.30am to 6pm. ashtarilombok.com.

Traveller Warning

Although Lombok is a popular holiday destination, it’s important travellers remember that Indonesia is a Third World country without many of the stringent laws and policing of food and drinks that we are subject to here in Australia.

We’ve long been told to steer clear of the local bootleg liquor known as arak. Brewed from rice and coconut palm flowers, it contains up to 50 per cent alcohol. But if brewed incorrectly, it can include methanol which has caused blindness and death.

And after recent high-profile cases, the Australian Medical Association has urged travellers to completely avoid spirits after a number of travellers suffered brain and organ damage and even death after consuming cocktails containing spirits laced with methanol.

The safest way to consume alcohol is to drink bottled beer or buy duty-free — the current limit into Indonesia is one litre of spirits or one litre of wine. Wine is available in supermarkets and specialty shops are becoming more common in Bali, particularly in areas such as Seminyak.

- Niall McIlroy

Laid-back charm of "new Bali"