An Indonesian adventure..

Bali, Nusa Lembongan, The western Gili Islands and Lombok.

I went to Bali when I was in my early twenties with my best friend and really loved it. We ventured out to Lombok and the northern Gili islands and fell in love with the people, the landscape and the laid back vibe.

Over twenty years later I was interested to see how much it had changed and if mass tourism had altered the island for better or worse. I had read worrying articles reporting rubbish strewn beaches, traffic choked streets and hundreds of high rise hotels. I hoped they were wrong…..

I’m pleased to say that Bali is still a very beautiful country and a great place to travel with a family. The people are so warm and friendly, the food is delicious, the landscape is incredible and the variety of accommodation ranges from the absolutely opulent to the most basic beach shack with everything in-between.

Bali

Our first stop was Seminyak, very different to the Bali I remembered, with lots of upmarket hotels, and beach clubs. We stayed in a great villa about ten minutes walk from the beach and embraced the glamour by having Sunday brunch at the W hotel (amazing!) and eating at some great restaurants such as Bambú, Mama San, Mexicola and Merah Putih. Let’s say it was all a very gentle transition from London life but we soon needed to experience a little more culture.

Next stop Ubud, somewhere I was really keen to visit. Again we had heard how busy it was and how bad the traffic could be but it was still a great place to spend a few days. We stayed in a fantastic homestay in a great location. Took some long walks off the beaten track and up into the rice fields. Had the most relaxing afternoon at Cafe Pomegranate watching the rice farmers and visited lots of temples and waterfalls.

Nusa Lembongan

An Australian friend recommended a trip to this small island just thirty minutes from Bali on a fast boat. I’m really glad we went. Crystal clear waters and golden sand, lots of laid back beach bars and restaurants and no cars – only bikes and open backed trucks which are used as taxis to get around the island. We stayed up in the hills at Jenggala Hill and some of the best views of the island are from their infinity pool.

We then flew to Lombok as the waters were really choppy and all the boats had been cancelled. Maybe this was a forewarning of what was to come……

Lombok

As soon as we landed it was clear how different Lombok is to Bali. The three hour drive down to Sekotong Barat in the west coast was beautiful. Lush green fields and small villages, smiling locals waving to us and shouting HELLO! We were staying in a great air bnb called Kiyakabin right on the beach with just three wooden cabins and a small cafe. It was a great spot and we loved buying fish from the local fisherman every morning and then cooking it on the barbecue for dinner.

We took a day trip to Gili Nanggu, Gili Kedis and Gili Sudak. These islands are much less developed than the northern Gilis (Trawangan Meno and Air). Nanggu has great snorkelling right off the beach and with only one restaurant and one very small hotel it’s remained pretty unspoiled. The water is crystal clear and we saw plenty of fish and stopped on Sudak for lunch.

Sadly that night was the night of the devastating 6.9 magnitude earthquake. We felt the large tremors while we were sat in the cafe that evening. It was very scary and hugely disorientating. We all stood up and started to run but had no idea where to go. Very quickly we were told to grab valuables and head up to the mountains as a tsunami alert had been given. We climbed the mountain with about 40 locals and 2 young girls from Germany and stayed up there until the next morning. There were lots of aftershocks and with no WiFi sadly there was lots of misinformation. We were told that all of the northern Gilis had been destroyed and that thousands were dead. All very frightening but our children aged 11 and 13 were incredibly brave and although scared the top of a mountain seemed the safest place to be.

The next morning we went back down to the beach and spent hours on news websites trying to get an understanding of the impact of the earthquake and the amount of damage done. It was devastating to hear about the high number of deaths and the even greater number left homeless. We heard that the airports and ports were rammed full of people trying to get home so we needed to decide whether we carried on with our trip or tried to head home.

We were less than half way through the trip and as a family decided to carry on. I am really glad we did. We got to see so much more of Lombok and Bali and the earthquake became a smaller part of the adventure instead of dominating it.

Gili Gede

We had already booked four nights on Gili Gede and so decided to stick to our original plan. This turned out to be one of my favourite spots and one I would highly recommend. We stayed in a lovely resort called Hula Hoop Bungalows run by a Dutch family. It’s a really special spot using local materials all built by local tradesmen and the bungalows all have incredible views out to the sea. The island is big enough to walk around in 4 or 5 hours and the boat trips to all the small islands surrounding are fantastic.

Lombok

We had heard all about the beautiful beaches at Sekotong Barat so headed there next. They didn’t disappoint. Great for surfing and body boarding with lots of beach bars and restaurants but all much less crowded than Bali. We stayed in an incredible villa twenty minutes away but another earthquake hit during our first day there so we weren’t quite relaxed enough to enjoy it fully!

Bali

I won’t lie – we were pretty relieved when we landed back on Bali. We knew we were heading up to Pemuteran which was about as far west from the earthquakes epicentre as we could get and we were staying up in the hills. This would be my must see to anyone heading to Bali. Sumberkima Hill is an incredible resort with some of the best views I’ve ever seen. We stayed in villa Pipit which has panoramic views so you can see both sunrise and sunset. The restaurant is great and the service is excellent but pemuteran is just a lovely place to hang out. There is a huge coral regeneration project there and the snorkelling is excellent but it’s the diving out at Menjangan island that is really special and makes the trip so worthwhile.

Sanur

We spent our last few days relaxing in Sanur. This is a very family oriented beach resort on the south east coast with a long stretch of beach and a great promenade for strolling or cycling along. We hired a villa a few minutes walk away from all the bars and restaurants and ended up spending most of our days lounging at The Artotel a hotel and beach club in a great location with a pool and good restaurant.

This was without a doubt an amazing trip. Yes it had a few ups and downs along the way but that is the very definition of adventure. Experiencing a few lows so you really make the most of those highs. Giant swings, diving with sharks, swimming in waterfalls, escaping monkeys, and even earthquakes……….