In Reply to: Flights to Lombok etc ? posted by Colleen on Tuesday, 23. May 2006 at 00:23 Bali Time:
Hi Colleen,
Booking at the airport in Bali is the cheapest way to fly to Lombok, but I wouldn't just turn up and expect to fly straight away as flights are often full in my experience. It's better to book at least a couple of days ahead. Travel agents take a bit of commission of course but it saves you the hassle of getting a taxi to the airport to buy your tickets for a few days time.
From what I remember, we didn't pay any airport tax when flying back to Bali. But I took quite a few domestic flights on the last trip - if we did pay tax, it wasn't anymore than 20,000 rupiah, hardly anything at all.
As for food and drink and shopping, I think it depends where you are in Lombok. We (as backpackers) found cheaper restaurants harder to find in Sengiggi, as a lot of the restaurants are catering to international tastes and putting prices on the food to match. Cheap restaurants (under 30,000 rupiah for a main dish) are around Sengiggi, you just have to have a bit of a look around. Overall, Lombok is probably cheaper than Bali, but like everywhere, there are expensive hotels and restaurants that are trying to up their prices to cater to the upper end of the European/Australian market.
As for any other advice - well, I'd just say to be prepared for the hawkers. There aren't anywhere near the amount of tourists in Lombok as there are in Bali, and the consequence is that hawkers are a lot more persistant. They are a bit of a pest sometimes in Sengiggi (especially if you sit near the front of a restaurant by the road where they can see you and try to sell to you) but I found them really quite bad in Kuta. I'm not usually bothered by hawkers too much - i know that these people need to make a living and that they don't have as much opportunity as those in the busier areas - but it was at kuta beach in lombok that I experienced the pushiest hawkers (women and children) out of all the ones I met whilst in backpacking in Indo for 3 months. The guide that was with us also warned us to hang on to our bags while they were following us on the beach (and all the way INTO the sea). So just a little warning on that front.
I hope you really enjoy Lombok, because I really did enjoy seeing the vast difference between the island and Bali. Try to visit some traditional Sasak villages if you can, that is really interesting. And if you get the chance to see a stick fight, go for it! It is an experience.