soubriquet 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Anyone stayed in Lombok? How abot the Natural Homestay Hotel? Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Great place. I liked it better than Bali. Where's the Natural Homestay Hotel? Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Long time ago. Not as tropical as Bali. All muslim too. Not that I've got anything against moslems, I just didn't like them sliding there hand up my wife's leg on the crowded busses. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Yep I've stayed in Lombok several times and I hate the frikking place. The only time I will stay there now is on a boat. Lombok is renown for "malang malang" which is crime. Scam scam scam is all they know on that god damn island. We used to bury our money and important stuff when staying at desert point. Often we would get raided at night by pea brains with machettes that would quite willing kill you so that they could steal your ciggies. It is tropical but down south it's drier, like Bali's Bukit peninsular. It has some very beautiful spots but they're spoiled by the mentality of the people. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Oh dear. Thanks everyone. I'll pass it on. Link to post Share on other sites
spook 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 not exactly a glowing endorsement huh? i've only visited by boat, but my mates stayed at kuta on lombok and liked it Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 No, it's not the greatest review but don't put it off because of my review! Like I said it's a beautiful place and you might have a ball there, just if you do go, you have to just be a little more cautious than Bali. I did a search for that place and couldn't find it soubs. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I stayed on Gili Islands which was amazing, kind of a backpackers paradise with amazing beaches and friendly people. Thats one of the best places I've been to on my backpacker travels. Generally I disliked Indonesia because I was a victim of crime there twice (both by airport officials), and the corruption clearly strangles the country. But the nature is outstanding. Link to post Share on other sites
gerard 6 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Holy crap, Indo! That sounds brutal. I was there 10 years ago -- gili trawangan, kuta-Lombok, and at the foot of Mt. Rinjani.... and didn't see anything like that! I hear they've been developing it extensively though since then. Something about an airport and high speed ferry to Trawangan, maybe. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Don't like the sound of Indonesia at all. i travelled with this French guy who went to Indonesia, him and this American went to one of the smaller islands to surf, said that he didn't see any other foreigners, they were stopped at the car park at the beach by a kid who was around 14, waving a machete at them demanding that they paid "entrance tax". He said he only lasted 3 days there, other locals were shouting abuse at them, saying they were going to slit their throats cos they white etc etc, **** that!! Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Stuff like that happens everywhere in the world TB, not just Indonesia. Without knowing where they went it's hard to comment on the situation. There's a few places where people come in with money and buy off the locals trying to keep the spot "private" and things like that sometimes happen. I've spent god knows how many years over there and generally the experiences have been good. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Entrance Tax is when the immigration thug checking your passport requires a fee as he offers to get your visa for you. It saved me hours of queueing at the "Visa on Landing" scam kiosk. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 You also get someone to take your passport into the "back room?" Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Something like that happened to me. We made the mistake of being last in the queue to get through the passport control and the immigration staff waited till everyone but us had left and then they took our group to the airport managers room and surrounded us and demanded $100 per person or else we fly back home. They werent nasty, no weapons etc, and we got away with paying only $5 each but it wasted time and was just generally unpleasant. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Was that Bali or Lombok? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 That was arriving to Medan airport in Sumatra. The other incident I had was baggage handlers stealing from my checked in baggage - that happened at Mataram airport in Lombok. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 yep, definitely don't wanna go to Indonesia Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver yep, definitely don't wanna go to Indonesia if you're going off those trivial things I guess your list of No go's would be pretty long! Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 I cant be dealing with that crap any more. I never really had anything bad happen to me there, mainly because I always had my back to the wall and never trusted anyone. There is over 200 million people in Indonesia. most are desperately poor. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Indo would you have ever gone to such a dodgy place if it werent for the surfing? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Originally Posted By: Indo Originally Posted By: Tubby Beaver yep, definitely don't wanna go to Indonesia if you're going off those trivial things I guess your list of No go's would be pretty long! Yeah, cos having to bribe immigration officials to get into the county, having your baggage stolen from baggage handlers before you even leave the airport, getting held up at machete point and extorted for "entrance tax" is very trivial. Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 All pretty standard stuff for all the 3rd world travelling I've done. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 well I've travelled thru Thailand and Malaysia and nothing like that happened to me. That would put me off big style. Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Thailand and Malaysia aren't quite at the same level of poverty as some parts of Indonesia. I would consider both those places much more mellow. Link to post Share on other sites
Mantas 3 Posted September 8, 2007 Share Posted September 8, 2007 Also indonesia has thousands of islands. Some are really isolated. I've been to some where they have ran into the jungle away from us. Extremely poor and primative. Link to post Share on other sites
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