If Bali
is famous with the 1,000 temples, Lombok island is well
known with the 1,000 mosques. This island is part of
the Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) with Mataram as the capital
city. Sasak is the majority ethnic group besides the
Buginese, Javanese, Balinese and Arabs.
Great
Tour in Lombok
Cakranegara,
at East Mataram, is the main market center and has several
Balinese temple, built by Anak Agung Made Karang in
1720. This temple held Pujawali Festival every year
on September or October during the full moon periods.
The best beach is Senggigi at Northern Lombok. You can
snorkel the sea and enjoy the beautiful coral reefs.
45 km from Cakranegara is the beautiful white-sand beach
of Kuta. Do not be confuse with the Kuta beach in Bali.
To see the sunset, go to the Pura Batu Bolong, a Hindu
temple on a cliff. If you want to dive and continue
to snorkel other places, take a trip to Bangsal and
from here you can depart by boat to the islands of Gili
Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. You may be astonished
with numbers and types of the marine habitats.Continue
Your
Journey to Sumbawa
Sumbawa
island is divided into three administrative regencies:
Sumbawa Besar, at the west side; Bima in the east and
Dompu in the middle.
In Sumbawa Besar, there is a former sultan’s palace
named Dalam Loka. Many large sarcophagi with the carved
of human and crocodile can be found in Sumbawa Besar.
18 km from this area, you can see the Neolithic royal
tomb aged about 2,000 years.
Moyo island is a protected wildlife island for preserving
the local deer and wild boars. You can be involved in
a game hunt on this island if you have a permit from
the Nature Conservation Ofice at Sumbawa Besar, Non-hunters
can still enjoy the island by scuba diving and snorkeling.
More
to the East
Kupang
is the capital city of Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) Province,
which is on the Timor island. You can visit the traditional
market and the Museum Negeri Kupang. Just pick the colorful
Ikat cloths with geometrical design and the Sasando
instrument (similar with a mandolin from lontar leaves)
for souvenirs. Other islands included in this province
are: Komodo, Flores, Kepulauan Solor, and Kepulauan
Alor. Komodo island is just one step to the east from
Sumbawa. Tourists are welcome to see the Komodo dragon.
This reptile is being protected and part of the Komodo
National Park.
After
seeing the Komodo dragon, you can continue snorkeling
or scuba diving at Pantai Merah. You never will see
this beach in other places, because the sand is pinkish.
The marine park is one of the best sites in the world,
because around 250 coral species and 1,000 fish species
live in the deep sea near the island. The local people
are directly involved for protecting this treasure.
Three
Color Lake
Continue
your trip to Flores, do not miss the volcanic crater
lake on Keli Mutu mountain. With the altitude of 1,640
meters, the lake has three different colors: blue, turquoise
and dark burgundy. These colors are constantly changing
and until now, no one there has no exact answer why
the lake has different colors. Local people believe
that tehe lake is related with the souls; one is the
soul of the sorcerers, the other is the soul of the
sinners and the third one is soul of infants and virgins.
Bold
Pattern Ikat from Sumba
Sumba
have the best Ikat cloth. This island is famous with
the Hingi Ikat, The thread is stretched on a frame and
tied with dyed resistant fibers to create the pattern
before immersed in dye and sun-dried. Bold animals or
human figures are its originated design. The second
stage is the process of re-binding and re-dying to make
a final design. You can see the process and purchase
it at Prailiu, Rende, Ngalu and Baing.
Catch
the experience and feel the difference between each
region...
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