Lombok’

East of Bali, across a deep strait seething with whirlpools and dolphins, lies Lombok. This island is quite different from its neighbour Bali. Its climate is certainly drier and the land more rugged and it is only about half as crowded. Like Bali, it is dominated by towering northern volcanic range, with 3,800 m Gunung Rinjani, the second highest peak in Indonesia. Most of Lombok’s arable land and population occupy a narrow 25 km wide strip in between. The vast majority of Lombok’s inhabitant are Sasak. The island’s three main towns form a cluster in a long, six kilometer long urban strip, running inland from the western coast. Ampenan is the old port town, formerly the main port of Lombok. Neighboring is Mataram is the modern provincial capital of West Nusatenggara Province. Cakranegara, just east of Mataram is the most interesting of the islands towns, It is the island’s major market town.

Peru Meru, central temple for Lombok’s Hindu population, over Cakranegara’s main crossroad. Built in 1720 to unify the island’s various Hindu factions, the three courts symbolize the tri loka or three tiered division of the Hindu cosmos, the earth, the human realm and the divine. In the innermost courtyard stand three pagodas representing the Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva.

Narmada, an easy drive from Cakranegara is the old summer palace of the Raja of Mataram. It is built in the shape of Mt Rinjani’s Anak Segara lake, the lake here was excavated in 1805 on the Raja’s orders when he became too old and frail to climb rinjani to make the proper offering to the volcano’s gods