Lombok: Nirvana

Sneak Peek:

Inspired by a few ChatGPT searches and some fellow traveler recommendations, I decided to head to the southern shore of the island of Lombok for better surfing and fewer tattoo parlors. My first destination was a small beach called Selong Belanak. I heard conflicting reports online but there was some indication of a promising break a short paddle from the shore. I booked a hotel for two nights to try it out before moving on to the next break.

I carpooled with a couple lovely ladies from the UK and Australia from the pier to my hotel area.

The scenery confirmed my first hope for Lombok: a much slower pace with more natural beauty. Goodbye Bali.

The taxi driver asked me for a photo with him. Trust me he asked for this.

I arrived at my lodging for two nights: the Selong Holiday Budget Hotel.

My room had a lovely king bed, one overhead light, air conditioning, and consistent WiFi.

I also had this little resident gecko on my ceiling.

I wandered to the beach for dinner. It was 7:30pm but not a soul was out. It felt like the middle of the night.

I found the one open restaurant and ordered some local fish curry. I felt like I had done a hard 180 from Bali and was back to the normal world.

On day 1 I enjoyed my hotel's included breakfast.

The walk to the beach included substantially more farms and open land than hotels or bars - a welcome change.

After some wandering I settled on this surf shop.

I rented a board, hopped on a boat and hit the waves. The surfing was incredible and sparsely populated.

I returned two hours later and feasted on a post surf lunch.

I laid back and watched the sunset.

When this crepe cart emerged it was the final nail in the coffin - I fell in love with Selong Belanak.

So extended my stay by another six nights and decided to go nowhere else in Lombok.

I quickly fell into a routine. I would say hello to my resident praying mantis in the morning.

Enjoy the hotel breakfast.

My fifteen minute walk to the beach always had some entertaining sights.

Like this pack of stray dogs eating a dead monkey. This ain't no Bali.

I would arrive at the surf shop.

Hop on a six minute boat ride to the surf break.

Surf to my heart's content. Return to the beach and drink a Diet Coke.

And feast on french fries and grilled chicken.

Then I would go back out for a late afternoon second session.

Some days I surfed with others, like Marco from Germany. This guy was awesome.

I always ended the day with a crepe.

And a sunset.

Some days I would swing by the local fruit stand and grab some bananas.

I always went to Amir's satay for a heaping portion of noodles for dinner.

We would chat about his life in Lombok and his son who lives in Illinois.

Rocky was the patient surf shop owner who tolerated my antics during seven days of surfing, including one missing fin and another broken fin.

I also met this next door guide Habibi who helped me dramatically improve my surfing. He was the man.

After eight nights in Selong Belanak (the longest I've been in one place since leaving America), I set out on the ferry back to Bali (shudder).

I adored Selong Belanak. It was such a welcome laid back break from the development of Bali. The town had an untouched charm of locals coexisting with a bare bones tourism industry. Many times there were more locals surfing than tourists. This truly was a special place I will miss dearly.

As I said goodbye to Lombok it meant the end of my month of solo travel and hello to Sophie (my sister) and Grace (my cousin). They were inbound over the Pacific as I began my journey back to Bali. The plan is to meet in Bali for a few days before living on a boat and Scuba diving for a week. Exciting blog content on the horizon!

From the vault:

This two year old ran around unsupervised without pants every day. That's the Selong Belanak charm.