Mosques, Nature Luring Tourists To Indonesia's Lombok

By Mohamad Bakri Darus LOMBOK (Indonesia), Nov 10 (Bernama) -- As soon as we stepped out of the Lombok International Airport after our three-hour flight from Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur, one of the first things we did was look for a stall that served the local speciality, nasi balap puyung. We found one not far from the airport and tucked heartily into the rice and spicy chicken dish, after which we were all set to embark on our tour of the island. I was among 25 members of the Kelantan Media Club that visited Lombok recently and for all of us, it was our maiden trip to this beautiful island located in the Indonesian province of Nusa Tenggara Barat. Lying east of the more well-known island of Bali across the Lombok Strait, Lombok is famous for its stunning beaches and magical views of nature, as well as its mosques. One of the first places we visited was the Hubbul Wathan mosque located at the Lombok Islamic Centre in the capital, Mataram. The largest mosque in the Nusa Tenggara Barat province, it has a 99-metre high lookout tower, the top of which affords a breathtaking view of the city, as well as the Mount Rinjani volcano and right up to the Java Sea. Fortunately, lifts are available to whisk visitors up to the 13th floor of the tower, where the lookout point is located. Our tourist guide Baiq Mira Ahmad, 27, informed us that the tower was opened in 2013 for tourism purposes. "The Islamic Centre and Hubbul Wathan mosque are symbolic of the modern mosques that you can find in Lombok," he told us. HOME TO A THOUSAND MOSQUES Known as the "island with a thousand mosques", Lombok offers tourists a mix of old and modern mosques. Mosques of various shapes and sizes can be found all over the island that has a population of four million, of which 85 per cent are Muslims. "There are about 6,000 mosques in Lombok now," our guide, who is better known as Mira, said. He said the Sasak indigenous people who were the first to inhabit the island had built mosques in all the villages they settled in, thus helping to spread Islam in Lombok. Lombok, which has a total area of 4,725 square kilometres, has been declared as a Muslim-friendly or syariah tourism destination by the Indonesian government. When our group stopped by at the Tanjung Aan and Mandalika beaches in central Lombok to savour the picturesque surroundings, we also took the opportunity to perform our prayers at the new Nurul Bilad mosque, the second-largest mosque in Nusa Tenggara Barat that was opened by Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Oct 20. NATURE AND ADVENTURE For tourists who love beaches, waterfalls, national parks and mountains, Lombok has plenty of these to offer as well. The Lombok archipelago is made up of about 20 islands, the more popular ones being Gili Trawangan, Gili Air and Gili Meno. To go to Gili Trawangan, we had to take a bus from Mataram, which took us on a road on the slope of a mountain to Tanjung Nara. Here, we took a 15-minute boat ride to Gili Trawangan, a paradise and favourite haunt of tourists. Being a vehicle-free island, there were plenty of horse carts, locally known as "cidomo", on the roads ferrying tourists to various parts of the scenic island. Bicycle tracks are also available to enable visitors to cycle around the island and enjoy the sights. The island also offers snorkelling and scuba diving activities. The more adventurous visitors can take on the challenge of climbing Mount Rinjani, the second-highest volcano in Indonesia. At 3,762 metres high, the mountain's trekking route is said to be one of the best ones to explore in Southeast Asia. TEXTILE WEAVING Any visit to Lombok will be deemed incomplete if one does not visit Kampung Sukarara in central Lombok, which is known for its weaving industry. In fact, weaving is a traditional art of the local Sasak community and they produce four types of weaved cloth, namely songket or brocade hand-woven in silk or cotton; kain pelikat or sarong; ikat, a type of fabric in which the threads are tie-dyed before weaving; and embroidered fabric. According to Sasak custom, all its women must be well-versed in weaving before they are eligible for marriage. Summing up our visit to Lombok, Kelantan Media Club president Mohd Zailani Abd Rahman has this to say: "Getting to know the culture and customs of the local community in Lombok was a new and interesting experience for us and it has also become a tourism product, which is helping to generate additional income for the people. "Both the old and modern mosques are also being promoted as tourism products." -- BERNAMA