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- Lombok
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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
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