INDONESIA LOMBOK -BEACH & GILIS ( PART 1) --SENGIGI

BEACHES & GILIS

SENGIGI

Senggigi is a milestone of the development of Lombok tourism that emerges this island as one of the most famous tourist destinations. After introducing Sengigi beach, some other destinations begin to invite people to come, along with improvement of various supporting facilities and infrastructure served by government. Until now, Sengigi still becomes the most favourite object for domestic and international tourists.It calls up best memories to any foreign visitors who have frequently visited Lombok.

Senggigi, which is also known as Kampung Bule (foreigner’s village) was starting point of tourism industry in Lombok. This tourist destination is famous with its beautiful beaches offering comfort, safe and quite environment to visitors. Many hotels in the area are still running their business ever since the growing of the industry twenty years ago. In the beach, calm waves hidden behind a bay create such a comfortable experience experience for tourists to come and stay. Most hotels in Sengigi are facing the sea ( sea view) .The industry had to confront with difficulty moments after the 1^st and 2^nd Bali Bombing tragedy in 2001 and 2002.

Many visitors compare Senggigi today to Bali 25 years ago, which is believed to be such a quite, safe and comfortable place to visit. Meanwhile, Bali in the meantime has been very crowded with vehicles. Exhaustive traffic becomes a reason for tourists to find alternative destination to spend a vacation. Therefore, plenty people are heading for Sengigi , which is believed as overflowed due to a very crowded situation in Bali. To reach Senggigi, they only need to take a fast boat service from Padang Bai Harboor offering direct route to Senggigi. The fast boat service also offers a direct trip to Gili Trawangan or takes a transit in Senggigi and continues to Gili Trawangan an hour later. It takes only an hour trip to Senggigi from Padang Bai .

Foreigners’ daily life around the destination is not much different to their homeland countries. Local hospitality from local people encourages tourists to stay longer and mingle intimately. Growing the sense of intimacy and caring to the tourists becomes the key to success for local people in creating such a consistently comfortable environment, which in the end invites more tourists to come.

Senggigi is not the only spot for groovy beach visit. This site is merely the edge of white sandy coastal area in the northern part of Lombok Barat. 10 kilometers of coastline set from Senggigi to Nipah Beach. Along the northern ring road of the island, you can watch the sunset and sunrise within the fresh air atmostphere . At the nightfall, seeing the Senggigi Bay view from a hill. The hillside may spoil you with such a tremendous view of the blue ocean view with its ripples. The bay gives a more refreshing gaze when the lights begin to shine from the hotel rooms. Some medium size of sailboats and pinisi boats float in the bay area. Enjoying the sea view of Senggigi from the hillside while having roasted corns with your beloeved person is very romantic experience. This also becomes the reason for newlywed couple to have their honeymoon in Senggigi.

Lombok’s magnificent beach view is not only in Senggigi . Going further to the northern ring road access will bring you to Malimbu Beach. Next, after passing Malimbu, you will enter Nipah Village. This village is recently a beach tourist’s spot as well as a center for culinary stalls offering various menus from the sea (seafood). Along the culinary spot, you can freely enjoy the food made of fresh fish just caught by the anglers. All fresh fish are cleaned and processed (toasted or fried) by the local vendors in the area. It gives such a complete trip when closing the first day of beach visit by enjoying the local seafood cuisine. Many food stalls are lined up along 5 kilometer in this area.

Moving slightly to the north, about 3 kilometers from Nipah, there is a pearl cultivation center set in the offshore that belongs to a foreign company. The waters covering 10 f hectares area around the location is considered sparkling. The water looks limpid like shining pearls. These 2 qualities of waters are very convenient for a business dealing with pearl cultivation. Both in the south and north of the area, there are 2 small public seaports, ie,BAngsal Port and Teluk Nare Port that connect you to the 3 gilis.Gili is a local term for a small island.

The name of 3 gilis that quite famous among the foreign travelers are Gili Trawangan,Gili Air and Gili Meno. This group of islands is recently becoming the favorite spot for domestic and foreign travelers. They mostly spend their times in the 3 islands on day of their vacation. Considering geographical maters, it is impossible to completely visiting all beaches in Nusa Tenggara, stretched between the west end of Lombok and the east end of Sumbawa .Every beach spot in Lombok Sumbawa has its own uniqueness.