We had originally planned to spend three days trekking Gulung Rinjani, but cut our trip short once we got a taste of the hiking there. We spent the extra day in Kuta Lombok, a beach town on Lombok’s southern tip. Nestled in a crescent bay, surrounded by steep green hills, Kuta attracts tourists primarily for it’s great surfing, so it buzzes with well-tanned foreigners zipping around on surfboard-laded motorbikes.
We didn’t manage to squeeze in a surf lesson in our short time there, but appreciated the views and a little down time to catch up on more mundane tasks like laundry and our blog. The bustle of Kuta’s morning market also provided a morning diversion. “Apa ini?” – “What’s this?” – got frequent use. We rarely understood the response, but that didn’t keep us from tasting several unidentified local snacks.