I went to Lombok, few years ago. I was solo traveling in Lombok - Bali. I was amazed by Lombok's beauty. The streets are clean and no traffic jam which so relaxing. No skyscrapers so you can see the blue sky with big cottons everywhere. I wanted to go back again.
It happened this May. I made a trip back to Lombok with my one of my besties. This time the journey is way more awesome because our main plan is to hike Rinjani.
Rinjani claimed to be the second Indonesia's highest mountain. It rises to 3,726 metres (12,224 ft), so i prepared for everything. Started from the gear, there were so many things to buy (good jacket to prevent you from cold and wind, polar gloves, good trekking shoes, trekking pole, bivvy mattress, emergency blanket, etc) and it cost a lot of money. These exclude the tickets to Lombok, to pay the trip, porter, logistics, transportation during in Lombok and Gilis, meals, etc.
But i tell you, it all worth the experience.
We settled the first night at Rumah Singgah Lombok as recommended by my sister. After we arrived we strolled the neighborhood and went to Mataram Mall that we luckily got free massage and reflexology. The next day we went to Senggigi Beach for its beautiful beach and sunset. In the evening we got picked up to the basecamp for Rinjani trip.
After dinner together all team rested. I didnt have good sleep but it was enough. We were getting ready in the morning, breakfast and then left to Sembalun, where we gonna start hiking.
We hiked through the wide savana, it was beautiful. The sun shines bright but the soft wind blew so it was not so hot. The background view was amazing; green hills, blue sky with big cotton clouds. It's just like a painting or a back drop but no, it's real!
The trek still smooth until after 3 hours i think, we reached the first Post. After that we hiked again. It was getting dark and we havent reach the camping ground until finally we decided to stay the night at an empty dry river. A bit worry but the spot seem okay, it's an old dry river. Not only us were camping there, another group also decided to spent the night there as the info we heard that the camp site at Post 3 were packed.
The next morning, after breakfast we continued trekking to Plawangan Sembalun where we planned to have rest before we go summit attack in midnight. That's the plan but the reality was different. We girls and 2 guys reached Plawangan Sembalun way before the porters and the other guys who arranged the trip, LOL! We killed time by taking pictures, watching people and enjoying the view. Funny thing happened, a guy asked me to take picture with him, i thought he was asking me to take his picture with his friends.
After one guy of our group arrived and he has nesting and noodles and rice to cook. We had a quick meal before trek again a bit to the camp spot near the water source where 2 of our group awaited there for us. They were there to tag camp spot as that day many hikers.
The other guys who had tents and the porter that carried the logistic arrived way too late and we were starving and couldnt have rest because our tent that should be filled with 3 people only, that night there were 6 of us!