Indonesia: Lombok + Bali + Bangka - July 2015
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text:
Français
The beach, the light, the blue ... I take you back to the south-west of Lombok, filling your eyes with the beautiful bay of Belongas.
Another part of the world
July 2015. After Gili Asahan and my dives in Sekotong Bayhere I am in Belongas Bay, about an hour's drive away, to dive at the famous site The Magnet.
I discovered a new end of the world, very peaceful, very isolated. Hyperactive travelers and tourists in a hurry, go the other way... There is only the coming and going of the tides and the fishermen's boats to give rhythm to the days. Embedded in the hills of Lombok, this small inland sea encourages slowness and contemplation. This is my favorite pastime, between two dives!
Here, the course of the sun and the clouds transform from hour to hour the landscape. It is spectacular. And from one day to another, the bay is never the same... Under the intense sun, the water takes the turquoise color of a lagoon. When the fog rises, the light turns yellow. And at very low tide, the beached boats give the shore a melancholic atmosphere.
From one shore to the other
The eastern part of Belongas Bay where I am is called Teluk Sepi. The sea forms like a deep indentation in the interior of the land. I stay near the tiny village of Pangsing, where a handful of Sasak families live. An Australian built there, in a coconut grove in front of the beach, the Belongas Bay Lodge, which hosts rare tourist-divers.
The village of Pangsing is not on an island, but it is just like it. There is not a very practicable road to come here. So everyone crosses the shallow bay by boat from Sepi opposite. There are small wooden outrigger boats everywhere, often brightly colored, and fishing platforms with big yellow floats.
In front of the sea
In Pangsing, a piece of land separated from Lombok by the sea, you have to accept to be really far from everything. There is nothing to do but savor the time that stretches. Let yourself be hypnotized by the changing light on the waves. Tread the sand in slow steps. Sympathize with the children of the village who love to admire themselves on the digital screen of the camera. To gossip a few words of Bahasa Indonesia. Pretend not to be afraid of the cows on the move. Push to the rocky point, where the waves come from the sea. Go back to explore the mangrove part of the beach...
Over long walks, I do not get tired of strafing this incredible little inland sea, so beautiful, always moving, always restarted. And I'll give you some of my countless pictures brought back from Belongas ...
To find all the articles about this trip, click on the image below... 🙄
