Staying with Rezzas family in Mataram

On Thurs morning (the 11th) got up bright and early to get ready for our 6am flight, got a taxi to the airport and left Jogja behind... not a very eventful trip, stopover in Surabaya for a couple of hours then another flight to Mataram. When we got to the airport, it was a bit crazy. Another flight came in when we did, full of teenage guys and men and they were awful! They pushed, literally, to get past us to the luggage and they were very rude.. I hope they werent Lombokese... awful first impression lol. I hate to say it but the first thing I noticed was that people in Lombok are a lot darker-skinned than on Java. The people waiting arent allowed inside the airport so there were just rows and rows of people outside, standing by the landing leading outside, staring at us and the other passengers. It was quite creepy. Very happy to see Reza and his family to pick us up! Reza is a student at the local high school, who visited Jess S earlier in the year, her family hosted him when a group of students visited Victoria. So returning the favour, we stayed with them. And ohmygosh! What a luxurious place! Very rich (tho the dad works two jobs and the mum one), they had a little villa for the guests, complete with two massive bedrooms, two bathrooms, tvs, air con... wah!! Not to mention a pool, waterfall,gorgeous garden and house... very nice. And the family- so sweet! After meeting the parents, and two sisters, they insisted on taking us to see some of the sights of Mataram... namely up a big hill where all the luxury houses are owned by "rich aussies and euros" and where there was an amazing view of the city and beaches. Then we went to Senggigi beach, one of the big drawcards for tourists to the area, which was lovely. Strange, it was almost striped, some of the sand was white, some black from the volcano... and the water was so warm! It was really nice... On Friday the others wanted to lie around the pool and get a tan so we did that til after the afternoon prayers then went to south Lombok, about an hours drive, to Kuta Beach. It was gorgeous- white sand, aqua water... shame there was a reef so you cant swim that well! We just had a dip, bit of a lie in the sun, bit of harrassment by a dozen sellers cos there were no other people around... It was the eve of Idul Fitri, the big celebratory day, so there was a "carnival" in the city- a parade, like the christmas parade but the floats were all replicas of mosques in the city, and there were people singing prayers, holding lanterns and talking over microphones... and every now and then there was a trailer carrying a generator to power it all! It was pretty cool, tho we did mess up a few lines of parading people- they just stopped or turned to look at the white people and got all out of line... tsk.Saturday was a big day for the family, I didnt want to disturb them but saw them running aorund in traditional clothes and things before they went to the mosque to pray. After that it was all relaxed, jeans, and a trip to east lombok to visit family. It was a real honour to go along with them, we stopped at a graveyard and a mosque on the way to pay respects to the family no longer with us, and then went to one of the relatives house, and aunt i think. It was great! Like christmas day, everyone was happy and sitting around chatting and laughing. And the food! Wowww. Real Lombok food, all cooked by them... the best kind! It was delicious... after that we stopped at another familys house where we sat in the guest room and ate cookies with the kids. Cookies are huge this time of year. Apparently there are heaps of sorts they dont make unless its Lebaran/ Idul Fitri so pretty special... yum. There were lots of visitors to the family on the sunday too, family and neighbours, paying holiday respects. I felt a bit self-conscious lying around the pool in my bathers so I just enjoyed the shade and a good book.