Mayura Park ,Recreation in the centre of the city

The front side of Mayura Park

           Build by Balinese King, Anak Agung Made Ngurah in Lombok at 1744,Mayura park was built as the court temple,in the early days the park was named Klepug park,the name "Klepug" came from the sound of the water that fall in the pool,at those days there's a lot of snakes around the pool and it makes people around the park ecspecially Balinese that want to pray in the temple in the park feel scared and didn't feel comfortable during praying, so the priest suggested the king put some peacock bird in the park because the peacock would eat the snake. Slowly the population of the snake more decrease,and nowdays there's no more snake to be afraid of.
           Because a lot of peacock that guard the park,there's a suggestion to change the park name in to Mayura (or "Mayure" spelled by Sasak and Balinese people) because Mayura it self means peacock in Sanskerta languange.Nowdays, Mayura park not just only for Hindu's people that want to pray,everyone can go to the park as it become the tourism destination.

Bale Kambang

      There are few part in the park, there are a large size of pool with a green garden viewe surround it, and in the centre of the pool there's a house with traditional and unique architecture named "Bale Kambang". In the early days, when age of Deutsche colonialsm, Bale Kambang used as a court house to court the people the had troubled with the law. Beside the pool and Bale Kambang, there are also several Pura that Hindhu's people use to pray. There are Pura Gunung Rinjani,Pura Gedong,Pura Padmasana and Pura Ngelurah. These Puras open for public, it's closed certain time,used by the Hindhus people to pray,ecspecially when the time celebration for Galungan,Kuningan, and any other Hindhu's holly days celebration.

Place for relax

        It's not too difficult if you want to visit or go to the park, because it's located in the centre of Cakranegara,there's a lot of public transport that you can use,from traditional like "bemo" or "angkot" or maybe taxi,you can also rent a motorbike so that you would feel more free to go to anywhere even after you visiting the park. The cost to enter the park it's not too expensive only five hundred Rupiah including for parking and entering ticket.If you looking for more alternitive tourism destination beside beaches,forrests,and waterfalls, the park could be an alternative to bring all your family in vacation.

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Topat's Fight in Lingsar,harmony between two religion

Preparation before "Topat Fight"

            There's a said that "if you go to Bali,you couldn't see Lombok,but if you go to Lombok you could see Bali",litteraly this said had a point,because in Lombok we still can see many Bali's traditional culture, like temple that the Hindhu peoples goes to pray,or few traditions like ogoh - ogoh parade which held once a year before Hindhu's new year, although majority of Sasak people are muslim,but both religion could live in harmony one another,many these Balinese culture we could find in Mataram and West Lombok Regency and also North Lombok Regency,because only these Regencies that could be dominated during the Karangasem kingdom invasion in late of 17th century.One of the temple that still exist until now is  Pura Lingsar in West Lombok Regency, located in Lingsar district,9 kilometers eastwards Mataram make this temple not so hard to find.

People bring "sesaji" as an offering to the Gods

           Built around 1759 by the Karangasem King,Anak Agung Gde Ngurah during the Karang Asem dominitation,the temple originally was to prevailing animist belief at the time.The "Topat/Ketupat Fight" it self is to preserve the spring in the temple,sasak's people call it Kemaliq which mean sacred and they believe that the spring could bring prosperity to the people around the temple,so the Sasak people brought fruit and "topat/ketupat" (rice cakes that had been boiled and steamed and covered by coconut's leave) as an offering to the Gods.

People ready to do the topat fight

             This event held once a year in the 6th full moon in Balinese Calender called "purnaming sasih keenam" and also in the 7th full moon in Sasak's Calender,The event usually held in the afternoon in the time that called " Raraq Kembang Waru" (When Waru Flowers Fall) which is believe it's the sign for the muslim people doing Ashar pray,so after the muslim doing Ashar pray,and the Balinese done with their pujawali praying,the topat fight is ready to be held.Usually it began by the speech from the local government representing by Bupati Lombok Barat (Goverment officer in charge of Lombok Barat regency),and procession followed by traditional dancing and Sasak traditional musik instrument such as kecimol and gendang beleq.

The Balinese people and Sasak people doing topat fight

              After all the opening ceremonial done,Muslim people (from Sasak ) and Hindhu people (from Balinese) ready to do the topat fight,theiy make two groups and stand face to face each other. They start to throw the topat each other,there's no anger or hate in this ceremony,it's symbolize the harmony between the Muslim and the Hindu.After the fight is over people usually brought topat's home,because they believe if they spread it their rice field or plant it could be as a fertilizier and could bring prosperity to the land.

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Tanjung Ringgit, a bay with war history behind it

View from the cliff

             In the south east part of Lombok,at Jerowaru district,we can find an enchanted bay view from the cliff on Tanjung Ringgit,the location is only 1 kilometer eastwards from Tangsi Beach (Pink Beach),beside the cliff,in the same location we can also find the cannon gun that has been abandoned by the Japanese army.The cannon had been using by the Japanese army to fight the allied forces during the world war II,there's also a cave that they used to hide inside it.
           Local people were used to construct the railroad,the cave,(which more likely a tunnel) and emplacement the cannon gun to the top of the ridge, nearby the lighthouse.The gun originally located to prevent the Allied submarines from getting to Lombok.

The Cannon Gun That abandoned by the Japanese army

        If we had a plan to go to the location, maybe there's several things that we might have to prepared before we go.since there's no restaurant or any store that sale any food or drink,we might have to prepared for food and drink before we go,instead the weather is hot in the area,and since there's no public transport that we use to get there, we should use personal transport like rent car or our own vehicle.

View of the bay

            Although some of the railroads in southest Lombok are particularly rough,and specially to Tanjung Ringgit is not easy,it's worthed and fascinating area to explore for those who like more adventure on their trip and vacation.
           

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Sesaot,another fascinating forest in Lombok

      

Welcome Gate

             Although Lombok is wellknown for it's beautifull beaches,but it's also had a lot of fascinating forest which is mostly located in the northern side of the island,because it's nearby the Rinjani Mountain, the biggest mountain in Lombok that had many spring that fertilized the land and had genuine and fresh air.One of the forest is Sesaot forest located in Sesaot Village,in Narmada district part of West Lombok Regent.
                 If we want to get to the place from Mataram,it's only 18 Kilometres away from Mataram City (approximately) and it's only need for about 45 minutes to get to the location.Generally,the forest is divided into 3 main area,primary forestry,secondary forestry,and the agroforestry.With the 5.999,2 wide coverage area,Sesaot forest is the perfect place for people who likes outdoor activity such as outbounding,camping,fishing,and swiming along the cool water of the river.

               The forest had for about 56 spring that came directly from under Rinjani mountain flow through the river,the river called Aik nyet (Cool Water) before it channels through the dam to watered local farmers ricefield.Walking among the trees could be a fun activity during holiday or weekend for student or office worker to relieve the stress from daily routine activity,by seeing the view,get some fresh air,and a little bit playing on the water,it could refresh your mind,body and soul before you get to your normal activity in weekdays.

             
       

Sesaot Swiming Pool and Playground for family

           We can also enjoying Lombok traditional food such as Sate Bulayak, Pelecing Kangkung and the famous Taliwang chicken grill while we watch the view around us sell by local people.Unfortunately until now there is no public transportation that we can use to get to the place but don't worry,we still can use rent car or motorcycle,The price is about 600.000 IDR for 10 hours for the car,and 50.000 IDR for a day for motorcycle. If you don't want to camp in the forest and just want to stay in your hotel there's plenty of hotel in Mataram city that would provide your need. So don't forget to bring your camera to documentation the fascinating view of the forest that also known as the lung of the island get refresh.
                   There are two places that we can visit to enjoy the forrest,first is the Sesaot swiming pool that located right behind the welcome gate,in this area you can bring your kids to swim on the river or the swimming pool,there are also a flying fox to test your adrenalin.The second spot is aiknyet (cold water) bathingplace which located 2 km from the first (Sesaot swimming pool),in aiknyet the atmosphere of deep forrest is truly feel,high trees and sound of the river and also the bathing place is so refreshing.

Aiknyet bathing place

       To get to the bathingplace from the parking spot, it's also a struggle,we need to walk go deep in to the forrest,up and down the stairs.If you feel hungry or thirsty,don't worry,along the way to the bathingplace there's lot of local people selling food and drink,you also could get a rest on "berugak" (sasak's gazebo) after that you can enjoy the view,relaxing,taking the meal,or taking a bath on cold water of the river.For every spot in Sesaot forrest (Swimming pool and aiknyet bathing place) the ticket price for every person is 3000 IDR ,and the parking tariff is  2000 IDR for motorcycle and 5000 IDR for car.

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Benang Setokel,waterfall hidden inside the forest

The Waterfall that hidden inside the forest

            Lombok had many beautiful waterfall,the waterfall usually hidden deep down inside the forest,and it's mostly located in the north side of the island,one of the waterfall which located on the central Lombok region is Benang Setokel waterfall.There are several ways to get to the location of the waterfall,from Mataram, (The Capital of West Nusa Tenggara) it takes approximately 45 minutes and the distance approximately 30 km,but if we take the trip from Praya (The Capital of Central Lombok region) it would take 25 minutes heading to the North from Praya.

The stairs and forest that we have to go through before get to the waterfall

         The ticket to get in to the waterfall location is 1000 IDR for each person.For parking, it cost 1000 IDR for motorcycle and 2000 IDR for cars, before we can see the waterfall we have to walk from the parking area to the waterfall through the stunning green forest.Climbing and downing the stairs.It might a little bit exausthing, but it's all get paid after we get into the location. The Location usually get more crowded during the weekend or holiday season. Local tourist usually take all their family member.

The Local tourist enjoying playing water in the waterfall

       There are also legend and myth that locals still believe about the waterfall, they believe that in a certain moment of the year, Dewi Anjani ( A myth creature that represented by the form of beautiful princess which is believe stay in Mount Rinjani) would go down from the Mountain and take a shower under the waterfall to cleaning her hair,so local people believe that if they had a problem with their hair like hair loss or dandruff and they take shower under the waterfall,it would cure their hair problem.

The tourist enjoying the view of the waterfall

           With two ways of water falling from 30 meters heights the Benang Setokel waterfall would give an asthonishing wiew among the freshness of a green forest and it would refresh your mind,body and soul before you came back to your home,so if you a kind of person who like a little bit adventure,the trip to the waterfall would suits you.






               

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