March 19 - Mataram (Lombok), Indonesia

Today is DAY 100 of this adventure and of course they baked us a cake.

We arrived in Lombok at 2:30, so there was plenty of time to enjoy cake.

I went out on the Mataram Highlights excursion. 

And the traffic was crazy. You can get a license at 17 and helmets are required, but both laws seems a little lax.

We started the tour at the Nusa Tenggara Barat Museum to learn about the Indonesian culture.

The island is primarily Muslim, and is known as the Island of a 1000 Mosques.

I think we saw at lease 100.

We then headed to a Mosque......NO, we visited Lingsar a Temple Complex. It was built in 1714 and is the most important temple on the island for the Balinese and local Sasak.

Natural Spring water at the temple

Then it was off to the Sesela Art Market, where I bought a freshwater black pearl necklace. They wanted $50, and I was able to negotiate it down to $10. Can you say 'fake', however, I like it. The Gentlemen put on a fighting display for us.

What I liked best about the island was the rice paddy fields.

1) freshly planted, 2) mid-growth, 3) fully grown and 4) cut.

They can get 3 crops a year, yet 2 is better to preserve the nutrients in the soil.

Here are some residences

And some cool structures