Greetings from Selong Belanak

Selamat Pagi,

It's great to join LombokLovers!

I am working at Sempiak Villas on the most beautiful south Lombok beach at Selong Belanak. It is really beautiful there, crystal green waters, and great swimming and quiet too. We are the very first establishment there. I don't think I would be wrong in saying there is nothing else similar between Kuta and well, sekotong? But please corret me if I am wrong. I don't want to tread on any toes, and we all want to develop the area in a copperative and sensible way and provide locals with opportunities.

Our english classes for local schoolchildren are very popular, some walking over an hour to attend. And our medical check up and orphan days are just some of the events we hold for the community.

We have 4 villas at the moment, with more planned. And on approximately 16 December we will be opening our first food outlet in a great big Lumbung style building, near the beach, called Laut Biru Cafe. So all are welcome, and now travellers have somewhere to eat, realx, and have a drink in the area. There is a private beach front, so a nice spot to rest, sunbathe, snack and drink, without being disturbed. Although, having said that, Selong Belanak does not yet have the hawkers that many other beaches have. I say 'yet', because no one would deny the enterpreneurial Indonesian spirit!

So come on down and visit us at www.sempiakvillas.com. the site is stll a work in progress, but you will get the idea at least. I am not sure whether we have already 'soft' opened, or whether those expressions mean much anymore. Anyway it's always nice to catch up what is going on elsewhere in Lombok.

Hi Adam

Welcome to Lombok Lovers and good luck with your venture at Selong Belanak.

I am guessing as the first set of villas it is where someone I know was working and am curious if she still is - Ida. She was traveling back and forth between Bali & Selong Belanak with her boss and her husband was pretty much based at Selong Belanak. I would love to pop over and see them some time if they are still there. Last time I saw Ida was in February so things may have changed since then.

Hi Gemma, and thanks for the welcome.

Yes Ida is with us still and has turned into a star chef for us. We have been most fortunate with the ability of our staff to turn their hands to many things.
Still recruiting for our new cafe though! Although chef we have.

You must come over and say hello. Road willing! We have been 'reliably' informed that repair works to the road btw Kute and Selong Belanak should be starting about now.... There was a meeting recently in Kuta about this.
Lets hope so.
Adam

How bad is the road at the moment between Mawun & Selong Belanak at the moment?

Does Ida have a day off - is there a best day to visit. I dont have my phone with me at the moment and I have a new number so dont know it off by heart yet but maybe you could PM me Ida's number and I will give her a call.

Where is the "private beach" and cafe in relation to the beach where surfers pay a nominal fee to friendly locals for parking and security. The beach I am speaking of is the usual padddle out spot for surfers visiting for the day and is a beautiful spot enjoyed by all.

Sempiak is the name of the hill on which the Villas are located. The hill is by the beach. But the property includes a fair bit of flat land that runs to the beach. The new Lumbung style cafe will be called Laut Biru and is on this flat land.
The 'private beach' is the sandy beachfront area located on the property, which we have created where we will offer sun loungers, umbrellas, and food and drinks service for our guests or day trippers who want to relax comfortably.

We are about 200m from the Selong Belanak fishing village, and will be opening mid December for business.

Sounds very nice. I wish you luck and hope to visit sometime when I am back on the island. Sounds like you should be able to coexist with the already established parking etc

Thanks Tom. You may also be thinking of Mawun beach, which is the next bay West - famous surf beach and you pay at a gate at the top of the hill way before you get to the beach, whereas Selong Belanak is a lot more beginners and good safe swimming.

Parking is no problem for us, we have our own entry points and parking.

Adam

Hi Adam

It is a beautiful place you have there. It was great to meet you today. Thanks for the welcome and apologies again for landing on you mob handed

Great to meet you to Gemma.
Hey no problems with the visit at all. Believe me, we have an amazing range of sudden and interesting guests arriving at all sorts of times wanting to see whats going on down here.

And usually the right sort of friend one would want to make. And interesting too!

Coming to Kute (well that's the way they pronounce it here!) on Tuesday. Catch up?
A

Hi Adam

I don't have any plans for Tuesday so will look forward to seeing you at some point

Hi Adam,

I visited Sempiak Villas spontaneously in october. Unfortunetely noone spoke english and I just glimpsed at the villas.. very nice. The beach was totally deserted, the guys I shared the car with said it was their favourite beach in Lombok(mine was Mawun ). Strong undertow though! The road from Kuta was ok, not as bad as everyone tried to tell us, and on the way back we took a different road which finally past by the new airport. This road was brandnew from Sempiak Villas as far as I remember. But parking at Selong Belanak.. hm. We left the driver with the car on the main road as the wooden bridge which is leading to some parking and a fishing village was in terrible condition. Would be good to park at Villa Sempiak.

So, I might be back in february. You will be open by then? :-)

sHi Nic,

Did you come to our gate? A couple of our security guys have pretty good english. We have english lessons once a week for staff, and this has been for a year now so you'd hope there was progress!

That bridge to Selong Belanak is history, but a 'new' bridge made from soil and rock, has been built that gets cars over to the car park.

We will be opening our Laut Biru Cafe this month. This is in the Big Lumbung building we have built on the flat land that goes to the beach, at the bottom of Sempiak hill.
We have our own beachfront area which will be great for lounging, in the sun or under a tree.

There is plenty of parking for people coming to Sempiak Villas, Laut Biru or our beach front area. Our signs are being made this month, so should be up by1 February!

See you soon.
Adam

Adam,

I had an amazing visit last week, with Adam, SJ and Lindy. It was beautiful there, your food was superb, the sense of community with everyone was palpable: altogether a real eye opening experience. I owe you a set of Neal Stephenson books, great things to get lost in while simultaneously trying to recall all of your advanced physics and philosophy courses.

Thank you and Clive, and Rox, for an unforgettable two days.

MH

Hi Mike,

It was great to meet you and Lindy too, and it was a pleasure to have you here.
I hope the rest of your trip went smoothly.

I look forward to your return visit and the additions to my very small library.

You can of course check us out on Facebook and Twitter to see what the view is looking like from Sempiak Villas, or what the menu is looking like at Laut Biru Cafe.

Regards to you both
Adam

Hi Adam,

soon on my way to Lombok and have been thinking of heading down your way for a day or two. Wondering what road to take, going via Sekotong or Kuta? What's the best and easiest way to reach Selong Belanak?

Hi and Great!
When are you 'in town'?
There are 3 roads to SB. One from Sekotong - don't do it.
One from Kuta which is really bad in parts but obviously an important route so people still have to use it. Road survey teams have been in actio, and work is supposed to start in May.
Best road is the one that turns off to the right after the big metal bailey type brideg after/in Penujak, although there is a rough stretch of 5kms or so.

Where are you staying?
Regards
Adam

Thank you Adam. I'm looking forward going down to your part of Lombok. I haven't been further than Sekotong before.

Leaving for Bali tomorrow and going over to Lombok on the 4th April. Will be staying at my friends house in Senggigi but are planning to travell around a fair bit, must show Lombok to my best friend from Sweden who is accompanying me on this trip. Need to check out my house on Gili Trawangan as well, it's being let to a French guy and I think there is some maintenance to take care of.
See you in a week or so. Anita

During my 4 weeks in Lombok (arrived back home yesterday) I and my friends visited Selong Belanak 2 times. It was a very pleasant experience. The trip is a bit bumpy due to the partly very bad road but it's so worth going there. Laut Biru Cafe´is a very nice place to relax at, the food is delicious. Had Nasi Campur both times as it was so good, the cheesecake with real creme was a treat for a sweettooth like me.
Ofcourse we went down to the beach and I can assure you that it's beautiful. A few local people walking on the beach otherwise we where the only people there.
Next time we visit we will stay a night or two at one of the villas.

Thank you Adam and Clive. It was so nice meeting you. We feelt very welcomed and truly enjoyed our visits.

Anita with friends Gun and Anna

Thanks Anita, it was great to have you in our part of the Island.
It is always particularly nice to have 'foodies' like yourselves give such nice comments.

I hope you had a safe trip, and can remember the warm days of Lombok!

All the best
Adam