Poll - Please respond

With Ramdan well underway, Mimpi Manis has gone from 100% Occupancy to 0%.

This is usual for us during Ramadan but I am curious at the reasons people choose not to visit at this time.

Please respond to the poll below and if you answer no, please post a comment as to why you would not visit at this time.

Many thanks all!

Well Gemma,we can shake hands.We also have no tourist who stay with us now.Only salesmen from java and bali and a strange dude from the goverment in flores.

I've never stopped travelling in Indonesia during Ramadan, including travelling through Java and less touristy places.

I think some people are put off by exaggerations about not being able to get flights, difficulty buying food, and just sheer ignorance about Ramadan in general. Honestly, some of the misinformed comments on sites like Thorn Tree are very annoying. I doubt those people have ever actually travelled during Ramadan and are just repeating what they've read on the internet.

Personally I would try to avoid Bali around Idul Fitri - the traffic really is a nightmare. Of course, it is awful on Idul Fitri weekend in Lombok too - I remember taking 3 hours to get from Senggigi to the Jayakarta one year.

Those naughty taxi drivers in Bali (referred to in the other post - great article by the way) are also the ones that tell me every time I pass through Bali not to go to Lombok because it is "dangerous". They shut up as soon as I tell them my husband is from Lombok.

Well, I'm disappointed Lombok has gone quiet. I was looking forward to it being a bit more lively this year. For the last few years we have often been the only couple staying at Santai over Senggigi way. I was hoping for a return to the old days when I met lots of interesting guests there. Maybe it will pick up.

Hello Gemma

I hope one day to share Ramadan with local people, maybe next year :-)

Hi All,

I haven't been to Lombok or Bali during Ramadan, but I have been in Jakarta, and I would avoid doing it again. We stay in my brother in laws house, which is very near Gaja Mada Plaza (Pembangunan II), and it's very busy at that time of year. No one seems to sleep and there is constant noise all through the night, plus the drum beating to wake anyone who is asleep at dawn is a pain. But I would visit Lombok then.

My children and I were in Bali one year for Ramadan.

There are some things that happen in Indonesia that I can't get my head around.

We retired to our room after watching Home Alone at the Mastapa Gardens with some ex pats and locals.

My son who was about 6 at the time and very cheeky and was getting away with alot with the locals because he was blonde and very cute. switched on the light as we

entered out room. I dived for it and switched it off within 3 seconds. The next second there was a stone on our window. Then there was a knock on the door

from one of the staff urging us not to switch the lights on. I knew that we weren't supposed to, but my son was testing to see what happens I'm sure. This senario

happened all within one minute.

1. How did the watchman respond so quickly?

2. Was he standing looking at our window. Is there a watchman for every window?()

3. How did the staff know to dash to OUR room so quickly? There were other guests.

4. Why did my son do that!!!!!!!!? lol


There are still some mysteries....I like it that way

binalovina wrote:

My children and I were in Bali one year for Ramadan.


1. How did the watchman respond so quickly?

2. Was he standing looking at our window. Is there a watchman for every window?()

3. How did the staff know to dash to OUR room so quickly? There were other guests.

4. Why did my son do that!!!!!!!!? lol


There are still some mysteries....I like it that way

As you mentioned in another post, this would have been Nyepi not Ramadan.
It is possible that Nyepi and Ramadan fall at the same time. Nyepi is a bit like Easter - falling in March/April each year and is based on when the new moon arrives.
Ramadan is according to the Islamic calendar, which is a lunar calendar and a year is not the same as in the Gregorian calendar. So each year it is slightly earlier. The last Ramadan in March would have been in the early 90's.

As to how the watchman responded so quickly - well I dare say he knows what little boys are like and was ready for him!

Oh well.

I guess I was wrong Freo.

I did mention I may have been confused.