|
Mataram City, Main Cities of West
Nusa Tenggara
Information of Mataram city, main citiest of West Nusa
Tenggara, Indonesia.
The three popular main cities in Lombok namely Ampenan,
Mataram and Cakranegara are worth paying a visit that makes an
amazing day trip to explor. Ampenan is used to be an old port
during Dutch colonial occupation (now it becomes a fisherman
village) where the style of old architecture is still easily
seen around the town, especially if you just go towards the
beach to the west, This area serves a market at night filled
with some warungs (food stalls), food carts with local tasty
flavor and very cheap! Also you can find varied shops, cheap
small hotels, dusty roads and cidomos (horse carts), gold and
pearl shops, and Arab Quarter. No wonder Ampenan is often
called “Colorful Town”.
In Ampenan, there is a local market site named “Kebon Roek”,
close to the traffic lights on the road from the Airport. The
traders daily set up stalls selling freshly products producing
from surrounding island, local snacks, live chickens and fresh
fish. Market area is pungent but it gives a different
experience!
To the east of Ampenan about 3 KM is Mataram, is the main
administrative center for Lombok and Sumbawa (West Nusa
Tenggara Province) filled with numerous government offices,
schools and colleges, banks, mosques, bookstores, the post
office center, Mall (mataram mall that sells wide range of
goods such as jeans, shoes, and copy brand bags and belts),
department store (some electronic stores and shops selling
various clothing, CD’s and DVD’s) and university. A museum is
also found here such as historical and cultural artifacts from
Lombok and Sumbawa.
A bit further to east of Mataram, is Cakranegara (Cakra) is
the main shopping area and also home to Chinese and Balinese
that make up over 50% of the city’s population. Go shopping
makes a small tour with sporting goods, gold shops, clothing
stores and fabric stores selling imported silks, laces and
cottons. A lot of lombok’s weaving and basket making
industries are here found as well. The next town east of
Cakranegara is Sweta, a big daily covered market near the
Bertais Bus Terminal with any kinds of goods on sale, as of
foodstuffs to clothing, colorful birds, handicrafts and more.
 |
|
