“This entrepreneurial family and their delicious, savvy business is what I love so much about Indonesia. Every morning, they’re here setting up shop on Jalan Pabean (the main road leading down to the sea) cooking and selling the tasty Indonesian street foods known as Serabi and Lupis. If you get here any later than 8am, they’re gone - sold out and finished for the day. It’s that good.”
I suppose the title is up for debate, here. It depends how you define “cool”. For chic hotels, Instagrammable eateries and a Bali-esque wave of gentrification, Kuta (on the south coast of Lombok) is in a league of its own. It’s where the vast majority of tourists in Lombok now head to. So Ampenan isn’t “cool” in the conventional sense of the word. It’s cool because it’s interesting. Or, at least, it’s interesting to me.
A few weeks ago, I loaded a roll of Fujifilm 200 into the back of my Canon A1 and set off on a short, early-morning bike ride with my wife Leyla. I wanted to warm up with a few shots on the bike but clearly, as you can see from these first two images, I still have a lot to learn with this whole film photography thing. Turns out I hadn’t rolled the film in far enough. Oops…
This won’t even cut it as a “warm up” shot
Sometimes these “burn” effects can look quite interesting. In this case, it sucks
Anyway, after weaving in and out of the morning rush hour traffic, narrowly avoiding death several times, we arrived in Ampenan on rumbling, empty stomachs. We’ve done this ride once or twice before, all in the name of one thing. Serabi.
Serabi sellers start (and finish) early
This entrepreneurial family and their delicious, savvy business is what I love so much about Indonesia. Every morning, they’re here setting up shop on Jalan Pabean (the main road leading down to the sea) cooking and selling the tasty Indonesian street foods known as Serabi and Lupis. If you get here any later than 8am, they’re gone - sold out and finished for the day. It’s that good.
Serabi is basically a pancake but made with a rice flour-based batter and coconut cream. After frying, it’s served up with shredded coconut and a healthy (unhealthy, actually) gloop of brown palm sugar syrup. Meanwhile, Lupis is a glutinous rice cake that’s usually steamed in banana leaves before being served in the same delicious shredded coconut and palm sugar. It’s a real sweet treat and a traditional breakfast snack throughout the Indonesian archipelago. I snapped a few photos of the process and was really happy with the results.
The serabi master hard at work
The process of pouring the batter and watching it begin to fry into the skillet is hypnotising
Adding the finishing touches
There are plenty of serabi sellers on Jalan Pabean, all doing great business
Just as I was finishing up, the man (I call him the serabi master), pointed out the sign on the wall behind him. Despite its old, faded appearance, it remained clear as day where this originated from. To my surprise, the words were in Dutch, harking back to the colonial days of Lombok.
Stroll around the streets of Ampenan and you’ll find a few of these Dutch signs still about (this is a still frame from my YouTube)
Long story short, those living in Lombok in the late 1800’s (particularly muslim Sasak’s in the East) weren’t particularly pleased with Balinese rule at the time. After a rebellion and an uprising, on February 20th 1894, pinned back and surrounded by Balinese forces, the Sasak’s formally requested the intervention of the Dutch.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, this was back in the days of European Empire when several nations, including the Netherlands, thought it perfectly acceptable to invade, plunder, pillage, abuse and seemingly do as they pleased with other parts of the world, all in the name of money. Or god. Or something. Depends who you asked.
With spice and trade in mind, the Dutch had established a huge colony in the Indonesian archipelago and the Sasak’s formal call for aid was seen as the perfect opportunity to extend their control and power in “the East Indies” as it was known back then.
So, in stepped the Dutch and the Balinese were ousted. It wasn’t all plain sailing, though. Around 500 Dutch sailors, soldiers and coolies were slaughtered when Balinese forces launched a surprise night attack at the Mayura Palace on 25th August 1894. In November of the same year, in typically brutal, Empirical fashion, the Dutch retaliated, annihilating the Balinese with artillery (they literally killed thousands) and forcing the surrender. Some of the surviving Balinese are known to have committed puputan - ritual suicide.
This painting, by J.Hoynck van Papendrecht (yep, he’s definitely Dutch) depicts events in Lombok 1894. Brutal, to say the least. Source
So, that rather condensed story is why you’ll find these Dutch signs still around the streets of Ampenan today. That’s one of the main reasons this neighbourhood interests me so much - it’s one of the few places I know of with a tangible, historical connection to Lombok’s past. It’s a little bit like stepping back in time, where you’ll find old warehouses built in 1936 and crumbling old buildings that just look very different in comparison with the rest of the island.
Buildings like this are closing in on 100 years old. I suspect some are already past that (this is a still frame from my YouTube)
Another thing that sparks my interest about the architecture here is some of these colourful (if not faded and crumbling) houses on Jalan Pabean. I’m not sure if it’s just coincidence, but they look awfully similar to the famous Peranakan houses you can find on Koon Seng Road in Singapore. It’s not outlandish to think that this unique mix of Chinese and Malay influences may have found their way to Ampenan, which was Lombok’s main port for centuries.
Old, crumbling buildings. With a lick of paint and a bit of TLC, these could be restored quite nicely, I reckon. If only there was a blueprint of how to do it…
The blueprint. Peranakan houses on Koon Seng Road in Singapore, snapped by my wife Leyla in 2022
History and architecture aside (is anyone still here?), Ampenan possesses an infectious, early morning buzz as the sun rises. People are buying breakfast and on their way to work, kids are walking to school, others are just soaking in the first rays of the day. It’s a really fun place to shoot. I got through a whole roll and came away with a lot of stuff I’m really happy with. Here are a few of my favourites.
On the way to school
I waited around here for a while until someone stepped out of the door. I think it makes for a really nice image
In most of the world, cameras are used for CCTV. Here in Indonesia, nothing sees more than the Ibus at the market
I got a little creative here. I liked the reflection of this shuttered window and gave it a go. Quite happy with the result!
Oh to be young again…
The fact that a horse and cart is still a viable form of transport here just adds to the feeling of stepping back in time
Work here starts early, before the midday heat kicks in
As you can see, there are endless things to photograph here. I love capturing people on their day-to-day and each time you visit a place like Ampenan, it’s always going to be different. And yet, it refuses to change or sway too much. As the pressures and drastic changes of the modern world encroach on the sleepier corners or the world - places such as the island of Lombok - Amepnan retains its distinct character and feel. The day-to-day is different, but always the same. I suspect that some of the things I saw are the same things seen some 167-odd years ago.
“167 years? That’s quite a specific date, Josh” I hear you query from behind your screen (seriously, is anyone still reading this?)
Well, yes. At the time of writing, roughly 167 years ago was when a certain Alfred Russel Wallace first arrived in Lombok. It was June 1856 when he noted “the beach of black volcanic sand is very steep, and there is at all times a heavy surf upon it, which during spring-tides increases to such an extent that it is often impossible for boats to land, and many serious accidents have occurred”.
“This surf increases suddenly during perfect calms...beating to pieces all boats that may not have been hauled sufficiently high upon the beach, and carrying away uncautious natives”
Needless to say, Wallace felt “considerably relieved when all my boxes and myself had passed in safety through the devouring surf, which the natives look upon with some pride, saying, that ‘their sea is always hungry, and eats up everything it can catch’”.
I don’t know why, but it brought a smile to my face when I read this, imagining him arriving in Lombok and that was his first experience, with the locals relishing in his alarm. Wallace was a famous naturalist who explored the Indonesian archipelago (the Malay archipelago as it was known back then) extensively throughout the 1850’s. It was here in Lombok, having crossed over the violent, dangerous strait from Bali, that he began to develop his theory of evolution. The famous “Wallace line” runs right down The Lombok Strait and it’s fascinating to think that he was here in Ampenan all that time ago, musing over how different the Lombok wildlife was in comparison with Bali.
Alfred Russel Wallace, 1895. Source
The Wallace Line, passing between Bali and Lombok. Source
“The Malay Archipelago” by Alfred Russel Wallace
If you’ve gotten this far, I suspect I’m preaching to the choir, but Wallace wrote an extensive book detailing his many adventures throughout the region. It’s a fascinating, unrivalled look at this part of the world during that time and whenever I read it, I’m always left enthralled and amazed by the fact he managed to make it back to the UK alive. There are certain events and one or two slurs that reflect on him as a man of his time (not to mention his admiration for how the Dutch were managing their colony), but nonetheless, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in Indonesia.
I guess the real question is, did he have a breakfast of serabi and lupis? That, we’ll never know.
Breakfast is served
Eating serabi right where Wallace would’ve arrived some 167 years ago
An interesting YouTube comment
The blog originally ended at this point but, having uploaded my episode all about Ampenan to my YouTube channel, I received a fascinating comment from a guy named Chris. I thought it was worth sharing here! It just goes to show that there are many, many interesting stories and layers to Lombok. Mads Lange has quite the story…
