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SUMBAWA BESAR |
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SUMBAWA BESAR 's open streets are lined with crumbling white plaster
buildings, bright-blue wooden doors adorning its many shopfronts. It is
now the largest town on the island, and visitors looking to break up the
bus-run across the island could do worse than stop here. It's a
sprawling place with no particular centre and, apart from a small
cluster of losmen on Jalan Hasanuddin near the river, accommodation is
also spread across town.
Most buses from the west arrive at Barang Barat bus terminal on the east
side of town, a fifteen-minute walk south from the centre, but they may
drop you at the more central old bus station on Jalan Yos Sudarso. Early-morning
buses going east to Bima (Rp12,500), Dompu (Rp7500) and Sape (Rp15,000)
leave from the Barang Barat terminal from 5.30am until 3.30pm. For
Taliwang (Rp3000) and night buses running both east and west, use the
Karang Dima terminal , 6km northwest of town, reachable by bemo from the
town centre. The yellow bemos , bemo kota, do round-trips of the town
and can be flagged down on the street or picked up at the Seketeng
market terminal on Jalan Setiabudi; they charge a flat rate of Rp400.
The airport is a short dokar ride into town and a five-minute walk to
the Tambora Hotel; the Merpati office is on Jalan Yos Sudarso by the
post office, and the Tambora Hotel is also an agent. The nearest Pelni
port is at Badas , to the north of the city.
The BNI bank at Jl Kartini 10 (Mon-Fri 8.15am-4.15pm) has an ATM. If
you're heading east and have currency other than US dollars, then change
enough here to see you through. The post office is located on Jalan Yos
Sudarso, and the Telkom opposite has international telephone and fax.
The best source of information in Sumbawa is a guide called Abdul Muis,
who can be contacted through the Tirtasari Cottages (tel 0371/21987),
about 5km west of town at Seliperate. He is the only real choice for a
guide to climb Gunung Tambora or visit Sumbawa's only practising animist
peoples at Tepal. The PHPA parks office is on Jalan Garuda (Mon-Sat
8am-3pm; tel 0371/21358), and can provide information about Pulau Moyo.
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