LOMBOK, June 5 — It’s been often said that Lombok is a little like Bali 50 years ago. And by all accounts, the perfect antidote to the stress-induced traumas of city life.

I arrived at the newly renovated airport just after sunset, but a 90-minute car ride and a boat transfer seemed more than what my tired body could take.

But all traces of weariness faded two minutes into the ride to Gili Meno, the smallest of three islands clustered near the north-west corner of Lombok. Probably something to do with the sea breeze in my hair and all those stars lighting the way.

It also helped to know that I was a mere 20 minutes from a warm seafood dinner at the Karma Beach Club and a good night’s sleep awaited me in one of the newly built waterfront bungalows that make up the Karma Reef. This six-month-old collection of just 10 units by the Karma Royal Group sits on a sprawling four hectares.

Dubbed lumbungs because they mimic the structure of a traditional rice granary, these one-bedroom huts use local materials like bamboo. The king-sized poster bed is located on the second floor, where you can fall asleep to the lullaby of lapping waves.

Stay with the flow

If you’re a light sleeper, the village morning call to prayer will have you up well before the first rays clip the horizon. That said, watching the sun rise over Lombok in the distance is worth an early roll out of bed. Even if I would have preferred to keep on dreaming about the previous night’s dinner bounty, which boasted all manner of seafood, from the linguine alle vongole made with locally caught clams to a paella Valencia and Portuguese cataplana, both lifted by the addition of homemade chorizo, by an Englishman living on Bali.

Still, while well-fed and eager to revel in this unique opportunity to recharge my batteries, I found myself struggling with what might seem like an odd pickle. Don’t get me wrong, I love island retreats but I almost exclusively return to these feted waters to scuba dive. As such, taking on the seemingly monumental task of decisive bumming — aka the art of vegging out — was going to be a challenge.

Fringed by colourful coral reefs, the island — nestled between the bigger “party” islands of Gili Air and Gili Trawangan — is also home to turtle hatcheries, which would explain the cluster’s reputation as the “turtle capital of the world”. Yes, there’s a good dive operator on the island, I was told — before being advised that it was really best to do nothing. If I heard one more person pitch this clichéd counsel, I was going to flip.

When the sun rose the next day, and the option to do just that was looking ever more inviting. Claims of crystal clear waters are often exaggerated brochure talk. Not here. Snorkelling at the house reef after breakfast, or lunch, was an undeniably spectacular means of passing the time. But maybe after another beachside massage in the shade. Or maybe tomorrow, I conceded. Apparently, doing nothing here leads to a taste for procrastination.

Bali on a high

If Karma Reef on Gili Meno was an example of languid idling, a weekend at the group’s more established Karma Kandara Resort, located at Bali’s southern-most point (accessible via a two-hour ride by speedboat from the Gili islands via Padang Bai), represents a swankier invitation to do more of the same. Its privileged cliff-side location proffers one of the most mesmerising panoramas of the Indian Ocean. To boot, Sunday brunch at the resort’s Di Mare restaurant is one of the best ways to savour the view — and, yes, poached Canadian lobsters on the menu helped.

There’s even the option to pair this panoramic prospect with a pre-breakfast spot of yoga at the Temple Lounge (a shaded deck area above the restaurant). Or contemplate a quick dip in-between naps, with a chilled glass of fresh coconut water in hand and your feet buried in the cool soft sand. Of course, if all this begins to sound like too much work, doing nothing at its aptly named Cliff Spa is a recommended reminder of why you came all this way in the first place.

There’s just something about a 95-minute deep-tissue rubdown using hand-pressed oil curated by a local Ayurvedic “doctor” — from a remote village on the island, no less — that takes the benefits of therapeutic repose to new heights.

Scuba diving can definitely wait. 

This trip is made possible by Karma Royal Group. — Today