The annual Qunci’s Christmas Party at Villa Qusia has become a Lombok institution over the past few years and many are hailing this year’s event on Saturday, 13 December as the best ever!
The location alone gives the Christmas Party a special, rarefied atmosphere. While the main Qunci Resorts are located on the beachfront at Mangsit; the two private villas – Qunang and Qusia – are perched high on the hill overlooking the coast, with views across the ocean to Bali. One of the features that makes the Lombok sunsets so magical is the sight of Mt Agung, Bali’s volcano, silhouetted against the fiery colours of the sky in the evening; and the view of this from Villa Qusia is superb.
This year the decorations were even more exquisite than usual, thanks to the artistic talents of Bali-based designer, Leo from Spoiled Designs. The hillside infinity pool was awash with masses of floating candles, while huge Japanese lanterns and fairy lights surrounded the stage area. Candles traced the pattern of a star on the lower lawn area, while the piece de resistance was the towering Christmas tree at the end of the pool area, which seemed to hang suspended in space as darkness fell. Crowning the tree was a glittering star, lit by a single stage light… glowing over the palm groves and coastline far below.
Around 250 of Lombok’s business owners, managers, expat residents and locals crowded the spacious Villa to enjoy free-flow drinks and delicious finger foods, while watching the stage show which is a highlight of every Qunci Christmas Party.
Regular guest visitor, Rita (usually seen performing at Mixwell in Bali), had guests in fits of laughter with his outrageous act… initially appearing as a wrapped Christmas tree, blending with the shrubbery, before unwrapping and descending the stairs in all his silver fish-tailed glory. Batting huge eyelashes and crowned with a star to rival that on the Christmas tree, he pranced, lip-synched and strutted his way through the crowd with his usual hilarious aplomb before handing over the mike to singer, Delon, from Jakarta.
Delon was runner up in the Indonesian Idol contest and, accompanied by his band, made the crowd misty-eyed with his beautiful renditions of popular Christmas carols, before moving onto the local Dangdut and other music. The crowd partied and danced until late, with everyone getting into the true spirit of an early merry Christmas.
Later in the evening, many of the revellers moved on to the ever-popular Happy Café in Senggigi, where they joined the already happy crowd on the dance floor. Top Lombok band, “Not Bad Band”, was in fine form, with lead singer Gabriel belting out popular rock and roll, while guitarist, Eddy, wowed the crowd with fantastic solos and lead breaks.
There’s a tendency amongst those not in the know to think that Lombok is a sleepy island with not a lot of nightlife, but anyone witnessing the party that night would know better. With superb dining establishments such as Square Restaurant and friendly bars such as Happy Café, together with great nightclubs like Marina and Sahara, there is plenty of action to be found in town. And, while Bali has its Ku De Ta, Qunci Villas in Lombok is shaping up to be a similar type of trendsetter in Lombok. Certainly they have driven the major events on the island in 2008 and, if rumours are true, even bigger things are to come in 2009.
