Gili Willies

Was quite behind on my blog due to money issues, lack of electricity in areas, being on boats and treks, etc. So I will be posting a whole flurry here now.



With just 2 million rupiahs (1 dollar = 10,000rp), no more atm cards, and a couple of backup benjamins, I left tourist central Bali for Nusa Tengarra, specifically Lombok Island, and more specifically the gili islands to the tiny islet of gili air. It was a full day of travel from Ubud to gili air that involved bus to padang bai, the ferry port, a 5 hour ferry to go 25 km (15.5miles) (yes, you’re right michael phelps would have beaten that ferry swimming to lombok, a another bus to the port of bangsal, a 1km walk to the terminal, and then a fishermen boat to gili air. I did it with a tourist company or otherwise it would have just been very difficult, but all the same it was a long day, which wasn’t aided by the fact that it was raining all day, which meant cold on the ferry and getting rather wet on the 2nd bus which appeared to not be very water proof. The gili islands are famous for being beautiful tiny islands which are close by, but seem very far from the hustle bustle, and chaos that is kuta beach bali. Thus, lots of the ”holiday makers“ and other people just travelling in the bali area come to them. The trip was definitely long with lots of changeovers, but overall quite smooth for the indonesia that I know, yet, geeze, almost everyone was whining and moaning, and I had to laugh to myself inside just thinking how easy this was compared to a lot of things I’d been on. When I got onto beautiful gili air, I walked around a bit looking for a place to stay. Most wanted 20 bucks, but they soon figured out that I wasn’t that kind of tourist and was able to barter down to 7 bucks a night with a big breakfast included for a place right near the beach that included it’s own shower, which was cool b/c it was an outdoor shower where you could pick mangos by standing on a bucket by the toilet, though they were unfortunately not ripe yet. The three gilis each have a personality of their own. Gili Trawangan is known as the party island, Gili Meno for the honeymooners, and gili air for a more laid back place with a nightlife in between meno and gili T. Gili air came highly regarded by the czech guys, so that’s where I went, and I didn’t regret it at all. All three gilis have no cars or motorbikes, which was great after being in bali and the only transport is horse drawn carriages called cidamos which go around the island on a sandy road. There is also no freshwater on the island so all showers and teeth brushing are with some good saline water. The first night there, way back on september 20th, I walked around the island (takes about 1 to 2 hours depending on your beach stroll pace) to watch the gorgeous red sunset over gunung agung, the large volcano on bali and finished the night at Fatima’s warung (eatery) who was so happy to have a western eating at her little local place. But why not, the food was better and the prices ¼ of those at the reataurants. Throughout my stay I would visit fatima quite a lot for some fried bananas or a quick 50 cents nasi campur meal for an energy boost.

The next morning, I woke up early to beautiful skies and watched the sunrise over mt. Rinjani, the tall volcano on lombok. That morning with the great weather and sun, I walked around the island again enjoying the empty white sand beaches, beautiful turquoise water, and nice views of lombok and the other two gili islands. Just a great laid back, chilled, small tropical island that still has a traditional local lifestyle going on with a village in the interior and cows and goats roaming around. Explored the village a bit where I was offered some unfortunately very unripe mangos. The clouds rolled in a bit and I spent the rest of the afternoon on one of the little beach bungalows with cushions overlooking the sand and reef sipping fresh fruit shakes, reading a john grisham (classic beach read), and enjoying the ocean breezes. That evening I again walked around the island enjoying the sunset and then stars and then treated myself to a fresh fish grilled over a coconut fire. Even though I was getting quite low on backup money with no atm card anymore (I had kind of set out a budget with how long my money would last with what I had and it appeared it would run out near labuan bajo a few days before reaching flores, but I guess it would just be an adventure, but also my wise mother had also found some potential ways to wire me money if I could find a western union during a weekday...a smart person would just hang out a bit on the gilis and then return back to bali once the card came in, but I didn’t know how long that would be til and there were things to do and places to see, plus a wise man once said, the greater the risk, the greater the reward, and I saw little in reward for waiting around in bali kuta area) , I found myself treating myself more here than I had in the past. Live and let live right? Part of it was because, as unbelievable as this may sound, I figure this may be my last little tropical paradise island that I will be staying on for the rest of my trip as I have not left enough time to do cambodia and vietnam fully, so I will most likely be skipping their beach and island resort areas. And then also just because everything was so cheap. The big, whole grilled fish was only 5 bucks and fresh smoothies at seaside cabanas for less than a dollar.

On the 22nd, I took a snorkel tour to snorkel around gili air as well as Gili T and Gili meno. We snorkeled at 4 really nice spots, but found out that the best spot of them all was the reef right in front of our beach on gili air. Some some turtles and some huge bumphead parrotfish, but really just lots of good tropical fish. The trip was good fun with an interesting spaniard and two really fun dutch gals. That afternoon I spent more time on a beach side cabana watching the gorgeous view and sipping fresh fruit juices, and then of course that evening walked around the island again watching the sunset—what can I say, I’m a walker. That night I treated myself to some very tasty gnocchi from a place run by italians. My first western meal in quite some time. I really loved the gilis and could have stayed there much longer. Loved how laid back they were, the lack of motor vehicles, how every restaurant, guesthouse, etc was right on the beach overlooking gorgeous water, and how all the little cabanas had nice fluffy pillows to sit on and watch the tide go in and out. Could have stayed there along time just relaxing and hanging out, but adventure always calls elsewhere, so the next day I would be heading off back to Lombok after a fried banana and sad goodbye to fatima.