Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno, Indonesia

After living the high life in Bali for the previous week and a half, we donned the backpacks again and set off for the much anticipated Gili islands off the Eastern coast of Bali. The budget mode of transportation to the Gilis includes a long journey of two buses, a cargo ferry and a single engine Jukung (a boat with traditional bamboo outriggers). On average this trip should take about 8 hours... for us, it took about 24 hours. The driver dropped us at the ferry terminal around lunch time on Tuesday, July 15th and we were immediately bombarded with tour agencies even though we wanted just a local ticket. After our pampered lifestyle of late, we weren't on our "backpacking" game and were pushed into buying an overpriced ticket for the ferry leaving 'RIGHT NOW'. Right now turned out to be 2 hours later and after we realized we were burned on the deal, Jacques confronted the local head on, resulting in a screaming match. They had us with the fine print of NO REFUNDS on the ticket. With nothing left to do, we boarded the ferry with our tails between our legs. We rushed to claim a limited seat and found some at the back of the ferry in direct sunlight. No one else wanted these scorching hot seats until a young Slovenian couple boarded the ferry last minute and joined us. Jacques noticed they had the same tour company ticket that we had and started a conversation with them regarding their deal. For the same price as our half way ticket, their tickets were for the entire journey to Gili Trawangan. We devised a plan to all travel together and changed our ticket to look like theirs.



After a long 5 hours on the hot and sticky ferry, we arrived in Lombar and were greeted as a group and driven another hour to Sengigi where we had to overnight. We were all very cautious of the tourist scams and tour agency but in the end they assisted us in finding overnight accommodation. We put our bags down and went for a much deserved beer and dinner with our new travel companions, Igor and Ana. We had a lot of laughs and enjoyed the outcome of the day's events after all. The next morning, after our pancake breakfast, the tour agency picked us up early and took our group on another bus ride to Bangsal where we were hassled again before finally boarding on the outrigger to Gili T! The water was crystal clear and we enjoyed the spray on our faces as we made the 45 minute ride to the small island. Gili Trawangan is one out of 3 islands and is the largest and most popular, however, it is still very small and without motorized vehicles. The small boat pulled up to the shore and we offloaded with all of our bags and waded in knee deep water. Luckily, we left the big packs back in Bali and we were each only carrying our day packs. Of course, the local business people were already on us like flies about hotels, but we all decided to head to the right to look for rooms. Hotel after hotel were expensive and often full and we tried not to be discouraged. We split from Igor and Ana briefly and walked further inland to the village in search of cheaper accommodation. In the end, we met a local and he took us to his home stay where we had a basic room with a bathroom including a pancake, coffee and fruit breakfast in the morning for $10 a night - PERFECT for us! We settled in and met up with our Slovenian friends for lunch. As it turned out, they found a place less than 50 meters from us. After lunch, we were all tired so we found a nice spot on the beach for a snooze in the sun.









Even though Gili T is a remote island, it is very much set up for the tourists with loads of restaurants and bars. We found a "cinema" which turned out to be our favorite spot for the next few days. The cinema was "free" as long as you spent at least $3 on food or drinks and had a big screen with bean bags or private cabanas with smaller TVs for a movie of your choice beach front. Our first night in Gili T, Jacques and I settled in for the main screening of the evening - "Into the Wild". It was so nice to sit back, relax and enjoy a movie with delicious popcorn and a beer. After the movie, we went to Igor and Ana's room for a party with the locals. The favorite Indonesian drink is called Arak and when mixed with various juices and lime, becomes something called an Arak Attack. The Arak was flowing and shared among locals and tourists alike. As the night went on, more and more locals joined and brought their musical instruments and we all sang late into the full moon lit night. Araaaaaaaaak Attackkkkkkkkattackkkkkkkkk.....





After a great night's sleep and good breakfast, we enjoyed some beach time before going for an afternoon dive to Halik, off the Northern Coast of Trawangan. Igor and Ana joined for an Intro dive, but we were diving with a certified group for a drift dive. Out at sea, our group rolled off the back of the boat and began our 43 minute dive. I had a hard time with my buoyancy and wasn't able to sink at first, but Jacques gave me a weight and off we went into the current. We dove to 23 meters and saw Sea Turtles and Moray Eels among many other colorful fish and coral. Unfortunately, the coral in this area is badly damaged due to dynamite fishing earlier in the century. At times, we would encounter areas that resembled a grave yard of coral. Very sad, but with time hopefully the coral will recover. After the dive, we hung at the dive shop with the instructors and truly felt like divers. Jacques and I went back to the cinema for a viewing of "Hancock" then had a quiet dinner in a cabana seaside.

The days following, consisted of very little - we woke, ate our banana pancakes, walked to the beach and soaked up the sun. As the nights would come in, so would our movie nights. We saw "Blackjack 21" and after the rugby game between South Africa and Australia, we watched "Sex and the City" as the trade off. Every night was spent with our $1 box of popcorn in the movie cabanas with the sounds of the lapping waves in the distance.







We were ready for a little more serenity and a quieter, less touristy islands so we took an island hopper boat to the island across the way, Gili Meno, the smallest of the Gilis. Upon landing Sunday morning, we set out on foot looking for a room. Meno had limited rooms, especially in our limited budget. The only place we could find at first was a bungalow set away from the water and they weren't as nice as the simple room we just came from in Gili T. We decided to walk the entire length of the island, which takes a little over an hour to circle. We walked in the hot sun along the west coast of the island and only saw old bankrupt hotels and then nothing for what seemed like miles. Finally, we approached an area of the island with three properties next to each other. We were told the first two were full and finally the third one showed us a second floor open air hut overlooking the water for only $6 per night!! We were so relieved and happy with the cute hut that we overlooked the fact it didn't have a door. We were told we could pay an extra $1 for a fresh water shower (which seemed luxurious compared to the cold salt water showers we had been living with at Gili T). SOLD! We settled in for the next four days... We tried the lunch at the restaurant where we were staying and that was our first and last meal we ate there after seeing the abundance of flies in the kitchen and the dirty dishes piled in the back yard. When it was time for our "fresh water" shower, we were surprised to be handed a bucket of water and sent into the outhouse to bathe. It was quite different and I just had to close my eyes and accept it!







To avoid the limited choices on the North side of the island, we walked 30 minutes into town for our dinner that night and then 30 minutes back. We walked along the moonlit path and under a sea of stars and were quite happy to be making the nightly trek into "town". We were looking forward to our first night of sleep listening to the waves come ashore right outside our hut. It didn't quite turn out as relaxing as we originally hoped. Before crawling into bed for the night, we spotted a cockroach darting across the pillow. Jacques quickly took care of him and then tucked us in under our mosquito net tightly and assured me we were safe and sound. In the middle of the night, we both woke up to mosquitoes buzzing in our ears and scratching our feet and hands - Jacques accidentally kicked open the net and let in a swarm to feast on our flesh. After killing as many as we could, we were back to sleep for a brief time before our enemy, the rooster, started alerting us it was 3am, then 3:05am, then 3:07am and soooooooooo on.......... Hmmmmm, this wasn't quite the paradise we envisioned when we stumbled across the open air hut earlier that day. Finally, morning came.

The following three days were spent doing EXACTLY the same thing and it was wonderful. We woke in the morning, usually after not so great of a night's sleep - after the mosquito night, the next few nights our hut became the bat hang out with bats flying in and out of our room and screeching over our heads in search of the mosquitoes that loved to hang out in our room as well. Once we were up, we walked 15 minutes up the coast to a lovely Muslim woman's house for a home made breakfast in a beach cabana. We were usually the only people there and changed our breakfast selection between banana, coconut and pineapple pancakes. One morning, we tried special coconut spring rolls - a must try! Every breakfast was delicious and well worth the long wait. While we waited for our meal, we sat in the cabana and read our books. When our full tummies finally felt up to it, we walked back to our hut to laze more in our dueling hammocks on the deck of our room overlooking the water (we LOVED our room when we weren't showering, eating or sleeping there)! The boats from the other islands would bring the snorkelers in for the day to our side of the island, as it was the best snorkeling - the Meno Wall. We watched the tourists unknowingly eat the overpriced and disgusting food prepared from the restaurant below. Once we found the energy again, we would get out of our hammocks and swim out for our snorkel of the day. Again, the coral was badly damaged but if we swam far enough, we could see the regrowth coming to life again. We were always in search of the turtles and finally on our last day we saw one (Jacques had seen his own "turdle snake" later that day further down the coast). After 45 minutes to an hour of snorkeling we would head directly for the hammocks again. One of us would usually pull the other out of the hammock and we would walk 30 minutes down the eastern side of the deserted island to a private spot to soak up some sun before lunch. Our breakfasts were so filling and good that we usually didn't walk to town for lunch until about 3pm where we would find ourselves in another ocean side cabana with our books again. After lunch settled, we completed the circle of the island and walked back to our hut for the bucket shower experience. One day, Jacques made another attempt at climbing a coconut tree along our route home and this time he was successful in knocking down three coconuts for us! Our location on the island wasn't only the best spot for snorkeling, it was also the sunset spot. We spent every evening in yet another cabana with our Bintang waiting for the sun to set in the horizon. After our relaxing sunset, we walked the 30 minutes back to town for a nice dinner of fresh grilled fish or pizza at the same restaurant we had lunch in. Our meal, of course, was enjoyed by candlelight in a cabana before our stroll back to the bat hut. Three days of pure relaxing and doing the same thing every day really flew by!

















We departed for the 8 hour journey back to Kuta on Thursday morning, July 24th. We were ready to go after 4 nights of bugs, bats, roosters and cats. We rose before sunrise and walked to the harbor in the town for our last breakfast of banana pancakes. We stopped along the way to take in the serenity of the sunrise over the water. We departed Gili Meno at 8am on another small boat back to the main island of Lombok to repeat the journey we had done the previous week and that had taken over two days. On the 4 hour ferry ride back to Bali, Jacques strung up his hammock and we took turns laying in it and swaying with the ferry. We took another bus ride back to Kuta where Thea picked us up and returned us to the sweet life with hot fresh water showers and a soft bed. We were so happy to be back. On Friday, we hit Kuta beach for a little more of the sunshine we have gotten so used to and our final shopping excursion. We went out with Thea and Hengky for Friday night fun to a wonderful Italian restaurant and then for drinks at a posh Bali bar. Ahhhhhhhhhhh... what a relief and how spoiled we have become! We stayed out late enjoying local cocktails, talking and even a little dancing the night away. Our backpacking days are closing in on us and we are looking forward to more of the 5 star life in the coming months. First, we have a week of backpacking in Thailand before heading to South Africa!









A special thanks to Thea and Hengky who took great care of these poor and tired backpackers!! Our final days in Indonesia, they continued to wine and dine us as we relaxed with their wonderful family. We look forward to the future dive trip to Kamodo Island!