Week 92 - Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, Sengiggi (Indonesia)

Surprisingly, Karen got herself out of bed and ready on time for our pick up to drive to Bangsal, 2 hours away from Kuta. The drive was painless and we were dropped at a cafe where we were told to wait for our boat. We waited for about 45 minutes before asking again and being told we could just head to the port when we were ready. A little annoyed at the trick to make you buy breakfast and after dodging the scams to get you to pay for a horse and cart, we walked about 300m and found the queue for the public boat. We weren’t waiting long before we were called and boarded a small wooden boat for the short hop to Gili Trawangan (Gili T). 

View of Gili Meno from boat on route to Gili T.

Once on the island, we checked in to our guesthouse set back from the main road. We didn’t have long to chill as we’d arranged to meet Swift, a guy we met in Malaysia who was on the island celebrating his 30th birthday. First stop was a hostel near our guesthouse for a beer and a quick mie goreng (fried noodles) at a warung (kitchen) opposite. Swift had managed to gather a group of about 20 people and together we all walked down to the pier and boarded a transfer boat to take us out to the yacht where we had tickets for the DMZ Bikini Party. The boat was a weekly party boat that sails around the three Gili islands for 5 hours or so until sunset. The boat was incredible, a 130 foot luxury, teak wood yacht holding 120 people. We were some of the last onboard so there weren’t any beanbags left on the top deck so we camped out at the back of the boat. The bar was expensive and between the three of us the best deal was to buy an entire bottle of Smirnoff (which we later topped up with our smuggled aboard cheap vodka). The sun was shining and we all had an awesome day despite our present to Swift, a Nimbus 3000 GTI, getting confiscated when Rhys jumped off the boat with it. We went hard, then went home. Rhys and Karen debated going back out but decided against it and we were all in bed by 9pm.

DMZ Bikini Party boat, Gili T.

The birthday boy, celebrating Swift's 30th with Rhys and Karen, Gili T.

We slept in late the following day then wandered to a beachfront restaurant for lunch, Rhys having gone for a short exploration walk earlier. We spotted Grant and called him over to join us and shortly after, Mario walked past (we’d met them both in Java then saw them again separately in Bali). After lunch, Rhys had seen somewhere selling cider further along the beach so we ducked in for one before wandering back to the room to chill. We’d made plans to meet Grant and Mario for dinner at the night market before finding a bar to watch the football. 

After BBQ fish, chicken and prawns at the market we pulled up stools in the Irish bar to watch the USA v. Germany game. It was all going well until the TV signal cut out and there was a mass exodus to find somewhere still showing the game. We watched the end peering over the shoulders of people a few bars down before heading to Sama Sama, one of the busiest bars on the island who were having a pre-Ramadan closing party. Karen headed home to catch up on sleep while me, Rhys, Grant and Mario stayed listening to the music and chatting until the early hours. We’re hoping to see Grant again but don’t think our paths will cross with Mario until we’re all back home in Europe - a shame because he’s one of the funniest people we’ve met and he’s great company.

We had already decided to chill out at the Pearl Lounge Resort the next day before Swift messaged Rhys to say he was there. It was a great deal, for a 100,000 rupiah (£5) bar spend you got to use the loungers and the pool and wifi. It was refreshing to be somewhere with a little bit of luxury, the food was almost gourmet compared to what we’re used to and the pool was a little oasis. We stayed at the resort for the whole afternoon before walking back down the main street to our guesthouse. 

Gili T is a party island, the beaches, although pretty, are thin and covered in coral and not great for sitting on. The main street is nothing more than a sandy track, there are no motor vehicles and everyone gets around by horse and cart or bicycle. There are loads of bars and restaurants and a few boutique shops but there’s not a whole lot to do unless you dive. It’s got a real backpacker vibe and we really enjoyed being there but were tired and ready to leave. On our last night on the island neither Rhys nor Karen wanted to leave the guesthouse. I left them in bed and walked to the market for BBQ satay and corn on the cob.

The next day we took the morning island hopping boat over to Gili Air. The Gili island group comprises 3 islands, Gili T being the largest and the party island, Gili Meno being the smallest and quietest with the best beaches and Gili Air being the middle in both liveliness and size. We were staying on the other side of the island to the ferry port and jumped in a horse and cart to get there. We pretty much dropped off our backpacks and headed to the beach. Our end of the island was pretty quiet with just a small scattering of places to eat and sit. Again, like on Gili T, the beach was covered in coral so we picked a restaurant with the comfiest sun loungers and settled in for the day. Rhys stayed for lunch before wandering back to the room to watch TV while me and Karen soaked up the sun. The sea on the northern coast was full of seaweed and pretty cloudy and strewn with coral so getting in and out was unpleasant ruling out swimming. 

Mocktails on the beach on Gili Air.

Sunset on the north coast of Gili Air.

After a while, I left Karen and walked around to the east coast and on to the jetty in the south. It was a fair old walk in the heat of the day and took me nearly 2 hours to get back to Karen, having got lost when I tried to cut inland. I took up my place on the sun lounger again and shortly after, we were joined by Rhys. That night, as we were all pretty tired we ate in a little hut on the sand on the north coast near our homestay, the food was terrible, smelly fish, rice that smelt like feet, cold satay and soggy spring rolls.

Rhys had booked us on to a snorkeling trip for the following day so we were up early and at the beach waiting for the boat to come and pick us up. Karen had a terrible nights sleep with the sounds of screeching kids, cats, cockerels and horse and carts reverberating through the thin walls of her hut all night. The boat pulled in and we scrambled aboard to join the rest of the people on the tour, with the promise to stop at the best 4 snorkel stops in the Gilis. Our first two stops were near Gili T and were for turtle spotting. At the first spot we only saw a couple of turtles and really deep but at the second we had some great sightings (Karen has found her calling in life as a turtle spotter) and Karen spotted a white tipped shark that she quickly swam away from. Our next stop was a beautiful coral garden before we pulled in to Gili Meno for lunch. We took a hut on the beach and ate while enjoying the view, the turquoise sea stretched out in front of us to Gili Air. We took a quick walk to the beach to check it out and all agreed it was the best beach in the Gili’s, before it was time to get back on the boat for one more snorkel stop. The last spot was for fish, me and Rhys have snorkeled a lot during our trip and we’re really happy when we see something we haven’t seen before, we saw three new interesting fish and some huge puffer fish.

Karen snorkeling, Gili Air.

Boats moored at Gili Meno.

The boat dropped us halfway along the east coast of Gili Air and we decided to walk south to check the boat times for the following day. It was further than we thought and with only the smallest ice cream in the world for fuel, we circled the island, walking back up the west coast to our homestay. When the tide is out, the west coast undeniably has the best beach. It was completely empty and had soft sand and clear water. Back at ours we stopped in the rooms to relax until dinner.

Walking home, west coast of Gili Air.

Rhys and Karen had been teasing me about Legends, a bar i’d noticed on the first day and used as a landmark for describing where we were on the island, so we decided to wander over there, about 15 minutes away along the sandy coastal track. We sat in a comfy beach hut with a glass of wine before deciding to head back closer to ours for dinner. We ended up sitting in another little hut, up a ladder ordering from two different restaurants and drinking lots more wine until closing time. Wine is a rare treat and it was a nice way to end our time in the Gilis. 

Karen had been up half the night again with the farmyard noises coming from next door, our hut was a bit more shielded from the racket although we’d still been woken early too. We booked a horse and cart to pick us up and take us to the jetty where we caught a public boat back to Bangsal. Once back on the mainland, we arranged what we thought was a taxi to Sengiggi but turned out to be a bemo (like a mini van with sideways seats) with a loony driver who kept trying to chase other people to get in. Finally we wound around the coastal road with spectacular views out to the islands and arrived at our hotel. 

We had some chores to run to prepare for the next week without shops and wifi (we have a boat trip and a desert island escape planned) and spent the afternoon in town. We found a souvenir shop for Karen to buy some bits to take home and, after realising just how cheap it was ended up buying some bits ourselves, including another painting. It will be interesting to see how it all fits into Karen’s bag for her to lug it home for us. We stopped for a quick lunch in one of the hotels in town before walking back to ours on the outskirts. 

Rhys and Karen stayed in the rooms while I went for a quick swim and sat by the pool until it started to rain. For dinner, we had pot noodles in our room while Karen went out on a vodka hunt. Buying spirits here is difficult and it takes a certain skill to find it. She ended up in the back room of a bar which turned out to be the only place in town selling take away spirits and came back smiling with a bottle of Absolut. We spent the rest of the night in our room drinking vodka and watching TV.

After breakfast the next day, me and Rhys went for a swim before deciding to rent a motorbike to head back up the coast towards Bangsal. Karen appeared at midday just as we were leaving and wandered up to chill by the pool. Me and Rhys spent a couple of hours meandering along the winding coastal road stopping to take photos of all the pretty coves. Although very picturesque, none of the beaches looked nice enough to pull over and sit on so once we hit Bangsal we turned around and rode back to Sengiggi. We caught up with Karen at the pool, where she’d spent the afternoon drinking beer with an Irish couple and two Australian guys, before heading back in to town to finish all our chores. We’d intended to spend some time on the town beach but everyone we spoke to said it was littered and not all that nice. Another quiet night was in order to ensure we were on top of our game for the boat trip to Komodo.

View from the coast road, north of Sengiggi.

View from the coast road, north of Sengiggi.