Gili Islands - The jewels of Lombok

The Gili Islands are just off the coast of Lombok in Indonesia and consists of 3 jewels that rise out of the crystal azure waters into 3 specs of island paradise. Each of these spectacular islands have their own unique character, Gili Trawangan (other wise known as Gili T) is renowned for it’s surf breaks and non stop party atmosphere, offering all the home comforts any weary traveller could ask for, Gili Meno offers a tranquil peaceful atmosphere which is created for rest and relaxation and finally Gili Air which is a gentle mix of the other 2 islands. After much thought and deliberation we decided to spend the next leg of our travels on Gili Air, it seemed to offer us both a taste of exactly the right mix of what we were searching for.

From our last blog we left Padang Bai in Bali on the fast boat to the Gili islands, and after 2 hours of high speed wave riding and bumping wave after wave we finally arrived on Gili T where we chartered a boat to whisk us off on the half an hour trip to Gili Air. On arrival we were both smiling from ear to ear, taking in the paradise that confronted us from the boat, it seemed so perfect, no cars or motorbikes exist on the islands and all transportation is carried out by horse and Cart called Cidomo’s or by bicycle. After seeing the unfortunately clearly stressed horses on the Island we decided to walk across the island to the north side to look for our accommodation as it seemed like it was a nice relaxing place to stay after reading our Lonely planet guide (which we have already found out is out of date and lacking some crucial information!). The 30minute hike with our rucksacks in the middle of the midday sun seemed to take forever, with both of us almost ruing our choice of not taking the numerous offers for transport by cidomo’s! After finally arriving at our choice of accommodation we found that the islands were still quiet and high season had not picked up yet so there was plenty of bargaining that could be done on room prices. After some negotiations with the owners we managed to get our beach hut for around £6 a night as we were staying for a long period of time. The hut itself was about 25m from the alluring calm waters of the sea and was spacious inside and on the whole reasonably clean if you ignored the few cobwebs which were hanging in the weaved Nipa (weaved palm frongs) roof (much to Lucy‘s annoyance! - More spiders).

Our time spent on Gili Air was taken up by lazing in hammocks in the midday heat reading books and listening to music, gently swinging in the sea breeze, walking around the island most days, taking in the stunning pallet of colours in the cooling shallow waters around the island and taking in the sights and smells of local speciality foods. We both also jumped at the chance to don our scuba gear and go and see why Indonesia is a world acclaimed diving destination, and needless to say we weren’t disappointed, with a myriad of exotic coloured fish and coral, ranging from some very rare species of small life to numerous gentle majestic turtles who were all taking time out from the great ocean wanders to rest and recharge in the warm shallow waters of the local house reefs.

We both thought we should go and experience what life was like on Gili T so we took the island hopper boat over for the day to give ourselves a comparison to Gili Air, it is a much more developed island that is starting to cater for more upmarket holidays and backpackers as well as having a wide variety of choice of budget digs. It even has a 5* hotel now which seemed extremely nice and made both of us go a slight shade of green at the thought of the people staying there. To us it was a nice change to see the difference in the islands but we both decided it was all a bit too crowded for us and with a lot more people hassling you for their services. After spending the rest of our time doing a spot of shopping on the few market stalls and shops available which there is a distinct lack of on our island (which Lucy thought was a HUGE inconvenience!) we jumped on the island hopper back to Gili Air just in time to enjoy the crisp thirst quenching taste of an ice cold Bintang beer whilst watching the sunset over the ocean.

We were lucky enough to get a chance to chat and mingle with a lot of very nice local people whilst on the island and they gave us a lovely insight into the culture and hardships which people on these gorgeous islands have to endure in order to survive. But not a single one of the local people moaned about the trials and tribulations of their families or survival and all of them had a loving appreciation of the place that they are lucky enough to call home.

We are off to Kuta in Bali now for a week or so of shopping and taking in the sights and sounds of the vibrant surfers paradise.

Take care and Lots of Love

Andrew and Lucy

Xxxxx

P.S - A small piece of advice to anybody staying on the Gili Islands, make sure you keep all your valuables and belongings in your room at night and not on your balcony as there has been incidents of items going missing from accommodation balconies at night even though the islands are very safe themselves.

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