Blogs from Gili Air, Lombok, Indonesia, Asia - page 6

For the past two days the island has been atwitter with the news of a wedding scheduled to take place today. Karen and I had been made aware of this when a half dozen islanders personally invited us to the nuptials. Even if we hadn’t been invited the recent slaughter of a cow and the steady stream of Indonesians arriving from Lombok by boat would have clued us in that something big was going on. Soop our waiter, repairman and all round go-to guy took us to the village at 9:30 AM. We walked through the rear of the hotel where a well-trodden path led us to a large L-shaped open tent. Next to the tent a dozen women cooked in large pots over open fire trenches. A molehill of coconut husks rapidly gaining mountainous proportion ... read more

After quite a painless car and boat trip we arrived from Kuta Lombok to an island off Lombok called Gilli Air. This island had a couple of major differences from most places the first is to Nibby's delight no dogs allowed on the island, and the second no motorised transport all is done via traditional horse/pony and cart. We spent 6 days here. On our first day it was dedicated to the Sun, we rose at the crack of dawn to watch the Sunrise it was well worth it as it rose over the Volcano Rinjani on mainland Lombok afterwards we went back to bed for some needed rest. The first day was occupied by chilling out and playing computer games and getting ourselves into the leisurely groove, during the late afternoon we took a stroll ... read more

Well after eight days and eight nights of island life split between Gilli Meno and Gilli Air, we are trading in the slow pace, minimal change of clothes, primitive plumbing (including cold- partially- salt water showers, and manual flush toilets (the concept really did throw me at first, it's a western toilet w/o the flusher and tank, and you have to fill a little bucket with salt water from a spicket and then dump the water in the toilet, repeat as necessary- this not illiciting as nearly as much of a "you want me do what?" factor as the nasty squat toilet I encountered in the port before getting on the ferry-thankfully I have very loving boyfriend who was willing to stand 'guard' by the door in case of emergency), as we enter my last leg ... read more

024b - Indonesia - Gili Air Side Story Mama Miskah's Gado-Gado written by Hannah In all honesty, gado-gado is one of the milder Indonesian dishes, which means it has more flavor and less heat. Wilted spinach covered with a liquefied sweet peanut sauce and decorated with cucumbers and fried tofu. Those of you who know me well know I have a major sweet tooth, and will combine almost anything sweet with peanut butter (marshmallows, honey, chocolate, etc.). So the fact that this dish became an immediate favorite shouldn't be surprising. Ingredients 2 large bunches of regular spinach (~2lbs, not baby spinach) - wilted 1 cucumber - halved length wise and cut into 1/4” pieces 1 small package tofu - cut into small pieces and fried 6-8 shallots - sliced thin 6-8 cloves garlic - sliced thin ... read more

024 - Indonesia - Gili Air 06/13/08 - 07/18/08 Indonesian paradise Gili Air will always have a special place in our hearts. What started off as a cool place to do a dive master internship ended up as a personal exploration of the love we have for each other: Hannah and I, companions and partners, traveling the world, committed to each other through thick and thin, ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED AT LAST! A first glance reveals tropical paradise: pristine waters, swaying palm trees, temperate days lounging on the beach, afternoons snorkeling or diving Han's reef, and lazy nights at the bar with seafood barbecues. Peel back the layers, however, and the heart of its inhabitants can be found. Staying on the island for five weeks meant that we got to know the real Gili Air. The ... read more

Apa Kabar! Country No. 5 - INDONESIA First destination was Jakarta - on Java. Not a bad place but too many tempting shopping malls so after 2 days we flew to Denpansar - on Bali - to meet up with Danielle’s brother -Eric and his friend. They picked us from the airport by car and had a room organized for us and all! What a service!  We stayed in Ulu Watu - South of Bali - with 6 other Belgian friends. We spent a whole week there lying on the beach, watching pro-surfers, shopping at Poppies-lane in Kuta and doing some sightseeing in Ubud in more Central Bali. Hallelujah to have a car at your disposal! Bali is also the only fully Hindu island in Muslim-dominant Indonesia and it was nice to learn about their ... read more

You've seen it on television. They show pictures of it in magazines. You then dream of going to a place like it. Maybe at this point you have been fortunate enough in your life to find that special place... paradise. Paradise can mean so many different things for different people. It could be a quiet place in your home, a peaceful view from the top of Mt. Tam, a quiet dinner in a unique part of the city.... but the paradise I'm talking about here is the stereotypical white sandy beach, quiet, isolated, amazing sunset, inspiring sunrise, banyan trees, coconut groves, water that gives you a new appreciation of the blue spectrum of color... paradise. ____________________________________ May 26th - 7:30am (Laying in a Hammock on the front porch of my cottage) The soft light wakes me ... read more