Gili Trawangan

Gili Trawangan is one of the 3 coral fringed islands on the northwest coast of Lombok. Known as the party island, travellers have adopted it Gili T or Gili Tra La La. The latter probably invented by a hippie backpacker who spent a bit of time in La La Land after a mushroom binge. Apparently the island is famous for it. "We have bloody magic mushrooms. Send you to moon and back for free, no ticket needed". It's displayed on several bars on the island.

I remember my mum warning me about the mushroom consumption on Gili Trawangan.
"Careful" she said "cause they eat wild mushrooms over there, the ones that make you hallucinate".
"Oh goody, maybe I should try some" I said, anticipating my mum's reaction. I like to shock her every now and then.
"Nooo ! Don't ! They can make you really sick"
"How do you know mum ? Have you tried it before ?" I have a suspicion that my mum was quite experimental in her early days.
" I just know"
"That's not a good argument. You don't really know, unless you've tried it before ? Anything you want to tell me mum ? Come on.. out with it" I was giving my mother a hard time but I couldn't help myself, it was just too funny.

Most people come to the island by public boat from Bangsal harbor of which I've read the worst stories about. People getting scammed, touts telling lies about malaria on the islands (to sell their mozzie coils), etc. I didn't know how much of it was true but I didn't feel like finding out. So rather than taking the cheap option from Bangsal, Elle and I took the Perama boat straight from Senggigi.

Although it's the biggest of the 3 islands, Gili T is still a very small island. It's 2 by 3 kms and you can circumnavigate it in 2 hours or less, depending on wether you walk or run. The guys at Raja's recommended us to stay at Warna bungalows and we were really glad we listened cause the place was ace. It's really clean at only 7 euros a night. And.. breakfast is included ! We can choose between pancakes or omelets. Super !

The main strip is lined with bars and professional dive schools. Three of these take turns in organising a party every other night. Tonight's party is at Rudy's pub where we went to last night. This bar is rather unpretentious and has the friendliest staff who makes every effort to remember your name. "Yeeees Elle and Ivooonne.. what would you like ? One Arak Attaaaack ?". Arak Attack is a favoured drink, it's local rice brandy mixed with lime juice and honey. It's actually quite good. We ordered 2. "Ooohh.. two Arak Attaaaaacks.. moment yaaaa, Elle and Ivooonne ?". They're so funny.

A few other things I should mention about Gili T.. There are no motorised vehicles. Horse drawn carts, or cidomo as they call them here, serve as public transport. There is no police either, they're banned, together with the dogs. Well no, they're not really banned, but the nearest police station is in Bangsal. As for the dogs, there are none cause the inhabitants are predominantly muslims. There are cats though, loads of them. Oh, and the island runs on a few generators, so the occasional power cut is not a strange phenomenon. But that just makes it all the more charming, I think.

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