Bday on Bali, Lombok and amazing Gili Trawanagan

Hello there. So since last time I did a blog we spent a few days on Bali, a couple days on Lombok and then almost a week on Gili Trawanagan, which I have decided is my favourite island of all the ones I've been to on this trip.

I've done a blog before for Bali so I won't talk to much about it. I had my birthday here which was really good. That day we got our hotel guys to drive us to a pitch to have a kickabout, then got back and had a few beers by the pool of this hotel while watching some basketball on the TV, treated ourselved to some amazing Pizza then went out on a crazy night out...awesome birthday! After a few days in Bali we sorted out our trip to get to Lombok. It ended up taking ages and was quite a pain. The taxi/van we were going in took some other people way the other direction to where we were going so it took ages to get the the ferry. When we finally got on the ferry we were absolutley bombarded by ladies trying to sell us chicken and rice, fruit, drinks etc, it was crazy! At the same time it was kind of cool though because in Kuta, where we stayed in Bali, its very touristy so to get on that ferry was experiencing a bit more of traditional Indonesia I guess. After about 5 hours on the ferry we got to Lombok and were chucked in a van and off we went to Sengiggi which took about an hour or so. When we got there we went off to find a cheap place to stay and a Polish girl tagged along. Which was actually quite annoying because after going down a pitch black path we found a place that had only one really cheap room left, but I decided it would have been pretty horrible to take it and let the Polish girl walk back down that dodgy path alone..damn her ha! Anyway later we found a decent place.

The next day we went our exploring Sengiggi, which mainly meant checking out the beaches, watching some surfing and watching the fisherman go about their business. We snuch on to a resort on the beach which was really nice and chilled there for a while. Later we went and watched some kids surfing. These kids were so good, some must have been only 8 or so and they were surfing really confidently around all these jagged rocks, it was amazing. Watched the fisherman get their catch in for the day too which was pretty interesting. Later when Jay and I settled down for a couple beers by the beach, this guy was walking around with this massive fish, this guy was so freakin' proud! He was asking everyone if they wanted pictures, good for that guy! That day we booked a van and boat to Hello there. So since last time I did a blog we spent a few days on Bali, a couple days on Lombok and then almost a week on Gili Trawanagan, which I have decided is my favourite island of all the ones I've been to on this trip.

I've done a blog before for Bali so I won't talk to much about it. I had my birthday here which was really good. That day we got our hotel guys to drive us to a pitch to have a kickabout, then got back and had a few beers by the pool of this hotel while watching some basketball on the TV, treated ourselved to some amazing Pizza then went out on a crazy night out...awesome birthday! After a few days in Bali we sorted out our trip to get to Lombok. It ended up taking ages and was quite a pain. The taxi/van we were going in took some other people way the other direction to where we were going so it took ages to get the the ferry. When we finally got on the ferry we were absolutley bombarded by ladies trying to sell us chicken and rice, fruit, drinks etc, it was crazy! At the same time it was kind of cool though because in Kuta, where we stayed in Bali, its very touristy so to get on that ferry was experiencing a bit more of traditional Indonesia I guess. After about 5 hours on the ferry we got to Lombok and were chucked in a van and off we went to Sengiggi which took about an hour or so. When we got there we went off to find a cheap place to stay and a Polish girl tagged along. Which was actually quite annoying because after going down a pitch black path we found a place that had only one really cheap room left, but I decided it would have been pretty horrible to take it and let the Polish girl walk back down that dodgy path alone..damn her ha! Anyway later we found a decent place.

The next day we went our exploring Sengiggi, which mainly meant checking out the beaches, watching some surfing and watching the fisherman go about their business. We snuch on to a resort on the beach which was really nice and chilled there for a while. Later we went and watched some kids surfing. These kids were so good, some must have been only 8 or so and they were surfing really confidently around all these jagged rocks, it was amazing. Watched the fisherman get their catch in for the day too which was pretty interesting. Later when Jay and I settled down for a couple beers by the beach, this guy was walking around with this massive fish, this guy was so freakin' proud! He was asking everyone if they wanted pictures, good for that guy! That day we booked a van and boat to Gili Trawanagan for the next day.

So we got up early so get the van to the port and off we went. We got there and had to wait around for a while, chatting to the locals. They of these guys want your shirt and are willing to trade the shirt they've got on for it. I don't really know why, I mean I could understand football shirts or something but want any shirt you got on your back! These guys also told us that Denge Fever could be a problem on the island and that we should buy some mosquito coils and spay from them to protect us from it. As soon as they said they had the stuff we needed I knew it might me a scam but bought some anyway because I really don't fancy Denge fever. After haggling with them for the stuff, we thought quit well, on Gili Trawanagan it was loads cheaper so they got us good! The little boat over then only took 45 minutes which was cool but was so packed and some people were being sick off the side, nice. When we got there we went off to find some where to stay, we mentioned to someone we wanted to pay 80,000 rp for a room and right away some guy on a bicycle said he had a place, so we followed him. The place was really cool, it was right in the middle of the locals village, was cheap and had a nice family of 4 generations running it. So ya, the accomodation was great except for a couple things. It has two mosques either side of it so every morning at 5am it would blare out the prayers, but I think that was pretty hard to get away from on the island. Also there was about a million chickens and roosters clucking about screaming all the time, but got used to that too. The family were so cool, and really got on with the granddad who would chat to us all the time and even joined us to play footy one day.

In the Gili islands there are 3 islands, Gili Trawanagan, Gili Air and Gili Meno, but we just couldn't leave Gili Trawanagan, loved it so much. It had everything that I want from an island. The beaches were amazing, the water was so clear, the weather was usually great, the people were unbelievably nice, there was a good nightlife, good diving and snorkekelling, lads that play footy everyday and last but not least a bar that is open at 4am for champions league football haha!

We went snorkelling one day, it was pretty incredible. We were told where to go to see the turtles and sharks so we went over there and checked it out. We didn't manage to see any sharks, which I actually wasn't too gutted about because everyime we were the the shark zone my heart started going crazy, but we did see a couple turles which was pretty amazing, along with many kinds of fish.

The nightlife here was great too, every night there a party somewhere. Our favourite bar was called Rudy's bar, we got a pictures with the lads that work there. These guys were crazy everynight and just seemed to be having such a good time all the time, always singing and dancing and also puting there awful english accents on that were hilarious. To be fair, they might have been like this because they were dabbling in the 'mushrooms' they were selling but they were still awesome! We went on one big night there and then went off to the main bar on the island which had the party going that night. Was a great night, met loads of different people and partied all night! The good things about the bars here too is that they have little booths that you can just watch a movie or two while chilling out with their drinks or food, so they give you things to do when your not partying! One place even had a Nintendo Wii there, awesome! All the bars here have these big signs saying they sell magic mushrooms which I always find hilarious because at the airports there's all these threatening signs saying 'if you bring drugs into Indonesia you get the death penalty', but when your here you can have whatever haha! There were no police on the island so I guess its ideal. And the thing is there's absolutley no need for polic there either, the people here were the nicest people I have ever met in my life and I doubt I'll ever meet nicer. All the time you always get 'hey brother' or you'll just be walking down the road and then find yourself jsut sat talking about whatever with some guy you've never met before in you life, and they're not trying to sell you anything either their just such cool people. I said to Jay that when I get home, I want to just say Hi to people more often, like people I don't know but to fair I'll probably just get the response 'do I know you', you do you have to know someone to say hello to them? I don't know. Anyway, the people there were great and it was the place I felt the safest by a long distance. Like I say we got on really well with the grandad of the place we were staying, we took a real interest in my family history as we swore I wasn't english and was absolutely amazing when I told him all the different countries I've got in my background, he just loved hearing about it. Another day he say I had some cuts on my legs and feet so he brought over a special plant and put some of the plant's juice on them. When we left aswell he looked genuinly very upset that we were going, I though he was going to cry....I love that guy! Another example of people wanting your shirt was this guy that ran the shop I always went to wanted my basketball coach top that my dad sent me over so much, everytime I went in there he'd try so hard for it but I said I couldn't give him that one, every time he tried just as hard thought.

Another day we went up to the lookout point for the senset over Bali which was really nice and on the way there we met some guys that had just finished playing football and we asked if we could play the next day, they said they had a match but we could play for them, no problem. So the next day we turned up, the pitch was terrible but cow pies all over and divets to break your ankle but the match was actually really organised with a kit and a team that got the boat over from Lombok as it was a league game, itwas great. There was a bunch of fans there too. We were quite unfit and in the heat only lasted about 60 minutes but it was great, we won 5-3 and after the game all the guys bombarded us with their camera phones trying to get pics with us. We managed to get everyone together for a team photo at the end, I gave my camera to a guy maybe in his 60's to take some photo's, he was hilarious. He obviously had never held a digital camera before and probably had seen people on TV puting their eyes right up to the camera so thats what he was doing, I was trying to tell him there was a screen but he kept puting his up up to it ha! He really enjoyed it too, snapping away. The footy was a really good experience anyway and got some good pics from it.

The food there was great as well because you had the choice of western food at a good restaurant or going to Warung (a local food place) and picking what you wanted, which was such good food and they absolutely pile it on your plate. The size of the island was nice too, we walked around it on the first day in a couple hours, and that was a pretty slow pace. You could walk not to far and have a beach all to yourself, or go to a more happening beach or to a good snorkelling spot, no problem. Also there are no vehicles on the island, only way of transport is to walk, rent a bicycle or get in a horse and carriage, it was fantastic.

So that's about it on Gili Trawanagn I think, like I said it's my favourite all time island and one day would love to go back and hopefully it won't have changed much. Yesterday we did the 12 hour journey back to Lombok then Bali and after staying in Bali tonight we get the local bus and ferry over to Java. There's a few cool volcanoes there so hoping the weather isn't to wet! In Java we have two weeks before we fly to Bangkok from Jakarta. So I'll probably do a new blog in Jakarta. Speak soon x

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