Gili Trawangan & Bali, Indonesia (13 - 31 May 2009)

Gili Trawangan & Bali, Indonesia (13 - 31 May 2009)

After yet another day in Kuta, I was picked up at my hotel at 6 o'clock in the morning on Tuesday to be taken to Padangbai to catch the ferry over to Lombok. Whilst I was too tired to chat up with the people in the minivan, I was meeting Johnny, an English guy, and Melanie from Germany on the 4 1/2 hours boat trip, and it soon turned out that they were heading to the Gili Islands as well. So we shared a minivan for the short 2 hours journey through Lombok before boarding one of the several little boats to take us over to Gili Trawangan. What a fantastic surprise to arrive on an island that looks like from the tropical beach brochures: sunshine (in this case the late afternoon sun), white sand beaches, turquoise-blue water, all along a tiny little beach front village, and - the best - no cars or scooters, but only horse carriages and bicycles. Already on the boat we decided to share a hotel room, so we found a cheap but nice and clean one for just a couple of dollars per person per day. And since we had been sweating like pigs for the whole day, we immediately headed for a cold Bintang beer in a nearby lounge bar and jumped into the water - how refreshing!

So the upcoming days we spent usually at the beach, where during the day we found some fantastic spots to snorkel and se lots of fish, corals, and even many turtles. Absolutely amazing! Since there were regular power cuts on the island and the internet connections were generally very slow, we usually spent only very limited time online but rather enjoyed a cold after-beach beer or cocktail, fresh seafood in one of the various little cozy restaurants, and some more drinks afterwards at Rudy's Bar or in the Irish Pub (all more or less open-air). Really cool! And of course we met more people like for example Matt from Canada, who we hang out with for the rest of the week.

One evening, Johnny and I took a horse taxi to the northern part of the little island to visit Grace, a friend of mine from The Hague, Holland, who is running some bungalows and a little tapas bar in Gili Trawangan since three years. It was very nice to see her there, and the tapas are absolutely fantastic.

It was a sad moment when Johnny and Melanie decided to head back to Bali on Sunday, especially since Lina and Matt had left aleady earlier. At least there was the Shanghai F1 grand-prix on television at Rudy's, and on Monday, after an easy day at the beach, I went for some food to the Irish Pub where I met Angie, a girl from Scotland, and soon after Amit and Sara from London. After a coule of drinks I invited a nearby sitting girl, Ani from Uruguay, and later on also Lina from Brazil and Callum from England to join us, and the evening went kind of out of control... The night afterwards yet another Sara (this time from Sweden - I had met her a week earlier in Ubud as she was staying at the same hotel as Severine and me) and her crazy friend Claire from Ireland.

The upcoming days were great, and we had soooooo much fun. Whilst some were leaving (e.g. Lina, Sara & Amit), new people were arriving (e.g. Carolina & Valeria from Italy), and so without really noticing or doing a lot, two weeks in this tropical paradise were over very quickly. The last night we all spent at the Tir-Na-Nog before heading over to the Blue Marlin Club in where I said good-bye to Angie, Ani Sara, Claire, Calumm, and all the others.

With a sad eye I went on the one-day-journey back to Bali on Tuesday morning, knowing that Carolina and Valeria who had taken the fast boat would stay at the same hotel in Kuta as I, which was kind of a great feeling. So after my return in the evening we went for some food and drinks (but nothing too wild after two weeks of partying on the Gilies...).

On Wednesday I rented a motorcycle and drove all the way up to Ubud and Sukawati again to meet up with two painters I had met two weeks before and of whom I wanted to buy some paintings of (which I did: with a total of 19 acrylic paintings I left Indonesia after one month...). In the evening I was back in Kuta, and again I went out for some food and a couple of drinks with the Italian girls who I had convinced to share a car with me on Thursday and do a road trip to the beaches of Nusa Dua, Jimbaran and Dreamland, before seeing the sunset at the monkey-covered temple of Uluwatu all in the south of Bali. Very nice! My last night we spent in a beautiful and very good Italian restaurant in Seminyak, and again Carolina and I went out to a little fun club in Kuta.

The girls had booked a day trip to Ubud and some other places in Bali, however, I had to take my flight to Hong Kong in the afternoon, and so I spent my last hours shopping (jeans, t-shirts, etc.).

With a tearing eye I left Indonesia who I really liked a lot (the mainland of Bali & the beaches of the Gili Islands), and since I did overstay my 30 day visa by one day I even had to pay a fine to the airport authorities...

---

---

---