The best of island living in the Gili Islands!

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On the morning of January 31st, myself and Aoife took a "fast boat" Bali to Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three 'Gili Islands'. The trip was around an hour and a half and we were glad to reach land after a fairly ropey boat ride. The driver was a lunatic and was flying through the massive waves. There was a good few people getting sea sick. I had to look away or I would have been sick just looking at them. Safety is not their strong point in Indonesia and there are many boating accidents.

The Gili islands was definitely our most anticipated place to visit, the pictures we had seen and the stories we had read before going there set our expectations high for an idyllic paradise. There are three islands, Gili T, Gili Meno and Gili Air. Gili T is the most developed of the three with a population of approximately 700 people, then Gili Meno with around 300, and then Gili Air with even less. There is no motorised transport on the islands; the taxi system is horse and cart.

The Gili islands are impressively beautiful, encircled by white sandy beaches with clear turquoise blue waters filled with colourful fish and sea turtles. On Gili T, the majority of the bars, restaurants and accommodation are on one side of the island but there is new 5 star resorts now been developed on the other side of the island. You get the feeling that Gili T is at the tipping point of becoming over developed, heading in the direction of some of the Thai islands that feel more like Western colonies. The irony is that as more people talk about this island paradise, the sooner it will reach that fate.

We spent 3 nights on Gili T before heading to Gili Meno for 3 nights and then another week back on Gili T. The first few days on Gili T were great. We spent most of our time by the beach and snorkeling in the crystal clear water. We rented bikes to cycle around the island. I also ran around the island (about 45 mins) each day and in the evening I joined an 11 aside game with the locals. The pitch was an absolute cow patch and the grass was nearly a foot long in parts. Most of the lads played in their bare feet, some with runners and a few lucky ones had football boots. Still, I was informed by one of my teammates who had limited English "we play Barcelona way". Fair enough. I played in my hiking runners, which would explain my dramatic fall that Aoife caught on camera when I slipped in cow shit! At night we ate in either Tir na Nog or Scallywags as they both put on top notch BBQs. You just had to pick two skewers you wanted from your choice of chicken, beef and fish and helped yourself to the different side dishes. Life was good; we were living the island paradise dream.

We left Gili T for Gili Meno at 4pm on February 3rd and there was no let up on the rain. It is just across the water, about 20 minutes by boat. We got absolutely soaked and then we had a disaster finding accommodation. The island is deserted, with one bar/restaurant by the harbour and a small amount of accommodation scattered around the island. We followed some woman up a dirt path but we didn't like the place she was offering. So we proceeded to walk in the direction of a place I read about online. Of course we got lost, thanks to some poor signage. We were wading through puddles of muck and shit. I almost creeled myself four or five times. I'd one bad slip that would have been funny if it wasn't for the lashing rain and being lost with big soaking rucksacks weighing us down. We eventually came full circle back to the harbour and went up about 70 metres from the beach to stay in one of the small bungalows owned by Abdul and his family. Even though it was raining, it was nice to chill out on the balcony out front, surrounded by the palm trees and away from regular life. You don't get much further away than a secluded island in Indonesia!

Abdul was a sound guy, a real wirey Indonesian with not a pick on him. We got chatting about fishing and it turns out he uses the traditional spear gun approach. You basically take a deep breath, ‘free dive’ down 4-5 metres, sit and wait at the bottom for a couple of minutes for the fish to come close and then you seize the right moment to shoot and surface with your fish, if your aim is good! I was supposed to go spear fishing with him one of the days but it never happened due to the weather which was probably a good thing.

The restaurant in Meno is at the harbour and dinner was served to us in our own open hut, with the ocean crashing up in front of us. It was amazing! All was good at this point. However the next day at lunch in the same place, Aoife got food poisoning, which got progressively worse over the next few days. Despite a couple of trips to the doctors she was sick for the remainder of our time on the Gili Islands. For those of you have been sick due to food poisoning, you can understand how debilitating it can be, the need to be close to a bathroom at all times, difficulty in keeping any food down and the resulting dehydration. Also, you become very aware of the poor level of hygiene. It is also not their strong point in Indonesia. The worst thing is that there are no dogs allowed on the islands so the cats have overrun the place, roaming the restaurants and the kitchen area freely. Most of them are mangy, just skin and bones.

Our time in Gili Meno was not all bad though. It is a beautiful untouched island, as close to a deserted island as we have experienced. We spent time on a beautiful beach, did some snorkelling and we got to meet a few locals. I even had a kick around with a few of the local lads one day.

After 3 nights in Gili Meno, we got the boat back to Gili Trawangan. Since Aoife wasn't well and we were after 3-4 weeks of very basic accommodation with cold showers, I decided to book us into one of the 5 star accommodations on the island. It was fairly snazzy with our own TV room and private Jacuzzi. We stayed on Gili T for another week and it was a nice way to end our Gili Islands trip.

I got really used to the island life. Unlike Aoife, I avoided the food poisoning and enjoyed the best of healthy island living. I ran or cycled around the island every day and even hiked up the hill on Gili T where there is an old Japanese cave dug out during the war. I also played football with the locals on some of the evenings. During the day we would chill out in our own little hut by the beach and snorkeled most days. It was very relaxing! At night we would have a BBQ and a few drinks depending on how Aoife was feeling. It was definitely the good life!

The snorkeling on the island is second to none and something we'll never forget. One of the most memorable days was when we snorkeled with a sea turtle. First I swam with a school of black snapper, then as I swam out further I was watching the various coloured fish around the coral. The water was crystal clear. The next thing I spotted a huge sea turtle, over a metre long head to toe. It was unreal. I just watched it for about 20 mins. I came back in and told Aoife she had to come out and see it. As she was feeling a bit better, she ran off to get snorkel gear and joined me. We made our way back out to where the turtle was, swimming through a school of colourful fish, amazing! Unfortunately the turtle had moved on when we got back out there so we just snorkelled around looking at the different fish. As we returned in the direction we came, we spotted this massive shell moving from the surface of the water to the floor of the ocean. It looked prehistoric from the angle we saw and took Aoife by surprise! We swam over and watched the sea turtle eating while a number of fish swarmed around it. They are amazing creatures, their markings are beautiful. Within about ten mins it moved back up and swam just below the surface for about 50 feet. I was swimming right beside it and mimicking the movement it was making! Then the turtle popped it's head above the surface for air and it moved back down to the floor to feed for ten minutes before repeating it again. I was with him for the best part of an hour I'd say. It was amazing! On our way back to shore we swam by a school of barracuda. Definitely an unforgettable experience!

I also played a new sport in the Gili Islands called Takraw. It is kind of like an Asian version of soccer tennis but with a small ball made from bamboo. The net is also about three feet off the ground and the teams can be 1v1 up to 3v3 with a very small marked out court. It is worth checking out on youtube as they pull of some unbelievable scissor kicks. I was just standing around, watching a game between these lads when they invited me to play in a 3v3 game. I took to the game a little too quickly for their liking and after my team won, I was challenged to a 1v1 game. They were all part of a tour and everyone was watching and cheering which was funny. I guess they were surprised to see me playing it. Anyway, I won that and then some lad who was supposedly an Indonesian National player challenged me. I beat him as well! A load of people on the tour who had been watched asked for pictures after the game. They were nice people!

We spent our last night in Scallywags which was one of the other high end resorts on the island. On the morning of February 12th we checked out and unfortunately I was unable to do any justice to their top notch breakfast buffet. I didn’t feel very well but I thought it might have been heat exhaustion from cycling in the sun the day before or maybe the few beers from the night before were hitting me due to dehydration. Leaving the island that day we did not realise that it was Day 1 of my Dengue fever. We worked out that it was on the Gili islands that we contracted dengue fever from mosquitos carrying the virus, based on the standard incubation period of the dengue virus. We reckon it was on Gili Meno as the marshy land is a breeding ground for the mosquitos.

It is five months since we left the Gili islands as I write this blog and I have been careful how I frame our experience. That is why I have left it to end of the blog to mention the fact we caught Dengue fever on the Gili islands. And also even though Aoife suffered food poisoning, which at times was rough, overall we both had an amazing experience on the Gili islands.

It was a dream while it lasted!

V

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