Blogs from Gilli Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia, Asia - page 20

Do read yourself a bedtime story, tuck yourself in and doze off to sleep. Do not wake up when a hairy monster touches you in the night because it will surely give you a nasty fright. Do however turn on your trusty head torch, which you hold in your hand, and startled the little fella in the face. Make light of the situation when you realise it is a nice looking incredibly scared baby rat. It will make you feel a lot better. Do not however say hello to it, fall out of your bed get entangled within your mosquito net with the baby rat as you will inevitable meet his bigger brother and wake your neighbours up. An excerpt from the December issue of "How not to Travel" by Philip Panchenko in shops soon. Previous ... read more

“With its white-sand beaches and clear turquoise waters the Gili islands are a favorite destination for the long-term traveler, but a planned few days can easily turn into a few weeks!!!” Lonely Planet 2004…. Never a truer word written!!!!! My scheduled 4 day break ended up 14 lovely days on the 3 Islands… The Gili’s are made up of 3 small islands Trawangan, Meno and Air, with Gilli T being the busier, Meno stunning and quiet and Air bigger but equally quiet... With Hindu ceremonies in Ubud every thing was closed for 5 days (including local shuttle buses) so i had to fork out for a Perama busboat (very touristy, 220,000rp) which is a little more expensive but a lot less hassle and pretty much direct, plus it had 8 staff for the two of us!!! ... read more

Gili Trawangan (Gili Islands) Sunday (Sept 10) I headed over to the Northwest coast of the island of Lombok to the Gili Islands. I started at 6am, and I arrived in the Gilis approximately 13 hours later! But compared to the roads and the conditions in Flores, this was easy traveling! My travels included a 2 hour bus to Padang Bai (Port on east coast of Bali), then a 4 to 5 hour public ferry across to Lembar on Lombok, then another bus trip north through Mataram, and to the port of Bengsal. From Bengsal it takes about another 30 minutes on a small boat to Gili Trewagan. And I can't tell you how excited I got to be on that little boat with a beautiful view and only 30 minutes left to go.... The Gili ... read more

Yesterday two divers went into the water for a routine dive. They came up, but the boat could not see them. This was circa 15:00. The search and rescue effort continued well past sundown but they were not found. The SAR operation started again at 05:00, just before sunrise and continued until 08:30 when a fishing boat from Lombok fond the two very brave divers and brought them back. Accidents like this happen from time to time when you are diving but I can not think of somewhere better to have such a challenge. The entire island, all the competitive dive shops included, worked together to find the divers. It was an excellent example of team work and everyone was pleased at the positive result. Apparently there will be a major party later tonight to ... read more

So I started today just like I have started most days here in Gili -- I woke up to a wonderful fresh fruit salad and fruit shake (fruit, ice, blender). I did some Yoga by the pool and set off for my morning paddle-ski (think a cross between a Kayak and a surfboard). Normally I Just paddle the length the populated side of the island but this time I was inspired -- I wondered if I could paddle all the way around the island. I had both run and walked it before and that was manageable so how hard could paddling around it be? How hard indeed. It is about 10K (6 miles) around and therefore takes about an hour to run. Paddling, however, was somewhat different. First of all there is the matter of the ... read more