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Published: March 28th 2007
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2007-02-16 07-24-01
Passing by a morning market on our way to Padang Bai, where we will take a ferry to Lombok Island. On Feb 16, we left Kuta to go to Gili Air island. The trip has 4 segments:
1) Kuta to Padangbai by minibus
2) Padangbai to Lembar (Lombok) by big ferry.
3) Lembar to Bangsal by minibus
4) Bangsal to Gili Air by long tail boat.
We were picked up by our transport company at 6 am. We drove 2.5 hours to Pandangbai, the seaport at the east side of Bali. At Pandangbai, we learned the ferry will not leave until 10 am. That gives us an hour and a half of wait time. This is to make sure we eat at their restaurant and they get enough time to sell us a return ticket. It works.
Be careful with the porters at Padangbai, and almost anywhere in Indonesia. To carry your bag for about 500 meters (and some destinations for 100 meters), they will demand 10,000 Rupiah's (just over US$1) or more. Many do not ask whether you will need a porter, they just grab your bags and go.
We boarded the ferry, which looks rusty but sturdy. It took 4 hours to reach Lembar, the seaport at Lombok Island. The ride is pretty nice.
At Lembar, we boarded a mini-bus which took us to Bangsal, a small jetty at the north end of Lombok. Along the road, we saw a lot of monkeys. We also passed by many durian vendors.
We reached Bangsal at 5 pm and boarded a long tail boat to take us to Gili Air island.
There are three Gili islands. Gili Trawagan is for the party-goers. Gili Meno is for the Robinson Crusoe type. Gili Air is quiet, but not too quiet.
On the boat, we met an older French couple and they seemed to know where to find a good guesthouse on Gili Air.
It took a 30 minute boat ride to reach Gili Air. On the boat, there are a few Indonesians trying to lure us to their guesthouses.
We followed the older French couple to a guesthouse called "Nina's cottage", which is about a 10 minutes walk from the boat jetty. The owners hugged and welcomed the French couple.
It turned out Nina's only has 4 bungalows available and two are already occupied. So the French couple took one and we took the last one. After a bit of negotiation, we
2007-02-16 09-15-16
Looking on Padang Bai from the ferry. settled on US$4 per night, including breakfast, as long as we stay 7 nights or more.
Gili Air has no motorized vehicles. There are pony carts for transport and the locals ride bicycles.
The water around the island is clear and clean.
We fell in love with the island the minute we set sight on it. So, we decided to spend as much time as we possibly can.
We ended up spending 16 nights here on Gili Air.
Every morning, breakfast is served by the guesthouse owners, brought to our bungalow. Breakfast usually consists of coffee, eggs & toast or banana pancake.
After breakfast, we normally go to the beach and do a bit of snorkelling and swimming. Or we may walk around the island, which takes about 1 hour. Or we may just sit at the bungalow and do some sudoku (a numbers game).
For lunch, we usually have a small snack. For dinner, we go a restaurant and pick a fish and they will grill it for us, usually at around US$3 per fish.
Life is very easy going at Gili Air. There are a few parties on the island,
2007-02-16 10-02-01
Upper deck of the ferry. but they are not that noisy. Occasionally the locals' karaoke kept us up till midnight.
It is low season (wet season) in Gili Air, and therefore the guesthouses are competitive. In high season (July, august, Christmas, New Years), prices usually double.
The typical weather in Gili Air is calm and clear in the morning. Swimming and snorkelling is best in the morning. The currents at the beach gets a little stronger towards the afternoon. In late afternoon (around 5 pm), there is usually some rain that lasts about 1 hour. By 7 pm, we will be walking to our favorite restaurant.
Two days before we left Gili Air, there was a big storm. The thundering is strong and the rain lasted for 2 days. We would not dare to take the long tail boat back to Lombok, as it would be too dangerous as the tides are high.
We learned that the people in Bali would consider themselves more a Balinese than an Indonesia. People on Gili Air would consider themselves a Sak Sak, and not a Balinese.
We found out that SOME local vendors (ladies who sell fruits, and cooked rice meals, sarongs, pearls,
2007-02-16 14-18-08
Docking in Lombok (somewhere southwest of the Island). The ferry ride took 4.5 hr. souvenirs) have learned to start their asking price at 5 times the rate. If a durian normally sells for 50 cents (which is already tourist price), they may ask for $2.50. If we settle at half price ($1.25), they are happy. Of course, not everyone vendor asks for exorbitant prices. We bought fish satay from a lady and each satay stick costs 6 cents.
On this island, "small money" (i.e. small change) is so difficult to get. As there is no ATM's on the island, most people would bring in Indonesian money either obtained from ATM's or from exchangers. They are usually large bills. Small bills are at shortage here. What many restaurants owner do, if they cannot change your large bill, is to ask you to pay them tomorrow. That works out well, and you are back tomorrow for dinner again !
While on the island, there was a wedding. An Australian lady married a local Indonesia man. We made a brief visit but did not attend the ceremony or the evening party. They both look so great.
A word about snorkelling here on Gili Air. It is lovely. For us novices, who are really not
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Another bus ride (2 hr) to Bangsal. Passing by rice fields .... into diving, the snorkelling here is good enough. Just 20 meters off the beach, we can see corals and many colourful fish. Gary sometimes bring bread or crackers and put them into a water bottle. He releases the bread/crackers and the fish will follow him. There are many kinds of fish, but they are not big, due to shallowness of the water.
On the island, there is no "fresh" water for bath. The water is a little salty.
Because the locals pump water from the ground, and because the water table is so low, the sea water seeped into the fresh water supply. Only the locals who live in the middle of the island get fresh water (and they call it "sweet" water). So, Gary would use his umbrella to collect rain water on days with heavy rain. There is one guesthouse (Kira Kira) that has "sweet" water.
There are two pages of pictures with this entry, be sure to check them out.
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