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Published: August 20th 2008
Wednesday July 9, 2006 - Today begins as quite an adventure. We had to get up at 6am, to get ready and have breakfast before the minibus came to pick us up. We decided to go to the Gili Islands for (hopefully) beautiful beaches, snorkeling, and diving. There are three Gili islands - Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan. Trawangan is known as the party island, Meno is quiet, and Air falls in between, by reputation. We decided to go to Trawangan and then change islands if and when we felt like it (we never did). We had to catch the bus to Padangbai, where we would get on the ferry. Of course it was arranged that we would arrive quite early, where the bus company just happened to have a restaurant in case we felt like eating. In the end, we did. I had fried noodles for breakfast number 2, as did Miranda and our new Dutch friend Robbert. He joined us for breakfast and was instantly a new friend. Very nice guy, funny. All of a sudden there was a mass exodus and all the white people started heading for the boat, so we walked over as well.
Turns out at least an hour went by, and several boats, before it was our turn. It was quite a large ferry and had a great sundeck at the top. We ended up getting a booth up there, and then we were joined by Hagen and Christoph, two German army/university guys. At first they were incredibly dull, ignoring us and playing chess. Then they took a nap. It was a U shaped booth and I was the only one who couldn't lay down. Grrr. Eventually Hagen woke up and asked me if I wanted to play chess. I love chess but haven't played since I learned two years ago. It was fun and he obviously won. Even with Christoph coaching me at the end. From here we got to talking and then Robbert came over from where he was sitting and the five of us played cards, with oreos as betting tools. The Germans had about 10,000 tiny packets of Oreos to play with. I thought this must be the national food of Germany with the zeal at which these boys devoured them, but no - these were there first Oreos ever! The first of many. It was hard to
hold on to the cards with the wind whipping, but once I understood the scoring of the game (this deck of cards only had 7-Ace) and started not losing, it didn't matter. The boat ride was four hours, and once we arrived we put the cards away. Of course we had no way to know that we would spend more than an hour waiting to get into the harbor and off the boat. Off the boat, we were sorted by bus ticket company onto minibuses, so it was just me and Miranda again. Now we were on the island of Lombok, which reminded me of Sumatra as we drove through. We stopped for pictures of views and monkeys. and then got to the bus office, where we waited for another bus to join us. In this time I was trying to decide what my next step would be, as Miranda was leaving on Sunday. I thought about buying an onward ticket, but decided not to, much to my (later) satisfaction. After more useless waiting, we were shuttled over to the small boats which would take us to the Gilis in about 45 minutes. We watched the sunset - about 6pm
every day - and then it was finally time to be on the move. The boat ride was ok, but when we got there it was dark and I hate arriving i an unknown place in the dark. It makes finding accomodation so hard. And it was the high season, so many of the places in the guide book would probably be booked. We walked around aimlessly, trying to decide where to go, and someone offered us a place to look at, so we followed him. I was shocked that there weren't tons of people there trying to get us to stay with them, but they weren't there. We looked at the first room but I was instantly in a bad mood - feeling like we were getting ripped off, not knowing where we really were, etc. We finally decided not to stay there so we started wandering again and someone else asked us to come see his room. So we did and we decided to stay. We figured we could always change in the morning.
Once we dropped our bags the guy brought us to Rudy's, the restaurant/bar where we would have our included breakfast. As luck would
have it, Robbert, Hagen and Christoph were there having dinner, and called us over. Funnily enough, they took the room we had just said no to! We had a nice dinner and stayed out quite late - until 2am or so. Party island indeed.
Thursday we woke up just after 9am and headed to Rudy's for breakfast. The little cabanas to sit at were right in front of the water and we knew we finally got it right with this island. It was beautiful. When we arrived last night, we couldn't see anything since it was already dark. One look around and we were happy with our choice. It was beautiful. We had banana pancakes, a SE Asian specialty, and then the boys joined us. We were surprised to see them so early - our plan had been to wake them up by 11am or so to look for a new place to stay. After breakfast we did look, and the boys found a new place and Miranda and I decided to stay in ours. It wasn't bad actually, and the bathroom was superior to many I looked at. While they moved, we did some laundry - yes, by
hand - and hung it out to dry. Then we all took a walk along the beach, had some snacks, went swimming, and walked back. Later we met up for dinner and then signed up for diving for the following day. Everyone stayed out quite late but I was exhausted, so I headed back around 10:30pm for some decent sleep.
Friday Miranda and I had to get up early to have breakfast before diving. It is not hard to get up early here. One of the best things about this island (all the Gilis) is that there are no motorized vehicles. No motorbikes! What kind of Asia is this? Heaven! There are bikes and horse-drawn carts, and these are quiet! Such a change! So you would think that sleeping in would be a breeze. BUT....as we came to realize, it is still very Asia in that there are CHICKENS everywhere!! And that means roosters crowing at any time, all around you. Especially when you are sleeping! Chickens - nature's alarm clock. We went to Rudy's, but the slackers who work there were sleeping. Apparently they don't open until around 9am. So we headed to the Blue Marlin dive shop,
which conveniently has a restaurant, and ordered breakfast. We sat outside, the only option in any of the resaurants on the island, and it was beautiful.
Miranda and I are both certified divers, but it ha been about five years since either of us had been diving. We decided we would feel better about taking a refresher class before diving again, so that was what we were signed up to do with Blue Marlin. We had Luis (from Portugal) as our dive master, and Ginny (from the states) as our dive master-in-training. They went through the basics with us, and then spent about two hours in the pool with us, practicing skills like remoivng our masks and putting them back on and clearing them, all underwater. Things you'd need to be able to do at 18 meters if you had to. Doing this made me a little nervous really, but I was still up for the dive later on. We took a break for lunch and then it was time to go out on the boat. There was some confusion about which boat and some other stuff, but we finally got under way and then it was time. Robbert
came out with us, and Hagen and Christoph were taking a SCUBA class to get certified, but they were on a different boat. It was strange to be under the water again, but nice to see what we saw. And I was able to get some nice pictures. I brought an underwater case for my digital camera, put it on the underwater setting, and took a zillion pictures. It was fun. But I am still always a little nervous diving - it just feels, unnatural. And I have to think about breathing. Don't breathe too fast, don't hold your breath. And breathing is so loud underwater. Bubbles everywhere. It's a very weird world. Robbert ran out of air a bit quickly - he had some buoyancy issues, we all did actually - and so we had a shorter dive. But it was a good first time out. And quite cheap for diving - $35 a dive, including all the equipment.
After showers we all met up for dinner again. We decided to go to Sama Sama, a restaurant we had seen several times. It was more pricey but at midnight it would be both Miranda's and my birthday, so
we treated ourselves. I had nachos and a quesadilla! The dinner was yummy, and afterwards we headed back to Rudy's. There we met up with Lucinda, a nice Australian taking the dive course with the boys, and Tamara, from England, who had taken the ferry with Lucinda. At midnight the boys surprised us with a "birthday cake" - a package of Tim Tam cookies with candles in them. The candles blew out in the wind before we saw them, but it was really quite a nice and unexpected surprise. Happy Birthday us! It was a lovely birthday party, and I saw several shooting stars on the beach. Somehow I didn't make it to bed until 6am! Quite a change from my normal old geezer philosphy of seeing up early and to bed early when I travel!
Miranda and I had plans to dive Saturday morning at 9am, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. We slept until 11am, showered, had lunch, where we ran into Robbert. He sat with us and then we went for a walk and decided to go snorkeling. We asked around and found a good place to snorkel from the shore, but the current was
very strong. We saw some fish, but we were zooming past them with the current. Not ideal really. We returned the snorkel gear we had rented and then went to clean up for another birthday dinner, same crew. We decided to go back to Sama Sama, and we told them it was our birthday. I was exhausted and was ready to leave quite early, but the waiter told us that they had a special surprise for us at midnight. Midnight! So we waited around so we wouldn't be rude, and then at midnight they called Miranda and I up on stage and sang us a song. Then they gave us each a crazy alcohol-filled beverage and told us we had to drink it all in one go. Since I don't drink, that wasn't going to happen for me, so I watched Miranda drink hers and then gave her mine. But she couldn't drink both so they let us go back to our seats. I gave mine to the table. To top it off, Robbert paid for the whole meal. So nice. Shortly afterwards, Hagen walked me back to my room and I got the sleep I so badly needed. Being
old is hard!
Sunday morning was another early rise day. Miranda had to leave to go back to Bali for her flight the next day. She had to work Monday morning. So we had an early breakfast, at 7am, and the whole crew made it. Actually, no one ate but we sat with Miranda while she had tea. (Around this time my friend Ashley was getting married. Her wedding was the same day as my birthday, but being that I was living twelve hours in her future, that would put the nuptials around the same time as our sleepy, early morning "breakfast" the next day. Congrats Ashley and Zack!) Then it was time to say good-bye and load her up on the wee ferry that would take her to a bus that would take her to the big ferry and another bus. Another full day of travel. We went back to the rooms and then it was time to say good-bye to Robbert. He was also leaving, but he had chosen the wicked expensive fast ferry that went directly to Bali in about two hours time. I think it was about $60 compared to $18. The thing is, he
had already bought the cheaper ticket before deciding on the fast ferry, so he gave it to me. Another birthday present. Such a nice person. I walked him back to the boat and ran into Hagen, he was running an errand. So we said good-bye to Robbert and walked back together. On the way back we stopped to buy some water and bring it to Lucinda. She was sick, but it took me so long to get there that she was actually out buying some water at the time. She came home while we were knocking. I have her the water in case she would need it, but she said she was feeling better. Still sick, but better. We decided to use the internet for a bit, and then had some lunch. I had my free breakfast pancakes (and Miranda's!), though I couldn't eat that much.
The boys took the day off from diving to rest and relax, and so I ended up spending the day laying around with them, being lazy. Swam, read, the usual. Had dinner, checked in on Lucinda again, and then watched Borat with the boys. Freaking hilarious. I was definately in the right mood
for that at the time.
Monday I was back to my regular schedule. I woke up at 6:45am and wrote in my journal. I had some catching up to do. Then I checked but the boys were still sleeping, so I went and had breakfast. When I got back Christoph was awake, so I went and sat with him for a bit. I had signed up for the 11:30 am dive, so next I got ready for that and headed down. My dive buddy was Rod, an Aussie and a fellow teacher. Except he teaches the wee ones. We had a good dive, and then I came back and had lunch with the boys and Veikko, a Finnish dive master-to-be working with the boys on their lessons. He showed us where to find cheap food on the island - finally - and we chatted for a while. He was telling me that in Finland, women can have three years off for maternity leave and men one year for paternity leave! Paid! With their jobs guaranteed afterwards. And they can take a year sabbatical, paid for by the government, after ten years of work. Not bad indeed. Soak it up
America - this is what paying higher taxes will get you. A higher quality of life. After lunch they went back to work and I went to walk for a bit and then laid on the beach reading. I'm not much of a beach person, but I can definately appreciate the beach scene here. We met up later for dinner and then I used the internet, where I ran into Lucinda. Next door at Blue Marlin Ginny was having her snorkel test - some primitive drinking through a snorkel - and then she was a dive master! No movie booths available, so we called it an early night.
Tuesday I woke up at 6:45am again. It gets light and I have trouble sleeping. Did some more journaling, breakfast, and then headed down for my 11:30am dive. This time I was paired with Jason, a guy who had somewhere between 300-400 dives to his name. This time the current was rather strong, and I had a hard time enjoying it as much. But I did see two lionfish and a moray eel! Two things I had really been on the look-out for. The divemaster actually showed them to me, and
pushed me quite close to take pictures. A little frightening, considering the eel could bite and cause an infection, and the lionfish is poisonous. But they were both really good to see in the reef. I planned to have lunch with the boys, but by the time I got back they had already eaten at a noodle soup place (good and cheap) that Veikko recommended. I was on my way there but saw Lucinda so I stopped to talk to her. She was feeling better but not well enough to finish her dive class. Tamara and her sister Claire came over, and we chatted a bit. We agreed to meet back in an hour, after I had eaten and Lucinda had taken her exam. When I went to find the food, the noodle shop had closed so I went back to the chicken and rice place from yesterday, which was good too. When we met back up, I didn't feel like battling the snorkeling current, so Tamara and I read on the beach while the other two went snorkeling. They had a rough time with it. After this I left to walk up the big hill on the island to
see the sunset. The girls had already been there, and the boys were doing their last dive, a night dive. I got a late start and couldn't believe how many steps it took to reach the top of the hill. Almost mean. Then there were trees in my way, but it was still a nice sunset. Afterwards I got a quick move on to get down the stairs before it got too dark to see. There were some goats on the path that quickly scattered as I came bounding down. I met the girls for dinner at 7pm and then we met the boys at Rudy's afterwards. It was the last night on the island for the girls, and we had a nice time.
Wednesday was my last day on the island. I never stay anywhere for so long, and yet this has been a very pleasant place to stay. I woke up late, around 9am, and wrote in my journal, had breakfast, the usual. I went to the internet cafe for a bit and the boys met me there. From there we decided to walk around the island, which turned out to not be the best idea. It
took a bit longer than we thought and it was quite hot. Not super enjoyable in the end. After showers we met up for dinner and had Indian food. The boys treated and then headed in for an early night. Meanwhile, I ran into Elise and Cath, the Australian girls I had been trekking with in Sumatra. It was really nice to see them again and I stayed at Rudy's with them for an hour or so. They told me to stay a few more days and then head back with them. I was sorely tempted, but my throat was also sore...the tonsilitis has come back it seems. I wanted to get to a clinic back in Bali, as well as return for the mass cremation on Saturday. Sad that I had to leave, I said good-bye to the girls and went back to pack before sleep. And while I slept, back at home they would be celebrating my nephew's 8th birthday - Happy Birthday Cristian!
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Sarah
non-member comment
Happy birthday!
Did you have ranch with your birthday nachos? ;)