Gili Island Charm

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In a nutshell... Charming group of islands of the north-west coast of Lombok. Great place to get away from the city madness and enjoy the Lombok hospitality and warmth. Good to visit again and again...

Getting Around… Other than on foot, transport on the island is provided by small little ponycarts or the Cidomos. These are wooden rickety carts drawn by a pony and the driver. The carts and ponies are adorned with many bells and local customary ribbons and can be heard before they are seen. It costs 5000 IDR per person one way during the day and twice of that after dusk. We made friends with one of the drivers and kinda of hired him during our entire stay to bring us to and from Blue Marlin Dive and our hotel at Villa Almarik about 10 mins away. The ponies can get quite cranky at times so remember to hold on to the railings and keep all limbs within the cart. Xavier nearly got sped off with the pony on one of our trips when the driver lost his ropes…haha!

Underwater World... We weren't really expecting much since Lombok is not exactly THE diving destination of the region but wow were we blown away by the rich marine diversity. We saw plenty of big stuff such as families of grey tips, schools of pelagics (jacks), large turtles, smaller creatures such as lionfish, rays, morays, cuttlefish, a banded sea krait and tiny stuff such as pipefish, nudibranchs. There was also a plethora of coral species to marvel at. I rate this place 7 out of 10 for the diving😊 Do watch out for the urchins near Gili Air...I stepped on one while getting off our dive boat! Ouch!

Post-Dive Jive... The post-dive chilling out is quite comfortable at our dive centre Blue Marlin, arguably the best-run on the island. Our friendly divemaster Hari was ever bubbling with enthusiasm pre and post dives. The rest of the staff at the restaurant are attentive and the bartender can whip up a really refreshing power carrot juice invigorated with ginger and lime - KL's favourite! haha! Just the perfect drink in the tropical heat😊 I prefer my good ol' hot teh jahe or ginger tea to nurse my post-dive headaches:p In the evenings, we headed out with Hari to the Irish Pub and tried the local rice wine cocktail or Arak. This is a pretty sweet liquor made in Lombok and goes really well with lime and soda. Cheers!

Feed me!!! We were simply spoilt for choice here. Be prepared to shell out good money for the better outfits such as the Japanese bar/restaurant (excellent sashimi straight from Bali), the Pizzeria in the Irish Pub next door (paper thin crusted pizzas with generous toppings) and for that 2 kg lobster bbq with the Beach House. About USD 15-20 should get you an excellent meal with drinks and dessert. For our lunches, we were content to eat at Blue Marlin while we recounted and logged our dives for the morning. Don't forget to try the really potent Lombok coffee!

Spa encounters... There is only one choice on the island for therapies and massages and that is at the Villa Ombak Spa. The set up is pretty small but it's nestled within the quiet premises of the resort away from the main part of the Trawangan beach. KL had her refreshing massage while Xav and I shared this "romantic" package of massage and scrub complete with a floral bath! No hanky panky lah! The prices are reasonable and there are plenty of choices on the menu here.

Where do we stay... We stayed at the Villa Almarik at the north end of the main beach. This is run by Lucio, an Italian guy who effuses with his 'Buon Giornos' and 'Arrivedercis'. He shared with me about the lovely art pieces he bought from Bali which now adorn the walls of the resort suites. We had the spacious full moon deluxe suite which was really comfortable for the 3 of us. The suite is well-equipped with all the standard facilities although we were hardly in to enjoy them haha! The island also has a range of other hostel-like rooms to the mid-range ones to five star resorts such as the Villa Ombak to choose from.

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Photos

Pony Carts on Gili Trawangan
Hold your horses...let's go!

Dusk at Villa Almarik
After an exciting day of diving, it's time to de-narc on the beach and get ready for dinner!

Balinese Art
Rooms in Almarik are decorated with the local artwork.