Raising the bar of what paradise means...Gili Trawangan

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Leaving Bali this morning was difficult but made some what easier knowing that we were heading to the Gili Islands. (one of my travel mates, who will remain anonymous, came home at 5:30 in the morning after being out all night!) We were picked up at the hotel by a driver at 6:30 to make the hour and a half drive to the harbour to catch the fast boat (the Gili Cat). Its amazing how different each part of the island looks. This was on the eastern part of Bali and had more palms trees and vegetation. We drove through sleepy little villages before getting to the harbour town (can't remember the name of it for the life of me). So after waiting around (I've heard the army can be like that, hurry up and wait) we were on the boat at 9:30. There were approximately 25 passengers on this boat. The boat had 3 outboard engines and could it fly! We were sitting close to where the doors were left open so it was nice to catch a breeze and enjoy the view. The sun here is brutal! You must wear sunscreen all the time and continue to reapply or you will pay the price.I stood up for most of the ride, mainly to try and stay out of the sun. At one point the driver turned rather quickly. It was a good thing I was holding on or I could have gone straight out the door.

The boat stopped in Lombok first to let passengers on and off and then a short 10 min ride over to Gili T. There were two little boys around 5 or 6 that were swimming in the nude in the harbor and just having the time of their lives. They smiled the biggest smiles at Jerri when she took their picture.
Gili T island is so small in comparison to Bali but just absolutely breath taking! Once we arrived there was a guy holding a sign for Mr and Mrs Kristin Day. They assumed since Jennifer and I were sharing a room that we were a married couple! We all got a good laugh out of it when he said, no Mr. Day huh?! We loaded our suitcases onto one of the horse drawn carts (no motorized vehicles on this island at all) and headed off to our hotel Luce d'Alma. We drove along the coast and then a left turn inland through the jungle to get there. We were greeted with ice cold washclothes (SO fabulous) and these wonderful welcome drinks. EVERYONE should be able to stay in a place this fabulous at least once in their lives!! There's a large living room area, bedroom area and of course large bathroom. Its air conditioned AND has fresh water showers! All of the rooms face the salt water pool and swimming never felt so invigorating.

After slathering up with more sunscreen, we hopped on our bikes and headed for the beach! It was so much fun to ride our bikes through out the island. We stopped at the Beach cafe (we had planned to be at the Beach HOUSE cafe but oh well) Our waiter greeted us with "where have you been?" He was a very funny character. Lots of cats wandering around, unfortunately there's been too much inbreeding and many of them should be seen by a vet. We also arranged to go scuba diving tomorrow. Not quite sure about this....I can go skydiving but scuba diving is giving me some anxiety. I'm sure it will be fine. We're hoping to see sea turtles while out diving tomorrow.


We had a great lunch at this place and then we took our first dip into the water. I'm not sure what the name of this body of water is, the Strait of something. When you look at the water its turquoise first and then darker blue. When you get to the darker blue part it drops off. The water is so clear you can see straight down! There's quite a current here so you have to make sure you are aware of how far off the water is carrying you. Surveying the beach is interesting in and of itself....lots of surfer/diver dudes and plenty of beautiful women....many from Australia.
Having Jennifer around attracts plenty of attention and before we knew it were invited down to a swim up bar at one of the hotels. There's a group of over 50 people from Australia here for a wedding tomorrow. So we met the bride in the pool as well as some of her 12 bridesmaids (yes 12! what's up with that?) And there's only the best name. Their traditions are a bit different than ours. Anyway, we might be crashing a wedding tomorrow night, one never knows.

Each night of the week there's one particular bar that hosts the party for that night. Tonight the party is at Rudy's. Our bikes have headlights that are generated by our pedaling. Can't wait to ride our bikes there and back in the dark. Jennifer or I might have to throw Jerri into our basket on the front of our bikes if she ends up drinking too many Bintang beers. That girl likes her beer!

I was surprised to find out that they had internet at our hotel but then found out it was a dial up connection....didn't even know that still existed! I have to run and take a shower and then put some aloe vera on....we're all suffering from a little bit of sunburn....but can you say tan lines?!

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Photos

Beautiful Gili Water
That's a turtle in the top right hand corner!