Where Cats behave like Dogs

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On an Indonesian map the distance between Bali and the Gilis (just off the coast of Lombok) is essentially no distance at all. However, we were privy to one essential travel fact in Asia: distance does not correlate with travel time.

As there seems to be no such thing as public transport in Bali, we were at the mercy of the taxi drivers again. We headed down to the main road in Ubud and hailed down the first we could see, after asking a builder if he would take us in the back of his lorry. Our private hire taxi cost 150,000 from Ubud to Padang Bai, and the driver didn’t want to give it for that. The journey took around 45 minutes and was quite luxurious in a car with upholstered seats.

Arriving at Padang Bai harbour, we had the choice between the local ferry for 32,000 (around £2.30) which would take 4 hours, or a variety of fast boats of questionable safety which would take around 1 hour for a price of around £40. We opted for the local ferry, preferring to experience the local transport and obviously for the massive price difference, not realising at the time that we would end up paying the same price overall anyway.

This was because the local ferry would only take us to Lombok, where we would have to take local transport to another ferry port, then catch a boat back across to the Gilis. ‘All part of the adventure’ we thought, and clambered onto the surprisingly luxurious ferry, where we spent the next four hours watching wrestling on the TV alongside many Indonesian enthusiasts. Getting off the boat was an adventure in itself as there seemed to be no pedestrian exit- we were required to squeeze between lorries parked tightly against a wall, whilst dragging our bags underneath.

Arriving into the port in Lombok, we were a little surprised that there was hardly any of the hustle and bustle we were used to. There were one or two taxis, but saying that we were pretty much the only tourists on board. So when we were approached by the taxi drivers, telling us that the last boat to Gilis was leaving in just under 3 hours, and that we could only just make it to the port if we got in their taxi there and then, we decided for once to just go with it, and got in. We had not at this point realised that some people will lie about anything to get your money.

We had agreed on a price based on the fact that we were going to be taking a three hour journey. It is at this point that we must acknowledge we should have found out the actual distance beforehand. Either way, we made it to the next port in less than an hour, even with a torrential rain storm slowing the traffic. Upon our arrival we were upset that we had agreed to pay so much, and that we had been lied to about the length of the journey. We attempted to say this to the driver. Unfortunately this culminated into a threatening situation whereby a crowd of 6 or 7 Indonesians were surrounding us in an extremely intimidating manner, demanding we paid the agreed price. There was nothing we could do, they began to threaten us with the police so we just paid. It is a shame that situations such as these will arise when there are tourists and extreme poverty- it is also slightly worrying that you are warned not to not become involved with the police in any way if you are Western as a situation may be manipulated in order to extract money.

The crowding had attracted the attention of another Western couple who approached us immediately after the incident. They told us that a similar thing had happened to them; the previous day they had been waiting at the port, desperate to catch a boat. A seemingly helpful man had approached them telling them that he was in charge of the public boats, and that they had been cancelled that day due to weather conditions, but that he could take them across in his private boat for a ridiculous price. They had accepted his offer as they needed to move on, but later saw the public boats running.

Anyway, we had finally arrived at the port where we could take a public boat over to the Gilis. The weather was still pretty wet, and we were concerned we may not be able to take a boat at all that day. We desperately did not want to get stuck here; it was a really dirty littered port with not much but a shop, a burnt down ticket office, and a lot of underfed horses tied onto traps. We also felt pretty uneasy after the altercation with the taxi driver. Fortunately a silver lining came and our boat eventually had filled to capacity (at least twice, maybe three times) and we were ready to go. The boat was also laden with crates of fizzy drinks, towers of toilet rolls, and many other supplies. There were plastic sheets nailed from the ceiling serving as windows to keep the rain out, and soon the boat had filled up with cigarette smoke and condensation, it was like a sauna. We located the penknife in our luggage for in the event that we did go down. However despite the storms we made it across to Gili Trawangan within the hour.

The famous Gilis are made up of three islands; Trawangan, Meno, and Air. We opted for Trawangan, the most developed of the three. We had been told that Gili Trawangan was a mini Kuta, but we did not agree. The island has been developed pretty much for tourists in a sense that the whole coastline has a backdrop of cafes, restaurants and bars open late. However, it wasn’t full of drunken Australians; there was an eclectic mix of nationalities, and we were pleased to see that the Indonesians who worked in the bars and resorts socialised amongst the Westerners on their nights off. We made friends with a local guy called Manny, who came out drinking with us one night. We found that the locals living and working on this island were so friendly and kind- the nicest people we had met by far in Asia. The vibe was very different to the bigger islands such as Bali and Java, and although the islands belongs to Lombok which we were told is a Muslim dominated island, most of the local people seemed pretty relaxed with regards to clothing, drinking, etc. In fact, a lot of them had dreadlocks and magic mushrooms were sold all over the place.

One of the best things about this island is that there are no stray dogs. In fact we were told that dogs are not allowed on the island because they would make it dirty. There are cats everywhere who behave like dogs, begging at restaurant tables and loitering in the streets, but they are not so intimidating just annoying. And ugly.

Another massive positive for us was that there are no motorised vehicles on the island. This meant no harassing taxi men! We were told by one local that this is because when the island became developed, it was decided that the old women would never be able to sleep with motorbikes rushing around all night, so that was the way things stayed. The island is so small that you could possibly walk around it although most people rented bikes as we did. There is also the option to catch a horse and trap driven by menacing horses. They were pretty scary and raced down the road prepared to trample anything in their way. We felt sorry for them though as they were pretty thin and scrawny.

We decided to stay at Gecko Hostel, which was about two blocks back from the main strip. It was pretty good value at 140,000 rupiah a night, around £10. Manny who we met in a reggae bar had helped us find the accommodation, meaning we had a look around loads of others. The standard of accommodation on the island is really good- well decorated and landscaped with lots of little huts and cottages for cheap prices. We were glad we had opted for Gecko as the family who owned it were really friendly, and even gave us an extra fan in our room, and a discount as we stayed for a full week. It was really clean and had a nice bathroom. The only disadvantage was that they only had bored water, which was basically sea water. This was common all over the island.

Most days on the island we spent chilling out and relaxing, and taking bike rides. We visited the island’s turtle sanctuary which is situated on the beach and tried to go shopping but every shop sold the same things. It wasn’t that cheap for food or drinks, but we found one restaurant on the main street which was the cheapest by far, offering meals for 30,000. The weather was pretty bad with ongoing electric storms which lasted 6 or 7 hours sometimes. One night we had a power cut and it really was pitch black and eerie back from the coast. We were provided with candles but with no fan and open flames it was too hot to sleep. On our last day we booked a glass bottom boat trip to snorkel around the other two islands. The sea was beautifully blue and the views of the islands were idyllic. The glass bottom wasn’t what we expected but the snorkelling was really pretty. We were taken to a drop off which was pretty steep- we hadn’t seen one of these before so it was quite exciting. We also went to see some coral which was really colourful and pretty- all in all better than the snorkelling we had done back in Philippines. We saw eels and a spiky fish, and Luke saw turtles.

After seven nights we decided it was time to leave and have a proper shower. We decided that it would be less hassle and cheaper just to catch the fast boat back to Bali. And it was. We got a massive discount for paying cash up front and managed to get it for just over £14 each, including our transfer to Denpasar when we arrived in Bali. The boat only took around an hour to get back and was so worth the money.

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Comments

[deleted_49612]

You are a Featured Blogger! :)
Congratulations, on your first Featured Blog, on the Front Page.

[Sharing the Journey]

Enjoyed you blog ....
Looks like a great time was had and loved the photos!

[Coach Hire Gold Coast]

Thanks for sharing such a nice article.