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Published: August 9th 2012
Day One We arrived on Gili T around 11:00am which meant we had most of the day to find out what this place is really about! Guess what... there are NO motorized vehicles. Just bikes and cidomo's. A cidomo is a horse drawn carriage and I don't think they are any better than motorcycles, they honk their horns but if you don't jump out of the way fast enough, you WILL get trampled.
First thing we did was settle in at Rumah Hantu, a cute place we found. Tyler was sold as soon as he saw the hammock hanging in front of our room and heard eggs were included in the complementary breakfast. Then it was straight to the beach!! By that time it was midday so the beach was packed with people. We found a spot in the sun and were melting after about 30 seconds. It's friggin hot!!! Good thing we are right on the ocean :D The sand here is like powder and the water is crystal clear.
Since we didn't last too long on the beach, food in the shade was up next. The rest of the day was spent wandering around, and getting
a feel for this beautiful island. The most pleasant surprise was finding a night market right on the main strip for dinner! A whole bunch of different vendors bring in fresh catch and you can order anything from grilled corn on the cob to vegetable stir fry to a whole roasted fish. The jumbo prawns are massive! Like the size of a large banana, literally! Since the prawns are so expensive we settled for some local fish, chicken and rice. Yum Yum Yum in my tum.
Day Two I think we checked out almost every book shop on the main strip. Rebecca is in desperate need of a new book before we leave Lombok. There is almost too much to choose from though which makes it hard to decide what to read. Travel book? Romance? She just finished a WWI book from the perspective of an aboriginal Canadian so isn't up for blood and guts again just yet... Ah well... I'm sure something will stand out before we leave.
Then we grabbed a little tiki hut in a restaurant and hung out for a few hours. Eating food, playing cards, chatting with Noodle (that's probably
Beach
taken on our bike ride. It was really nice to see what the other side of the island was like.not how you spell the waiters name, but that's how he pronounced it). We also found out that Rumah Hantu (the name of our guesthouse) can roughly be translated to haunted house. One person told us it means devil house, another said it means ghost house. There were no ghost sightings from us though. The most haunting or I guess superstitious thing we have seen on this island is a black cat sitting under a ladder.
(P.S. If you are looking for a great read, check out
Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, it is a REALLY good book about the first world war, the role that Canada played, how aboriginals were treated and also ties in a lot of aboriginal, mostly Cree, heritage. 5 stars! Favourite quote from the book: “For a moment I'm not sure where or who I am. I just am.” said by a soldier after waking up in the trenches. Unfortunately Rebecca's copy will be traded in for a new paperback.)
Day Three The first thing we had to do was switch accommodations. Rumah Hantu was a really nice place, unfortunately the neighbours had an abundance of chickens – roosters
in particular. It also had thin walls and it seemed like we were sleeping in a mosque. With Ramadan in full swing we weren't getting much sleep (hence the quiet low key day two).
After moving into Gerald's homestay we were back to the beach. We found a spot in a semi-shady area this time so the sun wasn't quite as deadly. Hours passed before we decided to peel ourselves away from the gorgeous blue water. By that time we were pretty pooped after being in the sun so long so Rebecca took a nap while Tyler read a bit. Then it was back to the night market for some more delicious eats.
Day Four We rented bikes to ride around the island. There is one road that goes all the way around the island and a few paths that cut across. The side of the island that we are staying on is the most populated; the other side doesn't have much of anything but more beaches and a couple of exclusive resorts. Our intention was to have a nice day riding around, stopping for a dip if we found a nice spot. Well, it
Lookout - 3 islands
We walked up to the lookout point one evening to see the sunset on the other side of the island. As dusk settled, we caught this pretty picture of the other two islands. (Gili Meno and Gili Air) turned out to be much more of a workout. Once you get away from the more populated areas there isn't really road, it's more just sand. Bike's don't ride well through sand. Much of the other side of the island we spent pushing or pulling the bikes through sandy patches until we came across a more dense path that we could ride on. The sandy “roads” and lack of trees made for a very hot morning. We got back to our guesthouse at around 1pm and immediately showered since we were just covered in dust and dirt that clung to our sweat. The remainder of the afternoon was spent playing cards and reading. Quiet and relaxing 😊
Day Five The definition of a budget day! After waking up and eating breakfast, we both stayed in our pyjama's and read our books for a couple hours. Even sitting in the shade of our porch is warm, you really can't escape the heat around here so we went for a walk down near the water to grab lunch and get wifi (uploaded One Month blog). Then it was back to our guesthouse for a siesta. When we got
Lookout
As we walked up the hill there were fields of goats; we could also see horse ranches down below. When the tide goes out it really gives the ocean a different appearance! up, we read some more, played some cards and just hung out until the night market was opened. We went for cheap dinner around 7:30 then back to our room again to watch a movie and pass out.
Things that fill our time when we aren't doing much of anything: the abundance of street cats always keeps Rebecca occupied taking candid photos of sleeping kitty's and sneaking food to them under the table; They are adding another room on to our guesthouse which is actually going to be a second floor. These guys easily work 12 hours a day – barefoot, bamboo ladders, some wearing sarongs, in the middle of the smouldering heat. Construction regulations are slightly different in Canada; We also saw a hermit crab... that was neat.
Day Six Time for snorkeling! In Sukamade we got to watch a sea turtle lay eggs on the beach and also got to release babies into the ocean. Well, off the coast of Lombok near the Gili Islands, we got to swim with sea turtles! Short of seeing them breed, we have certainly got the whole sea turtle experience in Indonesia and they are such amazing
Sunset
SO worth the climb! creatures to see. Watch out for their beaks though, those things look deadly! During our day of snorkeling we got to stop at 4 different dive spots with lunch in the middle. It was so much fun. We saw hundreds of kinds of fish and coral and other marine creatures. It was really beautiful. At one of the dive spots we got to feed the fish and they would swarm you. When it gets too much you have to drop the bread and hope they don't nibble your fingers before you get out of the way.
We were back at our guesthouse just in time for a nap and them it was time for dinner. The power went out while we were at dinner so we had to pack in the dark and spent that last few hours of our day reading with headlamps. Rebecca read a whole book over the last few days, hopefully Kuta has some bookshops!
And now... we are in Kuta Beach (Lombok). Don't get confused, we were at another Kuta in Bali. There are two! But they are very different. This place isn't as much party as it is chill. We
Gunung Agung
Apparently you can see the largest Bali volcano from most of the area. It is visible in so many of our pictures including this one :) have a couple of nights here before we fly to Sumatra. We will hopefully get you another update before our flight. Catch ya later!
Xoxo Ty+Becs
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Patti Hanrath
non-member comment
3 Day Road
Hey Becs! Listen to this....We have met Joseph Boyden and we know his brother and sister-in-law very well and his mom..and nieces and nephews...small world. Joe has read the book and really enjoyed it...still on my reading list:) Love you two! xoxo