Blogs from Gilli Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia, Asia - page 10

So after the exciting feats of Berastagi, the time had unfortunately come to leave the adventures of Sumatra behind, along with the beautiful landscape, and travel down to the beaches of the Gilli Islands where Lucy (another of my housemates from university) would be waiting. We estimated the journey would take us about 28 hours, our naively optimistic opinion was telling us that it shouldn’t be too bad... 36 hours later, and once again, we were wrong. Phase one of the journey included another 2 hour ride on our favourite bumpy modes of transport - the public buses, with an exciting twist being that the aisle was so thin, you could barely move between seats sideways, ensuring that if you happened to be carrying a backpack, injuries were going to occur. Next phase of the ... read more

Hello! We're enjoying a fairly relaxed day on Gili T, although we did manage to fit in walking around the entire edge of the island! It's lovely here, and the weather hasn't been too hot today like yesterday. I'm a little bit burned but Sarah got the worst of it! We arrived in Senggigi on Lombok on the 8th (I think) and didn't do an awful lot, it took most of the day to get there having left quite late. Then we spent a day relaxing, and then the day after we hired a moped and managed to get ourselves to the Ganggi waterfalls and back without falling off and/or hurting ourselves. It was a bit hairy - I was doing the riding although Sarah had a few goes as well, although not with me on ... read more

November 14 2009 - November 22 2009 TRANSPORT: Padangbai (Bali) to Gili Trawangan--Rp150,000 (includes ferry to Lembar, bus transfers to Bangsal and boat to Gili Trawangan) Gili Air to Senggigi--Rp75,000 (includes boat to Bangsal and bus transfer to Senggigi) HOTELS: Snapper Bungalows (Gili Trawangan) Twin, fan, cold water, western toilet--Rp150,000 inc breakfast. Not a bad value place just opposite the beach. Restaurant serves some great food and for once a pretty decent breakfast! Tao Kombo (Gili Meno) Double "platform", outside squat toilet, cold water--Rp100,000 inc. breakfast A unique place with a few bungalows and two platforms. Yes platforms and they do exactly what they say on the tin! Literally a platform, with a mattress and mosquito net and a private outside toilet. Worth the experience! Nina Bungalows (Gili Air) Double, fan, cold water, western toile... read more

Grace and an enamel bowl. A woman walks past in the street below. Her flip flopped feet pat in time to the ebb of the ocean behind her. It is early morning and the sea shimmers behind her like fish scales in the sun. Her traditional Indonesian sarong hugs her slender frame. She is elegant and regal, despite her poverty. The woman balances an enormous enamel bowl lightly on her head. A huge fish, curved like a boomerang spills over the edges, its head and tail flopping in time to her pit patting flip flops. Its black skin shines in the early morning sun. It looks wet, rather than dead. And given that this is Gili, there’s a chance it could be. Perhaps the flopping is from her gait. Or, perhaps, the fish is not yet ... read more

Today is the last day of Ramadan. Tonight the island folk will eat a celebratory dinner with their families and tomorrow they will go to Mosque and pray. And then it will all be over. The month of exercising one’s will power and following an age old tradition. Weaving simple friendships… I stopped to say hello to a man this morning who was weaving little baskets. I asked what they were for. “Rice” he answered. “Is it from the coconut tree” I queried. He nodded. “Coconoot,” he confirmed. I asked if he could teach me to make one. Nodding, he drew a long frond from the pile beside him and handed it to me. “Your son?” He asked. “Yes”. “I have son too. In back.” He looped three circles of the palm frond. I copied him. ... read more