Island life, Indonesian style.

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A new day, a new place!

Thamarind Resort, Gili Gede, Lombok,Indonesia

We woke to the sun streaming through the window of our bungalow and the smell of cooking.
It was time to go out and discover our new surroundings.

The breakfast that was included turned out to be nice, scrambled egg, toast ( that was actually toasted!) Tea and fresh fruit. A good start.

After breakfast we swam out with our snorkels and were happy to discover that there was a lot of coral still intact and a drop off teaming with fish. This was exactly what we'd been hoping for.

Back on dry land we explored our surroundings, there were three bungalows like ours and the rest were just square bamboo huts with a mattress on the floor. Apart from the lumbung house that we were supposed to be staying in but got upgraded.Everywhere the gardens were well tended and green making it a very pleasant place right on the sea front. There isn't much of a beach but the beauty of the surroundings makes up for the lack

Our bungalow was right on the edge of the sea with views over to mount Rinjani on Lombok itself. We soon discovered that we could wake up early and watch the sunrise without even leaving our bed. Now that has to be special!!

We teamed up with two German guys one day for a boat / snorkel trip to two other islands, the coral was good especially around Gili Layer where there was just one resort we spent some time on the beach here then the boatman came in the sea with us to look for turtles but we never came across any,Sadly

After a few days we were ready to go for a walk and see more of the island. There are no roads to speak of just dirt paths or crumbling concrete walkways past the lake that was now mostly mud and alive with tiny crabs that scuttled back to their holes as we approached.

We tentatively walked along some of the narrow streets not really sure if it was a street or leading to someone's home. We needn't have feared the local people were very friendly and pointed us in the right direction. All though I'm not sure where that was, we had no idea where we were going. Just " jalan, jalan" as the locals said. Meaning 'wandering about'.

Eventually we came to the opposite side of the island and turned left hoping it would bring us back to our starting point. As we walked past a few rough houses a voice called " hello Mr Stan Woolley " it was Noll from Thamarind resort. He was at home that day and invited us in to meet the whole family and offered us a much needed drink.

After tbe obligatory photos with the family we were on our way. Boll had given us instructions how to get back to Thamarind and several groups of children out playing confirmed the way. It seems like the whole island knows Thamarind!

One group of children came running across the must offering a present in the way of a tiny ball, I think it was a snails egg! We spoke to them for a while in simple English and Indonesian and then left. They came running after us with a flower and blew kisses. How sweet!

Over the weekend many locals had been here along with 12 other tourists but by Monday night we were down to four including us, then another left. Things began to feel a bit lonely so we searched out the French restaurant we'd heard about for an early dinner. I say early dinner as we needed to eat and be back before dark. These paths are not good to walk on in the dark.
Back at our restaurant things were busy in the kitchen, apparently there was some kind of event going on at the nearby mosque and Noll was taking food for everyone. He was dressed in the tradition costume they wear when praying.

******""* as usual scroll down for more photos******

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Comments

[Sabrina Afroz]

Amazing Pictures
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