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Published: November 2nd 2009
Gili Air
Packed!!!!!!!!We were really excited about the Gili islands. They are really really small and we didn't really know what to expect. We took our minibus to the port and caught the boat accross to Gilli Air. There are only two boats a day and so it was jam packed with locals and food deliveries, so we clambered on and sat where we could. There is no motorised transport on any of the Gili islands. We had chosen to stay on the North East of the island so we got in a horse and cart. It felt so cruel though once we were in it and our horse Sabrina (bless her) was clearly struggling in the heat. There was no alternative though as we didn't fancy a half hour walk with the backpacks in the heat. Throughout Indonesia we kept seeing them and I really felt sorry for them standing around in the heat looking distressed and irritated. I will never get in a horse and cart again.... We found a place with some little bungalows and stayed there for 2 nights. It was a really chilled place with a handful of restaurants / cafes on the beach with little huts were
Gili Air
Yeyyyy, just managed to squeeze on, just about!!! you ate food and could watch films on loads of cushions and hear the waves in the background, it was really cool. The water was amazing and I think was the nicest, clearest water I have ever been in so far. We did some snorkelling and saw loads of fish, better than in the Ningaloo Reef on the West Coast of Oz. Lisa runs so she ran around the island in about half an hour, that's how small it is. It really is tiny but a nice escape from the hustle and bustle and the traffic on Bali / Lombok. We wanted to do all three islands but didn't have time so we took a boat to Gili Trawangon for a few nights. This was the liveliest of the three but was still reallly chilled. It had some great luxury hotels on there too. The beach wasn't as nice but there was more choice of trips / diving etc. The beach was really rocky and full of dead coral so although the water was beautiful it was so difficult getting in and out. On Tranwangon we wanted to go on a horseriding trip around the island. It cost 400,000 Rupiah
Gili Air
Sabrina xxx (28 quid) so it really blew the budget!!!! but it was really good. My horse was called Caramel and he was beautiful. They were all males and the riding school was called "Stud"!!!. Lisa can ride, I on the other hand know what to do; just putting it into practice was a little more difficult!! I have not been on a horse since I was at school and went to Deandane with Dawn!!!
After the Gili Islands we took a bus trip down to "Kuta Lombok", not a bit like Kuta in Bali. There is absolutely nothing there but a few hotels and Indonesian Warungs (food places) and some deserted beaches. We got a good deal at our hotel, I went to buy superglue and fix both pairs of my flip flops. I had been walking like a penguin for the past 2 days so I was relieved not to have to spend more money on cheap flip flops. I now had 2 pairs again!!!
We rented more scooters and did some more touring around. The roads were terrible and it was a bit scary so I took my time and avoided falling off this time!!!. We found a
lovely deserted beach which was nearly "The Beach" I have been looking for except no palm / coconut trees :-(. Having a scooter is great, it's like having a really fast pushbike without having to peddle and get sweaty!! There was quite a lot of wild dogs in Kuta Lombok and the whole place lacked the infrastructure of a proper town, there was no street lamps, the lay out was all over the place, there were no taxis or transport etc etc. so it was pitch black walking round to go to the restaurants and I shit myself one night, all the dogs are in packs and are very intimidating as they are howling and barking like bloody wolves and they follow you. I was a little scared but Lisa was fine - I need to toughen up!!!! Before we left we we offered a lift on the back of a motorbike by a guy at our hotel but I didn't want to as it meant us both being passengers and thought it was a bit dangerous. Well I changed my mind after the dog episode and offered the guy at the restaurant some money to take us back to
our hotel on our way back!!! (about 70 pence ha ha).
While in Kuta we bought some tickets for transport to go back to Bali to Lovina on the North Coast. That ferry is such a pain - another 5 hours. It is full of local Indonesian people and not very many travellers so everyone (mailnly the men...urgghh) stare at you. I ended up freaking out and shouting at a group of men to stop staring. They were really pissing me off and it wasn;t even because we were western people, they were just sleazy!!! i got so angry as we were trying to sleep and everytime I opened my eyes, they were there looking at us. Not nice.
We thought we had got a really good deal with the price on this trip until we got off the ferry and got told our tickets only took us half of the way to Ubud and NOT Lovina....that's Indonesia!!. Luckily we had planned to make a stop in Ubud so it was fine in the end.
In Ubud we stayed in a place called Donald home stay which was great until Lisa told me there were bed bugs after
we had left there!!! She also did some cockroach squashing.....I was so glad to have my own personal bug killer (cheers Lisa x).
Ubud is lovely and definately a much more classier place than Kuta. You can spend all day walking round all the little boutique style shops and jewellery shops. I bought some presents there too - My bag is now 19Kg guys so no more presents!!!! We just chilled here and ate some great food and then headed up to Lovina in the North. We took another bus which took us right into the mountains. It was another very nice drive and we drove through all the rice fields which were so green and pretty to look at surrounded by all the coconut trees.
We stayed at a hotel called Suma in Lovina, which was where we got dropped off by the transport. It had a great pool and was really close to the beach. We rented scooters AGAIN!!!! and decided to go to the Hot Springs which were so cool and HOT!. We got a bit lost for a while. I think Lisa lost her navigation chip for a while but she got us there in
the end!!!. (Lisa is really good at memorising maps and navigating etc. - she has pays much more attention than I do so I just followed her everywhere). We both did our best Timotei shampoo advert impressions and got some pics and then went off to the Waterfall where there was no water what so ever and then I decided to fall off my scooter, quite badly this time and cut open my ankle and my elbow and other bruises and scratches. I broke too hard and ending up sliding underneath the bloody thing. I panicked as I was unsure what I had done to myself and I was just lying in the middle of the road with this bike on top of me, I'm so glad it wasn't Kuta as it would have been a lot worse with loads of traffic round. Lisa made me got the docs.....30US$ and everything seemed fine, I had some antibiotic powder and couldn't swim for 5 days so I couldn't go on the snorkelling trip we had booked :-( Now I know why bike riders wear leathers!!!!!!!!
I was really scared after my fall of taking the scooter back. The excess for damage
Gili Air
its a hard life!! was 300US$ and there was a bit, the paintwork was all scratched, the wing mirror was broken. It wasn't that obvious but I was sure they would notice, especially if they sore my dressings and scratches etc. We didn't have to take the bikes back until latest 7pm so we waited until then when it was darker and I dressed in long trousers and Lisa's check shirt with long sleeves so they couldn't see my wounds. A 300$ bill was all I needed but luckily they handed back my passport without even checking the bikes..........phew. I was very worried!! Luckily we were leaving the next day too! We had some Gin and some Cheese that Lisa treated me to on the balcony to celebrate. Small pleasures eh!!
Before we left Lovina, we went to see the dolphins on a sunrise boat trip - 6am!!!!! We did see a few which was amazing but there were just soooooo many boats. I had to get carried onto the boat so I didn't get my wound wet!!! Always the drama queen ha ha !!!!!! The sunrise was pretty spesh too! (Don't know how many of them I have seen in my lifetime,
Gili Air
Nice bikini Lisa!! I know its not that many though!!!) Then it was back to Kuta to collect our big bags and then fly to Oz. I can't believe I ended up in SE Asia for 8 weeks as it wasn't even supposed to be part of the trip. I saw loads and did so much. Time really flew and I have some great memories and made some fab mates and will definately return to some of the places I have visited!!!
Next - (Australia Part 2 - Darwin)
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Lisa
non-member comment
Janey!!
Janey - loving your blog. Firstly the big pig rice thing was called Babi Guling!. I Love your blogs, they really feel like being back in Indo. Can't beleive this goes back to horse riding on Gili T. Your horse was SO lovely, and mine was such a pain in the arse - remember that bit when mine acted up when the horse and cart was coming past and yours bolted - bad times! Loving your pictures from Kuta, Lombok as well, wasn't that beach amazing! I was so close to being 'the beach'! and then Lovina and that awful day when you skidded, God i felt so bad. Is your ankle better now... it's not infected any more right?! Hope you are well! I'm off to New Zealand tomorrow - have had a fantastic time in Sydney and Melbourne. Stayed with friends in St Kilda in Melbourne and Bondi in Sydney - had a brill time. So jealous you're going to be seeing Jen when you're here! Much love and looking forward to hearing all about Aus, Lisa