Blue Beach Cottages Gili Trawangan

Yesterday we wandered around the town, checking out the accomodation. We ended up deciding on Warna Homestay (200', cold salt water, fan, bf) and moved over in the afternoon.

Went for my first dive in the afternoon too - 30 degree water, great visibility, loads of fish and healthy looking corals. Didn't have my camera with me, this ...

... suggested that we just join together, so we did. We met an English guy called Rob, Marco the Portuguese guy, Katelyn from Canada, and the first two of many Irish acquaintances called Anna-Marie and Trisha. We ate, had a few drinks and arranged to meet the next day at the Horizontal Bar. This place was great. It was a little expensive for food and drinks, but allowed you free use of the sun loungers all day. It was here that the group just grew and grew. The next day ...

... something wasn't right. So, he went to the place that they last saw, found the guy that they had talked to and managed to get the bag back. This took quite the effort given the lack of english and confusion in what was trying to be said. Kevin was assuming that the guy had the bag and possibly had taken Chelsey. The guy thought that Kevin wanted to rent the room and kept trying to take his bag to the room. Only once another local ...

... seems like a beach resort that had its heyday a few years ago, with quite a few empty buildings and a mix of old and new accomodation types etc. Despite it being high season it was really quiet in all the bars and restaurants.... which meant that a lot of attention from locals trying to sell 'transport', jewellery, fish, drugs etc but always with a smile on their face and never aggressive... it was good fun having banter with them... like trying to haggle for boat prices (I ...

... the bags and I went off looking around. Just around the
corner was an almost identical place and she wanted 350,000 and had
only one room left. By this stage I'd passed about 4-5 places with
full signs and loads more people with backpacks on in the same boat
as us so I raced back to the first place where han was and asked if
the room was still there. It was, so we took his hand off for 160,000
and settled in.

To cut a long story short ...

... and his sons, each of them working in different field. They all lived in Lombok coming to the Gilis for better money (from tourism of course).
In the morning after the first boat with outbound visitors left I easily found accommodation. Trawangan is the busiest of the Gilis. Bars and restaurants are full of mostly young people seeking passion in diving and sun bathing. Among locals this place is known as ...

... being really aggressive. I was kind of forced into getting a return ticket. They tried to charge me 200,000 for somethng I knew which was 150,000. IThey also woulnt budge and knew I didnt have any option so I just got a ticket to Padangbai for 150,000 instead of Kuta - my destination of choice. I walked away, got a blue pen crossed it out and had no probs a week later in getting back to Kuta - I managed to rip ...

... I have the theme song to Jaws going through my head. The shark does its revolution and decides we aren't very interesting. It goes back to its spot and we swim in the opposite direction. The next aquatic life we see is my turtle. I just hovered around it for a good 5 minutes. I must have annoyed the big guy because he swam away from me after the time. The coral wasn't as colorful as I thought, but the fish were amazing. I ...

... My personal best was 3 turtles in about 15 minutes. But the highlight was one day following a huge (2m long) turtle for about an hour. He had no fear, swimming as close as 10M offshore. The best part was watching them on the bottom, & then about every 20-30 minutes they come up for air. Following right behind them as they ascend, you can poke your head out of the water & watch them take a breath. This is when I really wish I had a waterproof digital ...

... that you had to take off your sandals and venture inside to order or pay. The floor was really dirty and our feet would end up being black after this. After lunch we would either hit the beach again or (if it was too hot), lie around our room and nap, play video games or watch a movie. We would eat dinner at Juku Restaurant or go back to Kiki Nova Warung. Juku Restaurant served excellent Mexican food for around 30,000 Rp a dish and also made an excellent fish ...