Doing absolutely nothing
Gili Air,
West Nusa Tenggara,
Indonesia
Friday, August 8, 2008
Day 158 - Finally made it to the Gili Islands! Having carried out a quick morning transaction for Casino Royale from a tout on the beach, the bus picked me up at 8:30am and we took monkey forest road to Bangsal. When we were dropped off at the tourist cafe half a kilometre from the jetty, it was fairly chaotic and here I met Lores, who is from Indonesia originally but lives in Holland, and is also travelling on her own to Gili Air (most tourists were going to the party island of Gili Trawangan). Instead of walking we got a horse kart to the jetty and were both shafted as some locals carried our bags onto the boat and then asked to be paid 20,000IDR each! They ended up with 5,000IDR between them thanks to Lores speaking pretty good bahasar Indonesia.
On the island we decided to share a room, which was particularly useful being high season and the rooms being few and far between and non negotiable. There are no cars or motorbikes on Gili Air, so public transport is by horse kart and we set off to the east coast to find a room. A Czech couple from the boat did the same in a separate kart behind us, and a strange situation arose where they seemed to join forces with us to find accommodation, however, as most places had just the one room available, it developed to be more like competition! We stopped at Gili Air Santay and the couple pulled up behind and were on our heels on the way to the bungalows, and hearing there being only one room left it got mighty awkward. But with Lores speaking bahasar Indonesia, she managed to get the staff to keep the couple away as we decided on the room and took a very nice bungalow for 140,000IDR.
We had lunch at the hotel restaurant which is a nice assortment of verandas with cushions and hammocks, right next to the sea. The coast is absolutely beautiful and quiet, with just the sound of the waves. We walked to the north of the island and lay in the sea for a few hours, and were the only people to be seen, despite being high season. The peace and quiet was heaven and we got out only when the sun started to come down and I discovered a star fish which had been laid right underneath my face! We had a mixed juice at another bamboo clad restaurant before going back to the bungalow where I fell asleep on the hammock to the sound of horse karts jingling, crickets, birds and cows mooing!
For dinner we shared a fresh black snapper which was barbecued and got some free pudding of black rice and coconut milk. We laid on the cushions, looking out into the darkness (where I guess the idea of watching the sea was enough), absolutely stuffed and ordered a cocktail each where we recieved something similar to the real thing: Lores' tequila sunrise being completely absent of grenadine and my moscow mule having real ginger, rather than ginger ale (which is by no means the same, or better in a cocktail!). It seems after only an afternoon of winding down that 5 months of travelling caught up with me and started falling asleep on the cushions. So we stumbled back to the bungalow in the pitch dark to a non-sagging mattress.
Day 159 - Met Lores in the Santay restaurant for breakfast and we sat on the cushions all morning reading and relaxing. At midday we hired some snorkelling equipment and walked north a bit so that we could move with the current down the east coast and I was perusing the reef for a few minutes and looked up to find Lores half way down the coast!
Another meal later and we were relaxing on cushions again, but feeling agitated I left to go for a walk to the north west and sat on the beach (again the only one there save a local woman who came and shook my hand) and read my book until the sun came down. Lores turned up and we sat on the beach for a bit chatting before going for a Bintang. And so it began.. an evening of too many men! As it was Lores' last night, we decided to have some drinks and what with my track record and Lores being quite a magnet because of her being Indonesian, we had an interesting night. We ended up in Blue Bar, which is a techno, late night bar on the south end of the island, and as we were arrived, were ushered to two chairs at the bar with local boys either side! It was quite fun and I really liked chatting to Lores as it was quite mad how much we had in common! One man was particularly entertaining as he gave me a personal display of his dancing moves, which can only be likened to that of a go-go dancer.
Day 160 - Woke up far too early and after coming down to the restaurant for breakfast fell asleep on the cushions and in the process lost 150,000IDR out of my pocket (which I later reclaimed). I moved on to the hammock outside our bungalow and there resumed my nap and the rest of my time in Gili Air continued in this way: mostly lying in a hammock, sometimes on the cushions by the sea, but mostly in a hammock!
Lores had to catch a boat at 2:30pm to go back to Jakarta and so I tried to negotiate with the Austrian boss, named Rosi, but finding the situation being quite non-negotiable, settled on her discounting me 20,000IDR for Lores' breakfast and keeping the room however long I stayed on the island. We went in the sea for about an hour before getting a horse kart to the jetty and said goodbye. I took my daily pilgrimage up the coast to sea the sunset and sat there a few hours looking a hermit crabs, before going for some fresh tuna for dinner. You can tell I've been in Asia a fair while, when they provide you with a fork and knife (as opposed to fork and spoon) and the only manner of eating that feels right is to cut up the meat and spoon the food into your mouth, all with the right hand! The tuna steak cost roughly 2 pounds and was bigger than my face. Apparently the daily portion of meat should not exceed the size of a deck of cards, and so I exceeded my quota 5 fold and still congratulated myself on refraining from eating it all!
Of all the islands I've been to so far, I like Gili Air the most. No traffic, noone harassing you on the beach, sunsets, sunrises, cheap food and a sky full of stars... the closest thing to paradise yet.
Day 161 - The day panned out as normal. In the evening I sat at the bar in the restaurant chatting to the staff and enjoying having something to watch as they worked. The boss, Andy (Rosi's husband) made me a few cocktails not knowing that I was fully aware of him being married and the boss, seemed to want to keep these two pieces of information a secret, and I enjoyed very much testing him on the subject and watching him squirm to come up with an excuse as to why he is putting money in the float if he is only a worker etc. That gave me my evenings entertainment and by the end of the night I was sufficiently tipsy and ready for bed!
Day 162 - Madil (one of the workers at the hotel), slept in the hammock outside my room last night and woke me up for the sunset at quarter to 6 this morning. I went to the beach still in my pyjamas. Being up early I spent the rest of the morning at the bar (which became my usual seat) talking and having particular fun when Rosi arrived and Andy didn't quite know what to do with himself!
Around 10:30 I went snorkelling again and saw something akin to a puffa fish, two enormous trigger fish and a turtle, which absolutely scared my to death when I happened upon it! I watched it for ages and could see it watching me too. It was quite amazing having it all to myself... until the bloody french invaded and harassed it so much is flew (swam) away.
I counted my money and discovered I could just about afford to stay one more day, although it would be close. But it would be better to spend longer here than in Kuta, Bali. I propped the bar up again that evening and folded napkins for Mister Man (Irman) - who was made known to me when we first arrived and the only words I understood in a conversation between him, Madil and Lores in bahasar Indonesia was "manager toilet" - and that seemed to be his role!
Day 163 - Sat all morning at the bar reading and chatting and being basically part of the furniture. Turns out my position was rather strategic by the blender, where I recieved all the left over dreggs of the fruit shakes being made by Madil. The higlight of my morning (and Herol's - another worker), was when a new guest came and spoke to me in Austrian and when I explained I was english, apologised and said "sorry, I thought you were Andy's wife"! Just as I was explaining it was not the case, Rosi (who was sat around the corner and heard it) shouted "I'M Andy's wife"!
Late afternoon I went to see the sunrise, but since it was quite cloudy, decided instead to walk around the island and found the west coast, although being much less suitable for swimming and sunbathing, was very quiet and serene. The Santay restaurant was very busy when I got back and I took my place by the blender for some sneaky cocktails. A really nice Japanese girl also going to Bali tommorrow came and sat by me and we had a nice chat. By the time the restaurant was quiet and near closing, I sat outside and was absolutely hounded with men (many of whom were married) wanting to take me to the party at legends bar on the north of the island. Non seemed willing to go anyway and hung around waiting for me to decided if I was going or not. In the end I went and found the reggae bar to play are rather disappointing amount of reggae.
