Paradise
Trip Start
Mar 15, 2008
1
25
86
Trip End
Jul 15, 2009
Where I stayed
Gili Trawangan,
West Nusa Tenggara,
Indonesia
Friday, June 13, 2008
We were greeted by deep blue water contrasted next to turquoise water and white powdery beaches.
Ana spotted a turtle on the way in. Gili is what we had pictured Bali to be, an island paradise of perfection. Motorized transport is illegal on the islands, so you don't hear the constant sound of scooters like Bali. Instead, horse drawn carriages are the only mode of transport for both people and goods. There are no dogs allowed
as well, so numerous cats have their run of the place. They treat the island like their own personal litter box, in many ways it is. They live off the scraps from the restaurants, they are a constant backdrop to daily life throughout the islands. There are also numerous goats roaming around, the babies demand your attention by
their sheer cuteness
a
. The Gili islands are a set of three specks of jungle beaches in a row off the coast of Lombock. You can see the other islands and Lombok from each island. There are 3 islands; Air(Family island), Meno(Quiet, honeymoon) and Trawangan(Party,traveler). We went to Trawangan, the biggest with the most facilities. We decided to splurge on accommodation
since we wouldn't be doing much and Ana's birthday was coming up. We ended up getting a beach front bungalow with pool and our own veranda at 38 dollars a night, we still ended up only spending around 30
bucks a day. Breakfast is free, 10 dollars for lunch and dinner, 1 dollar internet and the beach is free. Gili T has no police so they openly sell local "magic mushrooms" and weed everywhere, not sure how Allah would feel about this. There are dive shops everywhere and fantastic restaurants. We spent the next 10 days between the beach
our pool and the numerous restaurants around the island, mixed in some snorkeling and sunset walks. There are numerous DVD bungalows where you can watch a movie for the price of a drink with the ocean
as a backdrop. The beauty is overwhelming as is the heat, glad we sprung for a room with AC
1
. However, there seems to always be a cool breeze, everything here is perfection. Basically, this place is heaven on earth, so many foreign owned restaurants, hotels, and dive shops. A lot of people come here and decide to never leave. We are just waiting for the next boat to Flores, its the next island over from Lombok. The Portuguese
colonized this place, thus the name Flores. Flores is the home to the famous Komodo dragon on the island of Komodo. It's a four day boat ride with numerous snorkeling stops, should be amazing. From there were going to explore Flores for about a week then fly back to Bali then catch a flight to Borneo because our 30 day Bali visa will
be expiring. Borneo should be exciting, tons of wildlife.
