Villa Nautilus Gili Meno

We caught a taxi to the little port village of Bangsal, sharing with an italian couple that had also been staying at Perl's place. This proved much cheaper than using the travel agency shuttle busses and we decided we'd use the taxi again when we left. A taxi with a meter is a rare thing in S.E. Asia!!

The port was much quieter than our guidebook had lead us to expect and we bought a ticket for the next public boat with very little hassle ...... and amazingly we only ...

... hier in de tropen zijn de zogeheten chik-tjaks of tjiktjaks of … nou ja, hoe je dat dan ook schrijft. Stel je even voor een klein hagedisje, minder schuw, voelt zich aangetrokken tot licht en eet insecten van de muur. Elke avond weer leuk om naar te kijken. Nou hebben deze tjiktjaks (tchiktjaks, tjik-tcha… laat maar!) een grotere broer, een veel grotere broer, de gekko! Dit monster hing aan de muur van een bungalow op Lombok die ik toevallig ...

The Gili Islands sit just off the northwestern coast of Lombok and can be reached in about an hour and a half from Bali using a private fast boat in lieu of the public ferries which will add several hours to the journey. The draw are the quiet days, crystal clear blue waters, no motorized vehicles (even the ice cream man rides a bike with a ...

We have just spent the last 6 days in the Gili Islands, just off the north-west coast of Lombok. We left Padang Bai, Bali on the 9:00 am ferry (which actually left at 10:00 am), 4 hours later we arrived in Lombok, took a mini-bus for an hour and a half, then a small boat out to the islands arriving around 5:45 pm. This included lots of idle time waiting at each leg and saying ‘no thank you’ to all the hawkers trying to sell you necklaces, bracelets, rice ...

... to the island. The islands don’t have any motorized vehicles and only horse and cart to move thing around. I finally arrived at Gili Meno and found out the place I was staying was within walking distance (found out later everything is within walking distance. I arrived a at Tao Kombo to find out that they didn’t have any bungalows available and the only thing they had was platform with roll up bamboo curtains and a mosquito net and a mattress thrown on top of the ...

... Rene 1 Week on Bali, at Mt Bromo and one week at Flores. We had a lot of fun, rent a motorbike and travelled through Bali and Flores. I got along well with Rene the whole time and we had a lot of fun together. Rene was for me always the mister Gado Gado because he managed every morning a whole portion of Gado Gado for breakfast! I stayed with him about 3 days in Labuan Bajo (Flores) and we did a 2 days trip to Ruteng. Usually it should ...

We caught a fast ferry to Gili Trawangan. The Gilis have no motorized transport and the port was full of horses and carts. We found a deli-cafe and Kings left us eating ABCLT's (avo, bacon, cheddar, lettuce) while he negotiated us a transfer to Gili Meno.

We paid the driver and three local people used the opportunity to hitch a ride. One teenager was thrilled to practice his English and told Rich that Gili Meno was full of monkeys. He must have ...

... were building bungalows adjacent to their property and vice versa. We met many entrepreneurs, few of who were Sasak or from Indonesia, who had settled on the island to open new businesses. Mary and I had an unbelievably romantic meal at this brand new Italian restaurant opened by this Milanese guy that was right on the beach, steps in front of the water and under the stars. Given that we had spent Valentine's Day with Sarah and getting to the island ...

... Ici c'est tres agreable. Une ile paradisiaque que nous avons marche et fait le tour en 1 heure. Donc ce sera relaxe pour les trois prochains jours. Nous avons rencontre une autre voyageuse que nous avions rencontre en malaisie. Le monde est petit parfois. Si vous n'avez pas de nouvelle pour quelques jours, ne vous en faite pas, on bouge pas. Les connexions ne sont pas fiable et c'est tres cher. Bisouxxxxxxxxxx France et Rejean

On the trip to Mataram, we were accompanied by some locals that wanted their son to pose for pictures with us. He was shy, but the father was not going to lose this opportunity and picked him up and placed him beside us for the pictures anyhow. Somehow I doubt this is going to make for great photos, but Lisa and I were happy to appear in yet another Indonesian family's photo album. Once we had arrived in Amparan Ampenan, the driver asked us where we were going next ...