Monday, October 29, 2012

Lombak and Gili Islands

Right now Lisa and I are back at the hotel we started at in Bali 11 day ago :/. But hey, HBO is a powerful draw...

Haha but really, the place (Ari Putri) is cheap and nice (ignoring of course the cockroach we found the last time in our room here). So we are here to recharge and get ready to tackle the monstrous island of Java... Home to the Indonesia's biggest cities, volcanoes, and amazing temples and maybe even an ancient Hindu city in ruins.

The last five days we were on the largest of the three tiny Gili Islands, Gili Trawangra (sp?). We were told this would be less touristy and a little more quiet... With some partying as well.

So we took the slow boat and got hassled nonstop about our decision to not spend 40 extra bucks on the fast boat to Lombak. All in all, it was about 4 hours total of driving, and another 7 hours total on boats, one boat being infested with cockroaches and other interesting critters. If only I had a picture of Lisa's foot with her cockroach friend resting so lovingly on her. But I was glad we stuck to it and got to Lombak the local way, and not some speedy cruise boat.

Once we landed on Lombak, we drove to another port to take a very tiny and rocky boat to the Gili islands, which are very small. There's no motorized traffic, only horse drawn carriages and bicycles. We could walk around the whole island in two hours. The ocean is full of coral around these, which made for some excellent snorkeling. It was still very touristy but cheaper and in the end, much more relaxing than Bali. Oh and it was hot. So damn hot. And I've got my fill of Bob Marley for the next couple of months.

But ya, Gili Islands. Good cheap fun. The locals are cool there, too. One night your getting served by a cool guy, the next day day your back at the same restaurant and he's telling you how much of a different person you are after drinking, and thank god for for the kindness of the locals, cuz without them, nobody here is remembering the night before!


pics: Sunset on Gili T. and the beach in the day