Bali and Gilis: Part 3 - Gili Trawangan

Day Eight

Another very early start and a drive to Pandang Bay. We'd booked our boat crossing to Gili T with the Gili Cat company. Being the worrier that I am, we booked a well known company and not one of the local boats that over crowd the voyages. Turns out - even the better companies can have their problems. The positives? Our boat didn't sink and it wasn't over crowded. The negatives? A 40 minute journey took 3 hours. Our motors broke and we were rocking around on a rough sea for ages. Rach and I were so SO sea sick it wasn't even funny.

This was a photo from the boat just as we were leaving
Pandang Bay - BEFORE it was choppy, BEFORE the engines
broke and BEFORE we were bobbing about!

I've never been so glad to see dry land. We got off the pier and just sat for a while. Rach went to get us some coke and that went down VERY well. We both vowed never to get on another mode of transport again. As we walked off the pier, we saw a horse and cart (there are no cars or motorvehicles on the Gilis) and decided that maybe just one more mode of transport would be ok to get us to our hotel...

The view as we got off the boat onto the pier
was just breathtaking

Cute horse and cart

Our first afternoon on the island was a bit of a write off. Rach had some lunch on the beach as soon as we arrived in the hope it would stop her world bobbing up and down. I had some lunch later at a little cafe. We laid on the beach for a few hours and had a little nap. The sea and sand and sky were just incredible and I make no apologies for the amount of photos of this I'm going to post. I've never been anywhere where the sea looked so beautiful. It was like a brochure.

Loved this sign!

We felt a little better by the evening so explored the island a little. It's only small and took us about 30 minutes to walk from our hotel, along the main strip to the bottom of the island. We stopped at the Irish Bar (there's one wherever you are in the world) for some dinner (pizza!) as they were showing the Wimbledon final. We stayed there until late, watching Andy Murray almost win then went back to the bungalows to bed.

Day Nine

Well, we had high hopes for breakfast after being so impressed with our others and the Mango Dive Bungalows didn't let us down...pancakes! Hurrah! Tea and fruit too. But the pancakes were really good. The hotel had its own little stretch of beach in front so we spent the morning there. It was difficult to read my kindle quite so much there as the scenery was so glorious! I strolled up and down the beach, taking more photos and trying to capture just how stunning the Gilis are. 

These were the mountains on Lombok that you could see
from the island

The beach was beautiful white sand but as
you got nearer the sea it was all coral -
very pretty but painful on the toes!

We had a relaxing lunch further down the road and then spent more time on our little stretch of beach. By now we were experts in sun lotion application and, in the evenings, DEET application. We had a lovely anti-mozzie sheen to our legs and arms and our aromas had a citrusy/chemical tang the them. But - we didn't get bitten!  think we had one bite between the two of us by the time we got back to BKK, which is pretty impressive!

We'd been told that Scallywags BBQ was a must while on Gili T so, that's where we headed for dinner. It was right at the bottom of the island and open air (as are all the places on Gili T). The furniture was all while and beach housey, and we ate with our toes in the sand. The BBQ was amazing. A big salad bar, baked potatoes and then your choice of meat or fish from the chiller. We both had the tandori chicken and filled up on the amazing bread and garlic mayonnaise! A couple of cocktails as it got dark and a pretty view - what more could you ask for!

View from our table

Day Ten

More pancakes for breakfast today - although I had to many (only 2) and made Rachel promise to stop me doing that again! We spent the day on our little stretch of beach again, and I began reading The Godfather. Nannie Bun had always said it was the first book she'd ever read that she really loved and so I thought it was about time I'd read it. 

Our stretch of beach

As we were on the beach, our friends Steve and Lucy shot by on a horse and cart! They'd arrived safely (having had a better boat journey than ours!) and were staying further towards the top of the island. After a little while, they made their way down to see us and we had lunch nearby at an Italian restaurant that made its own pasta. Ideal for me, as after reading just a short amount of The Godfather I was craving Italian tomato and garlic sauce with some crusty bread! 

Lucy, Rach and I left Steve on the beach and strolled down to look at the shops and other bungalows. We found a nice place to eat that evening, so after a lazy afternoon, we shower, applied our DEET and headed out for dinner. I had pie and mash again - yum! And we stopped and a bar for some drinks on the way home.

Girls

Day Eleven

I'd read that sunrise on Gili T was worth seeing and so I got up at 6am to go and sit on the beach. It was definitely worth it. It was quiet, although there were one or two others around, and just so peaceful.

I sat and read my book for a little while and then had breakfast with Rach (only one pancake this time). It was already so hot and we spent an hour or so on the beach before walking up to meet Lucy and Steve on the top of the island. We found a beautiful stretch of beach with a nice hotel that had sun loungers we could use. We stayed all day, dipping in the sea, reading our books and having a lunch of pitta breads, hummus and Greek bruchetta. 

Cooling off 

By late afternoon, we all went to shower and change before dinner. Lucy, Rach and I had some cocktails at a bar called The Deck before meeting Steve and having another delicious BBQ meal at Scallywags.

Day Twelve

It was no good - the pancakes were calling and I had two this morning. So did Rach though, so it was ok! We walked back up to the same beach we had spent the day on yesterday, as it had been so nice. I listened to an audiobook (had now become so lazy that even reading my kindle was too much effort!) and enjoyed the view again. We ate another nice lunch of pitta with tomatoes and feta and onion and then did some more stressful sunbathing. 

Lucy and Rach were going to go snorkeling and the persuaded me to go too. Kate had also told me I had to do it while I was on Gili or I'd regret it. So, we went and hired the snorkeling gear and Lucy (an experienced diver!) showed us what to do. Then, we went out! 

It was one of the most amazing experiences ever! The water was warm and we swam out quite far. There were hundreds of little fish darting around and as it got deeper, there were larger fish and bigger shoals. We swam out until we were about 7 metres above the sea bed and there were huge boulders and rocks that coral was growing on and the fish were swimming around. The water was so clear you could see straight down to the sea floor. I wish I'd been able to take some photos. Instead, here are a few I found online of Gili T snorkeling - they don't quite do the real experience justice, but it'll give you an idea. 

Being scared of the sea, I wasn't sure I'd do it. But once we were in and could see how pretty it was, it was hard not to want to stay out there all day. I wish I'd done it sooner during our time on Gili as I'd have done it every day! 

As this was our final evening on the island, we decided to go further along the top of the island to find a nice spot to watch the sunset from. We went to a nice bar and had an amazing view. It was stunning. Then we moved along the beach to a tapas restaurant called Karma Kayak and had a great meal there, on the beach, in the dark, with just a few candles lighting the table. 

Me, Lucy and Rach, in order!

Lucy, me and Steve having sunset drinks

Some of Steve's photos were much better than mine, so I've stolen and posted a few of his! :) Thanks Steve! 

Gili Trawangan was simply stunning. This was definitely the best part of the holiday. I can't wait to go back, it's definitely top of my list for places to re-visit. It was lovely having Lucy and Steve with us for a few days too. It was such a strange feeling going somewhere so different and luxurious and then having friends from work there too. So lucky to have these experiences!