Day 23 - 26 (Mar 28-31 2013): The Gili Islands

The Quick Facts:

* Spent the weekend in the Gili Islands (specifically Gili Trawangan)
* Took the fastboat (Marina Srikandi) from Padang Bai
* Stayed at Desa Dunia Beda
* Logged in plenty of beach time, and one snorkeling trip that took us to all three Gili Islands (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air)

The Good:

* Our hotel was perfect – remote from the 20-something party scene but close enough to everything
* I got in two runs during the weekend – I am still seriously out of shape though
* Snorkeling around the islands

The Bad:

* We stayed in Gili Trawangan; in retrospect, we should have stayed in Lombok and then did a day trip to the Gilis – Lombok is a big island with lots to do there, but transportation to/from the Gilis is limited and therefore makes doing anything worthwhile in Lombok quite difficult
* The boat transportation was fine because we were there in the offseason – during busier seasons, it is a bit confusing and I can see how some people complain of overcrowding (and therefore possibly dangerous situations)

Part II of our weekend refuge was a trip to the Gili Islands, which are three small islands off the northwest coast of Lombok.  To get there, you must take a boat (either a “fast boat” which gets you in there in 75 minutes or a “slow boat” which takes 3-4 hours) across the Lombok Strait from a port town called Padang Bai.  Here is the pier from which we left:

 

And here is our boat:

And here is the view from the cramped quarters inside (please no problems, please no problems, please no problems...)

 And here is a pretty good picture of Gunung Agung, the highest Balinese peak and believed to be the home of the spirits of Balinese ancestors.

 

Once we got to Gili Trawangan (or “Gili T” as it’s known), we quickly learned there are only three modes of transportation on the island.  You can use these:

 

Or these:

 

Or this:

 

Yep, no cars or motorbikes on the island whatsoever.  That last one is a “cedomo” which we had to use off the boat because our bags were heavy and our hotel was in a remote part of the island.  For those readers of this blog who know me well, you will know this was not a particular highlight for me.  I had to fight the urge to set all the horses free…

From there on out, it was relaxation time.  Here is the view from lunch we had on the beach (note the customary Andy Donaldson socks)…

 

And from our cabana on the beach near our hotel (note here that I have embraced my new, laid back self and taken off my socks.  Whoa)…

 

And from breakfast at our hotel…

 

OK, enough, you get the idea.  We also went snorkeling, which afforded some great views of the islands.  Here is one of Lombok:

 

And Gili Meno:

 

And Gili Air:

 

And here is a neat ship we saw anchored off the shore at Gili Air:

 

On Easter morning, Carrie and I got up to watch the sunrise:

 

Then we hiked up a small hill (the only hill) which gave some nice views of the island:

 

Finally, one thing to note about the Gilis is that there is very little fresh water on the islands.  There are no desalination plants on the islands (or at least not big ones, but this is starting to change), and it is expensive to have fresh water shipped in, so the showers, pools, etc are all salt water.  For fresh water, hotels typically have a separate barrel that is to be used sparingly.  Every time I looked at this thing, I kept looking around for Jeff Probst to tell me about the next Survivor challenge I’d be competing in.

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