Lebaran Holiday: Part II of III

Hello, friends. I just got back to my apartment after a fun one-day trip to Singapore to finish up my work visa. There will be a separate blog post (with lots of pictures) dedicated to my day in Singapore in the near future. Until then, I hope you enjoy reading about my time on the Gili Islands.

Day 4 — To reach the Gili Islands, you either have to take a slow boat (ferry), speed boat, or be Burt Reynolds or something and have a helicopter. We took the speed boat. The boat ride takes almost exactly 2 hours and got pretty rough at times, but nothing too bad. The speed boat had an area on the roof where you could sit during the trip. Nate and I thought that this was a tremendous idea and started off the trip up top (pictured below).

They did warn us that we might get wet. However, we got drenched. I was still, stupidly, in my jeans instead of shorts. Overall, it was still worth the rush of being on top of the boat and the cool views we got from up there.

As we start to, and do, dock in Gili Trawangan*, this is what we see (pictured below).

*There are 3 Gili Islands off the northwest corner of Lombok. Lombok is the island directly to the east of Bali (pictured below: map). The 3 Gili Islands from west to east: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. Gili Trawangan is the busy island where there are parties at night and lots of restaurants. Gili Meno and Gili Air are much more reserved and more-or-less couple getaway spots.

The only thing that Bali had on Gili T was that Gili T’s beaches were very rocky and there was a lot of washed up coral. There were still some solid beach spots and it was a tremendous place to nongkrong (chill/hang out) for a week (pictured below: me on Gili T’s beach). In the picture below, the mountains in the background are on Lombok. Very cool view.

We got to our hotel and the people there were super chill. Suh was the guy who ran the place and he was a great host. He and his staff were very friendly and nice the whole time. Eli, Nate, and I went walking around that afternoon and found a place to play some table tennis. I used to joke in college that I was only good at 2 things in life: FIFA and ping pong. I have only lost 1 game in Indonesia so far—to Nate. He is good competition. Very solid player with a style similar to mine. Once the school year becomes more routine, I hope that he and I are able to sneak down during some periods we both have off to play some table tennis during the day. Nate and I engaged in several battles during the week. I came out on top, but he is a worthy opponent and we had some good times around the table.

Day 5 — Not a whole lot to report on Day 5. Amy, Bardley, and I all brought our own snorkeling masks, so we went into the water and did our own mini-snorkel. Saw some decent coral and some decent fish. In the afternoon and evening, a few of us went to a bar and had some beers while relaxing. The whole gang wanted to go to this large market area for dinner, but I had seen a place advertising “Gili’s best fish and chips.” For some reason this had stood out to me and I wanted to go try them. I accompanied the group to the market where I had a lovely appetizer with the rest of the group (pictured below: grilled corn on the cob coated in buttery goodness that surely took no less than 4 days off my life).

After the group sat down for their meal, I headed up the main road to order the fish and chips. We all know how this goes: you build something up in your mind to a level where it never lives up to hype. Well, this was the rare time when it still exceeded my expectations. They were fantastic (pictured below).

I met up with the others after the meal at a bar and we saw the start of the big Muslim parade that was taking place that night. That day was the last day of Ramadan and the Muslims on the island had a big parade. The parade lasted all night, including screaming children from the mosque speakers going non-stop until about 3:30am. Around 2:00, I went out and talked with one of the hotel staff. What are they saying? What do they keep screaming about? His response, “Oh... Allah is good. Allah is big. You know, the usual.”

Day 6 — Nate and I had seen a bunch of places on the main drag that will take you snorkeling on each of the 3 islands for 100. rupiah (remember: the “.” replaces the “,” so that is 100 000 rupiah or $10). Nate had never been snorkeling before and I am a huge fan, so the two of us went out on our own to snorkel for the day. It was a great time (pictured below: me on the boat; Nate climbing into the boat).

The snorkeling was fantastic. The first spot, off of Gili T, had some great coral and some beautiful fish. The second spot had a really cool drop-off where you could see coral that was about 3 or 4 meters below you and then a fairly steep drop to darkness. I did not see any turtles at this site the first time we stopped there on this day. A few people in our boat said they had, so I was a little disappointed I did not. The boat stopped for lunch on Gili A and, by popular demand, we stopped again at the place where the turtles had been spotted on the way back to Gili T. I saw two different sea turtles on this dive and it was awesome. One turtle was swimming directly below me (about 3 meters) for a solid 3-4 minutes. Very cool. Nate got right up to one of them and had a great experience for his first time snorkeling.

We met a couple different pairs of girls that were really cool: one pair from the US teaching in South Korea and the other pair from London. We also met a French family (there was an unusually large percentage of French people on Gili T) on the boat and their son went underneath the boat so those on the boat could see him through the glass bottom. I thought it looked cool, so I snapped a pic. I then got the family’s email address and sent them the photo right then and there. Nothing outstanding, but just a cool reminder of how awesome technology can be (pictured below: French kid who was insanely good in the water).

Day 7 — Bardley and I decided to go walk around the south tip of Gili T on Day 7. The island is small enough that it would probably take about 3 hours at a casual walk to get all the way around. Bards and I decided to go down to the southern tip and just kick it for the day. I am very fortunate to have met Brad (I just feel bad calling him Bardley so many times). He is a great dude that I randomly met at the UNI Fair where I got the job with BBS. I had his number from the fair and we were able to text each other questions/concerns we had about the upcoming move. We also found out that we would have been totes BFFs in college if we had crossed paths sooner. We enjoyed each other’s company during the afternoon and enjoyed a peaceful spot to chill and talk (pictured below: Brad nongkrong).

For dinner, we met up with the rest of the gang at an Italian restaurant. A pleasant surprise was the 4 additional BBS friends that joined us that evening. Jeremy and Kasandra are married and had been traveling with Aaron and Trevor in Bali. They were in Gili T and we were all able to meet up and enjoy some fantastic Italian food. Eli and I split lasagna and a pizza. The pizza was out of this world. It was “double-baked with feta, ham, and spinach.” The top of the pizza was similar to a domed crust and inside was all the amazing toppings. It was similar to a calzone, but definitely deserved to be classified as a pizza.

Day 8 — After doing the southern part of the island with Brad on Day 7, Nate and I decided to do the northern part of the island on Day 8. The northern part of Gili T was very nice. The beaches are not nearly as nice as they are on the southern part, but all the good snorkeling was on the northern part of the island. Nate and I enjoyed some more quality time together and we were able to randomly bump into Amy and Kavitha for lunch. In the afternoon, the 5 of us (Eli joined us mid-meal) went to a very cool spot where you could smoke hookah and just lay on some pillows to relax (pictured below: beautiful view from the hookah bar). Hookah has never really been my thing, but it is a fun social activity and the double apple mint combo that we got was very tasty. We sat there and just relaxed for a couple of hours.

After showering at the hotel, we went to see the sunset on the south part of the island. I had heard about how beautiful the sunsets were there, so I made it a priority to see the sunset on Day 8. I had been on Gili T for a while and it was time. The images were straight out of a travel book (pictured below; #nofilter).

Few things beat a great sunset, and this was the best sunset I have seen yet. Adding to the experience was the fact that I was there with amazing people. Aaron (from Tennessee; first person I met in Chicago at the airport) joined us for this. Aaron is a great kid who is a lot of fun to be around. Trevor (from Toronto; just all-around great dude) was there as well. It was really nice to spend some time with Trevor because he is teaching in Bandung. Aaron is with me in Jakarta. After the sunset, the beach bar we were at had a guy do a “dance” with two balls of fire beside a large bonfire (pictured below). He did some cool stuff, but mostly it was a guy waving fire. That will always draw a crowd.

By recommendation of a girl that Cory met on the island, we went to a Thai place that was off the main road for dinner. She said that it was the best fish curry she had ever had. We went there and the food took forever to come out*. It was worth it, though. The curry was phenomenal (pictured below) and Nate came through big-time by having a pack of cards on him so we could be entertained while waiting on our meal (pictured below from left: Aaron, Nate, and Trevor playing cards).

*We had become accustomed to food taking a while. I would guess that 45 minutes was your average wait time for a meal on the island. The Thai place took over an hour and a half.

Now that I am reflecting on my trip, it is hard for me to say which days were better than the others. Each day was amazing and had amazing people involved. Each of these days are unique in their own way and I am very fortunate to have been blessed with great experiences and great company.

Day 9 — Nate and I had talked about doing snorkeling again and we got Aaron, Bradley, and Eli to join this time. The route was the same (no turtles, though) other than a spot off the coast of Gili A (pictured below: cool graffiti on Gili A).

There, was a scene straight out of Finding Nemo. Just incredible coral that continued forever. There were some fish there, but the real attraction was the amazing colors and different shapes of coral. I’m not sure if the coral was better than the coral I saw in Cozumel with my family, but it is definitely worth discussing (pictured below: Bradley underneath the boat).

On the boat this time we met 3 really chill German dudes. I talked a lot of soccer with one of them. We talked about different stereotypes and how we perceive people from different nations. He said that in Germany the main nation they like to “pick” on is England. I asked him what they like to make fun of British people for and he said, in the most perfect German accent, “Their girls are ugly.”

For lunch, Brad and I went to a nice Indonesian place on Gili A. Our waiter got confused when I was talking to him and thought that I said I was from America but my mom was from Indonesia. He said that I looked mixed and that he would believe that I was half Indonesian. Between this and the Shia LaBeouf comparison, I am genuinely concerned for this country’s future.

For dinner we went to the place where we had gotten hookah and ordered Indian food. I had never had naan before. It was delicious. Their curry was very good as well, but not as good as the Thai place. After dinner, we had a few beers and then called it a night. Just another great day with great people in paradise. I am so blessed.

To see how my vacation ended, check back on Saturday for Part III of III.