Gili Trawangan

Another friend from Jogja, Rachelle, was also going to Gili Trawangan by herself, shed arrived a few hours before us so we all got a room together in this lovely place, Beach Wind Bungalows. Just a room this time but with a verandah for sitting and a great central location, it was nice. All of the water supply, showers and taps, was salt water on the Gilis. Strange, and a nuisance- you can never get rid of that salty feeling if youre showering in it! The beach was close and Gili Trawangan was much busier than Air. Lots of tourists, lots of europeans. We figure that while Bali is the Aussie/ New Zealand hotspot, Lombok is the European hotspot, they were everywhere! But, even that didnt affect the accent of the locals trying to speak english. It was hideous. Some wierd mix of brit and aussie, and i dont know whod taught them to speak but they were so rude! Really crass, calling out, just quite unpleasant and its like they had no idea of boundaries. And when they found out we were aussies, there was no end to the crappy "Gday Mate" imitations. In the end, I snapped at one still trying to be funny that in fact you cant call a female mate! Grrr. Lots of "bloody" and "f-king" too. No boundaries. Gili Trawangan was much better set up for tourists. There were paved roads, heaps and heaps of restaurant, very varied, and a few bars... very much to cater for the young tourists wanting to party... We had a swim, the water was great, went deep quite quickly so you could swim only five meters from the beach. Sometimes a hazard, as i think the jetties are just for show, and all the boats just land on the beach! We finally narrowed down the choice for dinner after walking up and down the strip a few times and chose a nice resto. Just happened to be next to a bar advertising its "bloody Fking great magic mushrooms". Magic mushrooms. Everywhere. Tried some arak tho, Balinese rice wine, like sake, which was pretty nice. We moved onto the irish pub for some apple pie (ok, sometimes you crave home stuff!) and a strong irish coffee. Good atmosphere, music and quite a few people around. Had a wondeful sleep, must be the sea air. Wednesday was a lazy day. Woke quite early and had toast and eggs for breakfast (really an egg toasted sandwich). The other options were an omelette (omelette toasted sandwich) or jaffles (toasted sandwichh).. bit of a specialty. Gili Trawangan is a fair bit bigger so we just went for a walk to one end... there was a tall-ship in the waters, like Captain Cooks ship... bit random for some small island in Indonesia. Apparently it was chartered. Of course. Its not strange for someone to charter a tall ship for a month, complete with crew, to see the archipelago... lol. Things were adding up in price and although the meals werent expensive, were spoilt in Jogja, and couldnt really spend three times the price on lunch... so we hunted down a little warung, a cafe, off the main drag and it was beautiful! Cheap. Real food. What more can I say... we went back there for dinner lol... There were lots of diving schools and places on the island, very popular, one was advertising yoga classes, thought I might be able to fit one in while we were there, but no, the french instructor was too tired. Lol. After lunch I had a lie down, the heat can be so intense, until Sarah arrived, another girl from Jogja. She came by herself too, her mum had just left ot go back to Aus after a visit so she was a bit sad but it was great to catch up. We had a swim and a long chat and Sarah and Rachelle hired bikes to ride off and see the sunset, while Jess and I just walked. Theres a lookout in the middle of the island but we didnt make it there, we ended up cutting thru to the beach as the sun was turning red. Just in time. And just happened to end up in the same place as the others. Lol. Jess and I were planning ot have a drink at Horizontal,a bar mentioned in the Lonely Planet guide (the bible) as one of the top five must-do's in indonesia so the others headed off to another bar and we wandered down. It was creepy. Not the place, the guy who greeted, sat, served us. He was creepy, he wouldnt leave us alone, kept askingquestions and looking wierd. We faked having to meet friends and left. Too creepy for even one cocktail. We met Sarah and Rachelle at an indian restaurant, they had a sheesha going... a big... pipe thing to smoke flavoured tobacco. Smelt like grape, bizarre. We headed back to the Irish pub for "party night" and it sure was...so loud! Good for a couple of hours but after that, just couldnt take it lol, headed to bed about two.