Gili Trawangan is the largest of 3 small islands off the coast of Lombok. Gili means island & Trawangan means 3 caves. During WW II Japanese occupied this island & dug the 3 caves - I assume to hide in & store ammunition. We stayed here for 9 nights. The 20
minute boat ride over was interesting - as Bill put it - felt like we were on a refugee boat - next stop Miami!
Bill relived his youth. It's party central - 90 cent gin & tonics - party every other night at one of the many bars. White sand beaches with clear aqua & turquoise water. Lots of diving & snorkeling. Bill has become a swim suit critic. Can't tell how many times he said this is our nephew Ethan's kind of place!
It takes about 2 hours to walk around the island. There are no cars or motor bikes allowed. Only bicycles & pony buggies called Chidomo for transport if needed. Only about 1/3 of the island is developed with accommodations, although it is growing & will continue to be
a hot spot.
We met lots of people young & old from all over - Belgium, Washington, DC, England, France, Scotland, & Canada. We made friends with a nice group of young men & women. They are traveling anywhere from 3 months to a year or more. When they run out of money they will take work or head home. We so admire their spirit!
Here are some of our favorites - Tori & Hannah were friends from their university in England & they worked for 3 years & are now traveling together. They are heading to Sydney to find an apartment & some work. Very pretty young women - let's just say we always had plenty of men hanging around us! Mike from Canada our stock broker heading home in
December & ready to start his career again - he's got a good head on his shoulders & will be very successful in life. Rob & Curtis also from Canada both NFL fans will be traveling for @ least another 6 months. Curtis very concerned about leaving his mark in each country he visits. Wants to help in some way. He made some signs for the "save the turtles". Our favorite of all is Will our dear bloke from England. He took us under his wing & introduced us to the group. Such a charming & sincere man - lucky the girl that catches him some day!
We even managed to stayed out past midnight a few nights with the group. Not bad for us whose bedtime used to be 10:00! Plus we always made it to the beach well before the younger crowd. I know they were probably going to bed about the time we were getting up!
We had a great bungalow to stay in Pesona, just remodeled about 5 months ago. Kade, the manager was very helpful and a good person to get to know. The food was excellent and amazingly cheap - fresh fish, salad bar, potato for $5.00. Also, everywhere great music all in English & free movies outside or video rentals on cabanas! Saw some great films.
We have come to realize it is cheaper to live on the road than it is to live in California!
See you from next stop back on Bali.
Marge
Gili Trawangan was a very fun place to spend 9 days - it's kind of a strange place - no motorized vehicles, no ATM's, no dogs, no crime, a million cats, no geckos or birds for that manner - these cats are ruthless ! Now it's time to work our way back to mainland Bali for another week or so before we move to the island of Java and then fly to Singapore on 11-December. I would highly recommend this island - most fun so far !!
- bill
There are 2 kinds of turtles here - green back & the leather back, which are less common.
90% of the turtles born are female, which is a good thing, since they lay the eggs. At one time turtles & their eggs were eaten or sold. They are now endangered & there are monetary rewards when someone turns in eggs or a turtle caught in a fishermen's net. The Sheraton on Lombok has a turtle sanctuary where they are able to harvest eggs. 2 very large green back turtles were caught in a fishing net & we witnessed their release. Once they hit the water, wow can they swim - just like a speedboat did they take off, amazing!
We leave tomorrow for one of the Gili islands where there should be lots of snorkeling. Oh the small boat we take feels like a refugee boat - look for a picture in next update!
Marge
P.S. Check out handsome Bill in his $6.00 outfit & $2.50 haircut - have to fight off the women!
Just for perspective, we started in Bali and worked our way around the island, taking the ferry (4 hours) from Padang Bai to Lembar on the island of Lombok. This weekend, we're going up to the Gili islands off the northwest coast - the furthest one out is called Gili Trawangan and that's where we'll be for about a week, maybe longer - then we'll be headed back on the ferry to Bali and overland into the island of Java and the city of Yogyakarta. Then overland to Jakarta for a short flight to Singapore on 11 - December...
My husband, what a guy - only the best for his wife, so he splurged & bought "business class" seats on the ferry for $3.40 each! We had heard some horror stories about the 4.5 hour trip, but we lucked out & it was a smooth ride over. We met a great couple from Myorca, Spain, which sounds like a great place to go. May have to stop there on the way home next year. The wife, Monica was originally from Latvia, Russia & she recommend stopping there also.
It's been so cool meeting people from all over the world in just our short time traveling. Tonight @ the
Sheraton cocktail party we met a couple from Tunisia, Africa. Have only run into 1 person so far from US & she was living in San Diego & came over right after the awful fires.
Not living with the locals this week staying in upgraded suite, larger than little Petaluma house - it makes a big difference being a platinum member for Sheraton properties & this is a slow time for tourists.
Lombok is a very lush island - lots of corn, cabbage, rice of course - only a couple of developed villages with hotels. Hardly any dogs, unlike Bali, where they have a real problem. This island is 90% Muslim & various times during the day
you can hear the call for prayer. There are very large speakers in the mosque & someone, I assume the mosque leader uses a microphone & calls on the people to pray. I have no
idea what he is saying, but he sure is loud!
Saw a Notre Dame tee shirt in a store here - who would have guessed!
Marge
We said goodbye to Lovina after 6 nights - met a wonderful family from Holland William, his 83 year old grandmother with a healing but sore broken arm, his mother Mia, & Aunt Yolanda. They showed us the true meaning of kindness & giving. They have been to Bali many times, but had been 5 years - they brought bags & bags of clothes for friends that had made here. They took clothes to the very poor fishing village & gave them away. Truly honorable people.
Also, made friends with a very good looking young man Budi, who is learning English & speaking it very well. He will go on to a university to learn the travel industry. He's got the personality for this field & we wish him much success!
Took a cab to Candidasa, which was a 3.5 hour drive further south along the coast. Bill best describes riding in the taxi's as being in a video game! Weaving & darting about - there are no traffic rules, other than beeping your horn as you pass someone or when you want a motor bike or person to move out of your way!! I try to look out the side window & not straight ahead. Have only seen maybe 3 traffic lights, not that anyone pays attention to them. Also, saw a practice tsunami drill in a village along the way!
Found a timeshare hotel / condo on the water - only about 20 rooms - nice spot & more than we had been paying but good value @ $35 per night. Candidasa has good diving & snorkeling - very small village. We went out in another one of those fishing boats, log style to snorkel in Blue Lagoon. Lots of small fish & some coral, but no where as good as Hawaii or Australia. The fishermen used to dynamite the coral when they fished - fortunately they are no longer allowed to do that! Our 2 guides were fishing for squid with a spear gun - we had finished snorkeling & I was still in the water hanging onto part of the boat. They had been fairly close to where I was. One of them came out of the water & said shark - well I just about walked on water getting back into the boat!
Bill's next plan for me is a 4 hour ferry ride to our next destination the island of Lombok - let's just say the ferries aren't like the ones in Washington State.
See you from Lombok,
Marge
Took a half day trip up to Tenanan - one of the original Balinese villages. This is a walled village about 6-8 blocks in size. Anyone living here is expected to marry by tradition only someone from this village, unfortunately with dire genetic consequences.
On the walk down from here, we came upon a German bakery serving bratwurst, sauerkraut and some kind of fried potatoes - see picture.
It's a little curious that I'm more surprised by the fact that there's bratwurst in Bali than I am by the fact that there's a monkey eating a banana on the side of the road.
- bill
Name three things not to be found in Bali.....
Yesterday I spent a couple of hours wandering from store to store looking for some Pepto and/or Maalox thinking it would be readily available (I have a little bit of Bali Belly) - I didn't think it would be that difficult to explain exactly what is was I was looking for - rub my tummy, explain it comes in a pink bottle, that you drink it, etc. In the end I ended up with a package of local 'stomachache pills' (this is the label) and some other pills the pharmacist gave me.
The next day, I thought maybe a little ginger ale would be just the ticket, so again I went around to the same stores. At least they understood a little better what it was I was looking for, but in the end no one carried it so I managed to get by with this product in a can called 'Rhino Juice' - I'm guessing from the label it contains guava juice, although of that I could not be certain.
Lastly, we need a bungee cord to lash my daypack to Marge's rollaway, for convenience sake. Once more I went around to the same stores and tried to explain what I needed. For some strange reason, despite the fact that everyone drives a motorbike and could certainly use one or two of these, they are not available, nor does anyone understand what they are. At the internet today, I printed a picture of a bungee cord so that I can show people what I need. Although now when I walk through town, I'm on the lookout for any bungee cord and am prepared to make a generous offer to anyone willing to part with one - stay tuned...
-bill
PS
While wandering around the town I came across the most enterprising man in Bali - he carries with him a portable amplifier with a microphone. He goes from business to business and places the amplifier at the front door and starts singing these awful songs at full volume. Naturally, the only way to get him to stop is to pay him 1000 rupiah (about 10 cents) - he must make out pretty well in the course of the day. I tried to get a picture of him today, but couldn't track him down. Maybe tomorrow, maybe it's just his 'off' day.
5:30AM Bill put me in a carved out log boat called a perfihu to head for deep waters to see the "dolphins". These boats only hold 4 people & the captain. As we were heading out Bill turned around & said if anything happens stay with he boat! OK so I am not quite awake so no need to panic. It was a wonderful 2 hour trip seeing the sunrise & hundreds of dolphins swimming & jumping There is some concern about the boats chasing the dolphins & getting too close, but the little motors on these boats do not go very deep & when a pod of dolphins is close to the boat the captain does shut off the engine.
We think that the dolphins make a big circle in the calm waters of the Indian ocean
The owner's wife & 4 year old son joined us for the trip. It was Ketuk's (which means 4th child) first time, like us to see the dolphins. He was so excited - really cute.
I loved being on water even without life jackets - they have no rules about that & I am sure they would be too expensive for the boat owner to buy. Our cost for this was $10.00. Quite a deal to see such beauty.
Marge
We took the old very small greyhound bus for 2.5 hours to the north side of Bali to a small village (they refer to towns as villages) on the north coast called Lovina. It was a overcast day for the bus ride, which was good since no AC. Actually it wasn't bad at all - windows were open & we saw some beautiful country side - jungle, monkeys, rice paddies, small villages, & many temples of course! Cost was $9 per person.
Lovina is known for the dolphins & for being a very laid back place. The touts (vendors) are easy going & if I say 'sing laugh pee piss' (have no money) they laugh & leave us alone! The beach is black sand, but not very wide, certainly not like the black sand beaches in Hawaii. There are mountains & beautiful sunsets.
Today we took the local bus/van which holds maybe 6 people to the natural hot springs. Since it was Sunday & the locals were off, we had the chance to bond with some lovely teenagers who like most teenagers asked lots of questions! Our little bus cost us $1.00 for the 2 of us. We are learning our way as we go from place to place, helping us become more confident as we know there will be more challenging places ahead of us.
Our very nice hotel here in Lovina with a pool, view, & breakfast is $9.00 per day!
Happy Hour Time got to go!
Marge
We have been in Ubud, which is inland on Bali & as Bill noted we have had a great place to stay for $19 per night including a very nice breakfast. Our exchange rate is so good - easiest way to figure out how much something cost is just divide by 10,000. Here are some examples:
6 items of laundry = 6,000RP = $0.60 cents - I'll let you do the math from here on.
large Bintang (beer) = 15,000RP
bottled water = 2,000RP
dinners have varied from 52,000RP - 61,000RP - 82,000RP - by the way the food has been outstanding - anything from salads, vegies, noodles, great french fries, which Bill loves - lots of local spices.
t-shirt - 100% cotton - 44,500RP
cotton dress shirt for Bill - 60,000RP
glass of wine (mostly Australian) 35,000RP
computer time 14,000RP per hour
taxis - if it is a short trip 30,000 - 60,000 RP - our 2.5 hour trip was 150,000RP
bus - long 2.5 hour trip which we are taking tomorrow will cost 90,000RP
We will be heading north tomorrow to the coast again - this time a small town Lovina - should get some more good deals!
