Deb's Travels: GILI TRAWANGAN ISLAND

I just finished 5 glorious days on the lovely little island of Gili Trawangan. The wifi there left something to be desired so I write this blog tonight from Lombok where the wifi is so fabulous I am quite literally sitting on the beach 4 feet from the waves as I type this. The Gili Islands are an archipelago of three small islands: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air just off the northwest coast of Lombok. Lombok is about the same size island as Bali and just east of it.

Here's your taxi!

Appreciate the tan...

Gili T is very small...2 km wide by 3km long and you can walk 8 km around the entire island in about 2 hours. There are no motorized vehicles allowed here at all. Only bicycles and cidomo's (horse and 2 wheeled cart). Life seems to move a little slower here with only a population of 700 people. Gili T is the largest of the 3 Gili islands and you can see the other 2 as well as Bali and Lombok in the distance. I had such a relaxing time here! The snorkeling is really fantastic here as all 3 islands are surrounded by coral reefs and white sand beaches...there are many giant sea turtles in the water as well and they have a hatchery here on the island too.

That's Lombok off in the distance. You can see Mount Rinjani: it's active volcano(last erupted May2010)

The harbour

Gili T on the left Gili Meno on the right.

I had some great seafood this week! All of the beach restaurants have big outdoor grills going all night with salad bars and stacks of freshly caught seafood. You pick your fish and wait while they grill it to perfection then eat it on the beach while listening to the waves crash...then pay about $8 for the privilege!! It's actually a bit of a party island as well...my hotel was well away from the noise, thankfully, but it is famous for it's "3 times a week" standing parties. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at alternating bars where they have giant dance floors and DJ's spinning loud dance beats. The parties start at 11pm and goes until sunrise. They also have rather lax drug laws where magic mushrooms are not only freely advertised but an optional milkshake ingredient in many places.

My beautiful hotel

The hotel was really nice...it was in the center of the island so a line of bikes were available any time you needed and nothing was more than a few minutes away. I met a couple from Finland, that were also staying at my hotel, at the beach one day so we would go to dinner together in the evenings and then out for drinks after. It was great to have the company. We will both actually be in Bali at the same time and fly out to go home the exact same day so plan to meet up again for dinner before our trips end. I feel like the end of my vacation in sneaking up on me...