Indonesia Part Three: The Gili Islands

The three main islands are, Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan, each island has its own charms but after some homework we decided that Gili Air was the one for us. Sitting closest to Lombok it is the second largest (or smallest depending on how you look at it) of the three islands, it has plentiful options for sleeping and eating, has many beautiful stretches of beach from which you can snorkel and see wonderful corals, fish and the highlight that is the turtle. There are as few bars and the occasional party but the majority of the island is tucked up in bed by 11pm. There are no motorised vehicles on the island, the only way to travel is either by foot, bicycle or horse. The pace is slow, laid back and friendly, locals and tourists hang together, smile together and live together as one big happy family.

From the island you get views of Lombok and the mighty Rinjani volcano which bursts out of the ground and rockets into the clouds, it draws in the clouds which keep the skies over Gili Air crisp and clear all day long. From other points on the island you can see Gili Meno and beyond that, Bali. As the sun sets the sky fills with dramatic explosions of colour, bright consuming oranges, pinks, reds which reflect off the shallow water and create an enchanting vista. Once night has fallen the skies demand more attention and the stars slowly come into sight, a furiously bright North star, the Southern Cross and then bit by bit more come into focus until the darkness is illunated with bright twinkling gems.

An average day on Gili Air consist of waking up around 6.30am, encouraged by the sunlight coming in through the window and a very keen cockerel. Breakfast is served on the beach looking out to Rinjani, waves lapping near your feet. Most mornings I’d have a banana pancake, fruit salad and a cup of Lombok coffee (some of the best of the trip).

Afterwards I’d lay on a sunbed and soak up some heavenly rays for a couple of hours, cooling down by swimming in the calm blue waters and drinking iced lime juice. Sometimes I would go snorkelling and drift about over the waving corals and pockets of fish, sometimes I’d just return back to the sunbed.

Later we would take a walk along the beach and circle the island, this can be done at a leisurely pace in about one hour, sometimes we might seek refuge from the afternoon sun in a near by drink shack, lounge on the soft cushions sheltered from the sun under a bamboo and straw roof and watch the world go by. Sometimes we would wander the small town, more of a high street of markets and small shops selling local handicrafts, clothes and other gift items.

After such an exhausting day a late afternoon nap would often be required so we would return back to a cool room and rest our weary heads, travelling is hard I tell you.

As the evening drew in we would walk to a spot to watch the sunset, it started early but went on for hours, each stage more intense than the last. I’m sorry Camiguin, Indonesia has got you again.

The choices for an evening meal are some of the best of the trip, although the menus are all fairly similar- BBQ’s fish, Pizza, Mexican or Indonesian each restaurant had its own twist, all of them delicious. The Gado Gado they served at our place was insane and fast became a staple, Gado Gado is a peanut curry, the thick satay sauce is smothered over steamed vegetables like green beans, carrots, beansprouts, spinach, potato there didn’t seem to be any rules to the veg and I didn’t much care as the sauce was so addictive.

Another firm favourite on the island is fresh tuna, either served as a steak that had been BBQ’d or raw and cut into thin slices served with dipping sauces and a dollop of wasabi. The BBQ’d tuna steak would arrive with a roasted vegetable skewer and a jacket potato, this heavenly dish cost no more than £3. One evening we were walking the main strip and being very indecisive about what we wanted to eat, with our stomachs rumbling we went into the closest place and took a seat at one of the tables located on the beach. The moon lit the sky and a gentle breeze came off the sea, I could feel the sand between my toes and as I opened the menu I knew tonight was going to be a good night.

My order arrived, a skewer which measured at least two feet and had a large chunk of tuna steak, beef steak and chicken separated by peppers, onions, chilies plus other varieties of grilled vegetables. The meat was succulent and melted in my mouth, the chicken was lightly marinated in a spicy sauce and the complementary jacket potato and Indonesian style coleslaw made for a filling dinner. It cost, like most meals here, no more than £3 and was outstanding.

Gili Air really isn’t short of good eats, from traditional Indonesian fare like Gado Gado, Nasi Goreng and Olah-Olah to fresh and authentic  Italian, Spanish and Greek dishes there is something for everyone. Desserts are also popular on the island, pancakes, grilled bananas and every flavour of ice cream you’ve ever dreamt of, almost every restaurant serves quality food and at absurdly reasonable prices. If you add to this to setting in which you enjoy these meals it’s a sure fire winner for best place to eat on the trip.

I think at this stage I should mention that when we arrived on Gili Air we had only booked to stay for two nights, we had intentions of moving to other islands and later heading back to Bali to a place called Ubud. We first extended our stay on Gili Air to six days and later tried to extend this to two weeks but were only able to get accommodation for 10 days. It was fair to say we were hooked on the island life and who could blame us.

Our time on Gili Air wasn’t all eating and lounging we did also get up and out and do a few activities. The first of these was on day two when we hired a transparent canoe which was a brilliant way to explore the crystal clear waters around the island. The water stays fairly shallow and once you’re about 50m from the shore the coral comes to life, there are pockets of fish darting about below you, the canoe was in many ways better than snorkelling because you weren’t intruding on the fish so they stuck around for longer.

We’d been paddling for about twenty minutes when we saw a couple who were snorkelling, they called out to that they’d just seen a turtle. Of course we made our way over to them instantly, they dived down to try and spot him them pointed us in the direction, after a bit of toing and froing we looked down to see him glide under the bottom of the canoe it was really awesome, we tried to keep up with him but as he swerved this way and that we struggled to turn the cumbersome beast that was the canoe around fast enough.

A few days later we took a boat over to Gili Meno, the next island on which we’d heard was even better for turtle sightings. After visiting the turtle sanctuary we hired some snorkels and swam out in search of this majestic animal. Unlike Air, Meno’s waters have a stronger current and the sea bed in abundant in sea urchins. It was like one big prickly forest down there, their evil black spines waved in a taunting manor, their shimmering blue “eyes” followed you, eyeing up your soft skin, waiting for the perfect moment to shoot  you, fill your delicate feet, legs, hands with their poison.

If you’ve read my Thailand blog you’ll know I’ve had a run in with these spiky pricks already and so to say I was cautious around them was an understatement. As I swam over them I sucked my stomach in and lifted my limbs as high as I could, I held my breath and tried to do everything in my power not to disrupt them. They are temperamental and aggressive and they really bloody hurt.

Surrounding these sea demons was some magnificent examples of coral, nipping in and out of the coral were brightly coloured fish, bright blues, yellows, reds. It was a colourful and energetic place to behold, the fish was more cautious than we’d experienced at other sights but I’d say that was more to do with the urchins than us.

As we swam out further the dark forest dissipated to just a few patches here and there which made the experience considerably less stressful. With every 10m we swam out the coral got brighter and more extravagant and the fish danced around in bigger groups, there was so much activity down there that I was constantly chopping and changing my direction as something else caught my eye. I was chasing this large rainbow coloured fish when I heard a sound echo through the water.

I turned instantly and saw a frantic Hatty pointing and gesturing out in front of us, I swam over and there he was, an adult turtle he was huge and magnificent. I swam closer to get a good look at him but he was busy having a fight with three fish, they kept darting in and nipping him as he batted them off with his flipper, his grumpy face said it all. I tried to get Hatty to swim in front so I could get a photo of them together but she was too wary of his beak, to be fair it did look like it could do some damage. I got close enough that the fish scuttled off and Mr Turtle went on about his day, floating to the top and then slowly drifting back down. He had a real can’t be arsed attitude about life, like he’d been given the short straw. I loved how moody he was and swam with him for about ten minutes before letting him have some peace and quiet.

Gili Meno is the smallest of the three main Gili islands and was easily walkable, we circled the whole island and stopped off at regular spots to swim in the clear waters and lounge on the white sands. The beaches on Meno, especially near the turtle sanctuary were superior to the ones on Air but the actual island was way too sleepy for us to want to stay on it. The accommodation was mostly set up for honeymooners or people on yoga retreats.

Later in the week we visited the third island, Gili Trawangan or Gili T as its more commonly known. This is the largest of the three islands and the most heavily populated. It has rows of ATM’s, K-Marts and traffic! Unlike Air and Meno where you could be the only soul in sight, T is crowded. The hustle and bustle of people and horses rushing about the place make it attractive for those looking for the beautiful scenery and a bit of party atmosphere. The main strip is rammed with bars, with boards outside offering drinks deals, even advertising themselves as the “No1 pre-drinking bar”. It’s certainly a more lively animal than its neighbours. But despite this there are still plenty of charming spots around the island which continue to display the calm, loving good will spirit of the Gili’s.

We arrived on Gili T and for some reason I was in a shockingly bad mood, how I could possibly be moody having not worked for the past 5 months and basically just spent my time hopping from country to country exploring everything wonderful and beautiful that the world has to offer I’m not sure. But I was in shocker of a mood. A proper case of “woke up on the wrong side”.

After an hour of being thunder faced Hatty dragged me for a walk along the beach and slowly my mood dissipated, we walked past a restaurant that was advertising Lamb Kofte. I have craved kofte almost every day since we left Nha Trang in Vietnam, I was teased by the menus in Arab Street in Singapore but couldn’t warrant the prices but now on Gili the price was right. We took a seat I placed my order and as we waited we shared a jug of sangria. These factors quickly lifted my mood and we started the day again.

After lunch we carried along the beach where we found a swing that had been set up out in the sea, no matter how old you are when you see a swing you have to go on it. Maybe it was the Sangria but swinging about in the sea was a lot of fun, I turned into a diva and made Hatty push me. A lot.

We left Gili T later that afternoon and made our way back to our home island where my body decided to refuse everything I had eaten and drunk that day. For the next 24 hours I was a train wreck, I was expelling inhumane amounts of liquid out of my bottom on a terrifyingly regular basis. On average I visited the toilet every 30 minutes and as I emptied my insides I became increasingly withered. My muscles and bones ached, my eyes were super sensitive to light as were my ears to sound. Each time I tried to eat or drink my body turned the countdown timer on and within moment I was back on throne.

The following morning, feeling very delicate but thankfully more dried up we checked out of the Gilis and caught the fast boat over to Bali on our way to Ubud, but for that story you’ll have to wait until next time.

As always thanks for reading.