We secured our second visa extension and set off for Gili Trawangan on the 1st March on the fast boat “the Gili Cat” for the 1 1/2 hour trip to the island via Lombok.
It was a beautiful clear day with a very calm ocean which made for a very pleasant trip for the ten of us on board.
Gili T is the largest of the islands and known as the party island – no not why Maurice and I are there. The east coast where most of the accommodation and restaurants are found has almost clearly defined areas. The bulk of the cheaper bars/restaurants and bungalows are near the night market and go to the left and right of the main jetty. The further you walk to the south west of the island is where you find more paved areas and swanker restaurants, bars and accommodation.
It is still low season and therefore there are not many tourists on the island which makes it very pleasant. The “Beach House” bungalows where we stayed was nice and quiet as the rooms/bungalows are at the back of the property away from the main drag where you nearly get high with the smell of “pot” as you walk along in the evening.
There is an abundance of fresh fish and many restaurants have BBQ’s fired up to entice the tourists.
We found a yoga class and attended one evening and one morning session while we were on the island. There were 20 odd younger people in the evening class but only Maurice and I made it to the 7am class in the morning and so had a personalised session.
We also found a lovely beach area offering very comfortable sun lounges with attractive bamboo constructions to offer maximun shade overlooking the the water with Lombok in the background. These cost us nothing as long as we spent 100,000 Rupiah each($9.50) for the day and surprisingly the drinks and food were very tasty and reasonably priced.
We walked half way around the island taking the inland path out to the beach on the west coast of the island to see the sunset which was worth doing.
There are many cats on the island (haven’t seen a dog) and a few volunteers offered their services as part of the “Gili eco trust” in December to spay and sterilise over two hundred cats and return them to where they found them. All the cats we have seen have looked in reasonable shape unlike many of the poor dogs in Bali.
We hired bikes on our second day ($7.50 for 2bikes for the day) and road around the island. You have to watch where you are cycling as the paved paths are rather uneven with bits missing. There are also some areas with a lot of sand and we had to walk the bikes to the next lot of paving. It was a very humid and hot day so we were glad to find a nice beach with not so much broken coral near the shore. The water was crystal clear and even without a mask I could see the fish and a turtle swam right in front of me.
On the 4th March we had leisurely breakfast, checked out and left our luggage at reception to wander down and have a swim before heading on to Gili Air for a week (the island closest to Lombok) on the public ferry at 4pm which cost all of 30,000 rupiah. The trip took about 20 minutes after stopping to let some passengers off at Gili Meno.