Gili Trawangan

We were collected by the Bluewater Express shuttle bus at about 0715hrs from our hotel and were taken to the Bluewater Express IX.

The journey to Gili took approximately two and a bit hours with a short stop on the island of Nusa Lembongan. We grabbed the front row, right side by the window.

The trip was fairly straight forward except for the leaks resulting in water dripping on me. As I'm writing this blog post though, on the return leg... I've managed to sit next to the aircon unit that's also dripping on me!

Our arrival at noon, was greeted by some kind of westerner humanitarian disaster zone. Hundreds of backpackers and mostly young holiday makers stood on the crossover between beach and water, their luggage getting wet as the tide came in, waiting for their transport off the island. I took this photo the day after to mildly illustrate the point, though at the time the rising tide made it all look so much worse.

Callum had booked us in at the Coconut Dreem Bungalows. Generally I was quite impressed. Each unit had a double bed, outdoor bathroom and shower and a porch rest area with a day bed and fan. Ours was part of a set of five units that all shared a small lagoon style pool. It wasn't fancy, but it certainly was homely, clean and pretty close to the action.

We set off North on the beach for some food and settled on a place called Egoiste. The seating area was in a sheltered part of the beach. I had some grilled calamari freshly caught from Lombok. Delicious and at a bargain price. Because of the early lunch, we treated ourselves to an early dinner. I had the seafood grill. Very simple but very tasty.

After lunch we went exploring to get our bearings and see what the island had to offer. I'm fairly confident that this island has more ATMs per square mile than Perth does.

The streets near the harbour are predominantly filled with horse and carts transporting either building materials, people or Bintang beer. Lots and lots of Bintang. Other than horse and cart there were also bicycles, electric scooters and two segways.

Looking for something to do in the evening, Callum suggested we take part in the Pub Crawl, as organised by one of the bars. For IDR250k we were enrolled and received a singlet (with incredibly airy side bits), a bucket of some form of icy, fruity caffeine boosted alcoholic concoction. I was suspicious at first, but it went down very well.

Approximately 60 black singlet participants were then herded from one venue to the next. At the entrance to each bar a queue formed so that each person could have alcohol poured in their mouth. Every venue we went to I could hear Lethal Weapon's Murtaugh mutter I'm too old for this shit! Me too Murtaugh, me too.

It was still worth it, because we met John. American Italian New York raised, Arizona living John. Representing the American island contingency the best way one could. We were a fan of John and made it clear to him that he was one of us!

By 0100hrs I'd had enough Bintang, vodka, weird energy caffeine powder, fruity cocktails and made my excuses. John and Callum kept going until the early hours.

Late the next morning we met up with John and walked to the foreshore for a bite to eat. I had the lobster penne dish. Feeling a little lethargic I was looking forward to a bit of a carbohydrate heavy meal to keep me going through the day. I've never seen a lobster so small, but it wasn't too bad. The penne was a little too al dente for my liking.

After lunch, with limited supplies, we headed north. The plan was to visit a beach on the west side and then cut through the middle of the island to return to the start. In practise the island is much smaller than I realised and we very easily just walked around the outside of the entire island.

The north of the island, closest to the water appeared to have some of the more expensive resorts, the paths were a better quality, the traffic was significantly lower, no horse and carts, just a few walkers and cyclists. We enjoyed a drink at Desa Dunia Beach Resort with views to the north and then kept walking westwards.

As the path turned south, there was another shift in the style of the area. Where the north felt secluded and a little expensive, the west felt classy but with character. There were some resorts, the Instagram swings - once you see the photos this makes more sense. Rarely any vendors, cleaner and tidier beaches and a much more calm feeling environment. The paths were also brick-lined and in far better conditions, although most likely less travelled on.

By the time we had reached the southern part of the island, the sun was staring to set and the tide was receding. The rock pools were more visible and the beaches looked a little more swampy than usual.

Dinner was at a cheap and cheerful restaurant near to the bungalows, the Inntan Inn. I indulged in a dish of mi goreng.

A necessary afternoon rest was followed by some quieter drinks and snacks at the Tir Na Nog irish bar, with some snacks.

We went to the Sama Sama Reggae Bar for some drinks and live reggae with the in-house band. Bloody good. I took some photos and videos on my phone, but it performs incredibly bad in low light conditions, posting them would not do the experience any justice. Unfortunately (but probably a blessing in disguise), during Ramadan all venues were required to close by midnight.

So, it was to be a quick chicken kebab at the 24 hour kebab shop then bed.

On our last day on Gili Trawangan, I enjoyed one last banana pancake before the mandatory checkout at 1030hrs. I didn't really fancy paying the overstay fee. It was mere seconds after I walked out of the bedroom that a 3 person cleaning crew rushed into and got to work. We left our bags in the reception area and went in search of a good spot to relax.

We headed out in search of a good spot to wake up properly at, but en route we came across the Bintang Horse. Callum had a strong belief system based around the Bintang Horse. He believes its sole purpose is to ferry Bintang from the port to the warehouse. A Bintang horse does not move any other beers or building materials! A Bintang horse is for life.

We found an untitled beach with a coconut bar and indulged in some fresh coconut water, took some photos then looked for our lunch spot. Little did we know that once we returned to Bali mainland, there would be a coconut shortage!

After lunch we grabbed the ferry back towards Bali. Travelling back it stopped at Lombok and Lembongan, the last segment prior to arrival in Bali was by far the roughest. There were many tears from those prone to sea sickness.

We booked back into The ONE Legian. The ONE OH ONE, The 101. Apparently every driver knows it by a different variant of the title.

We met up with John who'd returned on an earlier ferry and made plans for the evening. We went to Sky Garden, the supermarket of nightclubs. For IDR100k we managed to talk ourselves into 4 hours of all you can eat/drink. It is definitely the only nightclub I've ever been to that has a fully equipped kitchen with buffet area. Strangely also, similar drinks cost differently at different bars. There's something to be said about the pay at till, then collect drink with receipt system over the classic shout over the counter after waiting 20 mins to be served system. It definitely had everyone served quicker. It was a good but pretty trashy night. They're pretty rare these days!

I adopted a much more responsible drinking attitude by this stage, though still didn't get to bed until the early hours. It was at this stage that Callum and I had consumed food that was starting to affect our digestive system! :/