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Ahhhh so the Gilis were a few days ago now but thought i dhould share the experience. After several VERY drunk night sout with the boys it was defintely time for me to escape Kuta and the boys before my liver gave in. So i booked a quick two day trip to Gili Trawangan which is one of 3 tiny islands just off the coast of Lombok.
I opted for the fast boat option as i didn't fancy a 10 hour round trip, certainly not if it would be anything like my Phangan-Koh Tao trip. Anyway the boat was pleasent enough and i arrived at Gili Trawanagn by midday. The sun was of course blistering hot as it has been the whole and entire time of my trip to Bali so far. I am stil not complaining but the breeze at Gilis was a godsend. The island was very reminded me of Railay because of its quietness and undeveloped state. BUT there was still a number of indos hounding you to get you to spend your rupees on them. A guy called Billy promised a room for Rp100,000 a night with breakfast but the 1st room he took me was a no go, no water and i needed a shower.....definatelty! The second he took me was perfect really, right next to the beach, my own bathroom and the winning factor...it had a hammock. It was rp100,000 but without breakfast. My first day i was tired but desperate to actually do something relatively productive with my day so i went for a wander. As soon as i saw the bicycle renting place i was sold. I paid the lady for 4 hours and set on my little way to explore the island. I felt i was being adventurous and was smiling ear to ear, riding my creaky bike across the sand path. I did feel a sense of freedom which was welcomed. However i got probably 1/3 of the way round the island, away from the main strip when the sand on the path became thick so i had to walk the bike for a short period then ic ould hop back on and ride for a hwile. Eventually the path that was actually ridable became less and the thick sand became more and befor ei knew it i had been walking my bike for 15minutes through the thickest sand in the 2pm heat, sweating my face off. At this point it would have been pointless to turn back around as i was probably exactly half way around the island. I continued to walk with the bike for probably another 10minutes at which point i was a little stressed at the fact i was stressed instead of free and exploring. However i did get to the see the whole island and got to view its emptyness. I did finally get back on a ridable path and started to relax again as i got back to the main strip where I took a quick dip and then retreated to my bungalow for some much needed hammock time with a book. I had an early dinner of Chicken satay and then an early night.
My second day was time for my next snorkeling trip which was a glass bottom boat that took us to the 3 islands. Our 1st stop was just off Gili Trawangan and I was surprised by the fact the water was actually clearer than Koh Tao ( I thought this would bot be possible) and the species of different fish was huge and incredible. I was swimming with soo many colourful and strange looking fish and found myself frustrated that I couldn't name any off them and was referring to them by their colour so I now want to own a book on different types of fish. Mum and Dad if you come across one of these books pick it up for me pleaseee :D At this point I was wondering if this trip was better than me first trip around Koh TAO. My second stop would confirm it was. We stopped off infront of Gili Meno where we were told we had to stay close and follow the guide because of a strong current running. We were on the search of turtles and after probably 15minutes we saw one. I was so excited and found myself just swimming above and just behind it, watching ti swim gracefully through the water. The guide kept swimming down and trying to provoke it to swim closer to the surface which was totally unessecary as everyone could see it fine from where we were. I at this point was soo happy I saw a turtle finally that I was glad that I made the choice to come to Gilis. Then we stopped off just off of Gili Air where I saw various types of coral which sounds boring but was nearly as impressive as the fish collection. The purples and pinks and electric blues of the coral left me gutted my underwater camera was broken and now all I have is a picture in my head. The boat then took us onto Gili Air for some food in a very chilled out environment. I just sat under a raised wooden hut type of thing and looked out at the pristine beach and clear waters. When we left I noticed some local surfers paddling out… there was definitely no swell and no wave but you could see where it would break and I bet it would have been fun if there was swell. A woman on the boat said they were probably practicing their paddling or something. That night I headed out fora pizza which was the worst pizza ive had so far. Serves me right for having pizza when I was supposed to be on an island detoxing my body. I did get a bit lonely that night and believe it or not wished the boys were back with me. The island was just so quite, theres loads of bars but they were all very quiet with onlya few people and most of them being couples on a romantic getaway. I went back and did some reading on Aus to start planning my trip.
I left the island on Saturday and headed back to Kuta and the boys for my final 3 days in Bali…..
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