Gili Trawangan
Trip Start
Jul 29, 2008
1
25
Trip End
Ongoing
Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
Friday, March 20, 2009
very different than the Indonesian name. I had to take a picture of
the sign just to remember what I was looking for. Thankfully, I met an
expat women who was going to the same place as me. I just followed her
around the airport like a lost puppy dog. The flight went well. It
was just over 40 minutes. The great thing about going back to
Surabaya is you land 15 minutes before you took off at Lombok.
(There is an hour time change.) It makes me feel like I am a time
traveler. Once landed in the Lombok airport, I try and find my ride.
Thankfully, I have arranged for the hotel to pick me up and there is a
driver waiting. The airport must of had 1,000 people at it. I asked
the driver and he said people were picking up there friends. There
must have been 30 planes landing there on Friday night because it was
packed.
The driver drove me about 45 minutes-1 hour to the dock and then I
got on a speed boat headed for the island. The trip on the speed boat
was about 15 minutes. They parked the boat in the sand and I just
hopped off. The security guard at the hotel was waiting for me and
showed me my room. It was a very nice room for the 20 dollars that I
had shelled out for it.
I learned very quickly that the Big Gili island main indulgence was
mushrooms. Everywhere had signs for mushrooms. I wonder if the
tourist, who are taking the mushrooms realize that if they are caught.
They will spend the rest of their lives in an Indonesian jail.
My first friends that I met, where two older Dutchman. They talked
about their snorkeling adventures. One of them was a curious fellow,
who saw a turtle poop and wanted to know how it smelled. The brought
the droppings to the surface and preceded to tell me in detail about
the awful smell. That pretty much ended of conversation because how do
you top that?
As, I am sitting on the beach having my snack. One thing, I
notice is the power on the island keeps cycling on and off. I guess
this little island isn't made for all the people it houses. I call it
an early night. However, my sleep isn't that great because of the
dance club next door and the rooster crowing at 4 in the morning. I
realized that farm life is not for me. If I was awoken everyday by a
rooster, I would be a very crabby person.
There are times in life where you want to pause the day and
just enjoy every second of the experience. That would have to sum up
my Saturday morning. I wake up early and eat a scrumptious pineapple
pancake.
I meet my instructor Steph. She is from the UK and came to Gili
Trawangan six years ago. She got certified in diving went back to the
UK and decided life on this little island is what she really wanted.
She told me that during high season, the power goes out for days at a
time. She doesn't have an apartment but a studio with a bathroom and
bedroom. She doesn't keep groceries because of the power outage and
its more expensive to cook for herself than it is to eat at the
stalls. I guess there is something to be said of a island life. What
would you worry about? She probably doesn't have much in the way of
savings, but it would be nice to just got out and swim each day.
I told Steph that I my goal today was to see sea turtles. The only
way to do that was to hop in the pool and be ready to go out on the 10
o'clock dive to sharks point. I told her that although I was excited
to scuba, I wasn't excited to see sharks. I would rather not see
them. According to her my depth would make it a sighting very
unlikely. We went through the various signals in the pool and
practiced the out of air routine. At first, I felt like I couldn't get
enough air but by the end of the session I felt good. So, its 10 am
and we are off to the ocean! There are about 10 of us on a little
boat, each person has their own dive master, even the people that came
together. Most of the dive masters are expats with the exception of
one Indonesian man. We get to out spot and I sit on the back of the
boat and just let gravity does its work to get me in the ocean. The
first thing I see when I go down is a SHARK! I tell Steph that I want
to swim away from the shark and not come down on top of it. We do
that, but once I get on the bottom the shark does a circle around us.
At this point, I have the theme song to Jaws going through my head.
The shark does its revolution and decides we aren't very interesting.
It goes back to its spot and we swim in the opposite direction. The
next aquatic life we see is my turtle. I just hovered around it for a
good 5 minutes. I must have annoyed the big guy because he swam away
from me after the time. The coral wasn't as colorful as I thought, but
the fish were amazing. I saw: Humphead parrot fish, green turtle,
ports bill turtle, clown fish, and tons more tropical fish. I wrote
down all the names if you are interested just email me.
In the end I was down there for 41 minutes. I felt like it was
just a couple of minutes. I ended my dive watching 3 turtles swim off
together in the distance. It was one of those experiences, where it
just fits. It feels like this is what I am supposed to be doing. :)
We get back to the island. I change and rinse off a little for my
lunch and next adventure. There is one road around the island. I
thought it would nice to spend a couple hours exploring this island.
Most of my pictures come from this exploration. Its amazing for such a
little island how diverse and beautiful the terrain can be. The cool
story from my walk would be passing by two Indonesian men. They said
hello and I said selemat sorrie (good afternoon) in Indonesian. They
were so thankful for my attempt at Indonesian that they shook my hands
and took my pictures. I have always heard that Indonesians appreciate
you trying to talk to them in Bahasa. In Surabaya, no one seems too
thankful. But, I guess a place like Gili islands, which is filled with
tourist. They appreciate the little things! After I finish my walk, I
decide to rent a bike and go to the sunset bar. I rented the bike and
found the bar. I thought sunset would be over at 5:30, I had to return
my bike at 6:30. At 6:00, the sky wasn't looking red yet! This isn't
good! I took a couple of more pictures and ate at an Indian restaurant
for dinner. I wish I took pictures of some of the tables at these
places. Its almost like eating in your own little hut. They have tons
of pillows for you to just relax while listening to the ocean. Life is
hard in south east Asia. Most of the menu has special items. I was
afraid that the specials had some of the magic mushrooms that the
islands advertised. I decided to be safe and eat cheese bread and
peas. I walked around the island and just enjoyed people watching.
The people were composed of dead heads with dreadlocks, drunk
Australians, old dutch men and Indonesians.
The morning starts out with a nice little run around the island.
Even on holiday, I still need to be training for Seattle Rock and Roll
marathon 2009! :) I rent some snorkel equipment and follow a dutch man
to his favorite snorkel spot. I ask a nice Spanish couple to watch my
stuff and I am off for another adventure. There must be a switch in my
brain that happens when I am in the water. I can stay down there and
look at the same coral for 10 minutes and be as content as a clam. I
did get confirmation that my Komodo snorkeling, I did spot a sea
snake. I saw a spotted eel swimming around a coral and they didn't
look anything like my friend off Komodo! I enjoy my last lunch and
pack up to go back to real life. I took the fast boat back to Lombok
to catch my flight. Unlike the first trip, the water is a little
rougher. I got off the boat soaked! You can see before and after
pictures.
Comments
Rooster???
ALl these muzzeins and you can even HEAR a rooster, much less be bothered by one?? (lol)
Seriously, nice blog.