I'm now facing into the last 9 days of my Asian adventure. I don't know if it's a good thing to have chosen Indonesian islands as my last port of call. It's heaven here. I'm trying not to think too much about heading home yet when I've got white and black beaches to explore and crystal waters to splash about in. We are now sitting on the shores of the Gili island trio just off the coast of Lombok. I've said it a few times to Katie along the way but we have no business being on this little piece of heaven. The sand is white, the beaches are flanked with coral reefs, the water is crystal clear and the people are the friendliest, kindest and most genuine I have met along the way.
What have we done here on Gili-T?
Well, we did a bit of this:
And a bit of that:
And more than a bit of this:
Let's not forget this:
and I found out I can't jump:
Our biggest adventure was the snorkeling tour. We went out to about 4 or 5 hotspot reefs for the day. We were told if we were lucky we could spot some turtles going about their business. I hounded our two guides in the water with a group of fellow over-enthusiastic snorkelling buddies and luckily enough I was able to spot two massive turtles. The first was difficult to see but I could make out his outline gliding in the deep blue water below me. The second turtle was taking his time strolling along the sea bed. Both turtles were accompanied by groups of tiny fish. We were also impressed to learn that the locals protect turtle eggs by buying them from local farmers, offering another possibility of income to the local economy, let them hatch in controlled sand, nurture them till they are hardy and release them into the sea with a little ceremony. Love it.
Looking well in our snorkels:
Glass bottomed boat that took us out:
Baby turtles biding their time to be released into the ocean:
Then we have the other side of the story. We arrived on the island without a reservation, thought we'd just go bargain hunting to see what we could get. Well we got a bargain, and a bit more. We checked into a little resort place that had a nice pool area and some lovely bungalows. We stayed in the dorm for about 4euros each. It was honestly, the worst place I've stayed in my whole trip. None of the showers were working and the toilets didn't flush. We had to use the shower in a private room (which was occupied) and even that didn't work very well. When we asked for to sheets for the beds we received winter blankets. The place seemed to be run by teenage boys who hadn't a clue. At two in the morning three of them came into the dorm room to sleep - which would have been fine if they weren't shouting and if they didn't pass out cold while one of their phones was on loud and continuously ringing. I was shouting at them to 'turn your f*cking phone off' and a Canadian girl got up and shook them awake. That's not even the worst part of it. When I woke up the next morning I was itchy all over. One look at Katie's face and I knew something was wrong. I was covered in bed bug bites. COVERED. Even worse than my encounter with them in Siem Reap. They are just horrible, horrible things and I've spent the last two days trying not to dig the bites out of my skin. Helloooo to anti-bacterial soap, doses of antihistamines, copious clothes washing.
I looked like a leper:
We can complain about the last place we stayed in but it led us to find a jewel of a place, Edy Homestay, where we got a nice room of our own for 13eur a night, breakfast included. Forget about the price though, the guys running it were lovely. We spent a couple of hours sitting outside on the road with them singing songs while they played the guitar. Cheesy AF but a fabulous way to spend the evening. I much prefer that to the wrecked looking girl across the way who announced to everyone she was still high on mushrooms from the night before. But then, whatever floats your boat. One of the homestay guys, Andrey, even took us on a rainy afternoon trek up the hill on Gili T. He showed us some unbelievable views of the other islands and we could see a thunder storm roll in from Lombok across the water. He showed us an old tunnel dug out by the Japanese during WW2 to hide supplies. So it goes.
Katie, Andrey, Me:
It's our last evening on Gili T and we are turning our heads towards Lombok island for a few days. I am desperate to trek up the volcano but seeing as we have only about four days allotted to Lombok it doesn't look like it'll be possible, it takes at least two days to trek just a little part of the crater. It looks incredible though.
Who knows? Maybe next time we'll do it!
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