Monday June 2 2013 8:45 am
Well getting to the Gili Islands is no small mission!
Yesterday we spent the morning with J and E. We found a great little cafe with lots of tasty treats and hunkered down there for a torrential down pour.
Then they headed for the airport to go on to Vietnam and we took at 2 hr cab ride to Padangbai. There is a harbour there where we caught a ferry in the evening. We bumped into another tourist from the UK also trying to find her way to the Gillis and she proved to be great company. The journey over was less great. LP warned that it wasn't but it also cautioned to take the biggest boat possible. Sort of a remember your life is in your own hands here and no one else is monitoring your safety to make sure the boat you are in is sea worthy. Bigger is better they said, so we went with the biggest. Unfortunately that also came with it live kereoke style entertainment. Were feeling really lucky that our seats were right next to the speaker. And then we all got a good bout of sea sickness. I was us our glad we weren't on a smaller boat though. The waves were huge and it was a 5 hr trip. After the kereoke they played some very strange Indonesian movies. They were weird. Oh and another little bonus our new friend caught a man peeping in on her in the bathroom! So over all I wasn't very impressed with that but it did get us here (to the Island of Lombok) in one piece.
We spent the night in an overpriced little dive. Even N who rarely has a complaint said, "these are the worst mattresses I have ever slept on!" It did have a bar through the centre. Good thing we were tiered enough to sleep anyways.
Tuesday June 3 12:30 pm
After a quick look around town and the beach N decided we won't spend extra time here, in Senggigi, so we will head to Gilli Meno this morning.
Yea we got here! This morning we took an hour cab ride to a different harbour in Bangsal. It was a beautiful drive around the coast of Lombok. I really enjoyed the view. Once the can arrived we were informed we had to take a horse carriage draw my a poor sweaty malnourished creature to get to the harbour itself. I could hardly stand to burden the poor beast except that we didn't know the way or how far it was to walk. There we boarded what appeared to be a tiny cargo ship transporting eggs, coca cola, vegetables, strawberry milk and the people who wold them. It was only about a half hour journey and a fairly nice ride. Although I don't think our tiny boat would have survived any form of rough seas, had we encountered them.
We arrived safely on the teeny tiny island of Gili Meno!
I am now sitting with my feet up enjoying an ocean view and an Orange Fanta (which i have apparently become totally addicted to on this trip) at a quiet beach from restaurant. My official position though is guardian of the luggage,while N is out in search of suitable accommodation. Not a bad gig for me!
June 3 8:20 pm
Gili Meno is a minuscule spec of an Indonesian Island in the Bali Sea, on the north west corner of Lombok, right beside Bali.
You can walk around the whole coast in a couple of hours. There are no motor vehicles on the whole island. If you need a ride you can take a horse drawn carriage, although you may have to wait a while for one to show up. We saw an amusing juxtaposition today as a carriage driver was chatting on his cell phone. It is a bit of a different take on the distracted driving. It just struck me as so funny to see such primitive transportation along side modern conveniences.
It is said to be the most tranquil of the three Gili Islands. It's extremely quiet all you can hear in the evening is the sound of the crickets and the ocean. It's lovely. The stars are so bright because there are almost no lights. N and I had to just stop and gaze and gaze. The view of the night sky from the Southern Hemisphere is so strikingly different.
When we were with J and E we watched the finale of one of our favourite shows "The Office". It was quite a reflective episode looking back over the last nine seasons. One of the characters (Andy, for those of you who are fans) made a comment something to the effect of, "I wish someone would tell you these are the good old days, when you're in them." The last day as they were leaving J said this to us. And over the course of this evening N and I have just continued repeating it. These are the memories that we willl cherish for the rest of our lives. Sitting on the beach with a candle between us sipping hot chocolate and sharing our hopes and dreams. It doesn't get better than this.
The Island really does give the impression of paradise.
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