Boat on White Sandy Beach in Gili Trawangan
It's actually my second time stepping on this 2 km by 3 km island. My first was last year with a friend's friend from Germany and a friend who's actually from Lombok and more familiar to Gili islands than me. I remember my first time I was undescribably excited when the boat reached the island. I thought to myself "wow, this is another world. The view is amazing. The white sandy beaches are breathtaking. How can I miss this place all along?". Note: I am actually from a neighbouring island east to Lombok called Sumbawa. it's pretty damn close.
This time, I got the opportunity to bring along 6 guy friends and to show them around the island. One guy is getting married soon so we thought let's do something different. And yeah, going to Gili was our decision. And probably I can say THE BEST DECISION.....
Map of The Three Gili Islands
Our first activity when we got to the island at 9am by a chartered boat (costs Rp 250.000) from Bangsal Port in Lombok mainland was searching for a hotel. It was rather quick when we finally decided to rent a 2 bedroom villa at The Beach House Resort located in the central area of East beach where the main activities, crowds, bars, restaurants, and parties are located. In the end, it cost us Rp 3.025.000 for the two bedroom villa plus 2 extra beds and breakfast included. It's a pretty good deal since the villa also has its own 3 m x 8 m private pool.
As soon as we got the villa taken care of, we headed out to rent some bicycles for us to move around the island easily. It's a great decision to cycle on the island other than to walk. I guess walking and cycling are the best, if not the only, means of transportation on the island. Of course, there are "local taxis" called cidomo (cart pulled by a horse) but I think it's not too efficient since the island is pretty small anyways.
White Sandy Beach
We spent the day with snorkeling, mostly (Read: the most exciting activity for me). It was my first time snorkeling and was actually able to adapt and use the snorkeling gears properly. I think I can make snorkeling my new hobby! I can't wait to do some more snorkeling in the future.
We also rented some kayaks to cross the sea from Gili Trawangan to Gili Meno and back to Gili Trawangan. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to cross a small strait by a kayak. Initially, the current was too strong to kayak there, however, we were persistent enough to wait until the current gets calmer. In the end, we finally conquered the kayaking challenge.
After we were tired enough due to kayaking (it took about one hour), we still decided to cycle circling the whole island. Yeah, it's a pretty active day for us, but we surely had fun!!! It was not one of the best decisions because some parts of the island didn't have proper roads for cycling and are covered by sands and sometimes we had to walk our bikes. But, we found the best place to enjoy sunset from this cycling trip. So, it's not a waste! :)
At night, we had dinner and enjoyed the sunset and the clear panoramic blue sky.
Beautiful Sunset @ Villa Ombak Sunset
In general, Gili Trawangan is known for a "Party Island" where parties are held in turn by the many hotels on the island. Magic mushrooms are also available for sale freely on the island (given that police enforcement on the island is minimum).
Magic Mushrooms For Sale
If you are visiting Indonesia and especially Bali, don't miss this island. It's another different world from Bali. More virgin beaches, more peaceful, less crowded, more beautiful coral reefs (if you happen to like snorkeling and diving). I am pretty sure there are many agencies you can find in Bali that would take you to Gili. It's about 2 hours boat ride from Bali.
Websites you might wanna take a look to get information about Gili Trawangan and the other two gilis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gili_Islands
http://wikitravel.org/en/Gili_Islands
http://www.gili-paradise.com/
http://www.fastboatsgili.com/gili-trawangan.htm
1 comment:
Great article to read, all the tips are great....
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