into one of at least fifty bars and cafes in Gili Trawangan, a 2-hour boat
ride east of Bali. Gili T as it is known is one of three beautiful, tiny,
islands that are just 10-minutes from Lombok, another large (Bali-sized)
island full of countryside and volcanoes. After turning down the man's offer
from some 'shrooms as they are known, I got a beer and chatted to some Irish
guys who were drinking some concoction of mushrooms. I saw them the next day
when I was scuba-diving and received confirmation they had a pretty powerful
effect!
Despite the large number of tourists packed onto the island and filling out
the multitude of guesthouses, none of which had more than ten rooms it
seemed, the island is beautiful, the rain held off, and there was a lot of
fun to be had in the evenings after enjoying the beach and underwater
sights. Unfortunately underwater Gili is no big deal -but then my standards
are high after being fortunate enough to dive at some of the World's most
beautiful places in Asia. If you want a nice beach, some great bars, and
some cheap accommodation (even the super luxurious was only 100 dollars a
night) then head to the Gili islands. If you do you might well catch some
Australians, who dominate the Bali area, and tend to have a beer in hand at
8am in the morning, no matter whether they are getting on a boat, or in a
clinic!
A brief stint in the Gilis led to a last day on vacation in Lombok's
capital, Mataram, which involved checking out the Mall since it was
pouring with rain and another motorbike ride out to a temple and to
Sengigi which is an old-school beach resort with a bunch of hotels and
restaurants along a strip of main road which is parallel to a
wonderful beach. Delightful in its own way I suppose, there were some
great restaurants -and hotel deals- to be had. Once again I
experienced the joys of renting a motorbike, and the challenge of
driving in a busy and crowded city packed with all kinds of transport
(including horse and carts) driving at various speeds. We did not have
time to hang out with the locals on the cliff roads, unfortunately, as
thrilling as it looked just sitting on bikes looking out to sea...
Other thoughts on Indonesia was that there was minimal language
difficulties, through transportation is slower than expected since
most people have their own transport, public transport is not as
necessary as maybe it once was. There were some surprises, like the
Executive class in the train, which was very plush with power sockets
by every seat for only a small amount more than regular class, and was
over half full of locals, who evidently quite like travelling in
style. There was very regular calls to prayer that were most notable
in the morning and evening, but though quite a few women wore
headscarfs, almost none wore Burhkas and a lot wore no head covering
at all, which is not what I was expecting.
To round out the top 3 of the vacation -after the smoking volcano (the
first we visited) and the motorcycle trip around the third volcano we
visited- I need to mention the village of two halves that was at the
bottom of the second volcano (you may recall, this was the one with
the turquoise lake at the top). A week ago, we spent a night in a
so-called homestay before the trek up the volcano, although the
homestay was the least homestay-like homestay I have ever heard of
with awful service, poor accommodation and tour group central. Yet,
100m down the road was a small village which at first glance was
nothing special, only remarkable as it seemed well laid out with small
alleys and all the houses in a line with small gardens. Yet, as we
walked further in we found that each house had put immense effort into
their tiny gardens and were growing crops, sometimes on 2 square
meters of land, sometimes just 1 tomato plant was being grown out of a
solitary plant pot. Each house was very individidualized with some
being quite well decorated, although others being total dumps. A
stroll through this quite quaint and somewhat strange village was
incredible -there were public bathrooms and a mosque and school to add
character- yet it was the tiny alleys, the small gardens, the
individualized houses and the people (kids, adults, dogs and all) that
packed out the alleys that made it special.
And then we got to the river that ran along the edge of the village,
or so we thought. In actual fact the river just separated the living
part of the village from the working part of the village. Across the
river was like going back 100 years. Everything here was muddy paths
and wooden barns (the other half of the village was mostly concrete
paths and brick buildings) packed with animals, and again densely
arranged. The fences surrounding the barns were perfectly built
without an inch of room for an animal to escape -for everything was so
close together, one escape could cause chaos. It was fascinating. A
village of two halves -the living and the working; yet both parts
exquisitely deisgned, quaint, picturesque and funtional. Probably the
most interesting village I have been to in a long while, and all
discovered on accident.
And so another warm vacation ends, and it is back to freezing Beijing.
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