Gilli Trawangan

Gilli T

We left Lombok by taking the fast boat which appeared much safer than the over loaded slow boat, the bonus for us was being able to get a room before the others.

It was boiling hot carrying our bags so the breeze and splashing of the waves were welcome. We were looking forward to Gilli Islands as we were quite bored in 'quiet Lombok'.

As soon as we stepped into the main street we were approached by young lads "looking for room? I have....good price." We were dragged around the place being shown room after room. We told them we wanted aircon, but still they showed us fan rooms one after the other. I was getting annoyed, I get fed up of getting pestered, I know what we are looking for and yet despite the promises of "yes we have aircon" we get there and suprise suprise there is none! In the end I politely tell them we will find our own room. Which we did and it was perfect ....big bathroom albeit with crazy magic eye tiles, large flatscreen tv and a dvd player plus aircon all for about £12 pn.

Now Gilli T is the party island so at night it comes into its own. There isn't much to do aside swim, scuba and party. Soo many people....mostly drunk but again.....no fights or problems like there is in the UK. Could be the type of people that travel? I'm not sure but it makes you think.

As females, not sure if the guys had this, but you can't walk ANYWHERE without the local lads shouting at you "Hey beautiful hair" "I love you" "Hey sexy" I could go on and on....all directed at Chloe of course....I got "mama hello" It got really tiresome after a day plus the rest of Indonesia. Having spent time in Thailand and Malaysia we've found the Indonesian lads to be very forward, suggestive and too pervy....they've definitely got some front, far too much!

The guy running our room was a character, he was about 5'2 and as skinny as a rake constantly telling us how many hours sleep he had "I sleep 1 hr last night, I work too much, I have no money." I found this hard to believe as he had a shop which was UK prices plus he always had enough for beer and fags!

We went to a bar one night and we spotted a local old guy who was a miniature version of Morgan Freeman, he followed us around like a body guard getting rid of any overkeen local lads. Unfortunately and shockingly he ended up going up to Chloe and licking her face followed by exposing himself. I went nuts (so to speak) and sent him packing.....seriously what is wrong with these guys!

We were in the street food market and two guys from Peru came and asked where we were from...UK we told them, "where in the UK?"

"oh a small town very south" we replied
"Nr Southampton?" They asked."Weymouth?"

Can you believe that....they were part of the Olympic Sailing Team and knew all about our Town! They invited us to go to an open night in a new bar so we tagged along.

Funny night it was because I then spotted Chloe chatting to a guy, I went over and after explaining I was her mother, always an interesting response, the guy...Mark... had an odd look on his face. "Do you write a blog?" He asked me. Turns out he read one of our blogs after trying to find a route in Malaysia. That was a first for us, so we aptly named him Bloggers! We met his friend James too, both legends. We had a great evening, mainly watching Mark who fell asleep at the bar....then fell asleep at the restaurant ha ha ha.

I had a heated debate with a guy called Teddy, who repeatedly told us he had been in Gilli for 4 months. In the end he refused to speak to me! Completely blanking me. So what was the debate ....compressed air being used as fuel.....his view was that it would be free, my view was it could never be free as there would be compression stations etc where you would have to buy the 'free air' bla bla bla....... Anyways....the night turned to day so quick! Cheers for a great night guys....including you Teddy....jerk....if you can't take the heat don't debate!

We took cycles out to tour the island which is a half possibility as the other half of the island path is sand. Ever cycled in sand? It's impossible!

We rented masks and snorkles but were disappointed in the marine life....scarce....in comparison to Perhentians, Tioman and Borneo.

I went on a protest in Gilli as the entire street is full of bars/restaurants.....90% of which will charge an additional between 10 to 21% of the bill in Government tax. The other 10% not including the street market don't charge a penny. I asked about it and no one could give me an explanation. How can one place charge 10% and another charge 21%? It makes a difference to the bill! We went to eat at Scallywags, which is highly recommended with a 21% tax charge and one of the most expensive places to eat. We wanted an egg roll...simple yeah? They had sausage, chicken and egg but would not make us an egg roll. What? I said just leave out the meat and bring the egg....."Sorry can not the chef say no." So we left after trying to get them to understand for 15 minutes....classic case of computer says no!

We had a great time on Gilli T the time flew and we met some great people. Also a hello to Bonny who despite telling us they had work early the nxt day.....stayed out till gone 5am.....ha ha ha!

Our next route was to be a huge mistake.....Labuan Bajo.