5 Days on Gili Trawangan

After such a fantastic trip across Flores with Dino it was time to return to the realities of backpacking and this meant a 28-hour journey to Mataram on Lombok island. The journey included several parts by both bus and ferry but it actually went quite well as we slept for most of it. On arrival in Mataram we took 5 minutes out to think [due to hassle coming from all directions] and then decided to head directly to the Gili Islands where we had been planning to go and relax for the last serious part of Indonesia. By midday we had made it to our destination with only one incident to report en route. While in Banksal harbour we were told that there were no ATMs on the Gili islands, so with no alternative we had to manually complete the transaction with a lady who took an astonishing 10% commission. You could say was prepared for us, "How much do you want? 5million Rph?" ...to which i replied "make it 2million!" This meant that we had less money than our Normal budget while on Gili and that we would endure the feeling of being 'officially' robbed. Worse still, there had been an ATM on the island for 2 months [although it was quite hit and miss we were told]!

Apres Flores il etait temps de quitter Dino pour rejoindre Mataram a Lombok. 28 h de ferry et de bus! Mais ce trajet est passe comme une lettre a la poste contrairement a ce que l'on pensait. Nous avons dormi une bonne partie du voyage. Arrives a Mataram nous avons vite ete envahis par les rabatteurs des agences de voyages. En pleine forme, nous avons decide de reprendre le bus pour atteindre les iles Gili afin de nous relaxer apres ce trip aventure sur Flores! 6 jours au meme endroit sans faire/defaire nos sacs. Tout s'est tres bien deroule, sauf qu'au port avant d'embarquer pour les iles gili nous n'avions plus trop d'argent. 5 minutes avant de prendre le bateau nous demandons confirmation qu'il y a bien un distributeur automatique sur l'ile. On nous repond que non! Viiiiiiiiite, il faut aller retirer. Et la bien sur, c'est l'arnaque. Non plutot du vol. 10% retenu du montant total retire. degoutes. Tout ca pour decouvrir que sur l'ile... il y en a un depuis 2 mois (bon apparemment qui marche une fois sur 3).

The Gili Islands were a perfect opportunity to relax and catch up on things that we had been unable to do during our Flores trip. Everything went to plan apart from the Internet which was way too expensive and so we booked ourselves in for five nights, changing place after the first. We stayed on Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three islands and the busiest in terms of other tourists and partying.

Gili is also an island overrun with cats of all colours, sizes and shapes. Cats only have half a tail due to the local superstition that by chopping the end off and burying it in the grounds of the house, it will chase the bad spirits away. As well as cats the island also has a lot of horses but this is due to there being no cars or motorbikes, great! The way to get around is either by horse and cart, bicycle or as we chose - foot!

Nous sommes restes sur l'ile Trawangan, la plus touristique et animee. En un mot, farniente!! On devait aussi en profiter pour avancer dans le blog, mais c'etait bien trop cher!! C'est d'ailleurs la seule chose excessive de l'ile, le reste etant surprenamment abordable. Nous avons donc profite de l'ile, de ses restaurants et petites boutiques mais surtout de ses chats. L'ile est remplie de chats ce qui n'etait pas pour me deplaire! Les chats sont des animaux speciaux en Indonesie. Les indonesiens croient que les chats eloignent les mauvais esprits. Ainsi chaque famille a un chat (ou +) et pratique une mutilation sur sa queue. Ils en coupent un bout pour l'enterrer autour de la maison, qui est alors protegee. Sinon l'ile est aussi remplie de chevaux. Ils sont utilises pour le transport etant donne qu'il n'y a ni voiture ni moto sur l'ile ce qui est agreable. On respire!

Most days were the same, we wondered down to the beach, had a swim and then found a few places to hang out and drink from the wide selection of cold shakes and fruit juices. We met a few people and it was not hard to see them again as the main road around the island links everyone together, you are certain to pass each other a few times. While completing our walk around the island at the sunset bar we met two ladies, French [Caroline] and Spanish [Raquel] who spent a bit of time with and eventually the boat that left the island. The sunset bar was some place as you can see from the photos and gave much inspiration - looking out to sea like that. There is not much else to say about Gili except that we enjoyed it and understand that it is also a changing place what with the popularity of its' name amongst tourists.

Petite ile, alors si on fait pas de plongee pas grand chose a faire. Alors s'installe la routine, entre plage baignade manger boire. La vie simple! Ce qui est bien sur cette ile c'est qu'il est vite facile de faire connaissance et de garder contact puisque les gens se rencontrent perpetuellement sur la seule et unique route qui fait le tour de l'ile! C'est comme ca qu'on a rencontre Raquel (espagnole) et aussi Caroline (francaise) au sunset point de l'ile ou ils ont construit un bar tres design qu'avec du bois, voir la photo, puis plus tard Benjamin un autre francais. Gili restera une etape appreciable, mais il est tant de reprendre la route. On s'est assez repose!

5 Days on Gili Trawangan

Gili Trawangan, Indonesia