Indonesia part 2

Before we go home (already... time flies...) we will give you an update of our last Bali/Gili/Lombok experiences. Last time we ended our story just before we arrived at the Gili islands, so that's our start today.

The Gili islands are three small islands next to Bali: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. We decided to stay on the biggest of the three: Gili Trawangan (also known as the party island). This island is what you would call a bounty island: nice white sand beaches, a perfect blue ocean, a mellow vibe and no motorcycles or any other automatic vehicle (and no paved roads) The boat arrived literally at the beach (who needs a harbour anyway..) so when you get off, it's hard to avoid getting wet feet. Luckily it's always sunny and you won't wear anything else than slippers. Transport here runs on horse power (yes, horse and carriages!) and showers use fresh water (which means, cold salty water...). 
After checking out few places to stay, we ended up in a nice homestay owned by a lovely couple. The room was simple: one bed, a closet (totally useless..), a toilet (western, but without the nice flushing option we take for granted in Europe...) and of course a nice refreshing cold salty (!) shower! In the morning, they served us breakfast in front of our room (of course banana pancakes with non-filtered coffee), very convenient! 

The big difference between Bali and the Gili's (the rest of Indonesia actually) is that Bali is Hindu while the rest is Muslim. So even on this small island, there was a big mosque. Lucky as we were, our homestay was situated immediately next to it! So every morning (5AM) they woke us with a nice speech and an additional song (in Arabic of course): we are soooo not gonna miss this! Besides the fact that this is all very Muslim, the people don't really act in accordance with their religion (or does the Koran allow you to be drunk every day, have a smoke and take some happy mushrooms who take you to the moon..?).

The main activity on the island is doing absolutely nothing, so that's what we did (we are starting to be pretty good at it...). However, we also walked around the island, which was definitely worth it! Although they are building resorts everywhere (such a shame), you still find some nice and quiet beaches. After exploring Gili Trawangan, we joined a snorkelling tour. We visited 4 different snorkelling spots around all three Gili's. A nice glass bottom boat, which showed the amazingly blue sea and therefor also beautiful fishes and corals, took us to the varying places. The first spot showed some nice corals (beautiful, but not the best we've seen; guess we're spoiled...). After this we stopped at a place where we could see an old ship wreck: pretty cool! Than, it was time for inch at Gili Air. This island is supposed to be much smaller and more quiet than Gili Trawangan, however it is not as quiet as we expected it to be (there are getting more and more resorts here as well). After lunch it was time to visit the 'secret area' (they don't really seem to understand the concept of secret since every snorkelling company visits this place.... But never mind!). This secret spot showed some amazingly coloured fishes (the ones you see in Nemo) and a nice 'wall' (a steep downdrop in the water; like al wall....). The downside of this 'secret' area: jelly fish (yes, the small ones got to Floor and left some nice spots on her belly, back and leg). Luckily the guides knew the problem and gave her some tiger balm to 'fix' it (you knew you can tiger balm for a lot of injuries: headache, hangover, mosquito bites). The last spot the visit: turtle point, and yes, there were two turtles showing up!

Our last night we climbed the one hill Gili Trawangan possesses to see the sunset. Of course we sort of lost the 'road' and ended up crossing some fields owned by cows, springboks and goats. However, it was worth it; the views at the top were amazing! We crossed the hill and sat down at the beach to see the sun set behind the mountains of Bali (how romantic).

After four days at the Gili's we moved to Lombok, another beautiful island! Lombok is famous for its active volcano which you can visit by doing a tour. However, we were a bit tired of constantly taking action and visit every tourist spot, so we treated ourselfves by just staying at a nice resort. The way to Senggigi (a nice beach area) was a amazing and completely different from what we saw at the Gili's. Lombok is much bigger and developed, so motorcycles and cars are allowed here and roads are paved.  In comparison to the flat Gili islands, Lombok has many mountains and is really green! In addition, beaches in Lombok are black (due to the volcano) and not white, but nonetheless really beautiful. Since the black sand is not as appealing as white sand, we stayed at a nice resort with a swimming pool, but with views over the blue ocean! 

We started our days here with breakfast at the beach, overlooking the beauty of Lombok and watch the locals work (fishing). Every morning you could found a bunch of locals sitting at the beach, pulling a robe, which seemed to end into nothing. However, at our third day, we discovered that the robe they were pulling, let to a fishing net (but unfortunately not to many fishes...). After breakfast we sat down at the pool, we walked the beach few times, but most of the time just enjoyed doing nothing and having dinner right at the beach. 

After Lombok, we had 7 days left and we decided to spend them in one place at Bali, and to make a real holiday out of it (yes, we needed it, traveling is soooo exhausting). From Lombok we took the fast boat back to Padang Bay and from there a minivan to Sanur. Sanur is a touristy town at the east coast of Bali close to the airport (how convenient..). With mostly big expensive resorts, many tourist shops and an overload of restaurants, the perfect place for a holiday.

Since staying at the Hiatt hotel doesn't really fit our budget, we ended up in a nice small 'homestay' (which is not really a homestay since the room is really big, with a private bathroom, small kitchen without cooking facilities, a nice pool and you do not really live with a family..). With such a nice room and good swimming pool, we didn't really felt the need to go out much. So our main activities were: doing nothing, going out for dinner and swimming (living the good life!).

However, by doing nothing we still felt the need to see the island. Therefor we booked a driver for a day (how posh) and visited the southern part of the island. First we visited Padang Padang beach which is a small white sand beach surrounded by cliffs. In addition, a very popular area among surfers (however, since there is only reef surfing you need to be advanced to surf here). After taking some pictures of this too touristy area we continued our trip to Uluwatu; a cliff temple. Again, a very popular spot among tourists but still worth a visit. The cliffs are amazing (about 30 meter high) and the views are gorgeous! The temple itself is really small and can only be visited for praying. So we just wandered around the temple and enjoyed the scenery. Since we didn't came to pray, one of the monkeys felt the need to steel Floor's slipper! We were aware of monkeys stealing sunglasses and camera's, but slippers(while wearing!)??? As a result, we had to buy it back through a mediator (one of the local women). The experienced monkey asked a high price: he rejected the fruits and instead wanted two pieces of candy! So in the end, we owed the lady 5000 roepias (expensive slippers!). 
After this surprising experience it was time to continue our journey to Nusa Dua. Nusa dua is not really a city but a park filled with luxurious resorts and hotels. The park also contains its own shopping mall and theatre. Altogether the perfect place to spend a lot of money! Besides the nice resorts, there is also a public beach and nice viewpoint showing a water blow. 
The last stop of this day was at Bumbu Bali restaurant. This restaurant is the only restaurant serving traditional Balinese food. Here we had the most delicious meal: de rijsttafel! We started with a nice chicken soup, followed by a big plate full of small dishes (containing pork, chicken, fish, lamb, vegetables, beef, all in delicious sauces and spices). We ended this delicious meal with various Balinese cakes and desserts and of course Balinese coffee. The whole evening was a real treatment, and felt even more special since 'our' driver waited for us to take us home. 

The last exciting, and posh, activity was for Floor: both a manicure and a pedicure! For the manicure we went to a beauty salon just around the corner of our homestay. Since this was so nice, the next day Floor decided to have a pedicure as well. This time at the pool (can it be more decadent?). The result: well taken care of nails, to lessen the slobby backpacker looks...

And now, the unavoidable is happening: time to pack our bags one more time, get on a plain and fly back to Holland! We will try to bring the sun!

Love,
Floor & Rob