Bali, Lombok and the Beautiful Gili Islands

After experiencing the beauty of Gunung Bromo the natural step for us was always to continue further east to Bali, then on to it's neighbouring island Lombok using it as a spring board to travel to the Gili islands. There are three islands just north of Lombok; Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. We had researched a little into these islands and the more we read the more we wanted to go. Long stretches of remote beaches, giant surf against the back drop of volcanic mountains, deep water corals teeming with sharks, rays and giant turtles, beautiful food and no pollution due to no motorised traffic allowed on the island. This done more than wet the appetite. I also wanted to do my last dives in south east Asia, and I was told there was no better place than gorgeous Gili. 

After a long journey, crossing by ferry and then more hours on our cramped public bus, we eventually arrived in Bali. We where dropped off in Kuta, which is a 'lively' resort. Now I use the term lively loosely, its more like the equivalent of Australia's version of what Benidorm is for England. After one evening there, it was all too much for us, even me and Laura felt super old in Kuta. It was a resort full of young, wild and drunken Australians and that was definitely not where we wanted to be, especially in order to embrace Balinese culture. So, the next morning and with out hesitation we hopped on a bus and headed North to a place called Ubud.

I loved Ubud. This beautiful place for me is the real Bali; perched on gentle slopes that lead up to the mountains surrounded by lush paddy fields and palm trees, Ubud remains, retains and practises Balinese culture in all its forms. You can really feel it as you walk around its old cobbled streets, traditional houses, holy temples and sanctuaries...it feels ancient, untouched. That's not to say that there isn't restaurants and cafes here there are many; the culture here is laid back and chilled out. However, the growing number of traffic, especially mopeds is causing to much congestion on the main roads and consequently far to much lung chocking pollution. We decided to rent some bikes for a couple of days and venture a little bit out of the main town and we were rewarded. The surrounding countryside is unspoiled, untouched by the modern world and it was a joy to ride...well most of the time. I found out what it must of been like for Lance Armstrong on the mountain section of the 'Tour de France; the hills are practically vertical, great for going down but climbing up I felt like my calf's were going to blow up. I loved it really, great work out and a great way to start the day. You have to imagine the views. You are surrounded by beauty. Open green paddy fields and coconut tress glow as the sun beams and the air swells. Storm clouds swirl and gather on the distant horizon, a threat of things to come, its rainy season again. Small villages pop up and the odd school were children play and they all scream and wave frantically as we ride past. Bike rides like that are unforgettable and makes the pain all worth while. Every night the weather closes in for about one to two hours and you experience the most powerful and turbulent storms. I used to sit outside our room under the cover of our balcony roof and watch with amazment, like a young impressionable innocent child in awe at the power of nature. You feel every thud of thunder and shake at the noise of each bolt of lightening, it's an electrical storm of the highest order.

The Temples of Ubud

Bike riding through the serenity of Ubud

The perfect scenery to bike ride through

The power of Nature: The view from our room during an electrical storm

From Ubud we traveled the short journey to the coastal town of Padangbia were we stayed for one night before traveling to Lombok. We where lucky enough to find a gem of a guesthouse here, the actual room was more like an apartment, with a downstairs, upstairs and balcony included. But, the one night we chose to stay, as luck would have it a local wedding was happening next door and the mix of traditional Balinese music and hardcore trance music blasted out until the wee hours. It's funny, intriguing, almost insane that such an eclectic mix of electronic noise appeals to the usually traditional Balinese cultural taste in music.

We set off for the island of Lombok on the 21st January via the slow boat from which I quickly renamed the very very slow boat; it took us 5 hours to travel just 25km...I could have swam it quicker. We could have opted for the speed boat and arrived at Lombok in a mere 90 minutes, but, it cost three times as much, so we decided on the ferry...you do the math. The journey was quite interesting; despite the hundreds of cockroaches that scurry about playing footsie with your feet, the diabolical safety record and the fact the ferry only has one life boat to accommodate at least 300 people I enjoyed the ride. I indulged in some reading, challenged Laura to a game of 'boy girl' (and got whupped) and spent time on deck starring out to sea lost in thought, in awe of this vast, rough remote blue abyss that makes you feel vulnerable. You really get a sense of the force of nature when you are at the mercy of it. The sea is power, raging with energy and force, but, it also has this mystical, gentler side that draws you in; the smell of the sea, the spray, the rhythmic sound of the waves crashing and the silence...timeless. 

We eventually arrived at Lombok port and got on a minibus to Senggigi, where we were greeted by a man called Abdul at his tourist office 'Lombok Smile'. He offered us a package to scuba dive on the Gili Islands and also stay in Senggigi for few days, which was perfect for us. We usually don't book anything in a package, we prefer to do everything as we go, but, this sounded good...but as I was to find out very soon, it was...to good. We stayed in a local village area with a traditional room and this is the place where our lessons began in the Indonesian language. All Abdul's friends hung out at the guesthouse and his friend Dedi owned the place. We would sit and chat to them for hours and worked on perfecting our knowledge of the Indonesian language. We spent the next three days, wandering around the place, eating local street food, engaging with locals and again I ended up having a little jam with this cool little artist. By the end of our time in Senggigi, I could have a small conversation with local people, asking how they are, saying my name, asking their name, saying my country of origin, asking where they come from and talking about food or the weather. I could order my food in Indonesian and ask for the bill, but, more importantly I could order a ice cold beer...quality.

Jamming with a cool little artist

It's good to get back on the bass

  
We headed over to Gili Trawangan on Tuesday 24th January, the furthest and most lively of the three Gili Islands, by a small fisherman boat. The boat should carry around 30 people, but the Indonesians don't worry to much about passenger safety and the day we crossed over, they crushed over 50 people on. And in the middle of the boat they loaded  it with a stock of beer, water and other goods being delivered to the islands adding  to the weight and danger. The waves where very choppy and slammed into the boat as we crossed the open water; the Bali sea that runs between the Indian and Paciffic oceans is really powerful and untamed, very unnearving. Thankfully, we arrived safe and sound to Trawangan and the initial quietness and open sands welcomed us with open hands. We wandered along the track around the island and bumped into a local guy who worked at a guesthouse. In the end, we walked with him and went to check out and stay at this guesthouse called Dua Nina. It was clean and basic and a good price for us too. All water on the island is cold sea water, as there is no fresh water on Trawangan, so plenty of ice cold sea water showers and loads of mosquitoes. 

On the beach of Gili Trwangan

Crystal turquoise blue water-the island to my left is Gili Meno

A fishing boat moored on the beach a sign of the power of the sea

My view every day-beautiful

'Life is to important to be taken seriously'

Inspiring

I was here for diving, so I went and found 'Lombok Dive' centre, and met for the first time the Divemaster, a guy called Mohni; as circumstances would have it we were to become good friends. I showed him my receipt, payment for 4 dives purchased from 'Lombok Smile Tours' costing me £140.00 and told him I would like to dive on Thursday and Friday. I was really excited and I arrived at 10am on the Thursday ready to dive. This is when the fun started. I could tell by the way Mohni greeted me that something was up. He told me that 'Lombok Smile Tours' doesn't pay him any money for diving and hasn't done so for over 12 months. He basically sells the dives on the main land but doesn't forward the money onto Lombok dives, which is a different company. Abdul is a con artist and the receipt he gave me was as worthless as the paper it was written on. I couldn't believe it, ripped off again. I was so angry, but Mohni is a good guy. He said that I wasn't the first person, and wont be the last. After speaking with him for a while he said he would let me do two dives today in return that I go with him over to Lombok and confront Abdul and get my money back. I done my two dives and Laura decided to stay on Gili Trawangan while I went over to Lombok to try and get my money back, with the plan to get the water boat back to Gili during the night. It is a 40 minute boat ride to Lombok and a 40 minute drive back over to Senggigi and during the journey I was thinking, this guy could be mafia, what happens if I get the police involved and he is paying the police...I felt a little anxious and all the dive crew were quiet, it was like i was going into the unknown. When I got to his office it was already dark and the wind had really picked up. There was already two young German girls at his office who had both been ripped off with nearly £1000. They had got a flight over from Bali and had been hunting him down for a week... they were fuming. He eventually turned up; this little sly looking man, who looked like the Joker out of Batman with all his make up off. He was sweating and he looked as if the world was going to end, sullen pressured face. We gave him until 8 pm to get us all a refund or we told him we were getting the police. It was tense, no one was talking, we just sat looking at this pitiful man. Then, we had a power failure and total black out. It just added to the atmosphere, it was a strange scene, the lights of the cars going passed lit up his face for a moment, a shadow and I kept glancing at his dejected cunning face. It was crazy...I was thinking; what the hell am I doing here? It was only two hours ago when I was diving in beautiful waters and having tea with Laura relaxed on the beach. Now look at me. I am sitting in an blacked out office in the middle of Indonesia with the joker, two German girls going crazy in that efficient totalitarian German tone, while outside I was aware of a growing gang of lads by the door, who at any moment were going to kill us all because the guy were integrating was a Mafia kingpin. I was getting a little anxious to say the least. I checked the weight of a chair next to me, so I could use it as a possible weapon if anyone attacks us, but,  to my surprise it was made out off solid oak or something and weighed a tonne...why was the chair my only weapon so damed heavy?

As we are sitting there watching the clock, two other girls came in and complained about that the hotel they booked with Abdul. It didn't take them long to put two and two together. So there was now five of us and he owed us a total of 1,600 pound. He was a con artist and his luck had finally run out. We were in the police station for ages, half of them were laughing and the rest were playing Fifia on the computer...crazy, it was like a scene out of Police Academy.  I just wanted to get out of this situation, because you don't know who to trust. Mohni turned up and promised me all my dives tomorrow so I was gone...leave the Germans to it. By now the weather had changed dramatically, it was gale force wind so I had to stay on Lombok. I could not get back to Laura who was on Gili and by now a little worried. She either thought I had sank on the boat or I was swimming with fishes after messing around with the Indonesian Mafia. My dive master booked me into a family guest house and he paid for it all. It was a great little place. The owner and his wife took a liking to me and he fed some beautiful chicken and then pulled out a bottle of famous Lombok palm wine. It's funny how a normal day can turn into a little adventure with a great ending; 'All's well that ends well'.


The diving was fantastic, although I never saw any sharks, the amount of diverse life and coral was impressive. The turtle is protected in this part of Indonesia, thus attracts hundreds of them and I was lucky enough to swim with some giant turtles on the reef. They are so laid back, just watching them swim with the current is an amazing sight. We dived a number of sights including Bounty's Wreck and Meno Slope at depths of 18m - 24m. One of the best things about diving is that you meet so many great people from all around the world. After my little escapade with Abdul all the dive crew treated me like I was one of the them. It was as if I had stood up to a bully for them and straight away I felt a new found respect bestowed upon me...it was a pleasure to dive with such a humble and funny group of people. The feeling of being under water surrounded by shoals of fish in their blue world is one of the most free and exhilarating feelings. On my last dive a couple from Australians dived with us and one of them took an underwater camera on the dive. She took some amazing pictures which gives a unique insight of this underwater Paradise. Enjoy!!!

Ok! Me enjoying the he freedom of diving

Lion Fish

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A species of Cuttle Fish

Hawksbill Turtle

Finding Nemo-I love these fish, they are so protective of their coral home

"I suffer from short term memory loss. It runs in my family... At least I think it does... Where are they?”

A shoal moving effortlessly like a single entity

Moray eel

A tiny little crab

Me diving next to a shy Turtle that is chiling on the coral just below me

We had to make our way back to Bali by the 2nd February in order to catch our flight to Perth, Australia. However, one of the ferry's (the same one that took us to Lombok from Bali) sank in rough sea's. This resulted in all boat's being ordered by the Harbour Master to remain at port. We were in effect stuck on Gili Trawangan. It was an agonising wait, but, thankfully after three days we got on a speed boat back to Bali were we spent another couple of great days relaxing and eating in our favourite little family run restaurant.


Indonesia was an unforgettable experience; rich in history and as diverse as the 17,508 islands that make up this country, it was the perfect way to end our journey around south east Asia and begin our next leg...Australia. 

Good Bye Bali