Breezy Gili

Travel blogpost yay!!

A few months ago, I had the privilege to (finally) visit Indonesia. Specifically Lombok. I stayed for a week at Gili Trawangan (one of the three islands in Lombok) at Happy Cocoon. It was my first experience to get to indulge in nature on a daily basis during a trip. It was so nice to not worry about what to wear or how smelly my clothes would smell from being drenched in the rain (ha ha). Speaking of, it was rainy season when I visited, so I experienced a lot of rocky rides on the sea (as I had to ride on a boat to get to the island from the town, vice-versa) and constantly tripping on puddles and catching a mild cold by night (I have a weak immune system). That’s alright though, there were so many other things that I enjoyed about Gili that a little/lotta rain didn’t even matter. In fact, it was part of the fun too sometimes.

Therefore,  I present you a list of things I love about Gili, and parts of Lombok.             [FYI: This is the first ever I am making a list on this blog. I’ve just finished my semester in Uni and I’ve just found out I like writing lists *shock horror*]

1. Mountains. Upon arrival, I was invited with a splash of rain that made Lombok looked gloomy and initially depressing. Though I do not hate rain, I do love some sunshine to perk things up especially after a flight – I’m not the best at flights either, unsurprisingly. However, it didn’t seem so depressing at all when I noticed how peaceful the place was when the van I rode in took us pass the city and introduced us to folds of mountains in the horizon. I. LOVE. MOUNTAINOUS VIEWS. Our driver took us to a run-down house that sat at the edge of a hill. We met with a view of the mountains meeting the sea. There’s just something so majestic and scenic about rows of mountains sitting on the horizon..calling out to me. GAH. Only Murakami would best explain how a mountain would create a strong sense of admiration in me. Sadly, I am no Murakami. Anyways, the view of the mountains in pictures I took of course do not justify its beauty. You can’t expect to know how good a song is just by looking at a sheet music right? Unless you have amazing talent then I applaud you. Okay, going back on track- Mountains. Yes, mountains. The view of the mountains placed beautifully across Lombok looked oh-so-magnifique especially from Gili trawangan. My favourite way to admire the mountains was from the boat ride to Gili. Every time I rode the boat to go to Gili, I fixated my eyes on how the mountains unfold from a near view to afar. Little things like that give me joy. Allah’s creations are truly lovely.
2. Blue water. Need I say more? Who doesn’t love a sea of blue water? Quite literally. I got to snorkel twice in the shallow waters of Gili. Because the rain always came unpredictably, we couldn’t risk going to deeper water to snorkel. (Plus: In reality, half of us were untrained in water anyways ahahHahHAhH) The objective of the first snorkel was to look for the famous giant turtles that swim near the shore. Of course, rain had to come to the parade just when we were prepping ourselves in the water in the first 15 minutes. Because of the rain, the giant turtles escaped to deeper water so we didn’t get to swim with them 😦 Though we met some tiny ones instead so I wasn’t entirely dissappointed. The second snorkel took place a couple days after, at Pandawa resort. The resorts in Gili (such as Pandawa) are famous for the swings that suspend above water. I believe we snorkeled approximately for two hours. Yup there was some skin burn. “Jangantah pakai sunblock” I said to myself, dubious of the lack of capabilities and tolerance my skin can endure. Burn, it certainly did. The water was shallow and the tide was calm. I swam with cutesy little fishes and observed their corals. Understandably, the fishes swam for their lives. I would too if a giant alien was hovering around lol. Though after a couple of minutes trying my best to be still; some came out of hiding and swam around my hands. Then others in hiding would come out too, to continue their lives in their coral village and carry on with their fishy duties *hehe*. Observing their corals and “hanging out”/”floating about” with the fishes; that was when I felt the most solitude during the whole trip. Ah, the little things.
3. The Locals. Although my Bahasa wasn’t great, the important thing is I tried! LOL. So I tried to talk in Bahasa with the locals, some understood me, some just pretended to *enter crying laughing emoji*. Most of the locals were very friendly to us. I had the chance to talk to the workers at the homestay and other places where we bought souvenirs and had our massages. Though there was that unforgettable time when my sister and I encountered the heaviest rain in Gili when we were on our way to the homestay. For some reason, the unexpected heavy rain got my sister and I laughing hysterically, while stumbling into deep puddles and making pitstops under small rooftops in front of people’s houses; we must’ve looked like crazy fools. We then took shelter at one of the small convenient shops before reaching the homestay. The lady, who I assumed, owned the shop, told us to wait until the rain would calm down. Though we were afraid that the road to the homestay would get flooded, we told her that we wanted to go as soon as possible. After several times of insisting us to stay and us insisting her that we want to go (lol), she told one of her workers in the shop to accompany us to the homestay. The rain suddenly calmed a bit, we then told her that we’d be fine, hence we declined and thanked her. As we make our way to the homestay, several half-naked kids were dancing and enjoying themselves in the rain. We screamed HAI and they screamed back (note: screaming due to loud and heavy rain). They asked us where we wanted to go (we must’ve looked lost), and they led us the way. We thanked them by taking pictures with them and waved goodbye to let them continue playing in the rain. Such sweet kids.
4. Gili Horses. There’s not much to say on this except that I love horses. There were many horses with carriages in Gili. As there were no cars to transport people around the island, bikes and horse-drawn carriages were used instead. Horses pictures will be down below hehe.
5. Honorable mention: The Food! Those who visit Gili/Lombok has to try the food, especially seafood. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to eat the lobster there, though everything else is so good & relatively affordable 🙂

THAT WAS A DESCRIPTIVE LIST AYE? Okay let’s move on to the pictures. Thank you for reading!! If you’re only here to look at the pictures, that’s okay too. Do comment below if you like this blogpost, and if you like to see more of these kinds of narrative/descriptive posts of my travels. The camera I used was FujiFilm x100T. Enjoy! 🙂

You’ve come to the end of the post! If you can’t tell, there are no pictures at night. It rained quite a lot especially at night, so I didn’t want to damage the camera.

Thanks for dropping by 🙂

Tinah x