Gili Trawangan
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 12 Sep 2016 22:57
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Gili
Trawangan
 After our snorkel off Gili Meno we
had a quick shower and headed to the beach on Gili T
as it is affectionately known, to meet Gin and Michael (Wishful
Thinking) and Val and Richard (Kereru) for lunch. A bit choppy we
could call the ride in but soon Bear had a large Bintang in hand (I nabbed a
little to make a shandy).
 A very novel sight to see is tourists with hundreds of snorkel and dive
boats.
 We haven’t seen lines of sun loungers since Moorea and Tahiti.
 The food was delicious. I had chicken
in mushroom sauce with boiled potatoes and sautéed vegetables, Bear had seafood
pizza. On the menu was Ikan Pepes – at three pounds
seventy pence. I’m sure there’s a comment there
somewhere but best err on caution..........
 Across the street was an ATM and in went Bear. Gin thought it may be cooler in the
little place but as she swung the door open it came out its non-existent top
support – amazingly she didn’t let go and somehow managed to lower the very
heavy beast to the ground............. Had anyone been behind................
She was very lucky not to really hurt her hand or wrist................ Such a
shock.
   Within seconds three locals came to heft the offending beast to prop it up
against the wall. We bimbled down the road still shocked.
 We saw a
map and now know we had a better snorkel off ‘Restaurant’ (Gili Air) than
we did off ‘start’ Gili Meno. The reef has been decimated but at least there are
moves to regenerate and protect. There were loads of fish but we did see a
snorkel tour boat hammer a stake into a piece of reef to tie his boat
up...................
   The side street opposite the
restaurant boasted the surgery. The Morning After Pill was clearly an addition
to the services offered in the tiny building, complete with dispensary
in the window.
  Outside one shop we
found kittens in a cage looking very fed
up.
 A ‘one careful
owner’ for rent......
  A carefully owned
kitchen and scooter.
   Toys and a
chair.
  The Lombok Guide says: Gili T is
the most well known and popular of the three Gilis. It is the largest island of
the three (3 kms x 2 kms) and the furthest from the mainland, but
easily reached in less than two hours from Bali and only ten minutes from
Lombok. Tagged “the party island” by The Lonely Planet, Gili T continues to
cater to the party crowd but also has a cosmopolitan vibe that becomes more
evident every year.
Today, Gili T is rated as one of
the top destinations in Indonesia and the popular Trip Advisor website recently
rated it as one of the ‘Top 10 Islands in Asia”. I thought it was a tip but then the
‘tidier’ end was next............
   The first few
mushroom advertisements.
Our cruising guide says:
Trawangan has a reputation as a safe haven for illicit drugs. Psilocybin
mushrooms are openly advertised on the island and a range of harder drugs have
been known to be in circulation. Though police presence is very low; Indonesian
drug laws are extremely harsh and strictly speaking drug use is prohibited.
As of this writing, methanol
poisoning from locally made bootleg spirits has caused many casualties and a few
fatalities. Do not drink spirits bought on the island unless you crack the seal
on the bottle yourself. Sticking to beer is a safe alternative.
The Lombok Guide says: Alcohol
and the risk of methanol poisoning have been in the spotlight since 2009 and
there have been a significant number of deaths from contaminated alcohol in
Bali, Lombok and the Gilis. Avoid bars and places that serve arak or other
“local spirits”, including cocktails such as “Jungle Juice” and “Arak
Attack”. Mmmm.
     Some bars had
excelled in their advertising. Each owner appeared to welcome us in for
the ride of our lives but we all really needed an ice cream. Age – a wonderful
thing. The one good thing here is that each night one bar produces loud music,
they take it in turns so there is not competing or distorted
rabble.
   Yet more,
not exactly sure what ‘triping’ is...... Then I read what I thought was a
sensible tour advert – until the ‘Transfer to the moon......’.
  The Gelato shop was closed so we
returned to the bored kittens who sat in their cage
next to the Wall’s freezer. En route we passed a tattoo parlour, a very risky
pursuit methinks. Dung Dung’s tasty ???
  We perched to eat our ice creams and
headed back to the dinghies. I wonder what the Chef’s
Recomandation will be later on. Opposite a carefully
owned fridge – so pleased we are not here for a fortnight.
 We got back to Beez only to
find the wind and current had brought up a dodgy fetch. Too dangerous for Bear
to balance while I pulled up the outboard (risk of Baby Beez going
under the stern platform) so we left the visitors buoy, returned to Gili Air,
found a buoy out of the wind and as it was behind the protective reef – no
bouncing. All done in an hour and off we set for Bali, treated to a lovely sunset. The funniest bit was when
Richard (Kereru) came on the radio wondering why we had set off in the
wrong direction “I think you’ll find Bali is this way” as WT and
Kereru led the way.
The Lombok Guide says: The Lombok
Strait is one of the deepest bodies of water in the world and seas can get very
rough, with waves up to 5 metres in bad weather.
   Now facing the right way, we followed
our course in until deep water and the edge of the shipping lane. The sky went through a colour show. Behind us a random cloud was lit, very unusual to see.
 ALL IN ALL SCRUFFY IN
PARADISE.....
GOING BACK TO THE HIPPY
DAYS |