Gili-Gili Time..

Lombok, Monday January 18th 2010

Our destinations at this beautiful day were Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno that lay in the north side of Lombok Island. What would we do there were snorkeling, swimming, biking rounding the Gili Trawangan, seeing sea turtle conservation, and of course hunting Bule. Hehehe....

*Gili means small island/isle

We departed from the inn at around 7:30 AM and arrived at the Bangsal Port 20 minutes later. While waiting the coming of the economic boat, we were offered to rent a one full day boat with rat of 600 KIDR that would serve us to go to the three Gilis. Without any excessive thinking, we took that offer.

*Based on the information we has gained, the first departure of the general economic boat with route of Bangsal Port-Gili Trawangan is around 8 Am. But it will depend on the number of passenger. Usually the general economic boat will start to set sail if its capacity is fulfilled (around 15-20 passenger). Its normal fee is 10 KIDR/person.

First, we went to Gili Air (the nearest Gili from Bangsal Port). We only needed 20 minutes to reach it. There, each of us spent 80 KIDR to rent snorkeling equipments (snorkel set, glide mask, diving shoes, and life vest -only for the girls). We were there for about 2 hours. Snorkeling at the beach of Gili Air gave us an unique experience. The view of the see was so great. The coral reefs and the fishes were so beautiful. It seemed like we were watching Finding Nemo in live version. WOW... It was so awesome!!!

Then we continued our trip to Gili Meno. There we swimmed and let the (small) wave hit us smoothly. After exhausting of swimming, some of us opened our own lunch boxs.

In the middle of day, we reached Gili Trawangan. Unfortunately, the sea near the beach was not in good condition. The water was a little bit muddy. So that some of us spent the time by biking rounding the Gili; some spent the time by visiting sea turtles conservation.

We start to sail back to the Bangsal Port at 3 PM. At that time, the rain gradually became swifter.

Our joyness was stained by an annoying incident. After arriving at Bangsal Port, the boat owner asked us to pay more fee (100 KIDR) without any reasonable reason. PUCK!!! What such a bastard guy he was!!!

OK! Finally, we finally decided to try having a positive thinking of this annoying incident. We thought that he (the boat owner) might have an urgent need of money or whatever...

Pfffhhh...

We were totally exhausted and got our skin burned this day.

I LOVED THIS DAY...

Lombok First Day...

Bali-Lombok,

January 17th 2010

We departed from the inns at around 8:30 AM because we have to reach the Central Denpasar at 9 PM to meet Mas Yuli (the car rent party) to change the APV we rent into the the APV higher cc. By following some instructions Anggi and Mas Yuli gave, finally we reach the meeting point -between the Mandiri Bank ank BII Bank, near Puputan Square- at 9:30 AM. 

First I thought we would get any anger from Mas Yuli because we were late. But actually he was a very kind person. He trusted us to bring that light gold APV to Lombok. He suggested us to pump the wheels up to 40 psi. Then we got around central Denpasar for a while to do that suggestion.

By following the guidance from the Google Map on Ebol's Blackberry, we could  reach the Padang Bay Port without getting any lost. We arrived at Padang Bai Port at aound 12 AM. At that time, the weather was so good. The sun shone so bright to light the sky. We didn't need to queue like what had been informed in the news for several days ago. FYI: the voyages had been delayed because the bad weather attacked Bali and Lombok at previous days.

We got into the Ferry a half hour later and then sailed to reach lembar Port at Lombok. During the journey, Jason Mraz ft Colby's song titled "Lucky" had become our (me and Elha exactly) soundtrack.

"Do you hear me...I'm talking to you across the water...across the deep blue ocean...under the open sky...Oh my baby I'm trying... "

We also took some photos at the upper deck. We also took a photo with an officer there. Then we asked him where to buy Lombok tourism map. He said that we could see that map at the ship's bridge. He asked us to follow him there.


There, the map we saw was not the tourism map but the navigational map. [ARRRGGGHHH]. There, we also saw the ship steering wheel, inclinometer, some bottons for the ship machine and another ship stuffs. We also had some chats with the captain -Captain Dwi- and his crews. They explained us about the ship, the voyage schedule, the navigational forcast for upcoming days, etc.


The captain served us some steamed sweet potatoes that Elha called "Bataka" (Sulawesi phrase). Right after Elha said that in Sulawesi Bataka consumed with sambal terasi, The Captain asked one of his crew to bring that kind of traditional sauce. WEW... Then we had the late lunch with the sweet potatoes plus sambal terasi. Pffffhhh... It was so spicy!!!


Our voyage was crossing the area of dolphins. From the ship's bridge we could saw the dolphins jump so clearly. They looked so awesome and beautiful. WOW...


After being satisfied watching the free jumps of the dolphins, we asked the excuse from the captaint to go back to the passangers room. We rented VIP room to be place we slept comfortably.

We arrived at Lembar Port at aroud 5 PM. Then we headed for Mataram -the central city of West Nusa Tenggara. There we got into one of the restaurant near the Mataram Mall to have early dinner. Then we hanged around at Mataram Mall for a while. Some did shopping at Hero Supermarket and Guardian Drugstore. Almost of us took some meney from the ATM.


In the night fall, we forwarded into Sengigi area to rent some room. After a few minutes getting around, finally we decided to stay in New Pondok Sinta Inn during our holiday in Lombok. The inn was  neat, clean, comfortable and it's rate was reachable. [FYI: The room rate was 75 KIDR/Night. Each room was designed for 2 person. The room could be stayed by 3 person but the rate became 100 KIDR/night].


PFFFHHH...
After finishing the adminisration stuff about the foom fee, we took rest in order to prepare our physics to explore the Gili-Gili i the next day.


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