After Ubud (see end of previous post) we thought we would go to Uluwatu, but the fact that the Rip Curl Cup at Padang Padang was going on there was causing us troubles with finding accommodation. So we changed the plans and headed towards Gili Islands. Gili Islands are three tiny islands between Bali and Lombok and each of them has different atmosphere: Gili Trawangan (commonly known as Gili T) is a party island, Gili Meno honeymoon island and Gili Air laid back chill-out island. Now you can guess where we went first... Bingo! Gili T it is :)
Despite the fact mentioned above that each of the Gilis is different, there are few characteristics they have in common: there are no motorized vehicles (only horses and bicycles), no asphalt roads and no police on any of them. On the picture is obvious that we arrived at Gili T - you can tell by the load on the cart - Bintang beer (the iconic Indonesian beer - half of the souvenir items in Indonesia are with Bintang logo)
As you can see from the picture, the water around Gilis is beautiful. It is one of the best spots for snorkeling in Indonesia.
So after one of the rough nights we surprisingly got up early enough to catch the boat and do the snorkeling trip - the boat took us to several snorkeling spots around all Gilis to see various creatures and corals. The highlight definitely was the swimming with the big sea turtles. Breath taking.
Our evenings on Gili T were usually starting here - little bar on the West side of the island. Every night there was a fire and drum sunset show.
Sunset on Gili T - the mountains behind which the sun is setting is Bali
And then after sunset our steps usually lead us here - to the night market. Every night few locals would come, put up their stands in the middle of the main street and sell the best food ever. Yum.
After 5 nights in Gili T (and especially after the last one which was the Full moon party) we definitely needed some detox. Lombok was the perfect place for that. We only spent 2 nights in Kuta Lombok, but still managed to see some of the beauties of this much less touristy and busy Bali's neighbor. On the picture is view from some hill towards Kuta Lombok and surrounding beaches.
View from the same spot to the other side
Mussel collecting at sunset. In comparison with Bali, Lombok is totally different. I've heard it many times, but never wanted to fully believe. Until I experienced it. First of all, Lombok's dominant religion is Muslim, whereas Balinese Hindu, which might or might not make the difference. In my opinion it does. You can tell by the mindset and behavior of the people. Second obvious difference is the 'wealth'. I don't want to say that Bali or Balinese are wealthy people (hell no!), but if you come to Lombok from Bali you can see that the people here live in even poorer environment than in Bali. And the third very obvious difference was the development and infrastructure - Lombok still has street with no traffic jam that ends up somewhere and takes you to abandoned beach or forrest road, whereas Bali is just built-up with houses and hotels and restaurants and god-knows-what everywhere you go. Lombok still has the place you can escape to, Bali... I don't think so.
After Lombok we went back to Bali, went to chilled Canggu for a bit of surfing and relax, Ben left to Kuala Lumpur after few days and I went down South to Bukit peninsula to meet up with my Slovak friends Stanka and Tomas who are on their vacation in Bali. The plan was to try to surf as much as possible, which at the end did not work out that well for me for two reasons: 1) the surf conditions were not too good (see picture) + there was enormous number of people in the water all the time and 2) and more important was that after first day which I spent riding the scooter (and basically steaming my head in helmet) for half a day and surfing for the second half a day on the strong sun, the next day I got quite bad heat-stroke which left me with fevers closed in the room for almost 2 days... So, not that much surfing, but I still managed to see some places. On the picture is the famous Padang Padang beach, place of the annual invitation only Rip Curl Cup for the best tube riders in the world. The 2014 cup took place one week before I was there. Quite funny to imagine that just week ago there were 2 meter high perfect barrels on this exact flat spot :) (not that I could ever go in in that conditions)
Uluwatu temple. The temple as such was not that interesting, but the cliffs that it was placed on - beautiful.
Uluwatu beach / village - the perfect surf spot. The whole village with all restaurants, shops, surf shops etc. is carved into the cliff on the way down to the sea. So if you are not surfing among the thousands (okay that is exaggerated, but it was sooo crowded) people, you can enjoy your food and drinks by watching them. Not bad..
Young surfer checking out the chicks while getting out of the water - Uluwatu beach
Bingin beach - same concept as described above in smaller scale. Much more charming.
Young surfer going for the morning session. No chicks watching. - Bingin beach..
Look at Bingin from the access path. No big swell here either...
So, that's it Indonesia. It was my great pleasure, thanks for showing off your beauty, you really are amazing and I hope I will ever get a chance to come back, because there is so much more to see... But now it's time to move again... I'm currently sitting at the airport in Bali, it is 2AM, my flight departs at 6 with arrival to Singapore around 8:30 local time. I'm only staying in Singapore for the day and then taking the night train to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with Ben again. No more plans after that yet...
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