Travel has taught me that I am 100% a beach person. I felt so much happier after a day trip to one of the Gili Islands. I think I might relocate there this weekend. To be able to start each day with an ocean swim and snorkel, is just bliss.
More scams at the docks though. You get a very cheap yellow ticket for a public boat ride to the islands. Crafty locals will offer to swap you for a (most likely fake) white ticket. This is for a ‘private’ boat that is “leaving right now”, but if you take it, it’s an extra 200,000 Rupiah. I’m sure they are quick to vanish if you accept. Nice try bro.
It was very nostalgic being back on Gili T a full decade later, but I know what happens here at night… The (Muslim) locals are very different on these police-free islands. They drink, take drugs, and have lots of sex. Signs for magic mushrooms are everywhere. I forgot that there are no motorbikes though, just bicycles and the chiming bells of donkey carts, which is a nice change.
While waiting on the local boat, a painful shout came from a young woman hobbling towards us. Someone helped her on and she plopped down next to me. “Are you okay?” I asked. Sarah from China said she had ridden down a rocky road and broken her foot! She was planning to go snorkeling. “Do you have crutches and are you sure you can snorkel??” Turned out that no bones were broken; it just felt broken.
She said that a friend had seen a turtle that morning, so after landing on Gili T, we parted ways and I headed for “Turtle Point”. I saw a baby (critically endangered) Hawksbill within 3 minutes! Then another 5 turtles over the course of the day. Wonderful. What was also a special experience was riding back with the locals on the public boat, queuing with the locals to pay the small parking fee while ignoring the scammers, then biking back with only locals – along a small and smooth (but very curvy road) through the forest and mountains.
Once safely back, I took a long walk through the local village along the nearby Lombok coastline. I approached some joyful children playing with a hose pipe. One tiny girl shouted “hello!” and waddled towards me to give a little high five. It was all very friendly. Wood fires were burning, fishermen were anchoring their boats, cows and loads of poultry were roaming around freely, and locals were getting pony rides on the beach. I saw just two other pale people wandering about. I enjoyed another pink sunset on a quiet beach, with a fruit juice, cap cay (a seafood and vegetable dish), and a volcano in the distance.
The next morning I headed back up the mountains along a different road to visit some Hindu water temples and waterfalls. I ended up in a little village and asked if I could walk around. I found a pathway which led to a small waterfall that was irrigating a huge area of rice plantations. I sat there for a while feeling like I had been let in on a little secret. There was just one other person in the distance picking rice. Bliss. (Clip on Insta)
I felt a lot happier after all that and rode home with a big smile on my face. One local rode past with a fishing rod strapped to his back, another with a guitar, and one bike even carrying another bike! A lovely sight is also riding behind Muslim women as their colourful, long robes and scarves flap about in the wind. A family was fully dressed for prayer with two kids being wheelbarrowed to mosque.
The Lombokians seem like very happy people.
Next: Indonesia #6 – You Want Express!
Previously: Indonesia #4 – The Land of The Mosques
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