Gili Air

For the last two days I have been on the tiny island, or 'gili' in the local language, of Gili air. The smallest of three main ones off the Northwest coast of Lombok. There are others they call secret islands that are even smaller.

Gili Air has a rough circumference of 5km. I walked this on the first day I got here, for curiosity. It took me 2 & a half hours or so, slow walking. 

Some guys were running last night - you could have a gili 5 or 10k ! So the diameter is less than a mile. I'm staying in a hostel, more or less in the centre of the island, so it's not far to walk anywhere but lots of people hire bikes. The family here are polite but keep themselves to themselves more. I think the Dad is Japanese - he has a strong Japanese accent and one of the things on the breakfast menu is Japanese fluffy pancakes - just my hunch.

I've just been up to watch the sunrise. That's a coconut in the pic above btw. One of the few places you can see both sunrise and sunset from. It's a strange place. Considered less touristy & lively than larger Gili Trawangan, but more busy than the quiet Gili Meno ( The end point for series 4 of Race across the world btw). It has 1800 inhabitants, so there are plenty of local people, and, of course, plenty of tourists. Quite a lot of families with kids too.

In fact it feels like the most touristy place I've been so far. There are lots of cafes, restaurants, little gift shops, clothes shops, jewellery shops, a jewellery making workshop and cookery class. I found a book shop yesterday. It is well set up for tourists and there are many Europeans and Australians.

I arrived here on Wednesday, catching a boat from Bangsal. The transfer was arranged for me by Suzanne. On the way the driver tried to get me to buy another transfer off him. Its never ending. I resisted. They make you feel - some - like you'll have no options when you get there. Chatted to a German girl who was a little older - 42 - who'd been travelling for nine months and desperate to carry on but was running out of money. She had worked in London & seen lots of the UK. She'd just had a bit of a fling with an Italian guy who was kissing and waving 'good bye' to her when she got onto the bus. It was funny.

She gave me some tips on where to go in Bali. Then at the port she said goodbye as she was going to Gili Trawangan. ........last thing she said was 'sometimes the boats sink'.......I had heard this before, so it was pretty nervously that I got on the quite crowded little boat, full of supplies for the island. 

Thankfully it made it OK. 

The hostel is nice and peaceful, with a little garden and their skinny looking chickens running around. 

My lunch below.....not above 🤣.......breakfast was a mango. It's cheaper to buy from the local run shops than the 'chain' supermarkets. The street food stalls always smell so good, but I'm still a little wary. Some of the stuff looks like it's been sitting there for ages, and I think maybe the locals have stronger stomachs. 

The hostel below. I think the rooms upstairs they keep for couples.

It is made up of two story huts. I'm actually quite pleased (I'm so sad!) to be on the bottom as the toilet is closer, he he, and I had a Spanish room mate who was lovely! but she has left now. She was doing her PADI diving course. My new room mate I haven't even seen. She is the opposite to me , I think, practically nocturnal and came in at around 2 am this morning......very quiet. I've been trying to creep around so as not to wake her. The hostel is just down the street from the little school on the island. This morning it was cute to see the kids turning up in their uniforms or being dropped off on scooters. Some ride small scooters themselves. For me it is interesting to see the locals in their houses and how they have verandas outside to lie in in the shade and sleep, and to see them working and cooking and going about their daily lives.....although I'm not good at capturing the people, so most of these just show their houses etc. and the school below:

I have always been a bit obsessed about the idea of a tidal wave. Even as a child, I used to sit on Swanage beach and imagine a huge wave crashing into the shore - I know....... So I could never live in a place like this, with the risk of volcanos, earthquakes and tsunamis! At least on Lombok they had hills to escape up. I see many of these signs around the island and I wonder where, exactly, you would evacuate to? They seem to all point to the centre but there is no high point - your best bet would be the top of a palm tree....... 

There are no cars on the island, or motorbikes. Only low powered scooters and bikes. There are some pony traps for transport. I feel a bit sorry for the poor ponies. 

When I arrived they wanted me to pay up front for the room, which cleared me out of all my cash! They then informed me that the electricity was off on the island........so despite there being cash points, they weren't working so I panicked a little. He re-assured me the electricity would probably be back on in a few hours but I felt a bit nervous for a while. Some of the restaurants had generators to keep them going. I had enough to buy some lunch then I walked the island, as i said, and watched the sunset that day - atmosphere slightly marred by the loud music from the bar a few metres away.

It seems to be a thing to watch the sunset or sunrise whilst riding a horse. It was hilarious when one horse started pooping, whilst the lady was on it. In the video below you can see the silhouette of one of Bali's biggest volcanoes, Mount Agung I believe. Just to the right of the shot after I zoomed in.

The next day, I decided to try snorkelling. I was going to book a trip, but they only take you to spots off the other islands plus I'm not very confident and wanted to practice first. The Spanish girl lent me her mask the first afternoon and I was amazed at the variety of fish that I could see. So I hired a mask and snorkel until 5pm.....not the flippers.....and it was great. I still felt nervous, building my confidence in short spurts. I regretted not having the flippers and had to be careful where I put my feet down. You don't have to swim far off the beach before it gets really deep and I swam over to a group of snorkelers from a boat - they were on a trip - so I kind of tried to join with them a bit as I knew they were trying to spot turtles and the guide was shouting, 'turtle! turtle guys' The place on the beach where I was snorkelling is called 'the turtle spotting point' so a big clue!

I didn't see a turtle, but what i did see was amazing. Different coloured corals.....at least I think they were corals......some were a vibrant blue colour. Also reds and greens, and the fish! So many kinds, feeding off the plants and darting around. My favourite was this beautiful shimmering rainbow coloured fish. I saw a snake too, it was black and yellow - that was right by the shore. It was cool that you can just snorkel off the beach. 

It was funny later though as I couldn't find the guy I rented the snorkel off - there are so many - and when I asked a lady, pointing out the letters scratched into the snorkel, 'jkl' she told me the wrong place. The guy there tried to persuade me to leave it with him, 'I'm his brother' he said, 'don't you trust me?'........no, I thought. I later found the guy, just at 5pm on the dot! 

Earlier a very smiley German couple asked me to watch their bags while they went snorkling together. I warned them I only had 30 mins before i had to hand back my mask. They said they wouldn't be that long, only 20 minutes, but it was getting close to 5pm and the rain was coming over from Lombok. I had visions of me scrambling under a shelter with mine and all their bags. Fortunately, being German they returned on the dot! They were such a nice couple.