Island Hopping?

Gili Trewangan is one of a chain of three tiny reef islands just off West Lombok in Nusa Tenggara.  The thing about these islands is that you have to get there and then get off. .  During one of the stops, the bus actually took off without us (backpacks still on board), as we had walked off to get some food.  When does anything here ever leave on schedule?  Sheesh…  Luckily the distance was short and we caught up at the harbor. A one-hour diesel-fumed bus ride was followed by an agonizingly slow four-hour boat crossing in rough swells.  We arrived at night and had to wade to shore from the small tender boat. 

Once there, the island was beautiful.  Relatively quiet, again due to Ramadan, the place was also free of any motorized traffic.  Transport was on foot, by bicycle, or cidomo, a horse-drawn cart.  We walked around the entire island in about two hours.  A thin strip of white sand beach and turquoise waters surrounded the land, as did a ring of coral reefs that quickly dropped off to blue water.  It was wonderful to simply walk out, put on the snorkeling gear, and marvel at the abundant sea-life, minutes from the room.  The amount of fish was stunning – we saw many tortoises, an octopus, and even big schools of mackerel and yellowtail, close up and without scuba gear.  Once out of the water, we returned to the bungalow to shower off in salty tap water.  Martas Guesthouse provided amazing accommodation, with 2-story bungalows, huge comfortable beds, and comfortable décor.  There was a nice porch with a big daybed -- hard to leave if not for the ocean.

It sounded as if we stayed very close to a mosque (in truth practically every spot on the island was close).  Day and night you could hear the prayer calls and wailing, most notably from about 9pm well past midnight, and then again at 4:30am.  Late to bed, early to rise.

The food tended to cater mostly to the travellers and backpackers, with pastas and even Mexican food on the menu. (Questionable offering, easy to pass up…) That stated, the seafood was hard to pass up.  Fresh lobster, prawns, tuna, mahi-mahi, and grouper laid displayed on ice.  You just had to pick it; they would grill it up and deliver it to your table on the beach, under the stars and moonlight.

We stayed a few days to snorkel and enjoy the seafood.  Once we decided to leave, it became much less easy.  All the more costly boats were booked up.  Because of stopovers, it would have taken 7 hours on the water to return by the same slow vessel.  No wonder the fast boats were full.  After all the scrambling, we embarked on a narrow wooden passenger vessel, packed to the gills with 35 people and all the luggage.  Direction was westward to Lombok for an hour bus ride to the airport and a 20 minute flight back to Bali – the circuitous route.  Spent most of the day here in Denpasar, awaiting the next flight to Sulawesi, the former Celebes.  Hopefully we’ll be able to catch the overnight bus on arrival.  Free wi-fi – isn’t it wonderful?