Gili Gili Gili

Gili Meno in distance that we swam across to
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After flying from Macau to Singapore, then taking a bus to Kuala Lumpur (where some dude nearly robbed my backpack with all my money, credit cards, passport, camera etc in) I spent a night at a hostel before catching a flight the next afternoon to Bali.

I was happy to arrive and see some familiar faces again. Dave & Niall, who I had left not so long ago in Borocay were also in Indonesia so no sooner had I arrived at the hotel in Kuta Beach (very developed tourist resort full of Oz tourists) did we hit the town for a few sociables! Nothing hectic mind you as we had a very early start the next day to catch a 7am ferry to the Gilli Islands (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno & Gili Air). The speed boat cost roughly 45 US$ pp but it was worth it as by 10am we had arrived at Gili Trawangan and within an hour had tracked down the guys friends (who I had previously met in Vietnam) and found a place to stay.

Drinking in Tir na Nog with some friends
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The island itself its basically concentrated on one main strip as you arrive at the harbour, full of bars and restaurants all trying to coax you in for food or sell you drugs (anything you could possibly want).

There are no cars on the island but if you want to be ferried about you can hop on one of the many horse and traps that are about. Tir na Nog was the Irish bar we usually ended up at at some point during the day either to escape the scorching heat or rain showers by sitting in one of the many huts and lying back to watch a dvd. It was also the starting point for our nights out on the beer, of which we had a few!!

We done a snorkelling trip one of the days which was really good. We set off early in the morning and had 3 snorkelling stops around the Gili Islands and stopped at Gili Air for some lunch. The water was crystal clear - pure heaven!

Gili Meno can be seen from the beach on Trawangan. Looking across the sea it doesn't seem that far away so one day while in the water swimming with Niall I suggested that we swim across. So off we set and some 30 minutes later we realised we were nowhere near the other side and we appeared to be stuck in a current going nowhere! In the end we decided to stop fighting the current and went completely off course. Luckily we are both relatively strong swimmers and made it to the other side about an hour after originally leaving! Once on dry land we realised it probably wasn't the most clever idea to swim back so went in search of a ferry back. We eventually found the harbour on the far side of the island and convinced them to let us on with assurances we would pay once we got back to our bags on the other side.

Having left at midday it was near 4pm when we got back - just as our friends were about to send out a search party! We found out after our swim that people have drowned swimming between the Gilli Islands and it is not something one should attempt - oh well, we lived to tell the tale!!

After seeing how beautiful and peaceful Gili Meno was after our swim over we decided to head over there for a few nights so we all chartered a boat this time and moved across for some R & R!