Ninety-Six Degrees in the Shade

By: Christina

Another day, another island. With more than 17,000 in Indonesia (6,000+ are uninhabited), we could spend the rest of the year visiting a new island every day, and still not make a dent on the list. We picked one of the best, however, for our week of relaxation: Gili Trawangan, located just off the shores of Lombok.

Dan and I were here in 1995, when Gili T consisted of a bunch of backpacker haunts lining the beach. While I had fond memories of watching movies every night, enjoying great snorkeling, and nice runs around the island, I also remembered tons and tons of mosquitoes, and the lack of spotlessly clean accommodations that I love so much. This time it was all good. Our accommodation, Marta’s Bungalows, was just perfect. Located about a block from the beach, Marta’s consists of about eight tidy bungalows set in a garden with a swimming pool in the middle. The design is traditional Indonesian, and the buildings all have sloped roofs, exposed beams, and lots of dark wood touches. We had a two-bedroom place, and my favorite feature was the front porch with its day bed piled high with cushions (note: we have really gotten into day beds on this trip, and keep trying to figure out where we can put one in our house in Orinda). Every morning, we would sit on the porch and have breakfast, listening to the chickens/roosters squawking and watching the butterflies fly by. It was great.

Gili T is a very small island (about 4 miles in circumference). Back in 1995, Dan and I had enjoyed running around the island, so we decided to try it again. While we didn’t always enjoy the run (temperatures plus humidity in the 90 degree range lessened our enthusiasm), it was great to see how undeveloped and wild a large part of the island remains. That is probably our favorite thing about this place: it has the right combination of developed and undeveloped areas, and it feels very, very mellow and low key even though there is quite a bit going on. Unlike many of the beach spots in Thailand, Gili T consists mainly of dirt roads, a very loud mosque, donkey carts (there are no cars (or dogs) on the island), and fisherman doing their thing. Sure, there are swimming pools in many of the hotels, plenty of dive and souvenir shops, and the beachside restaurants rival what you find in Hawaii, but you still feel like a visitor. Gili T exists for itself and not just the tourists, and that is what makes the place so appealing.

The place is especially amazing because all of its electricity is provided by a generator and all of its fresh water is brought in by boat (brackish water comes from wells).  Real people live there (there is a school and a mosque (it woke us up every morning at 5!), but it is true that most of Gili T's citizens make their living from tourism.  Despite this fact, the people (like all Indonesians) are super friendly and engaging, and will spend a long time chatting with you even if you don't buy anything.  Of course, Abby and Grayson continue to be a big draw, and the Indonesians always have a ready smile for them.

In keeping with a tradition started in Lamu, a fishing trip was arranged for one afternoon. We had hooked up with our friends from Yogya, Liam and Cate (they had arrived on Gili T a day ahead of us and Liam found us at Marta’s shortly after our arrival), and the two of them decided to join us on the fishing trip. We left when the sun was still shining and it was still plenty hot, so the fish really didn’t bite for a while. When they did start biting, however, they did so with a vengeance. Well, at least for me. In less than a half hour, I caught four pretty good sized fish. They were biting like crazy and I couldn’t reel them in fast enough (maybe that’s because I just had a line on a spool, and not a rod). At one point I caught two fish on one line (using two hooks). It was really fun. The rest of my fishing mates didn’t have my luck, however, and they went home empty handed. Luckily, I had caught enough to feed all of us and later that night we enjoyed the fish (snapper and coral trout) barbequed at Scallywags, our favorite of the beachside restaurants.

Gili T is known for its snorkeling (and diving), so another day was spent on a snorkeling adventure. We spent about an hour at a different spot at each of the three Gili islands – Trawangan, Meno, and Air (where we also had lunch). The snorkeling was amazing, and we saw tons of tropical fish, sea turtles, beautiful coral, and giant sea clams. The water is as clear as can be and we were pleased with the visibility even at the lower depths. Best of all, we were in a glass bottomed boat, and when we were not admiring the fish under the water, we had fun watching them swim below us.

A few days later, Dan and I donned scuba gear and, along with a dive master, knife, and net bag, waded into the ocean near Gili T’s pier, to clean up the ocean floor in honor of Earth Day. The various dive shops on the island had gotten together to sponsor the day, and there were probably about thirty divers in the water cleaning up around the island. With the kids snorkeling above us, Dan and I picked up trash (there was surprisingly very little of it) while at the same time enjoying a fantastic dive. Usually we stay well clear of piers or harbor areas, since the water tends to be pretty polluted due to overuse by the locals. That is just not the case on Gili T. The water by the pier is crystal clear and surprisingly free of any evidence of humans.

Our last night in Gili T was spent watching a movie at one of the restaurants lining the beach. In past visits to SE Asia, I have had a great time watching movies in bars and restaurants while enjoying drinks and a meal. Although there have been plenty of opportunities to see movies on this trip (in beach restaurants/bars, not cinemas), most have not been appropriate for the kids, so we haven’t been able to indulge in this favorite of pastimes. Finally, we lucked out and with the beach practically lapping at our feet, we enjoyed a movie, a few beers, popcorn and sate (peanut sauce on the side, of course). It was a great way to finish off a great week.