After
spending seven nights living the dream on Gili Air, we knew Gili Trawangan
would not live up to our new inflated expectations. Gili T is the biggest
island of the three Gilis, with the most tourists and a reputation as the party
island. The nightlife was fairly wild but still not up to European standards
(just like Bali!) This may have been due to it being off-season. We only spent
three days there and besides the nightlife, it was mainly more sunsets... and
turtles.
Having used up almost all of our allotted
island time on Gili Air, we didn’t have time to visit the third one. Gili Meno
is the smallest of the three and is apparently great for couples. Its unique
feature is the lake in the middle, although we imagine this must be more like a
pond, given the petiteness of the place!
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| We shall miss you Gilis... |
The boat
ride back to Bali, where we were catching a flight from, was fairly eventful.
The sea was very choppy and I felt very seasick. I was sweating so much, I had
genuine fear that any small children near me might drown. I vomited several
times – an unfitting end to the beautiful Gilis, and one which left a sour
taste in my mouth.
After
leaving Bali, we had a layover in Jakarta, the world’s most dense city – as in
populated, rather than everyone being an idiot. After going through security
and having all liquids taken off us, like we were about to meet the Wicked
Witch from The Wizard of Oz, we were
stuck in AirAsia’s airport lounge. There is no shop or water fountain in the
lounge, so we were forced into dehydration mode and happily started to daydream
Evian mirages.
Once on the
delayed plane, the earliest chance we had to buy water was about three hours
after entering security – by this point 25% of passengers were in comas.
The water
on the plane is of course 8 times more expensive than a shop and comes in tiny
330ml bottles – just enough to put the flame out of a candle. I asked for free
water and was refused – isn’t that illegal? Shame on you AirAsia. You might be
budget, but that’s just bad manners! So after the seasickness and the dehydration
situation, it was not the happiest of ending to Indonesia. Still, we had
memories of Gili Air to keep us smiling – this
is now the go-to happy place in my mind.
Costs (per person)
Return boat
to the Gilis = 500,000 IDR (£34, $51)
Fan room
Double = 150,000 IDR (£10, $15)
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| Final Sunset on the Gilis |
