The Gili Islands

I’m having one of those days.  You know those times in your life when you KNOW you’re in the middle of a really special moment?  Usually it’s in hindsight when you think “man that was amazing!!” but sometimes you’re lucky enough to know the experience when it’s actually happening.  That’s today.  I’m in The Gili Islands with the British girls.  Two days before, we spent our day of silence (the Balinese New Years Day known as Nyepi) on the front porch of our home stay in Ubud; passing the hours listening to music, eating, researching, exploring our little courtyard, etc.  The next day we packed up our stuff and headed to Gili Twangan.  The Gili islands are a group of three small islands belonging to Lombok, a Muslim island in Indonesia.  It’s absolutely perfect over here.  There are no cars or scooters so there is peacefulness to the island that in my opinion cannot be found in Bali.  

Just sitting in a bathtub.  Hannah thought we should put this in the ocean & take a bath.

Hannah in the mega-cool 80s pose I made her do.   

A goat roaming around by the ocean.  There are a lot of little goats on this island.

Hannah walking past a hose and carriage.

The nightly food market, serving the SAME food as the expensive restaurants for a fraction of the price.  I spent $1.50 on dinner.

Candida and I drinking our large Bintangs at the market.

Laying beneath a tree, the sun is considerably stronger in the Gilis.

Drinking a coconut after last night's pina coladas and beer.  

Seb, Chris and Daniel lounging on beach bags.

I literally bought the shirt off this guy's back.

The locals are amazing, nice and genuine and the coffee is better than in Bali.  Gili T is THE place to go if you go to Bali/Indonesia.  I ran around the entire island yesterday and it was gorgeous from every single side.  Today I was eating my $1 lunch out of a brown paper cone, standing next to my travel friend Sebastian who was munching on a popsicle and we were both so happy to be in that place at that moment enjoying the island life.  We were watching a storm and predicting its arrival and Seb said he loved the unpredictability of the tropical weather.  It was so simple to be standing there, not worrying about anything but enjoying our food and looking at the sky while bicycles and cidomos (horse and cart) passed by.  Because this island is Muslim there is the traditional Adhan or Azan five times a day and this musical prayer has been to the soundtrack during my running and this writing.  I even heard it when I was going to bed at 5 o’clock this morning (it was a late night of dancing).  This trip to Bali has felt a lot like a great childhood what with playing in the sand, riding bicycles laying in the sun and eating treats.   I keep getting lucky with the people I meet: they are genuinely looking for good experiences, not just consumption and debauchery.