Vacation time at Gili T

“Vacation? I thought you've been on one all the time?”

Our first vacation this year is now behind: one week at Gili islands in Lombok, Indonesia. We had been waiting for this week for a long time. Our time on the road so far had been so work oriented that we really needed a small break. We left our laptops and other unnecessary things at our friend's place, took only our small bags with us and headed to the Gili’s.

We flew from Jakarta to Lombok with Lion Air, the cheapest option available. This worried us a bit beforehand, since the airline is in the EU’s black list. And a plane of the company had just landed in the ocean in Bali a few weeks back. No problems though, although we have to say that we have never before experienced such speedy landings.

From Lombok airport we got a ride with a friend of a friend of a friend who we had met in Bogor few days earlier and who happened to have just moved to Gili. She was catching the same flight as us. World is so small sometimes! From the airport it’s about 1,5h drive to the harbor where public boats to Gili leave and getting a taxi is easy. On the way we passed over some mountains and saw tens of cheeky monkeys. And lots of tourists stopping to take pictures of them.

On the half hour boat trip to our destination it really started to feel like a vacation. The sun, the breeze, the azure waves beside the boat. Such perfection. Landing on the beach, there were several horse carts waiting to take people around the island. These horse carts are the only public transportation in the island where motorized vehicles are prohibited. Renting bikes seemed to be the other popular option for visitors, although we just opted for walking, since everything was so close.

Ten minutes of walking and we arrived to our home for the week, the Mango Dive & Bungalow. Just across a small road from a beautiful beach it was perfectly located for us. Our traditionally styled lumbung bungalow was situated in the garden behind the reception. Consisting of a big bed room upstairs, an open air bathroom down back and a relaxing area with hammocks and seats at front, it was one of the coziest accommodations we have stayed in. And breakfast was served directly to our front porch, which made our morning slow and easy.

Gili Trawangan turned out to be an excellent choice for our vacation: laid back island and people, nice restaurants, good service. We spent a quite big part of our time in the water. Antti did the open water diver course and we both enjoyed hours of snorkeling, drifting with the current along the coral reef, wondering all the colorful life below the surface. Big turtles swimming by, fishes of all possible colors and shapes, big corals teemed with tiny fishes. So much to see and marvel! Gili Trawangan is definitely a good destination for snorkelers and divers, and it does seem that most of the tourist came for that. Well, some for the parties also, but we wouldn’t know about that.

When not in water, we spent time reading and relaxing. And eating and drinking. The restaurants on the island where surprisingly good, and plenty of different cuisine were available. Mirje even had Swedish pytt i panna for a dinner one night! In all the places service came with a wide smile and some small talk. It seems that you can’t help being happy living in such a place as Gili T.