It certainly lives up to all the hype! - Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
In Senggigi met Salem, a French guy and he informed me that he had already booked and paid for accommodation on Gili Trawangan and I was welcome to share with him if I needed somewhere to stay so we caught the public boat from Bangsal port across to Gili Trawangan for 15,500INR and it took about an hour. Waves were pretty rough and it made for an entertaining journey. Passed both Gili Air and Gili Meno on the way and they all look amazing. no motorised vehicles are allowed on any of the islands so it's just bicycles and horse drawn carts. Found our 1st nights guesthouse eventually (the Creative Homestay) and it wasn't anything to write home about! For our 2nd and 3rd nights however we were at the Pondok Windy on the north coast of the island which was much nicer. Went out on a 'round the 3 islands' snorkelling trip on the 2nd day but unfortunately it wasn't great. All the coral has been decimated by dynamite fishing in the past so it's all dead and very depressing to see. There's a few fish and the occasional turtle but that's all. Went to Sunset Point at dusk with views looking over to Mt Agung on Bali which was lovely. In the evening we splashed out and went to a fancy seafood restaurant on the beach with an all you can eat buffet for 100,000INR which was fab. On our third day we did some more snorkelling but it didn't get any better and then walked round the island and went up to the viewpoint. Surprisingly, after three days I've decided that I don't really like the Gili Islands because not only has the coral been destroyed, but there are no 'proper' beaches to swim on it's all rocky and dead coral debris all the way round the islands; its really touristy with hundreds if not thousands of visitors from Bali popping over for a couple of days; and its also expensive compared to the mainland with vendors trying to take advantage of the constant stream of visitors. Its a shame because the islands themselves are beautiful, no question.