We returned to Sengiggi from our motorbike adventure by driving straight across the guts of the island. It was the much more direct route, but the thing is we had to share the roads with all the rest of the Lombok traffic including vehicles of all shapes and sizes from tiny motorbikes like ours to HUGE semi trucks loaded to the gillets with cargo and with people stacked on top and hanging off the sides. Every time we stopped at a light we'd be asked by pedestrians, other drivers, any and everybody really: "Hello mister, where are you going?". All the traffic and all the attention made for a slightly more stressful ride, so we were a bit relieved when we at last pulled into our hotel back in Sengiggi.
We received news that Becky wasn't going to be able to make it out for the weekend as she'd planned; something about being stuck in the office putting the finishing touches on a multi-million dollar deal. Great for her, but it meant we were left on our own to tackle Gili Trawangan; the infamous "Party Island"...something we are more then capable of, I might add... but you know, Ol' Reining...she adds an element.
The "Gilis" are 3 tiny islands off the NW coast of Lombok. All 3 are known for their diving and snorkeling as well and for being free of motorized vehicles. While they each have their own personality, Gili T, where we were headed, is notorious for an abundance of cheap Bintang, rowdy bars and clubs and the alleged quasi-legal preponderance of a certain fungus.
We made our way from Sengiggi to Gili T by minibus/fishing boat combo and promptly made the short walk down the sand road to check into our hotel "Tir Na Nog" aka: 'The Irish Bar' where we had a room reserved for 3 nights. We were a bit early so posted in the lounge chairs by the pool for a nice long stint before getting settled in our room.
Our plan for Gili T was, well, not much really. We planned to Dive for a day, get involved with some Bintang and enjoy the variety of good food available there. That afternoon we teed up our dive for Sunday and settled in to enjoy happy hour at Rudy's Bar, one of the original bars on the island and the host for the weekly Friday Night Party. It's a good spot, on the beach with a huge menu of cocktails; we were talked into trying their specialty: Rudy's Special Red Bull/ Vodka Shake. Interesting...and it certainly packed a punch, but we decided to stick with Bintang and wine from there on out.
That evening we did roll back out to check the Friday Night Party, but it reminded us a bit of a frat party and we felt a little, ahem, mature compared to the rest of the crowd so we didn't stay for long.
On Saturday we walked around the entirety of the island; it's only a little over 6km so it's not too bad of a walk. This is the 'big' island too which puts the size of these little islands into perspective. We hit the pool again in the afternoon, but had we known the weather change that was coming I think we'd have spent more time in the sun that day.
Sunday arrived and we were up early for our Dive. We had selected Blue Marlin Dive shop to go with and we're glad we did; they were super professional. We did a deep dive, like the one we did in El Nido but this one was legit, safe and G got credit for it so she's allowed to dive deep going forward now, which is great. The dive spot was called 'Shark Point', but we didn't see any sharks that day...but the visibility was incredible and the 2 sea turtles we saw more then made up for it!
On the way back on the boat it started to rain...and here's the thing, it did NOT stop raining except for short stints the rest of the time we were on Gili.
Monday morning we got up and went for a jog around the island as the rain hadn't yet started. During that run and the subsequent breakfast, we had a long talk about how we were going to spend the last few weeks before bouncing down to Aus. We decided that we were both tired. It's been 4.5 months of slogging through SE Asia by minivan, overnight bus rides, sleeping in dumpy hotels and grinding through country after country. Don't get me wrong, it's been amazing, but aside from New Years in Philippines, the longest we'd been in any one place is like 4 days and well, we just couldn't be bothered to leave the relative comfort of the Gilis for what could have been the most hardcore journey we've yet undertaken; that being the Lombok to East Timor crossing that we'd discussed with Qumar and Adi a few days earlier.
So, instead we decided to be lazy. We got a cheaper room next door to the the Irish Bar that had a DVD player (and access to a library of pirated DVDs) which made sitting out those rainy days much more bearable.
We ventured out for meals and for brief jaunts through the rain from time to time. That evening we got chatting to some young British girls at the bar who said to us: "Wow!! I'm soooooo impressed that you guys are doing a trip like that at your age." She went on, "Most people I know your age are like married with kids and a house." The way she said it I thought she was going to say "dead". I suppose in the ever youthful travel circuit, 29 & 31 is getting a bit advanced...but, shiiiiittt, that chick wouldn't even be allowed into bars in the US; what the hell does she know.
In the morning it was still raining; we decided to give it one more day hoping the weather would come good that afternoon. It didn't; in fact it was maybe the nastiest day yet. The wind was fierce and the rain unrelenting. Again, the DVD player came in handy.
In the morning of our 6th day, we woke to more gale force winds and sideways rain. We contacted the boat company to see if the service was still going as the seas from what we could see looked fierce. They were, and by the time we boarded the boat at 11:30 the wind and rain had ceased, but the Ocean still looked pissed off.
That boat crossing back from Gili to Bali was hairy. It was like a two hour roller coaster. The bumpy seas did not cause the boat pilot to lower the speed of the craft in the slightest, so we held on tight and tried not to think about the fact that we were literally catching air or the fact that the A/C was broken and so it was hot and stale in the cabin. We've had some sketchy travel experiences in SE Asia, but this one holds a special place in my heart.
Finally, we had made it across the straight and the seas calmed considerably. The final 30 minutes were relatively smooth sailing and our stomachs and nerves were plenty happy about that.
Gili T was the "vacation from vacation" we needed to charge the batteries for the last few week push in Asia. Great spot if you can get there, but if you do... aim for the dry season, and while you're at it tell Rudy we said "hey".