Hello again - hope everyone is good!!!

Right, we awoke in our house-like hostel in Ahmed early ready for a 12 hour trip to the Gili Islands, where we needed to head through Padang Bai, on a boat to Sengigi and finally to Gili Trawangan!

However when we told the taxi driver where our final destination was he assured us his 'good friend' had a boat that could take us for only 2 and a half hours straight there, and it would be half the price!! As I have become quite a tight arse in SE Asia I jumped at the chance!! However when we arrived at the beach and saw the boat I have to admit I was pretty worried (and Debs was turning green!) IT WAS A GLORYFIED CANOE!! Not even joking, it was exactly the same as the boats we used going dolphin watching - but this was a 2hr30min journey over open sea!!

Amazingly enough the journey was enjoyable! The sea was really really calm and the sun was out, the only problem was that we got really wet with spray as the water hit the front of the canoe. Plus towards the end of the journey we were following loads of pods of dolphins which was amazing!! This seemingly unimportant journey turned out to be one of the most memorable, if slightly unsafe, and was half the price of the 'proper' boats!! Chris Batley you may never put my life at such great risk ever again!!!!

When we came in view of land, it was unreal - we were still following dolphins and from a distance it was literally like looking at the island from LOST!! It was tiny and seemingly deserted! As we got even closer we realised that you could see all three of the Gili's (Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno & Gili Air). The one we were heading too was the biggest and most commercial and the smallest, Gili Meno, was pretty much Robinson Crusoe's island!! When we arrived we literally turned up on the beach where everyone was sunbathing and got some funny looks, especially as we were completely drenched!!

We headed off the beach to one of the cheaper hostels and managed to find a great one with TV, Fridge and stuff all for the same price as a bamboo hut on the beach!! Unfortunatly the island only had electricity for a couple of hours a day so the electrical items were pretty much useless!! However the worst thing was definitely the SALTWATER shower!! Literally impossible to get clean!! And for a girl, Debs says, impossible to brush your hair as it became all sticky and matted! I am now bald after Gili Trawangan.

So, Gili Trawangan. The island was great, was just one path which went all the way around the island following the coast, and the only transport was either hiring a bike (bicycle) or paying for a horse and cart!! It probably took around half an hour on a bike to go all the way around the island!! The locals were all really sound, most were on a working holiday from mainland Lombok and so everyone on the island was there to party!! The first afternoon we had a quick walk through the main part of the island, then grabbed a beer on the beach, whilst reading and watching some of the local kids playing with kite's, and then stayed to watch the sunset over Gili Meno!!

The first night we landed we went to a local bar with live reggae and met with a group of tourists- who we were still with when watching sunrise on the beach with vodka 10 hours later!! Immense night! We never did catch their names though did we Chris!? I know one woman was a doctor…but a complete wreckhead for a 33 year old! The next morning I had a classic 'English hangover' I am so used to at home and literally didn't move until about 8pm!!

A couple of days in, we booked a snorkeling trip around all three of the Islands as the marine life here is one of the best in Indonesia!! The day was incredible, and although the coral is knackered from the local method of fishing - dropping dynamite into the water and then collecting the fish - it is 'birthing grounds' for TURTLES!! We must have seen about 20 turtles that day, they were huge and so damn close!!! Some even surfaced whilst we we're mooching around and was so smart to see! Really was a quality day and all for just 3 pounds!!

Later that day we rented some Mary Poppins bikes (see the pics) and planned to head to Sunset Beach at the other side of the island but the heavens opened and the one path turned into a stream!! When it rains here it really does bloody rain!!

The next day I decided to go diving again!!! Woo Hoo! It was by far the best dive I have done so far - even better than in Bali!! (only cos u didn't see a whale shark in Bali u big loser!) There was so much marine life about and the visibility was incredible! There were turtles everywhere and they really didn't seem bothered by divers so we could get up close, saw loads of Squid and even a couple of Octopus, a banded sea snake which is ridiculously poisonous and a Scorpion Fish which is equally as deadly!!But by far the best thing was a shoal of 22 'Bumphead Parrotfish' which can grow up to 1.7 mts long - so 22 in one big group was an immense sight!! Not quite as smart as a Whale Shark (Debs) but it was still impressive!!! The shoal reached 25m tall, from the surface to the sea bed…unreal!!!!

Whilst I was diving debs chilled out and filled in the scrapbook she's been doing- lazy sod!! You'll thank me in 45 years when ur sat in your rocking chair and angina has made u forget all about ur exciting youth.

Towards the end of the week we spent in Gili the weather became pretty miserable and the electricity supply became less frequent so we decided to head back to Kuta for a day (ended up with a well boring english couple, about 50 yrs old, with a whizz kid nipper, then got wrecked!) and then caught our flight to Singapore!! Really was good to be back on the islands again as we are already missing Thailand!!! But its time to start thinking of Oz!!!

Lots of Love, Miss u all,

Chris and Debsxxxxxxxxxxx