(8 December)

Got up early this morning to get the slow boat to the Gili islands! Had quite a few bites on my shoulders when I woke up which was a bit dodgy but didn't think it was too bad...

My transfer to the boat was basically a private taxi, and the guy told me I would need to buy another ticket to get to the islands...I was like eh, this is meant to get me the whole way and he said yes but that's the slow boat, you want fast boat! I was just like eh no thanks, I'm happy to take the slow one, but he didn't seem to get it. I slept most of the way to the dock and then when I was there got accosted by a man saying I should buy a ticket on the fast boat. I was pretty unimpressed and kept telling him no and that I had no money, and he was really insistent about it...seeing as I was still half asleep I was not best pleased. I eventually gave in, because he gave me a return ticket for less than his original one way price, but I'm still pretty sure I got ripped off...bit ragin like, but ah well! That's what happens when you're tired! In the end I was happy enough because it was nice to get there quicker, but still think I was scammed a bit...

Met two Australian ladies on the boat who were really nice, chatted for a bit! Then I just chilled out listening to Harry Potter - getting on to the 4th one now, exciting! Haha. I started to notice that it looked like my bites were spreading down my arm a bit, which was weird, but I still didn't think it was too bad.

Arrived on the island after about an hour and a half and again as soon as I got off the boat someone was offering me accommodation. I was starting to think the last one had bed bugs and was pretty ragin, but went with her anyway for lack of a better plan! Her place looked nice enough but i decided to have a look around for piece of mind...some time and a lot of sweat later I just gave up and went back to the original place...shouldn't have bothered looking around really! I found some cheaper places but at the end of the day I couldn't be bothered moving my rucksack!

By this stage I was majorly itchy as well...and had had a lot of people commenting on my skin...but still wasn't prepared for when I saw myself on the mirror. The bites were spreading all over my arms, practically covering them, it was moving around to my back and on my hands a face too, with a bit on my legs! I looked majorly diseased - pretty sure it was bed bugs!! Stupidly itchy as well. Majorly unimpressed! Don't even really know what to do about it. I showered but they don't even have hot showers on this island apparently, so don't think it did much good. The guy at the homestay gave me what I assume was aloe Vera from a plant, and I put on loads of antihistamine cream and the cream I got for my rash on phi phi and took an antihistamine...but not much luck. Stupidly itchy! Every single local was stopping me to ask what it was. Wouldn't have minded so much if someone could have fixed it for me! I got advised to avoid meat and eat pineapple and drink coconut...and a good few mentioned aloe Vera so I think that's the plan. I drank some coconut which was pretty gross but oh well, worth a try!

I wandered around for a bit unsure what I fancied doing...mainly wanting to sit in a freezer and stop being so itchy haha. Eventually I settled somewhere and had a smoothie, and chatted to a few locals for a bit, one of them gave me some oil stuff to put on my bites and tried to sell me it...I had no idea what it was so said I'd come back the next day if it worked.

On my way back along the beach I got talking to some guys from Canada who were nice, and we went to a poolside bar and met a couple of Swedish girls and hung out there for a bit. I went back to get showered etc and loosely planned to meet them at the full moon party later on.

I had dinner at a really nice restaurant on the beach, the guy at the front was stupidly friendly and for some reason they only had vegetable enchiladas on the menu but he made me some with chicken and they were epic! There was a fairly good live band on too. Quite enjoyed having dinner on my own, had wifi so was able to attempt to catch up with my stupid amount of emails etc!

Afterwards I started walking up towards where the full moon party was but nothing looked particularly exciting...talked to a few people in one bar on the way for a bit, then walked up with them, but it wasn't that good and there was a bit of a weird atmosphere so I went home. It was a bit creepy walking home as it was pretty dark and the locals were like hanging out in groups in the shadows...I'm sure it was safe but I didn't feel comfortable so got back as quickly as I could!