5. Gorgeous Gilis
What can we say about the Gilis other than sheer paradise (applicable to one of the 3 islands anyway!) . We spent a couple of days on Gili Meno (known as the honeymooners island) and were pleased to get off. Definitely an island for the loved up couples with masses of public displays of affection. We felt slightly sick by the couples lined up on the beach at sunset for their 'romantic' moment, we decided to spend the last night we had left on Gili Air. After our experience of Meno with its over hyped reputation and prices, we weren't expecting too much. We couldn't have been more surprised. Having walked the length of the beach looking for suitable accomodation, Mark (Jen had been deposited at this point infront of a fruit shake on a beachside cafe) came across Palingi homestay. Everthing about this place was fantastic; from Dani, the owner, and our beautiful clean little bungalow to our lovely neighbours, Bridget and Matt, who had already been there 3 weeks and were planning on spending the next 3 doing exactly the same amount of nothing. Needless to say we fell in love with Gili Air , and, with a little alteration to our flights, our 1 night soon turned into 7! Our days at Palingi consisted of as little as possible: A slow awakening and shift to our 'breakfast room', a little Pagoda on the beach front, where Dani made us the most spot-on breakfast. This is where we stayed for the remainder of the morning, lounging in the shade, chatting to Bridget & Matt or Polly, the resident cat (who had a lot to say for herself), reading books, dozing, planning lunch at Dani's Aunts amazing local eatery then finally saying we should really be doing something, before deciding better of it. This was pretty much it all week. Throw into the mixer some snokelling with lots of turtles, lunching/ playing chess at our 2nd favourite little cafe, 'Sasak Warung', the felling of two particularly huge coconut trees and taking in beautiful sunsets/sunrises over happy hour drinks (this time without all the lines of other couples who had been waiting to get a seat for well over an hour). That was our week of nothingness. We were completely fulfilled and recharged: sad to leave it all but so glad we had found it.
We are so glad we took the detour to Indonesia. We barely skimmed the surface of this country so we will defintely be back allbeit we will travel it in a very different way (no more buses!).