Arrival into Gili Trawagnan: sandy. Horsey. Hungry.
They don't have cars on this island. Only horse drawn buggies.
We stopped at a cafe off the beach, (every cafe was off the beach here, the whole island is about the size of my neighborhood in Chicago) called Superblatt! So much European influence here. I got my favorite, Nasi Goreng, friend noodles with chicken, veggies, etc. And then we headed to our hostel. At a room rate of $22US per person, per night, I was expecting nice, but basic. It turned out to be awesome.
Every place in Bali has an in-ground pool, lined with volcanic black rock to keep the water warm. The villa we had had a lovely porch, and to get to it you had to walk through a lush garden of plants, flowers and cats.
We headed out to the beach to figure out what to do with our time. We learned you can go snorkeling right off the beach, you can rent bicycles and cycle around the island, you can go horse-riding (very expensive!), or you can just exist and see where the tide takes you. We headed to the beach and I explored the coral wash-ups on the shore.
It began to rain and we headed back to the hotel to change before dinner. We went to this sushi restaurant, which was great for the price. The best part was the fish was so fresh, I could almost imagine it being caught that day. After 1 drink of which Maggie and I were both buzzed, we headed to sleep for the next day was going to be busy.
We woke up early the next day and had our lovely breakfast looking over the water. See my lovely french press coffee maker, overlooking the water. Literally. It was about 1 foot on the other side of the table.
We decided to rent bicycles for the day and explore the island. I couldn't help but sing that song, "In the summertime... when the weather is high... you can chase right up and touch the sky..."
Stopping whenever we wanted, we took our terrible mounts to about 10 different beaches. I stopped to take this photo and literally bled for it, as there was garbage stuck in this yucca plant. When I went to grab it, the spines all over the leaves stabbed me viciously. The price you pay for art.
We wandered a little while longer down the road and stopped for another swim.
The road was rough, but the only hard part about the bike trip was the sand patches. Literally, you would hit sand so thick you couldn't bike through it. Submitting your feet to the puddles below, you then needed to rinse off in... the water! Time for another swim. Sigh.
About halfway through the island (15 minutes of solid biking, more like 40 minutes when you factor in the sand bogs) and we stopped for lunch. I had just fruit, and went for a snorkle off of our buru on the water. I saw about 29 fish. Not a whole lot to see here.
We realized that we had to get the bikes back shortly after that, and decided to really push it. Turns out just around the next bend was the starting point. We got them back at 2pm on the dot. Just in time to try a "magic mushroom" shake... JUST KIDDING! But yes, you can legally, and in cafes, buy hallucinogenic mushrooms. A fellow traveler told us that it's similar to marijuana, and thus, deemed 'safe'. I will depend upon others to describe it to me.
Afterwards, we decided to get massages in the late afternoon. They were overpriced for Balinese standards, but cheap compared to US standards. 120,000 rupiahs, which is about $13USD for an hour long massage. After the massage, we showered and got ready for dinner. Our villas were having the biggest party on the island that night. We strolled over to La Cucina Italiana for dinner, which was owned by a real Italian woman. It was actually pretty authentic, and we left with full bellies and sunburned toes. We planned to go to the Irish beach fiasco, but right as 9pm hit with my full belly, I got so knackered we called it a night. We had to go back to the main island of Bali the following day, to get my passport from the consulate and check in to our place in Ubud.
One of the best things about Bali is all the fresh fruit. Here are some of the local delicassies... all available for price dependent upon a few things:
The following day before we headed out, I went for a wander around the island to take some photos of what daily life was like. I got up early enough to see the fish monger selling her fish as the local kitten hungrily looked on, hoping for a fresh fish morsel.
I also found one of my favorite things to photograph, an ethnic baby! This little boy was waiting for his mom to bring him his breakfast.
The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, except for the boat almost left early without us. But no, we got on, headed to the roof, and back to Bali, Ubud - the cultural and art center of Bali! Gili, which has to be the home of more than 1,000 stray cats, was a fond place to go and play. But as the Balinese petals revealed themselves, we still had a bit more of Bali amazingness to experience...
They don't have cars on this island. Only horse drawn buggies.
We stopped at a cafe off the beach, (every cafe was off the beach here, the whole island is about the size of my neighborhood in Chicago) called Superblatt! So much European influence here. I got my favorite, Nasi Goreng, friend noodles with chicken, veggies, etc. And then we headed to our hostel. At a room rate of $22US per person, per night, I was expecting nice, but basic. It turned out to be awesome.
Every place in Bali has an in-ground pool, lined with volcanic black rock to keep the water warm. The villa we had had a lovely porch, and to get to it you had to walk through a lush garden of plants, flowers and cats.
We headed out to the beach to figure out what to do with our time. We learned you can go snorkeling right off the beach, you can rent bicycles and cycle around the island, you can go horse-riding (very expensive!), or you can just exist and see where the tide takes you. We headed to the beach and I explored the coral wash-ups on the shore.
It began to rain and we headed back to the hotel to change before dinner. We went to this sushi restaurant, which was great for the price. The best part was the fish was so fresh, I could almost imagine it being caught that day. After 1 drink of which Maggie and I were both buzzed, we headed to sleep for the next day was going to be busy.
We woke up early the next day and had our lovely breakfast looking over the water. See my lovely french press coffee maker, overlooking the water. Literally. It was about 1 foot on the other side of the table.
We decided to rent bicycles for the day and explore the island. I couldn't help but sing that song, "In the summertime... when the weather is high... you can chase right up and touch the sky..."
Stopping whenever we wanted, we took our terrible mounts to about 10 different beaches. I stopped to take this photo and literally bled for it, as there was garbage stuck in this yucca plant. When I went to grab it, the spines all over the leaves stabbed me viciously. The price you pay for art.
We wandered a little while longer down the road and stopped for another swim.
The road was rough, but the only hard part about the bike trip was the sand patches. Literally, you would hit sand so thick you couldn't bike through it. Submitting your feet to the puddles below, you then needed to rinse off in... the water! Time for another swim. Sigh.
About halfway through the island (15 minutes of solid biking, more like 40 minutes when you factor in the sand bogs) and we stopped for lunch. I had just fruit, and went for a snorkle off of our buru on the water. I saw about 29 fish. Not a whole lot to see here.
We realized that we had to get the bikes back shortly after that, and decided to really push it. Turns out just around the next bend was the starting point. We got them back at 2pm on the dot. Just in time to try a "magic mushroom" shake... JUST KIDDING! But yes, you can legally, and in cafes, buy hallucinogenic mushrooms. A fellow traveler told us that it's similar to marijuana, and thus, deemed 'safe'. I will depend upon others to describe it to me.
Afterwards, we decided to get massages in the late afternoon. They were overpriced for Balinese standards, but cheap compared to US standards. 120,000 rupiahs, which is about $13USD for an hour long massage. After the massage, we showered and got ready for dinner. Our villas were having the biggest party on the island that night. We strolled over to La Cucina Italiana for dinner, which was owned by a real Italian woman. It was actually pretty authentic, and we left with full bellies and sunburned toes. We planned to go to the Irish beach fiasco, but right as 9pm hit with my full belly, I got so knackered we called it a night. We had to go back to the main island of Bali the following day, to get my passport from the consulate and check in to our place in Ubud.
One of the best things about Bali is all the fresh fruit. Here are some of the local delicassies... all available for price dependent upon a few things:
- How rich you look
- How desperate they are for your business
- How desperate you are to have said item
- If it rained, will rain, is raining or sometimes because it has not rained...
- The position of the moon in relative context to Jupiter...
I also found one of my favorite things to photograph, an ethnic baby! This little boy was waiting for his mom to bring him his breakfast.
The rest of the morning passed uneventfully, except for the boat almost left early without us. But no, we got on, headed to the roof, and back to Bali, Ubud - the cultural and art center of Bali! Gili, which has to be the home of more than 1,000 stray cats, was a fond place to go and play. But as the Balinese petals revealed themselves, we still had a bit more of Bali amazingness to experience...
No comments:
Post a Comment