Life Down Under

When people talk about Bali and around, usually some kind of snorkeling or scuba diving is mentioned because of the abundance of coral and hence multitude of fishes. 

Sooo off I went to the spectacular Gili Islands. One can go for hours with superlatives about the Gili Islands, but it pretty much is tropical bliss. There are no cars, no motorbikes and the only means of transport are a bike, walking, or horse carriage. It has 1 ATM machine which was just installed fairly recently. It takes a whopping 1 hour to cycle all around the island, and it has clear blue water and white sand. My 1st stop was Gili "T" as they call it, or Trawangan. This is known as the "party" island because it has the most bars and restaurants. I knew I wanted to spend a few days there and decided that after 15 years of having an Open Water Diver card, it was about time that I get my Advanced Diver, which pretty much means that I can scuba dive up to 30m and am "officially" allowed to dive wrecks and do things like night diving. The reason I "" officially is because I've actually done both night and wreck diving, because as you imagine, some places aren't too strict. The thing that deterred me from taking the Advanced Diver earlier was that you have to pass a "Navigation" course. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the best with directions (even that is putting it gently) :-) Luckily I had a patient Scottish guy as my instructor and I somehow managed to pass although I made a underwater square 5-points instead of 4, he he. Oops. But anyway, besides that I did 4 other dives, a fish ID one, a Naturalist one, the depth one, and finally a photography one! That was my fave, and here are some pictures I took (and pics taken of me!):

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

          

          

I don't scuba dive too regularly, but being in a place like this I found I REALLY love it! It is such a different world down under! BUT, although I appreciated the beauty, I was DISGUSTED with the underwater rubbish I came across, plastic bottles, straws, bottles, GROSS! I vow never to use plastic because it is soooo bad for the environment! Fish think it's food and eat it and then die, it gets stuck on coral and then the coral can't breathe and the coral dies, and the fish feed off the coral and on and on. So please! Don't litter! I guess we are pretty good about it in the Western world, BUT we can all be better, including myself. The problem is that many locals are uneducated about it and I witnessed firsthand them just throwing things into the water or dropping rubbish near the sea, which when high tide comes it gets swept into the ocean. Blech!!! Fortunately, the Gili Islands are somewhat proactive and they do a BRLLIANT thing of charging each scuba diver $5 and this goes to clean-ups, education to locals, conservation, etc. If EVERY scuba/snorkel place did that around the world, it would help the environment soooooooooo much!

Sorry for that little rampage! 

Besides scuba diving 2 dives a day, which was actually quite tiring, I managed to do more fun things in Gili Trawangan...

Lots o beach time:

          

       

One afternoon after scuba I took a bike and cycled around the island (literally, about an hour) and was amazed at how clear the water was... and how untouched it was! I can only imagine what this will look like in 5-10 years. So go now! :-)

         

         

         

And for once enjoying the quiet surroundings by NOT having motorbikes or cars or pollution in my face!

          

Went to the Turtle Conservatory! It was soooo sooo cute! The baby turtles were hardly the width of a hand and it was sooo funny watching them try to swim and as their eyes aren't developed yet, constantly bumping into each other or the wall:

          

         

          

             

And of course, saw some beautiful sunsets:

         

         

As I have travellers ADD, after a few days somewhere I feel I have to get on the move. So I hopped on a boat and headed to Gili Air (BTW, the 3 Gili Islands are Trawangan, Meno, and Air and all are distinct for something. Gili T is like the "party island," Gili Meno is for couples and honeymooners and Gili Air is kinda an in between). It was A LOT quieter and again, super super beautiful! This is my little bungalow, which was a whopping $15/night, steps away from the sea and with a hammock in front. Love it!

            

This time it took a whole hour to WALK around the entire island. It was gorgeous! Again, untouched pristine beaches. Sooo soooo pretty! 

          

         

This is me contemplating on why life is so hard. Hahhahahahahhahahah!! Yes, that is a joke. :-)

          

Here is some local life, and of course, more sunsets:

          

          

          

Then it was the funniest thing... I randomly met traveller guy from Montenegro who lived in Switzerland. Then, the SAME DAY we met someone from Belgrade, Serbia! What a small world! I still can't believe it! So this is for you Sava..... SERBS! IN! BALI!!!

          

I then moved on to Lombok, which actually Gili Islands are a part of Lombok. Lombok is pretty much like a lesser known Bali. I actually REALLY wish that I spent more time there because it is like Bali 30 years ago, NOT as touristy and you get similar amazing sites as well as pristine beaches (which I didn't have a chance to get to, darn it! Have to save something for next time!). Made it to Senggigi, which at one time had high hopes for being a hit tourist destination, buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut kinda fizzed out, so let's just say it was fairly quiet and activities included watching fisherman,

         

and eating, which many times we were the only ones in restaurants. I met some travel friends and thank gaaawd I did because it would have been a bit boring if I hadn't. 

          

Although it was a ghost town of tourists, I have to say this was probably the most annoying of all the touts I have come across. I was staying across the street from these friends, and literally, I would get at LEAST 5 cat-calls like "tak-siiiiii (high pitched at the end)?!?!???!?? Trans-pooooooort (again, high pitched at the end)?!??" And it was the funniest thing because they literally just sit around ALL day calling these things out.... but you would think I was the first person they've ever seen because they jump up and and excitedly shout at you. If it were me doing that ALL DAY, like 230948320948320948259 times, you would hardly get a whisper out of me, nevertheless an eager passionate shout. We tried to laugh about it, mostly succeeded, but sometimes really, it got sooo soooo annoying!!! 

Random, but just thought this was funny... this is where I stayed at in Senggigi, the Hotel Elen. Hey, close enough!!

          

As my travel friends were there for just 2 weeks, they were all about the R&R, which of course, I don't mind, but I finally convinced them to do some sightseeing. Lombok is known for their waterfalls, and there is this supposedly beautiful one. BUT by the time we had breakfast, went to the pool, did some window shopping, had lunch (I know, I know, tough life!), it was already late in the afternoon. Which in Indonesia at this time of year means clouds and rain. So we got this far...

     

before we decided to turn back and as a plan B do some "cultural" sightseeing of some temples, etc.  Well, we happen to have this hi-larious eccentric bemo driver (that's him randomly waving, in between talking to anyone in site):

 

         

 that with his his minimal English which consisted of "panorama" and "good good", we stopped at this Chinese cemetery (eh? Still don't get why there would be a Chinese cemetery in the middle of Lombok, and of course, we didn't get much info out of the driver, but hey, it was still interesting).

       

Then it was the most random thing, we were JUST talking about how sometimes the BEST part of travel is the unexpected and unintentional moments, and then wah-la, we hit some traffic because of this wedding parade that was happening on the street. Well, why sit back and watch it go by when you can jump right in? Our driver pulled over and we got to parade along with wedding party, and it was soooo sooo fun! Just to mix with the locals,
 
         
see the beautiful wedding attire and lovely bride and groom,

           

                

        

(well, at least the groom was smiling and looking happy!),

Watch the partay going on (all right, I admit, I didn't jump in and start a mosh pit or anything. Thought about it though... for .0002 seconds),

        
AND no wedding is without a walking DJ right, well, this one was REALLY REALLY good! Move over Indonesian Idol (actually, there really is one!), you have the next winner! I got this great video of him, but it takes 20398420398432094820934832094803294 years to download videos on this thing, but I'll try to at some point!

    

Well, after that excitement we headed to Suranadi, Lombok's holiest temple with it's natural springs and of course pretty flowers (which I just can't get enough of in Indonesia!),
 
         

         
Then headed to Narmada, another amazing temple:

         







         
 Sooo a short and sweet trip to Senggigi. Then it was a bemo ride back to the harbour by our funny driver from the day before,

         

        

(that island ahead is Gili Air! Yup, only 1 Km away. I thought about swimming it, buuuuuuut that requires me to have some kind of fitness level, which I definitely don't have!)

While I waited for the boat, I got to see the harbor life... which sounds boring, but was interesting to watch. The men either sat around or would put rice bags on the heads of woman... and the woman would do ALL the work by then carrying these HEAVY looking rice bags from the beach to the boat, and then load the boat. They had muscles that would make Serena Williams cringe and I was quite impressed with all the manual labor they do! Here's a guy sitting around...

         

And the woman loaded up or waiting for the guy to put the bags on her head.

         

           

And of course there were the little vendors. She had a great smile and I couldn't help taking a picture of her!

         

Then it was back to Ubud where I arrived just in time for sunset (hehe, I know, I'm obsessed!),

       

And stayed at my fave place, the Kebun (Alam ) Indah... this was my breakfast set-up in the morning... fresh mixed fruit juice, pancake, croissant, tea, and fruit salad with muesli. Can it get any better??

         

Just oooved the flowers not just there but everywhere in Indonesia!

        

And this is the view I had while I was skype'ing with my parents. Yes, they were a bit jealous! Especially that I was sitting in a sundress speaking with them while they were bundled up in cold Chicago.

       

So there you have it! One month FLEW by! I loooooooooooved Indonesia and I would looooooove to come back and explore more of it, especially Lombok, but also go to Flores, Komodo Islands (with the dragons!) and so soo much more. What I looved the most is the people. The Indonesian people have a GREAT sense of humor and are very goofy. If you joke with them, they love it and I had sooo many fun interactions. Even the postman was joking with me and then gave me a hug when I left and said "come back to Bali!" It was soo sooo cute! I realize I've said this about the people I've come across, more so Africa and Sri Lanka, but really, the Indonesian people have such such beautiful smiles and are soo genuinely friendly and kind, I just couldn't get enough of it! 

Next stop is more or less a week stop-over to.... Sri Lanka. Yes, I know... again? Well, it is just how my tickets worked out and all the changing of tickets I've had to do since I keep prolonging my traveling (hehe). I'm going to spend the week exploring more of the North, which I haven't been able to do the previous 2 times. So stay tuned!!!