Paradise without the electric fence

Now this bit we were really looking forward to. Surprisingly we hadn't done a whole lot of sunbathing on our trip, or even been to many beaches, so the Gilis were all about R&T, relaxation and tanning. But first we had to make our way to the scruffy little habour in Bali - Padangbai, to haggle our speedboat ticket direct to the Gilis.  We haggled and did our research, and got a good price before the evening was out and decided to celebrate by sinking a few beers with a young English couple we'd met in the hostel. With Greg a bit anti typical traveller types and both of us a bit over the usual 'where have you been' 'how long are you travelling for' we hadn't done much socializing recently. However 5 or so beers later we were in full swing and it wasn't until the couple managed to slide off to bed around midnight that I realised we hadn't taken a breath. The whole evening we'd been relaying our travelling tales and as they had fairly recently started their trip we kind of ruled the conversation. Whoops. Hopefully we've now got some of it off our chest so we don't bombard you lot at home with it! We initially didn't really think there was much to Padangbai other than being the gateway to the Gilis, however we decided to take our time and stayed a couple of nights. In the intense heat the next morning we trekked over the hill to the so called 'white sand bay', not really expecting a white sand bay. As we ascended the hill of trash strewn rubble and made our way through a half built abandoned hotel, we saw an amazing oasis of bay fringed with palms. Obviously other travellers had perhaps thought as we had and not bothered to venture over the hill as we were 2 of only a handful of people on the beach plus a local shack selling coconuts, beer and massages. The sand was pristine and the sea bright blue, but very eratic. As I watched a couple attempting a paddle and retreating like they'd been through a monsoon, I decided to save myself for the Gilis. Greg was a bit more adventurous, whipped his t-shirt off and strode straight in. I happened to sit up 10 minutes later as Greg was just recovering from a rogue wave, with his back to the sea, suddenly out of nowhere I saw a humongous 3 meter wave heading straight for him. It totally engulfed him, literally turned him over in an involuntary summersault. He was ok apart from a little disheveled but his expensive prescription Ray Bans had been stolen by the tide. Miraculously they got washed up with the next wave so he returned with a smile. But it was all caught on camera.  The Gilis are part of Lombok, Gili, simply meaning island, in Bahasa Indonesia, and in this case, refers to all the little islands off the coast of Lombok. For most tourists, including us, it just means the 3 little islands off the northwest coast. Being part of Lombok, they are very different from Bali, in that the inhabitants are nearly all Muslim, making the culture quite different. And a strange combination for a beach resort where tourists get near naked and drink beer but it seems to work out ok, seeing as the locals make a killing from it so everyone's happy.  After our 2 hour speedboat ride we arrived at Gili Trawangan, otherwise known as Gili T. We decided to depart here and make our own way to the other 2 islands and then to Lombok at our own pace.  The first thing that strikes you, especially coming from traffic heavy Bali is that there are no annoying sounds of beeping horns, shouts of "taxi?!", fumes from rusty juganaughts or near misses of being runover by rogue scooters. All three islands are motorized transport free, making them that little bit closer to heaven on earth. All the roads were just dusty sand tracks, with a few cobbles here and there. The only way to get around is to walk, it only takes 2 hours or so to walk the circumference or take a pony cart, which after all our animal volunteering we both refused to do.   Greg bumped into our friend Kate from our Komodo trip, she was taking her dive master course and invited us to meet her that evening for one of Gili T's thrice weekly parties.  We settled in a dark and dingy homestay that Greg had found in the village for £6 a night. Persuading me we should save our money for beer and that we would be spending all our time on the beach, I agreed reluctantly. To cut a long story short, 3 nights later at midnight I found a huge bed bug with the torch (it had previously had been so dark in the room we hadn't noticed) after having to share the bed with them for the rest of the night, and thankfully without any bites we got up and found a better place the next morning for a couple of quid more. Apart from the onset of Ramadan, which you know, each to their own... but who really wants to hear a full pelt, 100 decibel, tone deaf, feedback heavy chant at 4.30 am?! Not to mention the one at 8am, 12pm, 4pm and 8pm. Our place was right next door to the mosque, and by the end of our 10 days there, I actually could sing along to some of the more tuneful numbers. Before all this however we saved our beer money and met our friend Kate at Tir na nog (yes - the island's very own Irish bar - it happened to be the best bar on the island). Gili T is known as the party island of the three. We're not talking tacky Koh Phangnan, club heaven Ibiza, or chavtastic Magaluf. This is about beers, vodka shots, Joss (a ginseng, snapping candy sachet that makes the vodka taste better), generic music and loads of happy people who can't believe they've landed themselves in paradise. We met more people that night than on our whole trip, obviously can't remember their names and didn't get round to swapping Facebook addresses but none of us were nieve to think we'd stay in touch, it was all about the moment and it was brilliant. The atmosphere was so relaxed, everyone in beach clothes, no-one being pretentious, try hard, cool or posing. I would have been far more impressed if this was THE so called full moon party. And it being our first night of 3+ weeks here, well, it was a great start.  Unfortunately it knocked us sideways for two days. The next day we got out of bed at 7pm having not even had dinner the night before. We were still a bit drunk and we stumbled and giggled down the lanes to find somewhere to eat a lot, hoping not to bump into any of our new friends.  I think it might bore you, including myself reading this in 20 years time if I talk you through the next 12 days we spent on Gili T. But I'll just say it was absolutely bloody gorgeous and amazing. We only had 1 more big night out, which was good although I totally embarrassed myself in one of my 'games' which involved dares and ended with me grinding the leg of some poor estranged girl in the middle of the dance floor.  But other than that we kept quiet and made the most of the perfect weather, crystal blue shallow sea, white sand, happy friendly people and good cheap food.  We kept delaying our departure to the next island in fear of it not being able to top Gili T, and we actually decided to miss the next one along, Gili Meno as it sounded too quiet and old peopley. We finally took the boat to Gili Air which is known to have the goldie locks effect of the 3 islands.  The island was just as perfect as the last, a bit more spread out and less bars, beautiful clear turquoise sea, white sand and that same laid back vibe.  However... we spent 2 hot hours traipsing the island, dragging our heavy cases over the deepsand pathways. We just couldn't find any cheap places to stay. We ended up back at the boat landing dripping in sweat having run out of options. We made a decision to either go back to Gili T or onward to Lombok depending which boat turned up first. As we waited for fate to decide for us, a friendly weathered face asked us if we were looking for accommodation and what our budget was. We said £10 and he said come and see my place. 30 mins later Greg came back smiling. It turned out to be a little 2 bed homestay in the centre of the island. Brand new, cold water, fan only, but perfect.  We spent the next 10 days doing absolutely nothing. A routine of beach, food, beach, beer, food, bed. We didn't even stray from the little beach bar and local warung we found. Both owned by locals the food in the form of nasi gorang, chicken satay, as well as well made western favorites was good and cheap, free sunloungers, and the bar had the best atmosphere on the island. Oh and the cheapest beer! Rather than go on about how gorgeous this place was, bore you and make you jealous, ill tell you about the only slightly eventful thing that happened all week. We came across a bit of a problem in the form of a young man from Lombok who worked at the beach bar, called Monic. Initially we got chatting one night when we had been making the most of happy hour. He seemed to enjoy smoking our cigarettes but we were enjoying the novelty if the chat and at £1 a pack it wasn't as irritating as at home! He was trying to persuade us to try the fresh magic mushrooms, which seem to be sold everywhere in the Gilis, it was falling on deaf ears anyway. He went on to tell us how he was a student trying to learn English in Lombok and that this was his job to pay the fees. He gave us some sob story about working long hours, sleeping on the kitchen floor and not earning much money. Well, I wasn't having any of it, the sob story had no effect on me. All the waiters sat around smoking all day, chatting up western women, playing football on the beach and occasionally getting you a drink! After telling us a German friend of his gave him some dollars towards his student bill I realised he was trying to indirectly square us up for a hand out. It really annoyed me, obviously I didn't show it, but instead  tried to explain to him how lucky he was compared to someone living on the streets of Jakarta. I told him that he lives in paradise, doest have a care in the world and that everything is relative in terms of what he earns and the cost of living in Indonesia. I told him we didn't have a job, and worked very hard go be able to travel etc etc. But he didn't get the hint. For the next 5 days he kept telling us what great friends we were, how he'll miss us, and how it would be nice if we gave him a gift when we left! One night while I was in the toilet he came out with it directly to Greg, maybe thinking he might be an easier target, straight out saying "it would be nice if you gave me some money when you left for me to remember my great friends by"! We ended up trying to avoid him for the rest of our stay. It sounds annoying which it was, but he was a genuinely sweet boy, that just didn't realise you shouldnt hassle people for money like that. But well, the tactic obviously works on some people with more disposable income than us, so good luck to him. Anyway, I still can't quite believe that you can do a paradise like the Gilis on a tight budget like ours (£45 a day for 2 including accommodation, travel, food, beer, everything). And I really think this is my idea of paradise, where you actually get to know the people by staying in homestays and eating where the locals eat. And culture, having to be respectful of customs and religion, not just do what we want 'cause we're westerners - and with all this, compromises and all - it's still paradise. Not like a five star electric fenced resort that costs a bomb. We were so happy relaxing on Gili Air that we never reached Lombok. The idea of traffic and less than perfect scenery put us off and we left Gili Air to return to Bali just a few days before our flight. We stopped off in Padangbai again for some fresh Marlin at a restaurant we discovered on the way there (£2 for a slab of grilled marlin, on creamed spinach with French fries! My mouth is watering now...). Then we headed to Kuta for a another cinema stop before our very early flight. Kuta was even more irritating, grinding and annoying than the last time, and there seemed to be even more drunk Aussie bogans everywhere.  We were relieved to get out of there but extremely sad to say goodbye to Indonesia. It definitely has the best people, beaches, culture and natural scenery, from what we have seen in SE Asia. And we only saw a tiny bit of it really. It definitely left me wanting to come back for more someday....