I was hoping after Lombok, that the Gili Islands would be a piece of paradise. Several people I know had been around 10 years ago or longer and sadly I think this must have been the best time to have visited.
I caught the fast boat from a port in north Lombok and made the short journey, about 20 minutes, to the Gili Trawangan, the largest of the 3 Gili Islands. Gill T as it is known has become a clubbers paradise with bars and clubs dotted along the main strip of the island by the port. Gili Meno is smaller and geared more towards honeymooners and Gili Air, the smallest of the 3 is much quite and more peaceful. We had chosen to stay 3 days on Gili T and in hindsight it would have been good to have spread the time across the smaller islands.
Gili T does have some hidden treasures such as the restaurants, cafes and boutique hotels. However, in the mix of this is are a large amount of party hostels, bars and drug dealers selling the A-Z of drugs. It was so common that I was nearly asked if I wanted any drugs after every drink I ordered, which is a shame considering how hot the Indonesian authorities are on illegal drugs! I’m guessing as there is no police presence on this tiny island. I was also ripped off a few times particularly when doing the snorkelling and the boat back to the mainland, they guy didn’t want to give me a receipt and then surprisingly was not there the next day! It’s a real shame as guys working in the restaurants were lovely and totally different.
We checked in to a lovely boutique hotel called Tamoa towards the north of the island which was a real gem. The beaches are not as clean as I was expecting and there is litter around which again gave the impression that they don’t look after the island well. I went to Gili Air and Meno on the snorkelling trip and whilst they did seem quieter the beaches seemed better too, The snorkelling was also really disappointing, maybe it was become of the wet season but you couldn’t see much as the seas were pretty rough. I guess I have been spoilt after snorkelling in some amazing reefs in the Maldives. There was also a lot of dead coral around. We had booked to dive around the ship wreck off Gili Meno but sadly we were told we couldn’t as it was too rough so again this was disappointing.
So far, Bali was been the highlight by far between Lombok and the Gili islands. I left today thinking I wish I had seen more of the other two smaller islands but also couldn’t help thinking how money has come way before anything else on Gili T and how this island was far from what it used to be over 10 years ago.
Silly Gili indeed!
Next stop is Komodo Island which I have been looking forward to for months. Really hoping this one delivers my expectations! No pressure Komodo. :-)
