INDONESIA - The Gilli Islands & Sengigi (Lombok)
I did the lazy way of travel to the Gillis and did it with the shuttle bus and I am so glad I did. It was an early start at 6am from Bali to Padangbai where we arrived about 1 hour before the ferry and were, funnily enough, dropped off at a cafe. I refused to eat there so took a wander round the beach and found a cheap warung for a cip of coffee.
Padangbai is a cute wee place with a crescent shaped bay with a nice beach. Not much to do there and most people only head there to get the ferry to Lombok.
It was a four hour boring ferry ride to Lembar on Lombok. At Lembar we were collected by our shuttle and taken to 'the office' in Mataram, which turned out to be a bench in the middle of the pavement balancing precariously over a large gaping hole in the pavement! Here we were informed that we would need to buy tickets back fromt the Gillis or we would be stuck and would need to charter a boat for a ridiculous amount of money. I was well aware that this was total bullshit so I refused to buy one until he reduced the price to less than what I knew the other companies charged. Another couple also refused to buy a ticket, so the guy was a real twat to them. They were supposed to be staying in Mataram, but the bus had stopped 6km from the main strip and the guy refused to take them any further and told them they would need to get a taxi. Kind of defeats the purpose of paying for a door to door shuttle bus!
Anyway, we got back in the bus and were taken to Bangsal, which was a beautiful drive through the mountains with loads of monkeys at the side of the road. At Bangsal we could barely get out the bus before the 'Bangsal Mafia' were upon us trying to carry our bags for a disgusting amount of money.
After a bit of hanging about and being harrassed by umpteen touts selling crappy necklaces we boarded our boat to Gilli Trawangan. Once more the 'Bangsal Mafia' appeared and made a crap for bags and took them onto the boat then harrassed the tourits for ridiculous sums. Then it was a near death experience on this wooden bath to the Gillis, but we made it and stepped off onto shore.
I found a cute wee place to stay and ventured out on my first night to have a Bintang in front of a movie. I had an early nite, but was woken up in the early hours by the girl next door who had pulled some random guys and was making sure the whole world knew about it!
The next day I walked round the island, which took an hour, then I did a dive in the afternoon - which I defo wasnt impressed with. It was pretty boring and the coral was crap. Another nite with a Bintang in front of a movie, and this time I wasnt rudely awoken.
The next day I did a snorkel cruise cos it was so cheap and I'd have been bored otherwise. It was great the first place we stopped and I jumped in and I think it as better than where we had been diving. then it all went downhill when I skipped the next snorkel and then some Indonesian guy put sun tan lotion on my back and then started to massage me. That was it! He would not leave me alone and even tho I told him I had a boyfriend he would not bugger off. Even the next day when I went to get the boat to leave he was there waiting with a packet of biscuits and bought me a mango. What a loser! I was glad to leave.
At Bangsal we jumped on the bus and we went all the way to Mataram then I had to change bus to go all the way back to Sengigi. No idea why that was. I stayed at a really nice place in Sengigi, but there was nothing much to do. I ventured out along the coast a bit and caught up in a 6km run, but apart from that I was bored and glad to be leaving the next day.
Padangbai is a cute wee place with a crescent shaped bay with a nice beach. Not much to do there and most people only head there to get the ferry to Lombok.
It was a four hour boring ferry ride to Lembar on Lombok. At Lembar we were collected by our shuttle and taken to 'the office' in Mataram, which turned out to be a bench in the middle of the pavement balancing precariously over a large gaping hole in the pavement! Here we were informed that we would need to buy tickets back fromt the Gillis or we would be stuck and would need to charter a boat for a ridiculous amount of money. I was well aware that this was total bullshit so I refused to buy one until he reduced the price to less than what I knew the other companies charged. Another couple also refused to buy a ticket, so the guy was a real twat to them. They were supposed to be staying in Mataram, but the bus had stopped 6km from the main strip and the guy refused to take them any further and told them they would need to get a taxi. Kind of defeats the purpose of paying for a door to door shuttle bus!
Anyway, we got back in the bus and were taken to Bangsal, which was a beautiful drive through the mountains with loads of monkeys at the side of the road. At Bangsal we could barely get out the bus before the 'Bangsal Mafia' were upon us trying to carry our bags for a disgusting amount of money.
After a bit of hanging about and being harrassed by umpteen touts selling crappy necklaces we boarded our boat to Gilli Trawangan. Once more the 'Bangsal Mafia' appeared and made a crap for bags and took them onto the boat then harrassed the tourits for ridiculous sums. Then it was a near death experience on this wooden bath to the Gillis, but we made it and stepped off onto shore.
I found a cute wee place to stay and ventured out on my first night to have a Bintang in front of a movie. I had an early nite, but was woken up in the early hours by the girl next door who had pulled some random guys and was making sure the whole world knew about it!
The next day I walked round the island, which took an hour, then I did a dive in the afternoon - which I defo wasnt impressed with. It was pretty boring and the coral was crap. Another nite with a Bintang in front of a movie, and this time I wasnt rudely awoken.
The next day I did a snorkel cruise cos it was so cheap and I'd have been bored otherwise. It was great the first place we stopped and I jumped in and I think it as better than where we had been diving. then it all went downhill when I skipped the next snorkel and then some Indonesian guy put sun tan lotion on my back and then started to massage me. That was it! He would not leave me alone and even tho I told him I had a boyfriend he would not bugger off. Even the next day when I went to get the boat to leave he was there waiting with a packet of biscuits and bought me a mango. What a loser! I was glad to leave.
At Bangsal we jumped on the bus and we went all the way to Mataram then I had to change bus to go all the way back to Sengigi. No idea why that was. I stayed at a really nice place in Sengigi, but there was nothing much to do. I ventured out along the coast a bit and caught up in a 6km run, but apart from that I was bored and glad to be leaving the next day.
posted by Cat @ 4:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home