Away at Bali & Lombok

Seems like I have suddenly gone missing for awhile... It has been like 2 weeks since my last blog entry... Yup, I really did not have much access to internet for the past 11 days. Or rather, I refused to spend my time in front of a pc when I am overseas for holidays. =P

I made a trip back to Bali again, or more specifically, it is Kuta @ Bali and Gili @ Lombok. I was there for 10 days, with 5 days of pure indulgence in diving. I should say the diving was excellent! We saw so diverse eco-marine life this time round! I should go into more details and upload some of the nicer photos when I am done with them.

There are so many things that I would like to write about my trip this time round. Yet, I think I should mention Gili specifically here ... I was there for 4D3N, mainly to for diving purposes... We were diving with Manta Dive operator there, and were staying in a bungalow on the beach of Gili Trawangan, an idyllic island north west of Lombok just east of Bali. The bungalow was fantastic - simple yet self sufficient. I personally love it. It is based on a traditional rice barn, with a secluded outdoor bathroom and toilet! Shiok! Ha... The room was clean and spacious, with lotsa space for us to dump our barangs around!

The rattan Sasak styled rice barn accommodation

The outdoor toilet

The bathing area, of cos!

The various dive sites around the 3 Gilis islands

The cat caught idling outside my rice barn

Gili is a laid back island, with no motorized vehicles at all. You can only caught sights of horse carriages. Locals there lead such simple lifestyles, with livelihood mainly evolving around tourism. Their kids can just keep themselves happily entertained by playing in the seawater and building sandcastles at the beach. Most of the tourists are ang-mos though and they are there to stay for long from at least a week to 7 weeks!

The main street of Gili

The horse carriage and the sun rays

The kids at the beach, building sandcastles and decorating with dead corals

I love the nights there. With no TV in the rooms, everyone was out to catch a big screen movie played by some of the restaurants, or simply just be around with people to interact. You can just simply relax at any restaurant that you fancy, some of which have seats just on the beach itself. The nightfall is early – the sky starts to turn dark at early 6pm.

After a good dinner feast out there, you can simply lie on your back, stretch your legs to relax on the big and comfy couches provided by the restaurants. The starry skyline is simply spectacular, leaving you in awe; the sea waves, less than 5-6m away, beat against the shore, singing in rhythm with your heartbeats, reminding you that it is simply splendid to be alive. Of course, nothing beats enjoying all these with a chilled Bintang on hand! This is Life... !!

The dusk scenery

The jetty?

Bintang Beer, our Manta-Ray room key and the Indian Smoke tingy


Of course, by 11pm, you would love to hit the bed after a warm bath at the outdoor bathroom… I mean, what else can you do other than to sleep when there is no TV or any other much entertainment? Sleeping is a real indulgence itself, isn’t it? Haaa…