MY FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD! – THE GILI ISLANDS –

Every night when I go to sleep, I dream of waking up with my toes in the sand on one of three tiny (I mean tiny) islands in Indonesia. Gili Air, Gili Trawangan or Gili Meno, Lombok, Indonesia. Lombok is a big island just east of Bali.  These microscopic islands off the coast of Lombok are called the Gilis. They are so remote there are no motorized vehicles and no police.  The mode of transportation is pony cart (Cidomo), walking or bicycle.  They don’t even have dogs on the island…only tiny cats.

I discovered the Gilis in the 1990’s. Back then (and I was late to the party) it was truly a Hippie Haven of backpackers and surfers.  Dirt roads, no signs, no plastic, no anything.  There was no fresh water on the islands until five years ago.  Before that, all running taps had salt water.  You drank and brushed your teeth with bottled water (glass bottles only), showered in salt water and rinsed with fresh water brought in daily on tiny boats from Lombok, carried in 5 gallon jugs on the turbaned heads of local women.  There were huge clay vessels with coconut shell dippers to rinse your body and wash your hair.  It was so foreign and exotic and the best excuse in the world for my kids not to take a bath.

A Home Stay (a bed in the house of a local) was $3 a night with a running cold water shower.  The only “fancy” hotel was $45 a night for the entire family and a huge room.  Every hotel included an Indonesian breakfast (and still does) of Nasi Goreng (fried rice with an egg on top). 

NASI GORENG – BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

How I got to Bali and the Gilis in the first place….

My sister started a jewelry business based in Bali in the 90’s and early 2000’s. We went to design and source jewelry but found a lifestyle that changed all of us. The first time I went I was totally hooked. It was the only place I ever wanted to travel again…until I discovered the Gili Islands.  The Gilis were the mythical islands you had to hear about from an insider. They had to tell you how to get there and where to go to catch the boat.  Looking back, I can’t believe I took my children on that grueling journey so many times when they were so young.

Here’s what we had to do to get to the Gili Islands from Bali – after the 36 hour trip in Coach from DFW:

We started in Ubud, Bali -home base and mountainous tropical paradise. 

From Ubud we hired a driver to take us on a 2 hour trek in an un-airconditioned car with no seatbelts to Padangbai, the port on the east coast of Bali.  We paid $1.75 per ticket and took a 6 – 8 hour ferry ride to Lombok. This is like the ferries you hear about on the news – they sink and there are no survivors – everyone should do it once!!

When we finally landed in Lombok we’d try to find a driver who had a car big enough to carry more than three passengers (I have 4 kids)…or hire two cars and hope they ended up in the same place at the same time.  We’d haggle about the price in a language we didn’t speak (Bahasa) and a currency that is 14,000,000 Rph (Indonesian Rupiah) to the American dollar.  It was more than confusing.  Cell phones didn’t exist back in the day.

Trying to find a hotel from the Lonely Planet Guide to Bali & Lombok without squat potties and get there before dark was virtually impossible.  The generators usually failed in the heat about once an hour and everything went totally dark.  What amazing memories of a bygone era in the 20th Century.

Yes…this is really what it was like!  Squat potties in the jungle of Indonesia.

When we were finally settled into a hotel room with a Western potty, we had to walk in the dark to find a tourist agent (sort of a secret society) and sign up for a 3 hour boat ride in an outrigger canoe up the Western Lombok coast. Early the next morning we took a “taksi” that dropped us off on the side of a deserted palm lined road and waited for hours for the outrigger canoe to show up.  When it did, we piled into the waterlogged canoe and waited for the “Captain” (maybe 15 years old) to try and start to pull-start the engine. Sometimes we had to paddle.  I’m not kidding.

Looking back…it’s comical. Now I can’t believe my kids didn’t fall overboard into the swirling blue ocean and die from being eaten by killer sharks.

This is a BIG version of the boats we took.  It was truly like a Gilligan’s Island “three hour tour” to get 10 miles to the mythical Gili Islands.  Our boat held 8 and had no top.

Once we arrived there, though, we “got it”.  The motor slowed, the teenage driver waved his hand for us to get out.  We stepped into the crystal turquoise water and waded to the shore with our backpacks high above our heads. It was truly magical for all of us.  An exotic paradise that we’d never imagined.

Though everything about the Gilis has changed in the last 25 years, there’s still nothing like them in the world. Those 3 little islands will always have my heart and soul.

Much more to come about the Gili Islands.  Where to stay, what to do, what to eat, what to buy, who to know.

TERIMAH KASI!

(THANK YOU!!)

UNTIL NEXT TIME!  THIS IS SO FUN!