Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia

Oh, Gili T, why haven’t I heard of you before? You are the perfect island for me.
Imagine an island small enough that you can walk around it in a few hours, with white fine sand, clear, turquoise water that is the perfect temperature, no motor vehicles (transport is by horse-driven carts), delicious food, cheap accomodations, friendly people, excellent diving and snorkelling and a vibrant nightlife. This is Gili Trawangan.
One needs to be able to ‘rough’ it though. The only way to get there is by boat and all boats dock at the beach, so to get off the boat, you need to take off your shoes, carry your luggage, wade through the water and walk onshore. The tap water at most accommodations (except for hotels that charge $200/night) is quite saline, so you’ll probably feel sticky most of your time there. It rains frequently, which makes the roads pretty muddy. I accepted the fact that my feet were going to be dirty the majority of the time there. The generator at the bungalow I stayed at was on only from 5pm to midnight everyday.
There are no police on the island, although they sometimes visit from Lombok, and look quite official strutting with their uniforms on amongst a sea of half-naked people. This creates an atmosphere conducive for hedonism, and offers for weed and mushroom are frequent and open (but this being Indonesia, you don’t ever want to be caught with them). This hedonism is contrasted by the hauntingly beautiful broadcast of prayers aired 5 times a day from the mosques on the island.
It seems like the island exists to dive and party. All the dive shops are very professional (and cheap at $38/tank) and the equipment are well-maintained. I went on 2 dives. The first dive, at Sharks Point, was spectacular. I saw reef sharks, sea turtles, bumphead parrot fish, mantas, cuttlefish, octopi, lots of coral etc. Visibility was around 15-20 meters. The current was really strong though. The second dive, at Gazebo Point, was less clear and didn’t see as much marine life but saw tons of coral. It was also raining at that point and the current was a lot milder, so I was able to float, and not trying to avoid being swept by the surge like the first dive. My descriptions don’t do justice at what I saw (which was amazing) and I wish I had a waterproof camera to take pictures of the diverse and technicolor marine life there!
I wish I knew how the diving was beforehand, otherwise I would have planned to take advanced courses here. A lot of people have come here to do advanced training or become a dive master/instructor, so there’s a big international diving community (mostly from Europe or Canada).
The dive shops are also environmentally responsible. All divers have to pay a one-time fee to the Gili Eco Trust, which helps in the regrowth of coral beds damaged from El Nino. They also organize beach cleanups to remove trash. I also liked how they train locals to become dive instructors. Both of the instructors on my dives were Indonesian.
Despite its small size, because of the international community, the cuisine available is quite diverse and relatively cheap (there’s even a Japanese restaurant). Of course, barbeque seafood is quite excellent.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights are party nights, and the parties rotate from bar to bar. DJs from Bali come to Gili T to spin. It’s nice to see the locals partying with the expats (although it was a *little* surprising to see 10 year olds dancing at 3 am at the bar-where are the parents?).
There are two islands nearby, Gili Air (for families) and Gili Meno (for couples). They look really close but were warned not to swim there because of the currents. A group of us planned to take a day trip to Gili Air but never made it there. Like Koh Phangan, it’s easy to stay at Gili T and hard to leave. However, I have a plane ticket back to Singapore from Bali and will have to depart this beautiful island.
Gili T, you’ve been very good to me. Terima Kasih.

The only form of transportation on Gili T

On the beach with Sarah and Katrina.

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Tags: Gili Trawangan, Indonesia, Lombok