What a place – in a way I don't really want to tell anyone anything about it – but I guess the secret is already out – so well here goes.
Our Merpati flight over was interesting – we were booked on the 11.00am flight – when we got to the Domestic Terminal at DPS we got boarding passes showing the flight number of a flight due to leave early in the morning, and were told our flight was delayed till 11.30. We finally travelled on what was obviously the scheduled 12 noon service (a Fokker F28 jet that arrived from Surabaya). It was packed and 'free seating' meant it took a bit of time to get everyone in a seat (but much better handled than a Jetstar flight!!) and all the hand luggage stowed – in the loo, and bulging overhead lockers, but the flight was only 20 minutes.
On arrival at Mataram, we were met by a driver for Vila Ombak, the hotel we had pre-booked and were taken on a scenic 50 minute or so drive up the coast via Sengiggi to a small private harbour just south of Bangsal to join the hotel speedboat for the 15/20 minute ride to the island. What a way to arrive – we pulled up on the beach in front of the hotel and walked a few steps for our welcome drink.
The resort area of Gili T stretches along the waterfront of the tiny islands east coast – facing the sandy shores of Gili Meno and further off the spectacular jagged mountains of Lombok) for around 800 metres. Vila Ombak at the extreme southern end of the 'strip' is one of 2 really nice places to stay on the island (the other one is Vila Almirak – Italian owned at the far northern end of the strip) but in between there are plenty of bungalow options of varying standards – some attached to the various diving centres. The Beach House looks as if it's about to be the 3rd classy place to stay with new accommodation being built at the moment.
There are no cars or motorbikes on GT only push bikes or cidomos – pony drawn carts with 2 car wheels that carry everything, There are also no dogs – only lots of the bob tailed cats. Part of the narrow road along the resort area has been sealed but it is beginning to break up – the rest is just sand. .It is such a leisurely place with a wonderful casual atmosphere, lots of great places to eat – many right on the water, very low key shopping, amazing narrow streets to explore just behind the resort area, a wide range of places to watch movies/TV sport in the open air, interesting fellow visitors from all over the world – and the water!! -so warm and clear and fabulous snorkelling.
Vila Ombak (sister hotel to Vila Lumbung in Kerobokan another lovely small place if you want pleasant accommodation, a gorgeous pool, stunning gardens and a quiet location without completely breaking the bank) are both owned by a German. Whilst we were there the main restaurant was being renovated along with 4 of the bungalows so there was a little noise but it didn't detract at all from the general easy going ambience. It was just about full, with a real mix of ages and nationalities. There were two young couples each with a young toddler – one from Sydney, the other French (and the interaction between these toddlers was a show of its own), a group of 4 middle aged german ladies, youngish couples from Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Italy an older German couple and another middle aged Aussie couple as well as us and a young Canadian guy working in Saudi – very cosmopolitan. Some were there for up to 14 days – the lucky bu**ers!.
It has a total of 36 rooms – 12 superior lumbung huts with an open air living area complete with large day bed, hammock and table and chairs downstairs, and the (smallish) sleeping area upstairs under thatch. Outside the bedroom is a large balcony with loungers. The semi open air bathroom is downstairs accessed by a ladder directly from the bedroom. The 12 deluxe lumbung huts have larger sleeping and open air living areas and the semi open-air bathroom access is via a proper staircase. We had one of the 12 'semi-detached' bungalows – the only one not so far renovated (they are boxing in half of the terrace that currently has a single day bed to make the room larger with a double lounging area – (or room for an extra person (child??) to sleep) as well as cosmetic work inside. Decoration is pleasant, all have air con, TV with a good number of cable channels, mini bar/fridge, in room safe and phone.
As the island is very short of fresh water (it is brought in, in tanks and plastic containers) the water in the shower/hand basin/loo is all salty – but there is fresh water provided for rinsing. The pool was 3 levels with a waterfall and spa – and even with all those Germans staying we still didn't have a problem getting a lounger !!! Seriously, they were all very pleasant people indeed.
A good buffet breakfast with lots of choices (included in the rate) was served in the beach terrace – literally a hands throw from the water and other meals were available there through the day and evening
We also ate at Dream Divers, Jessica Beach Café, The Beach House, Café Wayan and Café Trawangan – all very good – but by this time I was out of travel agent mode and seriously into laid back casual mode, and didn't record any costs – but nothing was very expensive
The snorkelling – especially just off the beach towards the northern end of the resort area was great – we even saw turtles. Kerry went for a dive off Gili Meno (The Meno Wall was the name of the spot - with the PADI associated school at our hotel) for US $25 – all the gear provided - but was not overly impressed with the dive – visibility wasn't great and he felt he saw more in just the snorkelling. I went along to snorkel too (US $10) in a slightly different area but still off Gili Meno and thought the same. The organisation and equipment of the dive school was fine – a very pleasant young French girl (from Brittany with excellent English) was the European face whilst the Divemaster was an incredible looking guy – whose background was from West Papua
Along the beach, we watched the progress of a new glass bottomed boat being built – by hand. The owner told us the logs had been brought from the next island along from Lombok – Sumbawa, where they had been in the water 20 years. It was fascinating to watch one of the builders making hundreds of wooden pegs – whittling them from individual pieces of wood with an axe, to be used in place of nails to hold planks together
Everything is brought in by small boats many that moor straight off the beach – we watched supplies for a small cafe coming ashore - all being carried by hand – huge plastic bottles of fresh water, cases of soft drink – and a new chest freezer!. All the building materials for the renovations at Vila Ombak came in the same way – but we were amazed to see the entire carrying ashore crew – were all women. They carried bags of cement, window frames, huge wooden posts and much much more over the days we were there.
One small thing to advise about GT – our mobile with a Mentari sim card (not our wisest purchase over there – but that's another story) did not work and from what we could discover – the only local sim to work was Telkomsel – you could buy recharges, but not an actual sim on the island. We used the wartel to make a very reasonably priced call home and then had our daughter ring us at the hotel if she needed to. Slow internet access is also available in several places
All too soon it was time to leave – but we will definitely be going back there – for at least a week next time maybe more. The speedboat took us back to Lombok and this time a very scenic inland route through a monkey forest and fantastically rich looking farmland with great views, back to the airport for our scheduled midday flight. Again Merpati were running late, and again we got to travel on the F28– this time with allocated seating – but once again absolutely chocker
Once we got back to DPS it was time to head for Candi Dasa.