In Reply to: Great to hear about this years trip posted by SueK on Tuesday, 18. October 2005 at 07:16 Bali Time:
Hi Sue,
This time we went down-market - as I say, we were backpackng for several months so had to be on a bit of a budget. On our first visit this year we stayed at Pondok Wildan, which is right opposite the part of the beach that everyone goes snorkelling at. It is a nice friendly place run by a man called Besar and his wife, and the restaurant is cheap and good. We paid 60,000 for a room for three of us including breakfast. It had one double bed and a single with mosquito nets, and a bathroom with a shower and a toilet that you had to flush using the mandi. It was basic, but clean. The only thing that I would say against the place is that the floors of some of the rooms are black cememnt, and this black sticks to everything - your feet, your clothes if you leave them on the floor, and your backpack when you come to pick it up to leave.
On our second visit we stayed at Sirwa homestay, which is right opposite the harbour. The rooms here were light and spacious,and again we had one double bed and one single with mosquioto nets. This time we had a flushable toilet though and quite a decent shower (cold of course). The room had a white tiled floor which was much cleaner and cost us 45,000 for two of us, including breakfast.
Are you going back to the Gilis this year? We wanted to visit the other two Gilis this year but still didnt find the time (even in three months - there is so much to see!). You are right about not telling too many people, although I am afraid that the place will be overrun anyway when the new Lombok International Airport is built as planned in the next few years. I don't think Lombok or the Gilis will be the same after that.
Camille