No alarm clocks are needed for our early start on Day 3 - the rumbling of stomachs has everyone up and out of bed by 6.30am. Our driver is coming at 8.00am to take us to Bangsal for our Gilis jaunt and we're glad breakfast is going to be early today. We've abandoned the idea of individual dishes and just get the chef to cook up bacon, tomatoes, toast and banana pancakes to share. The ingredient cost for doing individual dishes was starting to add up and the waste of food was shameful to be honest. The chef asks if anyone wants chilli in their eggs - he's still amused by our reaction to last night's dinner. Apparently.
Trying to get 8 women ready and out the door all at the same time is like juggling with jelly. Just when you think you've got a hold on everyone, someone or other slips through your fingers and disappears for a toilet stop, to fill a water bottle or to grab the forgotten sunscreen. J is like a drill sergeant trying to round everyone up for parade up at the Lobby. An 8.00am start was always going to be optimistic, let's face it J :-)
(...)
There is trouble looming when we're finally ready to head off, the staff have assumed that not everyone will be going on our day trip and the car can only seat 7 plus the driver. 'Don't worry, you can all fit' we're told as we try to cram ourselves into every nook and cranny of the car. Hmmm, maybe we should've stuck to D2's Body Transformation for more than 3 minutes. Our lovely driver Awik finally concedes defeat. At least 2 of us will have to go in the staff car. 'There is some problem with this car' we're told by the Villa Manager Made. 'I spill some petrol and it smell a little bit'. C, W and I decide we'd rather risk it than spend the next hour with one of us strapped to the roof of the 8 seater. We climb in, as Made scrambles to remove the staff's belongings, with me in the front. The smell of fuel is overwhelming. C declares that she likes the smell of petrol (why this surprises me coming from the crazy Vodka swilling Scotswoman I'll never know). As we drive off up the coast road to Bangsal, I wind down my window and hang my head out like an overgrown dog. W attempts to do the same in the back, only to be told by Made 'oh one more problem with this car, the back windows both not working'. It's going to be a loooooong drive for poor W!
The coastal road from Senggigi to Bangsal is beautiful, with great views and amazing looking beaches along the way and some tiny villages to pass through. By the time we hit the bumpy track leading to where our boat is waiting, we're all ready for some fresh air - W and I both have headaches and even C has had her fill of petrol fumes by now.
We mill around on the beach for a bit after getting out, and discuss with our skipper our 'programme' for the day. 'Which boat is ours?' D2 asks him excitedly (she is a fun girl, filled with a joie de vivre that is infectious). Our skipper turns and points to the glass bottomed outrigger proudly. 'We're not seriously going in THAT are we??' is her response, looking around at us thinking that she is the butt of one of our newbie jokes. 'Are we?' she asks again in a small voice. She gets no response other than our silence. 'Well I hope they've f***ing got life jackets!!'. Everybody laughs and the skipper points proudly again to the boat 'No problem, we got 2 missus'. Bahahahaha the look on D2's face is priceless.
The weather is perfect, hot and sunny with a light breeze. The water as we leave Lombok behind is aqua blue and crystal clear - it's a pity the glass bottom of our boat is filthy dirty and has a great big crack in it that's taking on water lol. The views of Lombok behind us are stunning - it becomes more apparent just how hilly and mountainous the island is. I hadn't expected the Gilis to be as close to Lombok as they are, Gili Air feels almost close enough to touch as soon as we hit the water.
I was imagining when told Gili T was a 20-30 min 'speedboat' ride away, that the boat would actually be speeding to get there in that timeframe. Instead we just putter along and within a short time we drop anchor off the tip of Gili Meno and jump in the water to snorkel with the turtles. Our guide is first in and spots one almost immediately, the skipper tells us that on a bad day you'll see 2 or 3 in this spot. The water is too deep to see much of the reef, but the visibility is great and I'm lucky enough to see 3 turtles, including one quite close up on it's descent from the surface. It's no Ningaloo Reef but I'm a happy camper just the same.
Next stop, Gili T. We land on the beach at the front of the Vamana resort and D1 and D2 head off immediately down the main strip for a look around. The rest of us decide to order some snacks and Bintangs first, before hiring bikes and going for a cycle and a swim. It is so quiet here by day - although there are plenty of people around, lying on sunlounges and Bales on the beach, riding past on their bikes or heading to and from their hotels on the cidomos (horse and cart). I find it hard to picture the 'party island' that Gili T is known as. For any fellow West Aussies, it struck me as being like an Asian version of Rottnest. I guess all the beach bars lining the main strip must really come alive after dark. The beaches here seem relatively clean and the water is crystal clear, but lots of broken coral means you really need reef shoes or maybe even *gasp* Crocs to get into the water comfortably.
It is on Gili T that I manage to find a gift for my stepdaughter, something that will be to the taste of a discerning 18yo beach babe. Pity it costs me Rp 275,000 when I know I could pick up something similar in Bali for 75,000!
We're on a strict timetable and want to go to Gili Air for lunch so by 1.00pm we pile back into the boat and head for Scallywags for lunch. Another beautiful spot, and the best meal of the trip so far. D1 and D2 are surprised that there are not really any Indonesian dishes on offer - it seems D1 has become a Mie Goreng and Satay afficionado in the space of 2 days :-). The food was great, tasty and fresh, and very cheap for a Western style meal. Everyone ordered sandwiches and wraps, with D2 and I sharing the chicken fajitas and washing it all down with bottles of very expensive bubbles. It was a place worth celebrating - not that we needed an excuse!
We have to head back to Lombok by 4.00pm at latest we're told, so we start rounding everyone up at 3.30. Just as we're about to take off, a couple of the waiters from Scallywags ask if they can hitch a ride home. There's plenty of room so we tell them to jump onboard. Never picked up hitchhiker on a boat before - this is a first!
The boat trip back is a bit rougher than on the way over, but the seas are actually pretty calm. I wouldn't want to be doing this crossing in rough weather though, no matter how short the journey is.
Our poor drivers are waiting for us back at Bangsal ('again with the waiting' they're probably thinking) and somehow I find myself back in the petrol-soaked staff car for the ride home, along with J and C (who is happy to endure a 2nd petrol-induced high it seems). On the way home we spot a lot of beaches we think we must go swimming at... when we can drag ourselves away from the beautiful infinity pool at the villa, the one with the staff waiting on us hand and foot.
We've booked dinner for 8.00pm at Qunci Villa's Thai restaurant - 8.00 again being optimisitic for our group of laid back Lombok ladies! We arrive around 8.45 and are shown to the beachfront restaurant, to a table set up in the sand in front of the spotlit breakers... and about 5 feet away from a table occupied by a loved-up young couple, smooching and cuddling in a Bale. Oh dearie me, I do feel sorry for them and hope they've been there for a while enjoying the romantic ambience before we shattered their peace!
We decide to share a selection of starters - Japanese gyoza, Chinese BBQ beef steamed buns, Prawn & Chive dumplings - before ordering our main courses. The starters are delicious and just whet our appetite for more. I order Singapore Chilli Prawns (yes I am a sucker for punishment), and the rest of the girls order Thai Green Curry Chicken. The instructions to the waiter about the curry are repeated half a dozen times - VERY mild please, not too spicy! J decides to break the mould and ask for hers medium.
My meal is fantastic, but J is disappointed to find her curry is as mild as everyone elses. I had a taste and found it to be very bland (and not just lacking in chilli heat) but the other girls all thought it was delicious. Qunci also has a Meditteranean restaurant and I'd love to give that a try next time I make it to Lombok.
We're too full for dessert and instead head back to the Villa for a nightcap and to crack open one of the giant Toblerones purchased at the airport back in Perth, because somehow on the 15 min drive home we found room for chocolate :-)
Then I head off to my ever-so-comfy bed, the one with pillows that are like laying your head on a fluffy cloud. I fall asleep to the sound of J fumbling around in the dark trying to find her iPad. Aaaah Lombok, I think I love you.... but Gili Air comes a close second :-)