Lombok - Gili Air

Photo 1: View from a warung, Gili Air
Photo 2: A bungalow at Sunrise Cottages, Gili Air

Early on Sunday morning I met up with Annie to head over to the Gili Islands, approximately one hour by boat from Senggigi. The trip over was absolutely fine until everyone got out of the boat at Gili Trawangan and we continued over to Gili Air. I don’t know if the seas were just choppier, or the lightened load affected the boat, but we got absolutely drenched. The first couple of splashes were kind of funny, but by the end we had waves crashing over our shoulders. We eventually arrived, dripping wet, and got a cidomo to our hotel. The hotel was amazing – 2 story bungalows with a queen bed and veranda upstairs, and a hammock plus day bed down stairs.
Gili Air was stunning – pure white sand, gleaming crystal clear turquoise waters, no motorbikes or cars, peaceful… I think it’s the most idyllic place I have ever been to. The only thing that stopped it being even better was the arid landscape away from the shore. I don’t think they’d seen much rain in awhile, as there was lots of bare, dusty patches of earth and bare trees. The warungs along the beach were all amazing, and served up some brilliant sasak food. Each warung was directly on the beach, usually with little huts complete with low tables and pillows to eat at. All these places were really relaxed though, so it took a while for the food to come. Not that that was a problem with the view that was provided.
We did a bit of snorkeling of the shore near our hotel. There was an amazing array of fish out there – little schools of electric blue ones, angel fish, metallic rainbow fish – the works! The water was pleasantly tropical so it was easy to swim around for ages. Gili Air may have been paradise, but that didn’t stop me: Grazing my knee on a piece of coral, stubbing my toe on a rock and lifting up a big chunk of flesh on my big toe, and getting stung because I waded into a school of jellyfish, resulting in a huge number of little raised bumps like mozzie bites all down my right leg.