Lombok - Gili Trawangan and Mangsit

Photo 1: At the beach, Gili Trawangan
Photo 2: Yet another stretch of gorgeous beach

The next afternoon we headed over to Gili Trawangan on the island hopper boat (which was really like a glorified, oversized canoe with a motor). This was an experience to say the least. Before we had even set off the boat guy was bailing out water from between the broken decking. The swell was huge, nearly capsizing the boat on several occasions. There was an Indonesian girl next to us that was nearly hysterical, convincing herself that she was going to be sick. We just kept checking out where the other islands were, in case we needed to swim to shore. We did get there in the end though and met up with another girl from ACICIS, Rachelle and then on Wednesday with Sarah.
I didn’t like Trawangan as much as Air. It was much busier, with lots of European tourists out for a good time. There were a few people along the roads yelling out various suggestive and/or offensive calls, and lots more people trying to sell things. The vibe was very Contiki. The beaches themselves were again beautiful, but apparently much of the coral around the island has been destroyed by fishing. The night scene on Trawangan was pretty lively, with a few bars partying on until late at night – particularly popular was the Irish ‘pub’. There were some amazing looking restaurants all along the waters edge too – you could really eat your way around the world there if you had the time.
We headed back to the mainland on Thursday morning, to Mangsit via Bangsal. Bangsal was where the ferry came in, and was a little overwhelming with people trying to get people on to their buses, demanding money for picking up suitcases unwanted and offering rides up the road in their cidomo. I think we were saved from having the full Bangsal experience though, as we had got off a ferry loaded with tourists, so the attention was spread around.
We went back to a hotel in Mangsit, a few kilometers up the road from Senggigi. The main reason we went there was to check out the Santai Beach Inn recommended for its beautiful setting and communal dinners. Although there isn't anything in Mangsit I’d go back to that hotel in a flash. We stayed in a small 2 story bungalow that looked out onto a green, colourful garden. The food was amazingly good, as we had been promised, and it was easy to while away the day.
Then yesterday I had to leave it all behind to come back to Yogya via Bali. I ended up being stuck at the airport for 6 hours when my 1pm flight ended up leaving at 7pm. So in the end I didn’t get to see Bali at all! Maybe another time…