The truth about Gili T

After Ubud, we took the fastboat to Gili Trawangan to spend some days at the beach on this island.

I have some mixed feelings about this island, in fact. It is known as the party island but when we were there, luckily no big parties were held since it was still Ramadan and the island is mostly muslim. (Am I getting old?)  But that has nothing to do with my feelings because we weren't there to party. I was just so disappointed with how dirty it was. The beaches are nice and they try to keep the frontlines clean, but from the moment you go 'inland' (which is a big word, since it is such a small island), the garbage and rubbish is everywhere and it is such a pity. It's like everything is thrown onto the open land, because no other solution is provided.

There are no cars or motorcycles on the island, so everything is done by bike or pony taxi. A welcome breather after the traffic in Bali. We rented some bikes and discovered the island that way (auw my behind) But we didn't like the touristy center too much so we mostly stayed at our north end of the island where we had the beach to ourselves and where we had a bit of the private island feeling. But if you want to swim on this side (and on most sides of the island) you have to get up early this time of year, because from 1 PM you cannot get into the sea anymore, because it is veeeeeery low tide and it is a walk on rocks and dead corals. 

What I did like were the sunset bars on the beach, the sea views, the bike rides on the sand, the pitch dark at 6 PM, the beach dinners, the night swimming, the food market, watching my girl sitting behind her dad on the bike, the weather (sunnier and warmer than Bali), the chill vibe, the dirt roads and the organic magic mushrooms (just kidding). Oh yes, and everybody is high, even the staff at the hotel.

So it was still a good trip, maybe my expectations were just too high.

If I would go to the Gili islands again, I would go to Air or Meno. But hurry!

On the fast boat back, things got a little bumpy (it went crazy fast) and the small boat (30 people) danced up and down the waves, and the poor kid got seasick, poor Olivia, poor husband. One Tshirt and 1 dress were lost in the battle, luckily my outfit stayed safe:) 

I'm a pro in avoiding vomit!