CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

April 28, 2023 — I was up at 5:45am to pack the rest of the way and have breakfast at 6:15am. Kadek was so accommodating — I’d booked my ticket to the ferry with her and she’d said that I could have breakfast early, before I had to be picked up for the ferry, since breakfast would usually start at 7:00am. I had mie goreng that morning, which is another traditional Indonesian dish with noodles in a sweeter sauce, vegetables, and fried egg on top. It was delectable. The guy I’d been talking to yesterday got it and I’d told myself I’d get it this morning. I was so glad I did.

A little after 7:00am, I got picked up for my trip to Gili Trawangan, the biggest and first of the three Gili Islands off the island of Lombok. I sat in the back left corner of the van, behind a family of four. When we got back to what I think was Denpasar (but might have been another area) we picked up another girl who was also backpacking.

This was quite the first experience with transport in Indonesia! And it certainly became clear to me here that you simply have to trust the process and trust the people around you to get you to where you need to go. We were making our way up to Padang Bai to get the direct fast boat to Gili T which meant that we were driving for almost two hours. I didn’t know that the journey was going to be that long by car but I did open up Google Maps and manage to figure out what was going on. When we arrived at the port town, we stopped for the family to get out of the van and the girl and I who were travelling were told that this wasn’t our stop. She thought that her boat was supposed to leave at 9:00am and it was getting close to this time when she was finally dropped off. It turned out that the boats weren’t leaving until around 9:30am so we were there in plenty of time.

I checked in at the main office for my boat and then got on a motorcycle to transfer to the port, where I found out that I had to pay tax to get on to Gili T (it’s only 10,000IDR or about $1 but it was still something I didn’t know about before). The fast boat I took offered to sell me return tickets from Lombok, heading from there to Nusa Lembongan and then to Sanur for Ubud. They were going to be open-dated and everything, but the price was coming out to 900,000IDR. I decided to take my chances (they told me that it would be more expensive on Lombok) and get them later, especially since I also wasn’t sure what the rest of my trip would hold. (It wound up being a good decision and I ended up transferring to Nusa Lembongan and Sanur for cheaper than I would have if I’d taken those tickets. Keep following along to find out why!)

I got on the pier to wait to be able to board the boat and what chaos that was. Imagine about two hundred people crammed onto a floating rectangle with vendors set up all along the perimeter, offering goods and trinkets, while you’re all trying to stay dry because it has started to rain. It’s certainly an experience.

To be perfectly honest, though, except for the uncertainty in my gut, I loved every minute. It was an experience. And, after all, that’s what this is all about.

Finally, we boarded the boat. I was booked on to the Golden Queen Fast Boat and it cost 550,000IDR through the hostel (however, I used a credit card to pay so there was a 2% added charge). Large luggage was stowed above decks under tarps to protect it from the rain. One thing that I would definitely bring when I go to Southeast Asia again is a rain cover for my bag. I saw everyone walking around with them and although it didn’t rain much while I was in the area, it would be necessary in the rainy season (which I’d just missed) because the rain that you did get was torrential. We left port around 9:30am and chugged along in the open sea for a solid two hours. The seas were fairly rough on this trip; we flew up and down over a wave more than once and even though it made my stomach drop out a bit, some people kept practically screaming. Jeez, you’d think you’d get a little used to it.

The process of unloading and disembarking onto Gili T was no less frenetic than embarkation had been. Gili T is the largest, most densely populated of the three islands that make up the Gilis (Gili Meno and Gili Air are the other two). When I got my bag, I had to push past several people to get to the counter, where they were charging another 10,000IDR tax to get on to the island, same as at Pedang Bai. As far as I know (though I haven’t checked this on the interwebs) these are both legit and you do have to pay at both spots. I tried to show my ticket from the first charge but they said that this was additional.

I finally got out on to the main street, where I tried to figure out where to walk. Like most roads in Indonesia, it’s total, complete, and utter anarchy. People walk on the sides of the road, horse-drawn wagons push through the throngs, bicycles swerve around pedestrians, wagons, and puddles. It’s quite an ordeal to walk anywhere and by the time I got to the hostel I was exhausted. I was also early so I wasn’t able to get into my room just yet.

That said, the people at the hostel I was staying at were so nice. They helped me store my bag for the time being, told me to come back around 1:30pm, and gave me the rundown on what was what in the hostel. I also got my free welcome drink token at this time and I was already looking forward to using it later that night.

In an effort to fill time — and because breakfast was ages ago — I went for lunch at an Italian place I’d seen as I got off the boat earlier. It was right across from the port (how convenient) and I spent a delightful time there. I was really jonesing for familiar food, so this was perfect. I got a chocolate milkshake (and then I got another one) and a pepperoni pizza that was so good and which I actually had to struggle to finish.

A little while later, belly full, I headed back to the hostel and got the key to my room. I settled in, laid down, and even had a bit of a nap.

It got dark outside and I went out to call home while I sat on the beach and watched a fire show from across the water that was happening on Gili Meno. When I got back to the hostel, I had my welcome drink at the bar. I got myself a rum and Coke and it was actually the first decent rum and Coke I’d had in ages. They were so hit and miss in Australia and eventually I gave up.

While I was sitting in the bar enjoying my drink, we had a power outage! I found out that these apparently aren’t uncommon: they turn the lights off when the system is too taxed or something like that. The lights were out for about fifteen minutes or so, and by the time they came back on I was pretty much finished with my drink. When I had, I figured I’d better get a shower before they turned the lights off again (just in case, you know) and headed back to my room.

After I showered, I curled up with Murder Mystery 2 on Netflix since I’d rewatched the first while I was on the plane a few days ago. I ended up getting up again to grab some chips from a market just down the street, but then got back in bed and enjoyed my movie and my snack. I got up and brushed my teeth when the movie was over and then I fell asleep.

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