Galavanting in Gili T, Komodo Dragon Tour, Ubud.

 

After leaving Nusa Penida, our next stop was Gili Trawangan, another popular stop for backpackers that we’d heard brilliant things about. Having met 3 friends in Nusa Penida with the same plan, we travelled together and also stayed in a villa together for the duration of our stay ( 3 nights ). Our boat journey was a little grim, with very rocky conditions and a boat crammed full of people. When we arrived on the island, we noticed that there were no taxi’s or cars anywhere. We soon found out that any sort of automobiles were strictly prohibited, so our three options of transport were walking, cycling or on the back of a horse drawn carriage. We decided early on that we weren’t going to use the carriages because of the way that the horses were treated, so we spent our time navigating the island mainly on push bikes. Luckily the island is very small and it’s possible to cycle round the entire perimeter in under an hour.

 

On our first day we went out for some food on the beach and tagged along to an organised pub crawl for some of the night until we decided to stay in a lively reggae bar instead. In the bar, we were greeted by a magician who performed the most fascinating  and entertaining magic I’ve ever seen. He had many card tricks but also possessed the ability to produce items from what seemed like thin air, but maybe that was just the beer.

 

The next day we had a very relaxed day, only leaving the villa to chill on the beach and eat! We also had an early night in preparation for a full morning of snorkelling the next day.

 

The snorkelling was fantastic, as a group of 5 we were able to book a private boat for next to nothing. This was nice as normally the tours are oversold and a bit of a squeeze. The Gili islands are famous for being abundant with turtles, and we were amazed with how many we saw and how close we were able to get to them. There is also an underwater statue park in the sea, so we had some cool photos taken with them. On our final evening in Gili T, we had a nice Mexican meal and said goodbye to our friends as we were leaving very early the next morning to start a 4 day boat trip from Lombok to Flores.

 

Overall the boat trip was fantastic, but it’s fair to say that we experienced every emotion during its duration! We spent an unexpected amount of our time sailing, which was very uncomfortable with the terrible sea conditions and limited space. However when we did stop we had some fantastic experiences. Most mornings we were woken early ( if we’d managed to sleep) and would then be taken on a sunrise trek on one of the many islands. The evenings were the same, with a sunset hike every evening  before dinner and an early night.

 

The two main selling points of the trip are the Komodo dragons and the possibility of swimming with whale sharks. On our first morning of the trip we stopped in the middle of the ocean to look for whale sharks. The crew had been very clear on the fact that it was not guaranteed we would see them, so I had somewhat of a pessimistic attitude when we were woken up at 4.30 AM. However we got lucky and to me personally, swimming with a whale shark is easily the most surreal experience I’ve had in my life. The sheer size of the animal was daunting, but it was fantastic to be so close to something that most people won’t get chance to see in a lifetime ( sorry Mike and Rebecca! )

 

We were also lucky enough to see a fair few komodo dragons on Komodo island. I personally think they’re quite creepy- so it didn’t have the same wow factor as the whale sharks for me, but Sam and Connor seemed to enjoy themselves.

 

Throughout the trip we had some amazing weather, met some great people and had a good time, but we were very excited to get back to an actual bed and it did feel like we’d completed some sort of survival challenge when we finished.

 

On completing the trip, we had 2 nights to kill before our flight to Aus, so we spent our remaining time back in Ubud, where we were now very familiar with the best spots. After a full on few days, we didn’t do vast amounts. Sam went quad biking and enjoyed it, but aside from a massage, some nice meals and a lot of sleep, there isn’t much to report.

 

Favourite memory: Swimming with a whale shark.

 

Beer choice: Still Bintang, still the same price !!