Hello, Hive friends! This article is long overdue as I spent two days in Gili Meno… in March. Life has been busy for me since then: navigating through my still-fresh and new freelance content creator career, battling burnout, traveling, planning a wedding, and studying. So it’s a lot :D But here I am, finally, bringing you an article about one charming place in Indonesia.
My fiancé and I stayed in Bali throughout March – including the Balinese new year called Nyepi. A day before Nyepi, an Ogoh-Ogoh ceremony takes place when locals take out statues they had been preparing for weeks and walk around the island until they eventually destroy them as the statues symbolize the evil spirits. The next day, on Nyepi, the whole island shuts down to protect Bali from the spirits returning. The Balinese believe that the evil spirits will think Bali is abandoned – since there won’t be any traffic, lights, or movement whatsoever – and will pass by to find a new island to settle in.
What does it have to do with anything, you might ask? Well, on Nyepi, you are not allowed to leave the house. The lights and internet aren’t working, and the police patrol the streets to ensure nobody leaves their home. My fiancé and I were switching villas the day before Nyepi, and we thought it would be a shame to waste a day doing nothing. So we came up with a super clever – as we thought – idea to avoid staying at home and decided to go to Gili Islands instead.
The Gilis belong to the island of Lombok, so they don’t celebrate Nyepi. We were warned that the port might be busier than usual, as we wouldn’t probably be the only ones going there, but nobody warned us about the apocalypse it was going to be.
The journey
We started the morning of Ogoh-Ogoh really „nicely“: while my fiancé went to the laundromat to pick up our clothes, I got stung by a huge Asian hornet. My hand swole immediately and was pulsing in pain. A perfect state considering we were about to drive for about 90 minutes on a scooter, wasn’t it? But we really needed to leave, so I just put some ice on it, and then we drove to the port.
In the port, it was a true apocalypse. The boats were sold out in advance, so the officers weren’t letting people without a ticket into the port. People, minibusses, and scooters were everywhere; nobody knew where or what to do. Something like a system is apparently unknown in Indonesia because we couldn’t believe how seemingly simple things could have gotten so bad. The pier was completely cramped, and no one really knew which boats were arriving and leaving. I’m highly suspicious that many people missed their boats because of that. We were waiting there for hours, in 30-degree Celsius heat, during midday, and we were getting really pissed. To top it up, my hand was super swollen (the heat didn’t help) and really painful, but there was nothing really that I could do as I had left all my medicine, including the antihistamines, in our luggage in the original villa.
Knowing that we left early in the morning to get the most out of the day made us really angry when it was past 3 p.m., and we were still standing on the pier waiting for our boat. Although I am a peaceful person, by the time we FINALLY got on board, I was swearing so much that my fiancé was even surprised because he’s never seen me like that before :D Not to mention the boat was packed, loud, and really unpleasant.
Gili Islands
The Gilis are a trio of small islands off the Northwest coast of Lombok: Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno & Gili Air. The locals apparently call them Gili Indah, which means „small beautiful islands. “ And that’s what they really are. The islands are almost flat, covered with palm trees, mangroves, and beautiful white sand beaches with corals. The water is pristine, and the islands are excellent diving & snorkeling spots as many turtles swim around. And the best thing: the Gilis are so small they don’t even have cars and barely have scooters! You can easily walk everywhere, use a bike, or a local horse carriage.
Gili Trawangan is the biggest of them and is the only one to have something close to a hill – the other two are completely flat. It’s known as the party island: most vacationers go there, and there are many beach parties and apparently also drugs to boost the party mood.
Gili Air is second in size and is closest to the main island of Lombok. It has the biggest settlement of locals and was the first to be developed for tourism.
Gili Meno is the smallest and calmest of them all, especially after a recent tsunami that destroyed a lot of its infrastructure. Some find it depressing, but we chose this island as we hoped it would be the quietest and most relaxing. Looking back, I realized it could be a little too quiet during „normal“ traffic to the islands. But with the whole Nyepi craze, I feel the choice was perfect, as the other two islands would probably be too crowded.
A tiny bit of paradise on Earth
By the time we arrived at Gili Meno, it was almost dark. Our moods improved significantly when we saw Lombok and the Gilis on the horizon and the majestic Mount Agung back on Bali. After the whole day of traveling and unnecessary waiting, we were tired, but going somewhere new eventually won us over.
Gili Meno’s port is tiny and shallow, so the fast boat that brought us there couldn’t stop by the pier. The locals sent a wooden raft, and when we got to the shore, we started walking towards our resort. It was such a strange, exciting feeling to walk along the beach in almost complete darkness, knowing that somewhere behind the trees, there should be a hotel we’d never been to…
When we finally made it, it was beautiful. The hotel is built literally on the beach and looks like a movie. There is a main building with reception, a bar, a restaurant, a shisha lounge, and a pool in front of the hotel, and the rooms are scattered all over the place in villas and separate buildings hiding between the trees. Seri Resort, as it’s called, is an adult-only and was our best option to be close to the sea.
We arrived on a day with beach barbeque, which was something out of this world. We would pick from a selection of meats, seafood, and vegetables what we wanted, and they would barbeque it directly on the beach. We sat there, watching a distant storm on the horizon, sipping on a glass of delicious wine, and couldn’t believe where we were.
Some relax at last
The real wow effect came in the morning when we stepped outside our room directly onto a beach. We had breakfast with a view of the sea and the majestic Mount Rinjani volcano in the distance. After breakfast, we rented snorkeling equipment and went swimming – we needed to see the turtles!
It was bad luck that we were there on the busiest of days. I only spotted a turtle briefly, and my poor fiancé saw none. On top of things, my hornet-stung hand was painfully swollen, and the swelling and pain only worsened with high temperatures. The resort staff was very helpful, generously handing us loads of ice to help the swelling, but it wasn’t making a big difference. It was unpleasant and prevented me from relaxing to the fullest.
But I just DECIDED I was going to enjoy Gili, so I wasn’t going to stop exploring just because of a stupid hornet. In the afternoon, we packed the snorkeling equipment and walked to the other side of the island. Between Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan, there were – from what we’ve researched - beautiful stone sculptures in the sea, and we really wanted to see them. But it was already afternoon, and the winds had risen a little; the high tide came, and strong currents were present between the islands. And on top of that, the place was full of people that came from Gili Trawangan to see the sculptures as well. If it weren’t for the people, the current, or the stupid swelling, I would probably enjoy the place, but the presence of all three unpleasant factors was too much. I returned to the shore and relaxed there while my fiancé kept swimming.
I found a nice bar nearby, ordered food and drink, and read a book. We had originally wanted to rent bikes and ride around the island, but my hand was hurting too much to lean on it while riding, so we decided I would return to our hotel and read some more, and my fiancé would rent a bike, walk me there, and then ride a bit on his own. But another problem occurred: all bikes were already rented (thanks, Nyepi). Fortunately, the bike rental owner was kind enough to rent his own old bike, so my fiancé could enjoy the island in a very local way. I was glad the bike didn’t break :D
Later in the evening, we went to our resort’s restaurant for dinner. We sat by the pool and listened to a local band playing and singing live at another beach barbeque and watched another distant storm raging somewhere and making a show in the sky.
The next morning, we had to return to Bali as another accommodation was booked there. If we had had more time in Bali before going to Gili, I wouldn’t bother with traveling back and forth and would stay in Gili and actually enjoy our time there. The journey back was an attraction, too, as it was the same chaos as going to Gili. With just one attraction more: the operators claimed they didn’t have us on the list, although we had bought the tickets in advance.
In the chaos that was in the port again, and in the heat, we were trying to call the company that sold us the tickets… to find out they were based in the Netherlands, which had 4 a.m. local time. So naturally, nobody picked up the phone. We were so mad at the situation, the operators, and the other company, that we just argued our way into the boat. We simply refused to wait for the next one as we knew we could be left for many hours on the pier again…
In the end, in our attempt to save a day, we didn’t save anything as the transport to the Gilis and back took forever. We were pissed and tired, but at least the swell was finally going away, and my hand started to feel better. My fiancé wasn’t impressed and said we should’ve stayed in Bali… but I, for some reason, remember the Gilis very fondly. I don’t know; maybe it was the beauty of the place that just took over all my memories because if I had the chance – I would return there immediately.
Would you go to the Gili Islands if you had the chance? Let me know!
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