After we arrived and checked in to the hostel we sorted out some laundry and we took a wander around the town. It was about 2/3 o clock at this point and Becki and I were on the search for a new bikini. We looked in a few of the shops and I eventually found one (mainly because I was bored of looking for one) which is a nice blue colour. It was quite expensive but I haggled her down from £20 to just under £15. Becki didn't find one that she liked sadly so her hunt still continues. There are quite a few little clothes and souvenir shops here but weirdly not many that sold postcards which is not an issue we've had before. At one point in the wander the heavens opened and a massive storm raged. At this point we took cover in a restaurant and got some lunch. It was nothing exciting really but it was alright and kept us out of the rain for a while. In the evening we went to another average restaurant on the river side (another snap decision to keep us out of a shower) and a reggae bar for a drink and then headed home.
The next day we left
at 9.30 am for a snorkelling boat trip around the three gili islands. It cost us 125000 rupiah each (£6.50) and lasted about 4 hours in the end because we didn't set of until about 11.30. The day involved a lot of waiting around, especially as one of the group on the boat had a massive argument at lunch with the restaurant staff so we had to wait for them to sort it out. We stopped off at three locations for a spot of snorkelling and we had lunch at a restaurant on gili meno (included in the price of the day. I had a nasi goreng which was really good, Amy had a mie goreng, Annabel had a cheese and onion sandwhich, Becki and Katie had chicken satay skewers and Kim had a friut salad). The islands are really close together and it only took a 10 minute drive or so to get between the islands or from stop to stop. The first spot we snorkelled in was lush. The water was so clear, calm and easy to swim and there were so many fish swimming about (but not so many that I was worried that they would touch me, they didn't come at me at all this time). The second stop wasn't as great but it was interesting because the water was quite choppy. It made it more difficult but it did mean that the coral and the fish were different than we've seen and this time there was so many more fish. The third stop was in between the other two in terms of waves. It wasn't as difficult but it wasn't completely calm either, particularly as at this point of the day it looked like a storm was a brewing. However, the third stop was definitely the best because we saw lots of turtles swimming about which was so cool. After we got back to the hostel we had burgers for dinner at La Petite grill (which were fantastic, I ate so much) and then had an early night.
On Monday we had booked to do a scuba dive with Mantra dive school. Since Kim and Annabel haven't dived before they had to go earlier than us to complete some paperwork and learn the skills part in the pool. This meant that we could have a bit of a lie in because we didn't need to arrive until 1.30. We had a spot of lunch (I had an Indonesian vegetable curry which was delicious) and then headed over to meet them. Our instructor was an Indonesian man named Supa who was really nice. We got measured up for weights, tops and flippers and then had our briefing on the boat. The spot we dived in was call Halik and it was pretty cool. We did a dive of 18.5 metres and were under for 47 minutes which is our deepest and longest to date and was also our best. It all went without a hitch or a black eye in sight, the visibility was so much better than in Koh Tao and we saw some more turtles which was also a win! Kim and Annabel couldn't go as deep as us because they aren't qualified so they had a different instructor but they said they really enjoyed their dive as well, swimming right up to a baby shark (although neither of them saw it).
We were back on dry land by about 4ish so Kim and I decided to have a massage. Kim had been saying she had wanted to try one for a while and I'll never say no to an opportunity for a massage so off we went. No funny stories to tell on this one, it was all very well behaved and enjoyable. Kim was a little surprised when they got her bum out though, an aspect I had 'forgotten' to tell her.
In the evening we went for dinner at the night market. We ate at a stall where you could order any 5 items from assorted veg, noodles and rice for 20000 rupiah (about £1). The food was only average but at that price you can't complain. We had some deep fried corn things, aubergines, coconut stuff that was like seeni sambol, tempah stuff, spinach, all sorts really. After that we had some drinks at an irish bar that had some acoustic music playing. The music wasn't great but we knew the songs so we could sing a long.
The next day we walked into town to rent bicycles to ride around the island. It cost us £2 each to hire them for the day but we only wanted them for an hour or so. The island is only 8 km in circumference so its only a short ride but the difference between one side and the other is large. Whereas our side was quite touristy and full of backpacker (ie cheap) places to stay the other side was luxury. Some of the villas and hotels over the other side were really beautiful and the island generally was lovely. We stopped at one of the beaches and lounged in the bean bags for a while, having a quick paddle and a pineapple juice and then back on our bikes we went. At one point we spotted goats (Kim's favourite animal) so we stopped so she could feed the baby a leaf. Both Kim and the goat in question thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
After we had completed our circuit we headed back to the hostel and out for dinner. I had a pizza - the best pizza I've had in Asia to date, Kim had seafood skewers, Annabel had a mie goreng, Kate and Becki had chicken satay and Amy had a panini. It was all round excellent.
Our boat left for Padangbai (Bali) at 11.30 the next morning, so, to check in at 10 we left at about 9.30. We waited around in a cafe and climbed aboard (finally) for a very smooth and enjoyable 2 hour boat journey. After that it was a less enjoyable but still fairly pleasant 2 and a half hour mini bus journey to Jimbaran where they dropped us off into a Mcdonalds carpark. We of course took this as a sign and had a McDonalds for a early dinner late lunch at 4 o clock. It was cheaper than in England but not by much and it was just as good as in England. After that it was a 20 minute taxi to the hostel which was called Karma Backpacker hostel in Ulawatu.
Gili T was really fun and a good island as a base for doing stuff. It wasn't the most beautiful beaches we've seen, but after the paradise of Koh Rong Samloem I'm not sure anything will compare.
