Lombok Chapter 2 (The Gili's)

Day 1 ended!

Good morning Lombok!, it was 2nd September 2015 and i felt great!. Had a very nice and comfy sleep at Joje Bungalow. Oh and btw, the transport fee for Pak Juaini to pick us from the airport to Joje is Rp900,000. divided by 8 of us, its pretty cheap.

Pak Juaini pick us up at Joje early morning around 7.30AM, we had breakfast first of course. Some fried rice, coffee, tea, some sausages, toast. They served 2 types of breakfast that u can choose from, local or western.

early morning view from Joje Hotel

Breakfast!

We hop onto the van and all the way to our boat!. it was around 1 hour drive hoccay.. Because we were group of 8 ppl, we rented our own private boat. We didnt go exactly to the jetty, we went to the boat harbour near the jetty. 

The view from the hill towards the Jetty. LOVEEEEE!

The boat harbour, our boat is the yellow one, u can literally see the 3 gilis from here!

The fee for it is Rp1,000,000. For travelling to Gili Trawangan, Meno and Air... mmhhmm all 3 islands. TIPS: if u come in large groups, rent privates, easier and less hassles.

The 'driver' of the boat (is it? called a driver.., im not sure) , passed us the safety jacket and all the way we moved our sweet asses to Gili Trawangan. It was around 20minutes on boat from Lombok. And Jiji was like, revealing all this sexiness with her bikini, hahahaha,, even Pak Juaini were smiling non stop :D

We arrived at Gili Trawangan! yeayyy... wefie!

Gili Trawangan!

Wefie!

At the entrance of this island is the Turtle conservation centre. a great way to expose the tourist on the endangered species, very educational. Pak Juaini gave us around 1 hour plus for us to enjoy ourselves around the island. There is lots of hostels as well here, some expensive villa, chalets. U cant drive around here, the only meant of transportation is cidomo (horse cart) and bicycles.

Turtles hatchlings

What u need to know on the conservation effort

we walked around first, interesting island, with some red & white umbrellas hanging on top of the main road, lol. Also packed with white people, hahaha.. well packed with tourist. Some locals sells souvenirs and offers horse ride (never again for me) and owned some businesses. Like bicycle rent. U can do lots of other things here, kayak, diving, etc. 

The Cidomo, i'd advise you to avoid it, pity the horses.

the locals, carrying dried fish & coconuts on their head

Um-Bella .. lol

Me, together with Sha,Azam and Aman decided to rent bicyles. We can cycle around the island. So we rented the one near the conservation centre. Its cheap, less than 50000rp. TIPS: Rent a bike is the best way to explore the island, choose the bike wisely, test it around 2 -3 meters from the shop back & forth to ensure it is in good condition and not a scam. Cuz some have nearly flat tyres and broken handle etc, u dont want to be liable for that later.

Bike time!

The bike was the best, we cycled around the island, stopped at some freakishly beautiful beaches! . It was hot yes, scorching. But it was worth it. Narcisistic time!

Yoga on the beach! 

we parked our bike for this pic, kikikiki

reading books under the hot sun, not for me but they seem really enjoying themselves

We got back after our squeezing our butts from cycling, lol it hurts cos we rarely cycle!. Pak Juaini already waiting for us that time at the conservation center. Our next stop with the boat is Gili Meno. Gili meno is about 5 min from there by boat. Pak Juaini said this is the spot where we will be doing snorkeling. So here's the thing, pls ensure the spot is good for snorkeling. Our spot was not good, u basically cant see anything in the water, cos they are not many things to see. No corals no fish, it was not even a spot. I think the boat driver just stop whenever he wants. TIPS: do some research first on which area is good for snorkeling and inform the Supir.

Snorkeling near Gili Meno

We basically hv no clue at that time. The waves were quite strong, so pls be careful. Dont stray too far from the boat. Pak juaini however swim n dive with his underwear only, hahahaha.. yep that happened!

We then head to the last Gili which is Gili Air. This island is so prettyyyy. Lots of tourist tho. I really recommend u guys to come here. U can bike around the island too. But we were tired so we just hang out at a beach bar there. Facing the sea, hv lunch. U know enjoying ourselves. Its very relax, laid back. U can see the people sunbathing here..like lots of em. They have hostels here too. 1 of the guy there was so cute,.mihihihih.

Boats arrives at Gili Air

Heaven, Gili Air is just stunning!

The prices for food here is quite expensive btw, maybe cos its a small island. My lunch cost around 30ringgit for a simple nasi goreng. This is the pic of Bella's pasta. But the view...haiyaiyaii.. u will be satisfied with the view of the sea from this island.

The pasta

After the 3 Gilis, we made our way back to Lombok island. Pak Juaini drove us to a local souvenir center, handicraft mostly. It was around 1 hour drive. The place is called Sesela Art Market. Most of the stuff are woodcraft, very unique. Most have the lizard markings on it, kinda the island's trademark. They call the woofcraft as kerajinan. The souvenir are cheaper here actually. TIPS: planning to buy souvenir in bulk? Visit this place, Sesela Art market

The Seselas sister, tiberh

bangles n stuff, u know...

There are few shops, with most of em related to each other or maybe from the same village. I bought a box, wooden crafted box. I really like it cos it looks so 'ancient malay' , hihi. TIPS: if possible bring small money changes here like Rp10,000 - Rp50,000, Dont give them big notes as most of em don't have small change for that.

i really love the wooden art boxes, like freakin love it

We left the place and Pak Juaini drove us to another souvenir store (saje je kan), it's called Lombok Exotic, yup that is the name. Overhere they sell mostly clothes, batik. The magnets & stuff are much more cheaper at Sesela, so preferable dont buy here. But there was interesting choices of sun dresses, tshirts etc here. We bought this colourful clothes for our hiking tour tomorrow, hahah it was so funny, each one of us got a color..lmao! u will see it in my next post.

Yep, aman it is..

they actually sell that XXXXXXXXL clothes u know. 

The Batiks were quite okay, not really impressive tho. Bandung & Jogja have better prints and quality. We left that place and head out to a pearl store. TIPS: Lombok is famous for its pearls, if u plan to buy one, this is the place. Make sure its original by visiting valid stores (ask ur supir), Do not buy it from some street vendors.

The pearl was really pretty, esp the silver & black pearl. It cost around 200-300 ringgit. In Malaysia it will be sell around 500+ i guess. We didnt buy, not a fan of pearl, beside, most of us dont have the budget for it. But u can really get the best price here, from cheap to freakishly expensive.

La Pearlsss

There is also tour package to the Pearl village/breed centre etc where u can see for urself the how they produce the pearls necklaces and all. Starts from the moment it was caught from the ocean. But we didnt do it, no time. 

That was it and Pak juaini drove us back to Joje Hotel. It was such a tiring day actually, but sooo much fun! . We had some rest and that night we moved our pretty faces (tiber) to Senggigi town again. Because most of the restaurants are overpriced and doesn't really hv good food. We decided to have dinner at a fast food restaurant called Quick Chicken & Quick Coffee. It was worth it, cheap, good, fast and they have wifi! Although the motto is quite funny, hihi . TIPS: If you are on tight budget in Senggigi, quick chicken is the place!

Quick coffee!

Most places here closed early, as early as 10PM. So basically theres not much to do here at night. Bella bought some 'martabak terang bulan'. Like some fried cakes sort of, from what i heard, it was not that good. Maybe cos we're Malaysian and are used to good food, hahahah bongkak.

So we went back to Joje hotel and sleep, tired really. Tomorrow we have adventure day as, Day 3, Rinjani is waiting for us!