Jannah's Utopic Eden

6DEC08 - Gili Trawagan, Lombok, Indonesia


Did you know that Indonesia is a nation of over 17,000 islands? Most of these islands are totally undeveloped and the ones that are, are basically tribal and completely untouched by the exploitative hand of tourism?

The island we are on now, Gili Trawagan (Trawagan Island), is in between this description and it's antithesis. I imagine this place is what Thailand was like 30 years ago. The island is small; takes about 90 minutes to walk around. There are absolutely no motor vehicles or scooters, which is a nice change from anywhere else in Southeast Asia because everywhere else there is no such thing as pedestrian friendly! The primary modes of transpo are donkey carriages and bicycles.

There is only one 'resort' hotel on the north end of the island which goes for $90 USD a night! (Which is about 5 times more expensive than anywhere else we've stayed.) The rest of the places are small, family run bungalows. The food is relatively cheap and today we finally found a cafe that actually serves real coffee. I haven't had this kind of caffeine buzz since I first discovered white chocolate mochas my freshman year in college!

Yesterday we went on snorkeling trip around this island and it's two smaller siblings. The world of the ocean is a crazy place! We saw a giant turtle, a big clam and thousands of neon glowing fishes.

For entertainment in the evenings, there a couple watering holes that offer western/jamaican music and cheap cocktails. Another place has live bongo-drum and didgeridoo music and offers rice alcohol laced with psilocybin. Apparently there is no form of law enforcement outside of tribal command which allows this for kind of local novelty. If only I were 8 years younger would I dare to try to go down this path but now that the perceived invincibility of youth has worn off, I am sure the incredible angst of adulthood would get the best of me. Who knows what dark corner of this island I would end up huddled in!!!

So we stick with White Russians and 30 cent movie rentals of pirated hollywood hits. If you've never seen a pirated version of a movie, it's very entertaining. The audio sucks but inevitably you can totally tell the version you are watching was recorded from the inside of some dudes jacket. You will miss pivotal moments in the movie because the screen goes black from the outlines of giant fingers hiding the lens from theatre ushers. It's classic.

Looking out from a cafe on Gili T is the island of Lombok... this island truly is paradise!

Looking south at a surf break.

The most developed section on Gili T. This newly constructed street was approximately 150 meters long in front of a string of beachfront bungalows just outside of the main hub.

A table for two at sunset anyone?



The turtle conservation tank.

The path that encircles the island. We took a 20 min donkey carriage ride around to explore.


Ok ok, enough with the "My Giant" jokes, I have heard it all from Mike already...ha ha. I swear this guy was standing back from the carriage just far enough only to look very tiny. Also, I really felt the cart was quite spacious and comfy enough for 2 people despite looking like I will burst through the roof and sides of it. I do think I look pretty proud of myself for being so big... maybe Ill be drafted to the WNBA when this gets out!!

So this is what happens when you drop your dirty laundry off at the reception desk... they tell you it will be done by this evening only to come home from a very relaxing and beautiful walk along the beach to find your undies hung just outside your bungalow for the world to see... Mike thought it was pretty funny anyway.

Mt. Rinjani, Indonesia's 2nd tallest Mountain, peeks up through the clouds at sunset. Just an incredible site to see!





Sunset.