With one day left on the Gili Islands, I had to take a trip over to Gili Trawangan. 'Gili T,' as it is popularly known because of the difficult pronunciation of its name, has a reputation for being the party island. Its reputation seems to rival that of Kuta, though the parties on Gili T are seen as a little more, shall we say, gritty. Its other reputation is of being Indonesia's 'Mushroom Island.' This reputation comes from the ease to which one can acquire magic mushrooms. Gili Air as well though has the hallucinogens readily available in the form of shakes, pizzas, or 'as is' at most bars; always marketed with an added guarantee of freshness.
For a solo female traveller the idea of a non-stop party with most people taking mushrooms or other drugs sounded, although fun, not necessarily where I should set up camp. From conversations with long-stay residents of the islands as well, it is important to be aware that the Gilis, and especially Trawangan, have a very serious Crystal Meth problem. As happens in areas that are exploited for a party scene by foreigners, problems like this arise rather easily from a lack of education and exposure not accompanied by explanations. Meth hit the islands through partying foreigners and from locals seeing the great high it brings, it therefore became a local drug of choice as well. Drug awareness though isn't very prevalent on the Islands or throughout most developing countries. Locals seeing foreigners coming for a few days and using Meth all the time made it seem like something that is part of daily existence for some, rather than understanding that possibly at home these people rarely use it. Now many young people on the Gilis use Meth simply to get through their day.
For a solo female traveller the idea of a non-stop party with most people taking mushrooms or other drugs sounded, although fun, not necessarily where I should set up camp. From conversations with long-stay residents of the islands as well, it is important to be aware that the Gilis, and especially Trawangan, have a very serious Crystal Meth problem. As happens in areas that are exploited for a party scene by foreigners, problems like this arise rather easily from a lack of education and exposure not accompanied by explanations. Meth hit the islands through partying foreigners and from locals seeing the great high it brings, it therefore became a local drug of choice as well. Drug awareness though isn't very prevalent on the Islands or throughout most developing countries. Locals seeing foreigners coming for a few days and using Meth all the time made it seem like something that is part of daily existence for some, rather than understanding that possibly at home these people rarely use it. Now many young people on the Gilis use Meth simply to get through their day.
To get to Gili Trawangan I took the public ferry as I had did with Gili Meno. Trawangan is the farthest of the three islands form Lombok and therefore the cost to get there from Gili Air is 40,000 IDR one-way or 80,000 IDR return. The same ticket office will sell you the ticket as the one that sold me my ticket to Meno, located at the start of the concrete pier leading out into the water from the port. The boat leaves at the same time as the one to Meno as well, 8:15am, and returns to Gili Meno and Air at 4:00pm. To the Right: This is the public ferry ticket office on Gili Air |
I went over with my trivia companions from the night before. We were all cracking jokes on the way over about what we would expect to find when we got there. We expected a rave to still be going on or day drinking to have already started. However, as it was 8:45am on a Sunday when we arrived and what we found was in fact the aftermaths of a Saturday night and not many people up and about. There was a smell of stale beer in the air and the ground was littered with wrappers, cans and bottles, and cigarette butts.
We found a great spot by the water for breakfast with a menu 1/3 of the price of most others along the main strip of businesses. Looking at many menus we realized Gili T was slightly more expensive than Gili Air; Gili Meno though was still the most expensive.
We found a great spot by the water for breakfast with a menu 1/3 of the price of most others along the main strip of businesses. Looking at many menus we realized Gili T was slightly more expensive than Gili Air; Gili Meno though was still the most expensive.
The boat drops you off right at the busiest part of the island, with more businesses extending to the right than the left. It was still early in the day when we had finished eating and so we headed off exploring. We ended up doing the two hour walk around the entire island and really not seeing anything that would have enticed us to stay there. As with the other two islands, the port side was the busiest and most developed part, and the far side was pretty much deserted. There seemed to be works in progress around most of the island on some pretty big and fancy looking hotels and resorts, but they were no where near finished and some looked completely stopped in progress. The way wasn't a difficult one as the perimeter of the island is completely flat. If you are looking for another exercise option, you can climb up the hill on the interior of the island. It is easily accessed, though, by the time be finished our walk around, we are exhausted and the day was heating up.
We finished our walk by 1:30, just in time for a lunch break. When we turned the final corner to get to the main part of the island with the bars, restaurants, and shops we discovered everyone had woken up finally. The road ways were packed with people, bikes, and horses. Navigating our way was tricky and rushed; you couldn't stop to look in a store casually as there were always people behind you or trying to get by you. What we had first seen as a post-party wasteland was crowded once again like a bustling marketplace. To avoid this we tucked back into our haven of a cheap restaurant and enjoyed lunch with watermelon-orange juice. Delicious!
We found there wasn't much to do on the island really, other than sit and eat or drink, and even then it wasn't set up for the same all-day, no hassle, lounging we were used to. As well, the beach was terrible for swimming. Where the shoreline had stretches of flat sand, it was covered in litter, and elsewhere the tide was rough, the water shallow and filled with coral, or the landscape was more of a steep bank.
General impressions of Gili T were not that good from any of my group, and this is not because we don't enjoy a good party, this is because we had all spent at least a week in a place where you are able to quietly relax during the day and then party at night. On Gili T, the days are busy and hectic. I would advise only staying one or maximum two nights and make sure that there is something worth while going on during those nights to make it worthwhile.
General impressions of Gili T were not that good from any of my group, and this is not because we don't enjoy a good party, this is because we had all spent at least a week in a place where you are able to quietly relax during the day and then party at night. On Gili T, the days are busy and hectic. I would advise only staying one or maximum two nights and make sure that there is something worth while going on during those nights to make it worthwhile.
We returned to our island paradise at 4:45pm and welcomed the piece and quiet. It was all of our last nights on the island and so we hit up two of our favourite places. Chill Out Bar for a BBQ dinner and then Paradiso II, where we both opened and closed the bar with 'Charlie,' our friend of many accents and maybe too much free time on his hands.
It was a bittersweet, rather early bedtime. You could easily get stuck on the Gili Islands, as it is hard to muster up the will-power to keep moving when you are so laid back and over-rested. However, I knew I was on a tight schedule and so I gathered all my strength and committed to leaving the next day.
It was a bittersweet, rather early bedtime. You could easily get stuck on the Gili Islands, as it is hard to muster up the will-power to keep moving when you are so laid back and over-rested. However, I knew I was on a tight schedule and so I gathered all my strength and committed to leaving the next day.
Travel Tip:
1. Take the public ferry while island hopping as it is cheap, popular, and reliable
2. Only stay one or two nights on Gili T, if you must, and plan to do so when something specific is going on to maximize your time there
3. Really shop around for cheap food
4. Take 2 hours out of your day to walk the entire island…. though do so in the morning or evening because it gets hot quick
1. Take the public ferry while island hopping as it is cheap, popular, and reliable
2. Only stay one or two nights on Gili T, if you must, and plan to do so when something specific is going on to maximize your time there
3. Really shop around for cheap food
4. Take 2 hours out of your day to walk the entire island…. though do so in the morning or evening because it gets hot quick