Day 55 to 60 - Gili Trawangan - enchanting in turquoise and white

Gili Trawangan turned out to be a real surprise. Branded a bit as a party island, we wanted to decide against it, but it really was fantastic. The boat trip from Sanur to Gili T. took 3.5 hours and was hot and sweaty, but we were happy as soon as we got to the harbor... Starting with our beautiful hotel on Sunset Beach, no traffic, just horse-drawn carriages, little bars and restaurants right on the beach everywhere and then of course the water. Turquoise blue with white sand. And just three meters from the beach there were corals, colorful fish and... turtles right under our noses. We spent hours in the water and I got sunburnt for the first time on our trip. But it was worth it!! We also went on a snorkeling trip to Gili Meno and Gili Air, saw even more turtles in the sea and baby turtles on land and countless species of colorful fish. Frank went to the hairdresser (best haircut in a long time and for 4.50 euros), I went for a massage (1 hour 6 euros) and we went on the pub crawl tour on my birthday. 3 hours of live music and playing beer pong. It really couldn't have been better.

A few funny and sad facts: mushroom drinks are legal on the island and we were offered weed and cocaine on every corner. In the sunset bars they play trance music and everyone sways back and forth. In some bars and restaurants you have to pay an extra 20% tax and service. In others not, no idea why. During happy hour, however, three drinks only cost 6 euros. There are also beach cinemas with no admission charge. You just sit down, order something and watch a film or two. The transport ships are unloaded by hand and with horse-drawn carriages. It is very, very hard work. The hinterland looks horrible. Everything is full of garbage, rubble and pretty simple dwellings. The big question is: is tourism making it better or worse??? It is a miserable cycle, because without tourism there is no money and no progress, but also less garbage, less water and electricity consumption. The island is only 4 by 6 km and we always rode by bike, so we were able to see a lot. We still really enjoyed it. However, many backpackers have told us that we are really lucky, as from June onwards there are three times as many tourists on the island and then it is pretty chaotic. Now we'll see if the Philippines 🇵🇭 can top that.