Gilis and other excursions

We volunteers actually have every weekend completely free, so we came up with the idea of taking a short trip to the Gilis. The Gilis are three small islands just off Lombok, the larger neighboring island of Bali (seen eastward).

We were picked up Friday morning at, actually 6 o'clock, but then 7 o'clock (typical for Indonesia).

And taken to Padang Padang harbor from there we sailed to Gili Air by speedboat within 2 hours, the calmest of the three islands (Gili Travangan and Gili Meno are the other two islands).

Arriving at 12 o'clock, we were overwhelmed by horse carriages and bicycles. No other means of transport are allowed on the islands.

We were taken to our accommodation by a small carriage, which was located at the other end of the island (the journey took about 10 minutes).

After settling into our small bungalow, we went to the beach. The water was almost as warm as the air, so no refreshment. We sunbathed and took a walk around the island (took about 1.5 hours). Then it was already evening, we watched the sunset during dinner and went to bed very early. Even shorter trips can be exhausting, especially in this heat!

The next day, we set off for snorkeling at 9 o'clock. We returned to the harbor (the walk was almost faster than the carriage ride) and from there we went on a small glass boat with 10 other tourists to some snorkeling hotspots on the other islands.

It was super cool, but it started raining in between and from further away you could even sense a thunderstorm. The boat's team, however, was more relaxed about the whole thing and wanted us to continue snorkeling in the lightning and thunder. However, everyone on the boat agreed that we would not go into the water under these circumstances. So we waited for the rain shower/thunder/lightning to pass.. That was the very first time in Indonesia that I was cold. When we continued, half of the roof above our heads also flew away, the team didn't care, because we just continued. We arrived home tired in the evening and fell into bed.

On Sunday, we got up at 5 o'clock to see the sunrise and take a nice picture on the infamous swing in the water. We spent the last few hours at the beach until we took the speedboat to Bali at 11 o'clock, which only arrived at 12 o'clock and picked us up. When we arrived at the harbor, there was a huge mess, no one knew where to go - 45 minutes later we were sitting on the right bus and after another 3.5 hours of driving we finally arrived home.

The following weekend or Saturday, the alarm woke us up at 2:30 in the night. At 3 o'clock, we set off to the north of Bali with three cars and a total of 20 people. We arrived at Lovina beach around 6 o'clock, where three boats were waiting for us. We went out to the open sea to observe dolphins there. Surprisingly, we saw many more dolphins than expected. Even after asking ten times, I was only allowed to jump into the water at the end of the trip, unfortunately we didn't encounter the dolphins anymore.

Then we headed to the mountains. We visited three waterfalls where you could swim. The water was cold as expected but a nice refreshment in between.

We were also accompanied by locals who work in the organization. Thanks to them, we were able to get much cheaper tickets, sometimes up to 80% less. On average, we paid around 10,000 Rupiah per waterfall, which is about 0.70€.

However, mainly only people from the 'Western' countries (that's what we call the First World countries here) went into the water, because ironically, hardly any Indonesians could swim. A few of them dared to enter the lake of the waterfall and we even taught them a little bit of swimming.

In the evening, we arrived back around 7 o'clock, we were exhausted but still very impressed by what we were able to see there..

Bali can always surprise you with something new.

But the adventure weekend was not over yet, because on Sunday, my roommate Irizelle and I set off for Ubud at 6 o'clock in the morning. As she was taking her flight home in the evening, we had to leave very early so that we wouldn't have any problems with the time. In Ubud, I showed her the rice terraces, the Monkey Forest Road and the market. Then the time was already up and we drove back home as fast as possible with my little scooter.

As you can see, there is always something to experience here on the weekends.

On the following weekend, I had planned to take a break because the work and preparation with the children takes up a lot of time and energy. But the thirst for adventure doesn't leave me alone, we will drive towards the north again and explore another part of Bali. I will also take a day trip with an American friend to the Tanah Lot Temple and the Canggu Beach.

I think I will also report on that. And then next weekend it goes to Singapore already..