Indonesia: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, Gili Air

On the evening of December 11th, I arrived in Denpasar/Bali with almost two hours delay and took a taxi to Sanur, which is 15 km away. I had two weeks here until my flight to New Zealand on Christmas. In Bali, like everywhere in western and central Indonesia, it's rainy season in December, but it's less intense on the small islands between Bali and Lombok and on the Gili Islands in the northwest of Lombok. For this reason, and because of the prospect of more dives, I decided to spend my time on these islands, especially since I visited Bali in 2019.

So on December 12th, I took a fast boat from Sanur to Nusa Penida, where I immediately rented a scooter to explore the island in the afternoon. The coast of the island is often built up, but the interior is mostly untouched with lots of jungle. On the way to Atuh Beach, I crossed the island and made a stop at a Hindu cave temple, which I visited. Arriving at the beautiful Atuh Beach, I spent two hours on the beach and in the water. The next two days, I went diving three times each day and was surprised to find such great diving areas so close to the tourist hotspot Bali. The dives were challenging due to the currents between the islands of Bali and Lombok (the connection between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific). This area is known for mantas, but also for sunfish, also called Mola-Mola, which are usually only seen while diving from July to October. The coral reefs mostly make a very good and healthy impression. After the second day of diving, my diving base offered a free three-hour trip to some highlights of the island, which took me to Broken Beach and Kelingking Beach, the postcard motif of the island, among others. On December 15th, I rented a scooter again and drove almost the entire island: first, I made a swimming stop at Crystal Beach, then I went to Tembeling Beach, which unfortunately is less suitable for swimming due to the surf and the current, but has a natural freshwater pool, then to the green hills called Teletubbie's Hills and finally to Diamond Beach just before sunset. Again and again, I had views of the cliffs on the island. This brings us to the biggest disadvantage of this picturesque island: most beaches can only be reached via difficult steep paths and partly stairs. On December 16th, I finally decided to go diving again. During the third dive, we encountered a sea snake and then came the big surprise: we could actually admire two sunfish near the water surface, for me they were the first Mola-Molas ever! Usually, these fish stay at great depths at this time of year! So we were incredibly lucky!

On the same day, I took the boat for a short distance to the much smaller neighboring island Nusa Lembongan. Right at the harbor, I rented a scooter for the next two days and drove to my accommodation, which was recommended to me by a friend and was only 100m from the beach. My room with a terrace was very beautiful, and the couple who owned the accommodation were very hospitable and helpful. Unlike Nusa Penida, the beaches here are much easier to reach. The next day, I wanted to explore the island and first drove to the mangroves, where I booked a boat tour. Then I drove over a yellow metal bridge to the neighboring island Nusa Ceningan, where I visited the Blue Lagoon and the Ceningan Cliffs and swam at Secret Point Beach. Back on Lembongan, I visited the so-called Devil's Tears, a spot with spectacular surf, and then spent two hours at Dream Beach, which is supposedly the most beautiful beach on the island but was rather disappointing for my taste. Unfortunately, there was no sun that day. Overall, I liked Nusa Penida a little better. The island is larger, more untouched in the interior, and the tourists are better distributed due to the size of the island.

On December 18th, I took the speedboat to the tiny island of Gili Air, which is just under two square kilometers. The Gilis, located in the northwest of Lombok, consist of three islands, Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. There are also good diving areas around the islands. On Gili Air, I rented a bungalow for the next 6 days. The following days I spent diving and explored the island by bicycle, which is car-free. Almost the entire island is surrounded by beaches, which unfortunately are often not very clean. In general, Indonesia has a garbage problem. The people on the island, most of whom come from nearby Lombok, are very warm and hospitable. I really enjoyed diving, so instead of originally planned 5, I did 10 dives. There were incredible numbers of turtles, some of which reached amazing sizes, as well as octopuses, cuttlefish, and whitetip reef sharks. The last two days, the weather was bad, it rained a lot and the wind was very strong. During my last dive on December 23rd at noon, we only had visibility of 7 to 8 meters. Due to the rough sea, my originally planned fast boat for the return trip to Bali could not operate, so I had to take a different, larger boat, which only went to Padang Bai and not to Sanur. However, there was a shuttle service from Padang Bai to Sanur, where I arrived on Christmas Eve in the afternoon in pouring rain. Overall, I can't complain: although I was here during the rainy season, I only had two really bad days, otherwise it was mostly sunny and when it did rain, it mostly happened at night. In Sanur, I spent my last evening in Asia at a nice restaurant and later on the terrace of my accommodation.

Overall, I spent about half a year in Asia, visiting a total of 10 countries, from the very European-influenced Georgia to West Papua, the easternmost part of Indonesia, which geographically no longer belongs to Asia. I am sure that I will miss some things in the countries I will visit in the coming months: firstly, it is the safety! The danger of being robbed as a tourist hardly exists in the Asian countries I have traveled to. In some cities, you should beware of pickpockets, but that is no different in Europe. In this regard, most cities and places I visited are even safer than German cities. Additionally, the people are incredibly hospitable and warm almost everywhere, and in many places, you can take the trite phrase "land of smiles" literally. Added to this is the excellent and inexpensive food. I will probably miss that the most in my next destination, New Zealand. In fact, I was in a restaurant almost every day in the past half year, so I will have to adjust. I am sure that I will continue to travel to Asia in the future and spend more vacations there.