Day One
In the morning, Nico and I packed up all of our things. We enjoyed the complimentary breakfast that our hotel provided. I had a pancake. Then, we checked out and walked down the street to where our shuttle was supposed to pick us up.
The shuttle came and took us to a harbor on the west coast of Bali. When we arrived, we were told we had to wait about two hours before we could get on a boat. There was just a tiny room for everyone to wait in so Nico and I took a walk around to get some snacks.
Finally, it came time to board the boat and head to Gili Trawangan (Gili T.). The ocean was rough and it rained a little during our journey. When we arrived, it was no longer raining but the dirt roads were flooded and we had to walk through muddy puddles on the way to our hostel.
We were staying at a place called Deep House. It had a bar and cozy bungalows for us to stay in. When we arrived, the power was out but it came back on soon and we were able to connect to wifi and look up where we should go eat.
We went to Pituq Cafe, a vegan restaurant close by. It had a cute atmosphere with little cabana/huts to eat in with pillows as seats. Nico and I split a platter of veggies with dip and vegan yellow curry with durian. Being a picky eater, I was surprised by how much I liked everything.
After dinner, we walked along the beach just to have a look around. We stopped at an Irish pub that was having a mojito Monday special going on. Nico and I each had two mojitos before heading back to the hostel. Then we had a few beers at the hostel bar and chatted with the bar tenders. One of the guys was really interested in a pen spinning trick that Nico does.
Day Two
Nico and I had breakfast at our hostel. I ordered a plain pancake with honey but there must have been some confusion because it came with bananas in it and no honey. The parts without banana were pretty tasty though.
After breakfast, we decided to walk along the beach around the island. We could get around most of it without leaving the beach. There were a couple of coral-y areas that were difficult to walk on and a few places where the waves hit a wall instead of the beach. We didn't end up swimming because it was grey all day and the sunset side of the island was windy and stormy.
When we got back to our side of Gili T., it began to rain. We hung out in our bungalow, waiting for it to pass. I took a pretty miserable shower (outside in the rain) since the water didn't heat up.
When the rain finally stopped, Nico and I were very hungry so we went out to go find food. We started to look for a cafe that we'd walked by earlier that we'd remembered having good reviews on TripAdvisor, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we stopped at an Italian restaurant near the beach. Nico and I split a salad, bruschetta, and pizza. It wasn't the best Italian food I'd ever had, but it was pretty good.
Afterwards, we went to a Billabong store because they were having a sale and I bought a bathing suit. Then, we stopped at a tourist booking booth and we bought plane tickets to Jakarta. The annoying thing was that he'd only give us a good deal on the plane tickets if we'd also book a transfer from the Gilis to the airport.
That evening, Nico and I decided to walk to the other side of the island to see if there was a sunset to watch. We took a road that cut through the island rather than walk along the perimeter of the beach. The road cut through a rundown area where it looked like a lot of the locals live. It was a huge contrast to the upbeat and touristy bars and restaurants along the beach.
When we arrived at the sunset area, there wasn't much to see. The sky was so cloudy, it already felt like the sun had set.
For dinner, Nico and I went to a restaurant called The Roast House. It was very good. I ordered a jalapeño cheese sausage and Nico got mie goreng. Afterwards, we just got drinks at the hostel bar and then went to bed.
It was a terrible night's sleep. The bungalow walls were super thin and we could hear drunk people yelling over each other at the bar. It only got worse when our neighbors returned and talked loudly to each other in deep voices. When they finally fell asleep, I could hear them snoring through the walls.
Day Three
Nico and I packed our things, checked out, and headed to the harbor. There, we waited for our boat to take us to Gili Air. Not having had enough time for breakfast, I bought a snickers and some Pockies (I know, super healthy) from a Mini Mart.
Deep House Hostel
Private rooms
Bar
Slow wifi
Cold shower only
Good atmosphere to meet people
Bike rentals
Paper thin walls
The boat ride didn't take long as all three of the Gili Islands were pretty close together. We stopped briefly at the middle island, Gili Meno, to drop off and pick up some people before arriving at Gili Air.
Once we arrived, it took about 15 minutes to walk to our hostel. Luckily, the roads were dry and we didn't have to trek through mud puddles. When we arrived at Begadang Hotel, it was too early to check in so we dropped off our bags and headed to the beach. We were located close to the sunset side of this island so it was only a few minutes walk to beautiful, secluded-feeling beaches.
We walked down the coraly shore for a bit, stopping at a bar with hammocks and a swing. We swam a little bit. The water here was quite shallow and there was a lot of coral so we didn't feel like staying long (despite the beautiful, sunny weather we were finally having). I relaxed for a bit in one of the hammocks and then Nico and I ordered some food, which was just okay.
After, we decided to walk around the island. Although much smaller than Gili T., Gili Air had a lot more non-beach areas to walk on as we circled it. We stopped to swim at one point where the water was deeper and less full of coral. Eventually, we made it all the way around the island and back to our hostel to check in.
We moved our bags into our little hut room and went for a swim in the hostel's mushroom shaped pool. Then, I took a shower, which was nice and warm. Nico and I changed and then headed back to the beach to watch the sunset.
We stopped at a bar/restaurant that served Mexican food. They had a happy hour special in which you'd get a small bowl of nachos with every cocktail. I ordered a piña colada and Nico got a margarita. We also split a plate of enchiladas.
The sunset was much nicer than it had been the last few times we'd tried to watch it. After our cocktails, we just went back to go hang out in our hut and then go to bed. We were very tired from our previous sleepless night.
Day Four
When Nico and I woke up, we decided to go into town to get breakfast. We walked and found a cute cafe near the harbor called Coffee & Thyme. I ordered a savory pancake (made with butter and mozzarella) and a cookie chocolate shake. Nico got some kind of yummy chicken sandwich. We loved everything!
After breakfast (brunch at this point), we changed into bathing suits and headed to the place we had swam at the previous day with the deeper water and coral-free beach. We rented a pair of those full-face snorkel masks on the way but didn't get much use out of them because they kept fogging up.
After our beach time, we headed back to the hostel to relax. We extended our stay by one night and booked a hotel on Lombok to stay in the night before our flight.
For dinner and sunset, we walked to a restaurant we'd eaten at the previous day. It was called Pura Vida and it served a mix of Spanish and other types of food. For happy hour, we got a free tapa with the purchase of two cocktails, so we ordered a piña colada, a tequila sunset, and patatas bravas. Later, we ordered a feta pizza. It was quite good!
This night was a little bit more cloudy than the previous night, which I thought made the sunset slightly better. We ordered two beers from the bar and then waited until it was dark before heading back.
At the hostel, we decided to lounge on the bean bag chairs by the pool. We met a few people who were staying at the hostel too. One girl was Paulina, from Chile. After chatting with people for a bit, Nico and I went to bed early again. We weren't getting the best nights sleep at this hostel either.
Day Five
For breakfast, we went to Coffee & Thyme again. This time I ordered the sweet pancake, which came with brown sugar cinnamon and a citrus flavored honey. I also an iced caramel latte. Both were, again, very good. I think I slightly preferred the sweet pancake to the savory. Nico had a wrap.
After breakfast, we decided to walk around the beach to get back to the hostel. We stopped at a pair of hammocks suspended over the water to take a few pictures and swim. Then, we continued our walk to the hostel. We decided to hang out there for a little while and swim in the pool.
While we were hanging out, two people arrived carrying a box of kittens. They said they found them in the box, sealed, abandoned by some locals. There was also the mama kitty who was not in the box but following along, very stressed out about the whole situation. When the kittens were released from the box, mama couldn't find a secluded enough place to nurse her kittens and had to fend off the other curious cats around the property. Not to mention, her babies would keep running off and she'd have to retrieve them one-by-one.
When she finally found a secluded enough corner, I helped her out by moving the box full of kittens to her. There were five kittens in the box. A sixth one was wrapped up in a scarf that one of the rescuers was holding. The kitten was very sick. Its eyes were bulging out of its head and I couldn't bare to look at the poor thing. It clearly needed to be put down. The problem was, the only Gili island veterinarian was located on Gili T. and of course nobody here wanted to drown the poor baby. I decided to leave the kitten situation alone (mostly because I couldn't bare to think about the sick baby). The mama had settled down and her other kittens were nursing.
Nico and I went to grab some mie goreng from a little warung down the street. We also grabbed drinks from the Space Bar (a bar where you could also buy 'magic mushroom' shakes - there are a few of these spots around the Gili islands). We met a few other island kittens that liked to hang out in this area.
After eating, Nico and I went to the beach to relax and swim a little. We watched the sunset from the beach and then walked around. We walked to a bar that had a very large bonfire burning on the beach in front of it. We hung out here for a bit and then there was a power outage. It was kind of cool though because the whole island was dark (aside from the fire) and we were able to see the stars.
Then, we headed back to the hostel and had a couple of beers before going to our hut to listen to Harry Potter and go to bed.
Begadang Hostel
Amazing location
Shit wifi
Pool
Ping-pong, slackline, games
Outdoor bungalows
Beds with no sheet
Great atmosphere
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