We Walk 5,000 Miles…
- Aug 14, 2016
- 4 min read
Location:
Gili Trawangan Island, Indonesia
When it comes to Asia, expect delays. When a 30-minute wait for your boat turns into 3 hours, all you can do is smile. There is no point in complaining. This is Asia, and really, who is going to listen! It’s best to respond as Mrs Brown would. ‘That’s niceeeeeee!’ At least when we eventually made our way through the large crowds of people and onto the boat, our journey was only short.
Arriving on the island where advances in transportation have been pulled back to yester year with the two main methods being either bicycle or horse and carriage. Good luck trying to find motorised vehicles. It’s really nice not to hear engines roaring down the small streets and to breath air that is fresh and better for you. The streets are far from quiet with the constant hustle and bustle of tourists, locals trying to sell you something and the never ending beeping of horns warning people that they are in the way of the many horse and carriages.
After a bit of a walk we found our place of residence for the next few nights, ‘Cindy Homestay.’ We did not know what to expect. One review said that 43 cockroaches were found. As you can imagine, we were a bit dubious about it. Luckily, the place turned out fine. We did not find one, let alone 43! The place was basic, but it did the job. It provided us with shelter, a bed, and a damn nice banana pancake breakfast. What more could a backpacker want! We are simple creatures with rather simple expectations! After only a few days there, Jason decided it would be better to move to another place for our final day on the island, ‘Welcome Inn Homestay’ which was a lot more luxurious than the previous place.
As part of our ‘Get Fit’ regime, we traded in the non-existing treadmill, and take to the streets for the first time and jog around the whole island. That is fine, the only problem being the intense heat of the sun beaming down on you when all you want is to be shaded. Being the soldier that you are, you persevere, focusing on your goal. Each step at a time. The sun may want you to fail, but you are stronger. You show it who’s boss! When you make it back in one piece, you feel as if you have accomplished something. You feel fantastic. All you want now is a nice shower! There was a shower, just no running water. Washing yourself with bottled water wasn’t exactly what I had in mind!
There is not a lot to do here apart from walking, swimming and checking out the many bars and restaurants on offer. Swimming here is hard as the water in many spots is quite shallow with lots of rocks to contend with. Eventually we did find somewhere nice. Sometimes the best things in life are the things that are not planned. We only went out for something nice to eat. Of course, the sea was calling me. She looked so beautiful, with her stunning turquoise dress, who was I to refuse her. With that, I took my top off, raged through the rocks and into the most amazing lukewarm water. If the island didn’t feel like paradise before, it certainly did now. As for walking, from our jog around the island in the morning, to our walk back in the evening, it felt we were walking ‘5,000 miles.’ We were still walking around the island!
To say the island is a lot more touristy and commercialised than we would have liked is a bit of an understatement. The one good thing I will say about the Indonesians is that they don’t try to push you. A simple ‘No thank you’ is suffice. Of course, there are always exceptions to every rule. My ‘stalker’ as I like to call him kept on asking me if I would like to book a snorkelling trip each time I went by his little shop. Each time I would fob him off with the, ‘I don’t know what we’re doing tomorrow’ answer. No matter how many times I tried to fob him off, he still asked the same question the next time we went through. While he seemed nice, he definitely was not the smartest cookie in the jar! Or was he?
After seeing photos from our good friends Lucy and Liam enjoying being free as little kids on swings in the sea, Gili T has been somewhere we have wanted to visit. It looked stunning, like paradise. While the island is lovely with the advantage of no motorised vehicles, did it live up to my romantic view of being the most perfect place in the world? Sometimes when your expectations are so high, it’s very hard to satisfy them. Yes, it is a really nice island where one can chill for a little while and be happy, but to say it is the paradise I searched for, is simply a misrepresentation of the reality that is, Gili T!
By Andrew
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