April 14, 2009
Island of instant friends
You can count on one thing at Gili Trawangan - everybody there wants to get to know you
By Debbie Yong
Introduce yourself once and Gili Trawangan does not forget.
'How are you today, Miss Singapore? How is your tan?' coos the shop proprietor from whom I bought a bottle of suntan lotion the day before.
'My friends, come sit down and chat,' coaxes Ombak, a topless, tanned and curly-haired waiter I walked past on my first day.
These are just two of a chorus of greetings that my friends and I receive daily on Trawangan, the largest of three coral-fringed Gili islands off the north-west coast of Lombok, Indonesia.
With barely 700 inhabitants and only one circular dirt track going around the island that is 3km long and 2km wide, there is just not enough space on Trawangan for the awkward silences and averted glances of harried city dwellers. It takes you just two hours to walk around the entire island.
It is only day two of our stay but we already feel as though we have adopted the entire village.
Or they have adopted us.
Unlike in Bali, where I once spent half a week at Kuta Beach being harassed by touts during the day and streetwalkers at night,�Trawangan locals actually seem like they want to get to know you, not your wallet.
Though the two places are just two hours apart by boat, they are worlds apart in atmosphere.
'It is so relaxed here, nowhere else is like this. I knew when I saved some money, I had to live here,' says Eric, a 26-year-old who runs a small shop selling traditional tribal masks.
He first came to Trawangan on fishing trips as a teenager. Six years ago, the Javanese native married a Trawangan girl and settled down here.
My friends and I sit with him and two of his friends around a beach bonfire, not far from the island's party strip.
Eric met some American backpackers earlier in the day and agreed to start a bonfire after dinner so they could hang out. The Americans never showed up but he and his friends waited anyway, until we came along and joined them.
No one seems to be in a hurry here.
All forms of motorised vehicles are banned on the three Gili islands. The fastest way of getting around is on a bicycle or a cidomo (a colourful and rickety horse-drawn carriage).
The best travel plan, if you are visiting during low season (any time apart from July, August and the Christmas season when young Europeans and Australian surfer-types throng the place), is to, well, stop planning.
Unless you are looking for a luxurious place to lay your head, such as the Villa Almarik or Hotel Villa Ombak, most smaller-scale accommodations are rarely full and take walk-ins.
Find a friendly cidomo driver to take you around the island to inspect your room options before you book one. A ride from the jetty to the north end of the island should cost less than 30,000 rupiah (S$4).
We settle on Gilinta Bungalows, on the north-eastern part of the island, for just 150,000 rupiah a night for a double-bedded hut. It has no air-conditioning but comes with fans and outdoor showers running hot water.
The young couple who run the place live in a tiny hut next to ours. The husband comes by daily to take breakfast orders, while his missus, with their little boy bound close to her chest, whips up the food in her kitchen. Charming.
From the bed in our secluded sea-facing huts, we can see the crystal blue waters lap the pristine white shore. It feels like the beach is all ours. Heck, it feels like the entire island is ours.
Not so far away, naked children giggle as they run freely along the dirt path, waving at strangers. Their parents nap under the shades of stores selling everything from groceries to traditional crafts and providing diving equipment and boat rides.
We take a chartered boat to snorkel near the other two Gili islands one morning. It costs 300,000 rupiah per day, including rental of snorkelling masks and fins, but prices are bargainable.
Alternatively, you can hop on a public, glass-bottomed boat for 35,000 rupiah per person. Daily departures to the other islands are at 11am and 4pm.
Turtles, large clams and an abundance of kaleidoscopic reef fish can be easily spotted a few metres from shore.
In the south-east, past the jetty, is 'downtown' Trawangan - a 20m row of classy restaurants and bars.
After dark, the bars take turns to crank up their DJ consoles for nightly parties that run till 4am.
Blue Marlin is the place to be on Mondays, followed by Dream Diver (Tuesdays), Irish bar Tir Na Nog (Wednesdays and Thursdays, which is also ladies' night), Rudy's Bar (Fridays) and Dive Indonesia (Saturdays). Live bands play every night at Sama Sama bar. A mug of beer costs about 15,000 rupiah.
Blue Marlin, Dream Diver and Tir Na Nog also offer accommodation for those who prefer the convenience of rolling right into bed after getting drunk.
Further inland from the jetty is the village, where there are schools, a clinic, the village chief's home and cheap sleeps at guesthouses and homestays for less than 40,000 rupiah a night.
Homely meals for $3
Be warned, though, that a mosque nearby broadcasts its morning prayers, so opt for rooms nearer to the coast if you are a light sleeper.
Except for the fresh seafood that the fishermen haul in, almost all other produce is brought in daily on boats from Bali or Lombok. Fresh water also has to be imported as the island has no lakes, rivers or wells.
These goods are sold at a village market at the centre of the island. Do not hesitate to ask locals for directions, the village's network of narrow lanes can be confusing. We realise this the hard way, after a futile afternoon wander.
Then again, it is not so futile. While meandering, we discover in the lanes the village's many warungs, or home kitchens, run by local matrons offering yummy local fare for less than 20,000 rupiah (S$2.70) per meal.
Most of them do not speak English, so just smile and point at the dishes you want displayed behind glass cabinets. As with typical Indonesian food, most are rather spicy.
Less adventurous eaters can take heart that the tourist boom on the island in the last five years has brought an array of international cuisine in swanky outlets.
Japanese eatery Ryoshi serves sushi, Juku Restaurant specialises in Mexican dishes (the nachos are better than those I tasted in Mexico) and the Spanish-themed organic restaurant Scallywags counts the fancy-sounding apple sauce-drizzled tempura sardines as its signature dish and also serves gelato, provided the island's only, and very temperamental, power station does not break down for the day. Mains typically start at 20,000 rupiah and you can get a decent meal, with a drink, for less than 100,000 rupiah per person.
It is not hard to see why tales are rife of tourists who come to Trawangan for a three-day sojourn but end up staying for 30 days. They then return yearly, until they finally decide to buy or build a home here.
But will the construction boom of luxury villas and sprawling private bungalow projects turn this into the next Kuta?
Will fuss-free sun-seekers no longer be able to find their quiet spot in the sand to watch the setting sun swirl pink and purple hues into the evening sky?
Eric is not concerned though.
'No, it is very good,' he says. 'I like to meet people from many countries. When more come, the better for us.'
Getting there
Singapore Airlines flies to Bali thrice daily. From there, a two-hour boat ride to Gili Trawangan costs about 600,000 rupiah (S$80) per person.
Alternatively, SilkAir flies to Lombok's Mataram airport thrice a week. A private car and chartered boat transfer from the airport to Gili Trawangan takes 40 minutes and costs 450,000 rupiah per person but prices are negotiable.
Or you can take public boats for 15,000 rupiah each. They depart only after they are filled to capacity and stop running at 5pm.
5 things to do
1 Take a boat ride to the other two islands, Gili Air and Gili Meno, which are even more rustic and less populated than Trawangan. Meno, the smallest and quietest of the three, is home to an incredibly interactive bird park with many native and Australian species. Accommodation on these two islands may be pricier than Trawangan as they are more limited.
2 Sample the wide array of fresh seafood. Outdoor seafood restaurants serve very affordable snapper, grouper, prawns and tuna, all barbecued in front of you. Budget 100,000 rupiah per meal.
3 Go on a diving or snorkelling trip. The island has several reputable dive centres that offer a range of certified dive courses and day and night dive trips for more advanced divers.
4 Take along enough mosquito repellent and remember to re-apply regularly. The pesky stingers can find their way through the most tightly sealed mosquito nets. Though the Gilis are malaria-free, nearby Lombok is a listed malaria zone.
5 Be prepared to stay 'offline' during your stay. There are only three Internet cafes on the island and they are often packed with Net-savvy young locals. Though they tout 'super lightning speed' connections, their surfing speeds can be painfully slow.
2 don'ts
1 Don't strut around the island in skimpy beachwear. Most of the locals are Muslims. While the younger set may come across as a laid-back bunch, be sensitive about offering alcohol to new friends.
2 Don't be enticed by the many signs offering 'magic mushroom shakes', 'omelettes that take you to the moon and back' or 'shabu-shabu', which is street lingo for crystal methampheta-mine. Possession of these illegal psychoactive substances may result in a long jail term.
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