Welcome to civilisations or at least a place with lots of people.
Gili Trawangan is the largest of the 3 island in this archipelago. It's known as a party island to the locals as it's favoured by younger tourist who seek entertainment and a bit of an island life. The main street is covered in shops, bars, restaurants and scuba diving companies. In the mids of all these you get cyclist and cidomo's passing through.
Coming from the sleeping island of Gili Meno into this can be a bit overwhelming but I indeed welcomed the crowd. There are so many touts trying to sell us a place to stay for the night. The dive schools do provide accommodation but they are expensive and it usually accommodates two people to a room if not dorms. Places further inland are cheaper, you are looking at about Rp.150,000 a night for 3 but that might not be fresh water in the showers. Dive school accommodations can range anywhere between Rp.250,000 to Rp.800,000 a night for two including breakfast during low season.
Gili Trawangan is the largest of the 3 island in this archipelago. It's known as a party island to the locals as it's favoured by younger tourist who seek entertainment and a bit of an island life. The main street is covered in shops, bars, restaurants and scuba diving companies. In the mids of all these you get cyclist and cidomo's passing through.
Coming from the sleeping island of Gili Meno into this can be a bit overwhelming but I indeed welcomed the crowd. There are so many touts trying to sell us a place to stay for the night. The dive schools do provide accommodation but they are expensive and it usually accommodates two people to a room if not dorms. Places further inland are cheaper, you are looking at about Rp.150,000 a night for 3 but that might not be fresh water in the showers. Dive school accommodations can range anywhere between Rp.250,000 to Rp.800,000 a night for two including breakfast during low season.
Food market on Gili Trawangan opens every evening after 6pm.
We ended up staying somewhere on the main street, with Fitry home stay. It was Rp.200,000 for all 3 of us to a room with fan, but honesty, one night was enough. It was alright but the breakfast wasn't all that and the fresh water wasn't exactly fresh water. The toilet wasn't working properly plus I got up in the morning to find at least 4 dead cockroaches. Time to move I say.
We checked out and stayed at Gili Backpacker. It's just on the way to Gili Divers, you'll see a sign saying Gili Backpacker on a wall that turns left onto a small street. Take that street down till you come to a cross junction at a mosque and then turn left. You'll immediately see Gili Backpacker. For Rp.100,000 per person a night, in a dorm room shared with 8 people, it's really good value for money. The shower and toilets are really clean and posh for a hostel and it's fresh water showers! Plus all the rooms are air-conditioned. The air-conditioning comes on about 6pm and goes off about 10am.
They have tea and coffee that you can help yourself to anytime of the day. As soon as you check in, fresh sheets are laid out for you and there are board games to play, they organise quiz nights and also drinking games. Oh and the accommodation per night comes with breakfast too which you have to take the ticket stub from the front desk and head down to Gili Viking cafe for breakfast. The staff are wonderful and helpful plus we got to meet a lot of other backpackers. In a few months time this place would have a pool at the back including a bar so for the price paid per person a night, it's a really good deal. Great location too.
We checked out and stayed at Gili Backpacker. It's just on the way to Gili Divers, you'll see a sign saying Gili Backpacker on a wall that turns left onto a small street. Take that street down till you come to a cross junction at a mosque and then turn left. You'll immediately see Gili Backpacker. For Rp.100,000 per person a night, in a dorm room shared with 8 people, it's really good value for money. The shower and toilets are really clean and posh for a hostel and it's fresh water showers! Plus all the rooms are air-conditioned. The air-conditioning comes on about 6pm and goes off about 10am.
They have tea and coffee that you can help yourself to anytime of the day. As soon as you check in, fresh sheets are laid out for you and there are board games to play, they organise quiz nights and also drinking games. Oh and the accommodation per night comes with breakfast too which you have to take the ticket stub from the front desk and head down to Gili Viking cafe for breakfast. The staff are wonderful and helpful plus we got to meet a lot of other backpackers. In a few months time this place would have a pool at the back including a bar so for the price paid per person a night, it's a really good deal. Great location too.
The other side of the island pretty quiet, perfect after a long night out on the main street.
Ditte, the Danish girl who did the Mt.Rinjani hike with me was also on Gili Trawangan. She hangout with the guys and me in the evenings. We frequented the food market, which is like a food court where you get food and then find a place too sit and eat. It's really good value for money and is only open in the evenings after sunset. If you go during busy hours, you'll experience harsh and rudeness. We got hustles by a little boy saying we needed to buy drinks from him and he would charge double instead of the actually price. Also, since we all in the group bought food from different stalls, we were not allowed to sit together. Apparently each stall operator have their 'own' sitting area. Fabien got chased off from where he sat because he didn't purchase food from the same operator as ours and this only happened during busy hours. When we went at 6:30pm, none of that happened. No one bothered us!
Another thing I found weird is that not many of the locals on this island can understand English or speak Indonesian. They had a blank expression when I was speaking Indonesia to ask for directions. Compared to Gili Meno and Gili Air, this island has the most tourist and yet the other two islands, the locals spoke better English, had really good command of it and spoke good Bahasa Indonesia too. Gili Trawangan was just bizarre.
Another thing I found weird is that not many of the locals on this island can understand English or speak Indonesian. They had a blank expression when I was speaking Indonesia to ask for directions. Compared to Gili Meno and Gili Air, this island has the most tourist and yet the other two islands, the locals spoke better English, had really good command of it and spoke good Bahasa Indonesia too. Gili Trawangan was just bizarre.
Some where on the north of the island.
Regardless I had a good time with the people I met at the backpacking hostel. We went to a full moon party on the beach. People we sitting down by the water, a few dancing... Not quite the party atmosphere I was expecting but it was good to be around people. Lucy and Kike came across to join us for the party. It was so good to seem them again. We all went for pre-drinks and chill till midnight before the party.
I've been hearing a lot about Vodka Joss. Apparently Joss is a type of energy powder which you add into your drink. The similar effect of having Vodka Redbull but according to the guys, after a Vodka Joss, you can feel all the gas bubbles resurfacing for your tummy. Not a drink to get when you're out on a date but it does certainly keep you energised all the way if that's what you're looking for.
All over the island you get people trying to sell you their 'special' shakes, where magic mushrooms are blended into. Also, Lucy warned that during big parties, drinks are easily spiked so keeping an eye out on drinks is important. Some of the bars that I personally think is worth the visit is Sama-Sama bar where the live band is pretty good and also Scallywags (they have another branch on Gili Air) where the cocktails are delicious. Pesona lounge has good cocktails too and if you are into sheesha, it's the only place on the island!
I've been hearing a lot about Vodka Joss. Apparently Joss is a type of energy powder which you add into your drink. The similar effect of having Vodka Redbull but according to the guys, after a Vodka Joss, you can feel all the gas bubbles resurfacing for your tummy. Not a drink to get when you're out on a date but it does certainly keep you energised all the way if that's what you're looking for.
All over the island you get people trying to sell you their 'special' shakes, where magic mushrooms are blended into. Also, Lucy warned that during big parties, drinks are easily spiked so keeping an eye out on drinks is important. Some of the bars that I personally think is worth the visit is Sama-Sama bar where the live band is pretty good and also Scallywags (they have another branch on Gili Air) where the cocktails are delicious. Pesona lounge has good cocktails too and if you are into sheesha, it's the only place on the island!
Beautiful night over looking Mt.Rinjani.
Renting bikes and getting around the island is pretty easy. We paid Rp.35,000 for half a day but clearly we needed it for less than 2 hours. We were silly enough to go biking at midday as I got fried and almost passed out with the heat. We made it to the North of the island before taking a break for a drink. As you cycling along the south to the north, the concentration of places and people thins out fairly quickly and it gets really quiet. It is a big contrast between the two sides of the island. The roads however are a different story. Towards the north, they need to build the road as it's just sand. You can't cycle on it so we had to dismounted and push the bikes. But cycling at midday is just a nightmare as it's too hot.
While the guys chilled, I booked myself into two more dives with Blue Marlin which is situated to the left of the harbour. Since I dived with the same company on Gili Meno, I choose to do the rest of my dives with them purely because I get a 10% discount for doing 5 fun dives and more. I initially signed up for Sunset Reef, but due to popular demand it got chanced to Turtle Haven. I only found out on the actual day I was diving and I was clearly not happy but I dived anyways. The visibility was good and it was actually quite a nice dive. Saw both Hawksbill and Green turtles on the site and so many too. Trumpet fish and beautiful Box fish can be found on the site as well. I did a deep dive, 30m and rented a dive computer from the shop for Rp.50,000. Honesty it was the best thing ever and now I want a dive computer! It's really useful.
While the guys chilled, I booked myself into two more dives with Blue Marlin which is situated to the left of the harbour. Since I dived with the same company on Gili Meno, I choose to do the rest of my dives with them purely because I get a 10% discount for doing 5 fun dives and more. I initially signed up for Sunset Reef, but due to popular demand it got chanced to Turtle Haven. I only found out on the actual day I was diving and I was clearly not happy but I dived anyways. The visibility was good and it was actually quite a nice dive. Saw both Hawksbill and Green turtles on the site and so many too. Trumpet fish and beautiful Box fish can be found on the site as well. I did a deep dive, 30m and rented a dive computer from the shop for Rp.50,000. Honesty it was the best thing ever and now I want a dive computer! It's really useful.
Gili Trawangan at low season is pretty good as its not overly crowded.
Since I was doing Deep Turbo, also a 30m dive, I was told by my dive master to get down to 30m on my own (on the first dive) before ascending to the same level as the group. This would then allow me to do the same depth later at Deep Turbo. On Deep Turbo, we had a bit of current but the visibly wasn't so great, 10m, hence I didn't enjoy the dive much. But I saw many Magnificent Slugs, saw my first Blenny, more Green Turtles and schools of fish. Current picked up at some point during the dive so it was a bit of a drift cruise. Nevertheless the dives were not too bad.
The people at the dive shop are nice and friendly therefore the atmosphere in the shop and on the boat was rather pleasant. There are many dive shops on the island so you're spoilt for choice plus they all charge the same flat USD35 per fun dive so there is no competition.
I managed to walk and explore the inland a little. As you walk further inwards from the main street, you'll see many little boutique shops, bars and cafés. They are relatively cheaper than the main street and quiet.
The people at the dive shop are nice and friendly therefore the atmosphere in the shop and on the boat was rather pleasant. There are many dive shops on the island so you're spoilt for choice plus they all charge the same flat USD35 per fun dive so there is no competition.
I managed to walk and explore the inland a little. As you walk further inwards from the main street, you'll see many little boutique shops, bars and cafés. They are relatively cheaper than the main street and quiet.
The little boutiques found on the inland of the island.
Gili Trawangan is more of a party island but one can always find a quiet spot on the island as well. For a few nights, Gili Trawangan is perfect but for a well balanced atmosphere I would prefer Gili Air where you can chill, or have a bit of fun and dive all at the same time. Again depending what you are looking for, all 3 islands can accommodate to that and they are just 20 minutes boat ride from one to the other. So if you change your mind, you can always hop on a boat to the next island.
I'll definitely be back to these islands!
Next up: Surfs up! Kuta, Lombok.
I'll definitely be back to these islands!
Next up: Surfs up! Kuta, Lombok.
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