From Bali To Gili, Gili Trawangan, Lombok, Indonesia ~ Sept 2014

(Island of Gili's)

After 4 days in Bali, we went to Gili Island. I regretted spending just 2 days in Gili. Eventhough i love Bali so much being in Gili is like jumping of to another heaven. After a lot of research, we decided to take fast boat to Gili with Ekajaya since its most convenient and cheaper option then taking a flight. We find out from other traveler that we can get cheaper price when we email them instead of directly booking from the website. 

It took us 1 hour boat trip to Gili Trawangan which is the biggest island of Gili's and the most lively. You can request them to drop you off to any island of your choice. Ekajaya also provide free pick up and shuttle service from hotel to Padang Bai jetty. If you take flight, you need to go to lombok airport, take an hour car ride to jetty and another 10mins speed boat to Gili. This is what we did when we left Gili island since we need to catch a flight back from Bali airport. If you considering taking a flight you need to know that Indonesia domestic flight always delayed. Our flight to Bali from Lombok was 2 hours delayed and we are lucky since we make an early start. 

As everybody raved about Gili, the islands is indeed beautiful with white sandy beaches and crystal clear water. When we arrived that afternoon, we took our time to explore the island. We rent a bicycle, go around as far as we could and stop at every beach we found. It was hot and the beach was packed with traveler. Even though its packed, you definitely will find your own space, tranquil and relaxation you looking for since there's no "noisy asian" if-you-know-what-i-mean around. *I should feel bad since i say this to my fellow asian lol

(we definitely get tanned after biking around)

(Please take note that you cannot go topless in Gili)

(Clear water isnt it?)

(Snorkeling from one of Gili Trawangan many beach)

(Shallow water and i love this picture)

There's nothing much to see if you snorkeling from the beach but swimming is definitely good. A lot of people go as far as they could when snorkeling. You can definitely see fishes and if you lucky, turtle even come to shallow water which mean as near to the beach. 

On the second day we took snorkeling trip with bottom glass boat. This boat can take as many as 30-40 people in single trip. but you got nothing to worry since this is all the people you will see during your snorkeling trip. Honestly snorkeling in Gili wasn't so impressive. There's not much coral to see you have to go to deeper water to explore. I believe diving will be better option. 

(Gili Diving and Snorkeling site)

From Gili Trawangan, if im not mistaken our first stop was Meno Wall. Everybody definitely can't wait and simply jump from the boat. 

(If its that clear who not going to jump isn't it?)

Our second stop was turtle point which our tour guide made a joke that his colleague will find us turtle no matter what. Everybody excitedly jump off the boat as soon as they allowed and follow the guy in order to see turtle. 10 mins later (or less), there's still no sign of turtle, at one point i believe everybody felt that they going no where and nothing much to see since we are in deep water where everything just dark blue and empty down there. 

Suddenly, deep from the bottom, out of nowhere  a turtle make a grand appearance and everybody go frantic.  Our tour guide give us signal to follow the turtle and everybody between those who can and cannot swim started to go as fast as they could, dive in to touch the turtle, take as many picture as we could before we losing it. It was amazing to see the turtle swimming like he got the sea all by himself and enjoying all the attention he gets. The sunny day make it a picture perfect for the rest of us and definitely something to tell when we get back home. *Please look at my video on the left side to know how close we are to the turtle :)

( I call this his passport picture)

Everybody was obviously tired and hungry after chasing turtle and we request to have our lunch first before heading to our last stop. They took us to Gili Air which is the smallest island of all three. It was beautiful there. No one swim tho since its really hot and everybody just wait for food and took picture. 

After lunch we made a last stop for snorkeling, there's few people who stayed on the boat and didn't bother to go down. I went down for a while and went back to the boat since nothing much to see here except fishes. 

This entry doesn't have any information about night life since we getting old and didn't bother to go to party anymore lol. But no worries, Gili Trawangan offer a lot of bar for those who want to party. On our last night in Gili we had an early night after a visit to spa and dinner since we have to wake up early the next morning and catch boat to Lombok. 

I am not a morning person but waking up early to see the magnificent Gili sunrise is something that should be added in everyone itinerary when they visit Gili. I really enjoyed our short stay here and definitely will be back again one day for a longer stay. 

Mabul Island

Island life, crystal clear water, cheap seafood, zillion star fish, memorable sunset and definitely gorgeous coral. That is what i can summarize about Mabul Island. The journey was unfortunately long, we took an hour car ride to LCCT airport, 3 hours flight to Tawau airport, another hour by car to Semporna and finally one hour boat ride to Mabul Island. Every minute was worth it after we arrived in Mabul Island and everybody was so excited to jump from chalet deck into the sea. 

We stay at http://scubajeffsipadan.com/ which is located in between so many other budget chalet in Mabul Island. What is good about this chalet is not only you can jump into the sea from it deck but you can also watch beautiful sunset from this side of the island. If you are a morning person, wake up between 6am to 7am and you will get a chance to see turtle which just under your deck every morning. We didn't see any because we woke up at 10. aahahahahha

(isnt that gorgeous?)

 (snorkeling right in front chalet)

 (they spend all afternoon in the water)

(waiting for our snorkeling trip)

Mabul and Sipadan Island famous for diving but if you are not a diver alternatively you can do snorkeling as we did. This is also the place where we all get excited for starfish, there are zillion of them, varies size and color all over the place.

We went snorkeling to 2 area, which is one near to Sipadan water bungalow and another one was called lobster wall. Since our waterproof camera have problem we didn't get a chance to take any underwater picture. Coral here was definitely gorgeous, lot of fish, you also can see eel and turtle if you lucky. 

Bajau laut kids like to come to this chalet, you can ask them to take you in their small boat around for as cheap as RM10. You have to negotiate with them for the price. These kids also like to ask you for money. If you see everyday life, RM1 to each kid already make them extremely happy. 

If you not here for diving, nothing much you can do except swimming and snorkeling. Alternatively, you also can pay a visit to Sea Gypsy Village which is accommodate bajau laut people. There's a lot of kids here and its fun to see how they go on their everyday life. Me and my girlfriend was so addicted to goreng pisang aka banana fritters here, first of all it was cheap, RM1 for 10 pieces and it was so good to eat after all those swim we did. Sadly, when you visit the village you can see rubbish everywhere. There's few villagers who try to have clean and nice environment but most of them simply didn't care. Plastic bag was everywhere and at some small beach there's even broken glass and bottles. 

 (they have fun jumping and i have fun taking picture, priceless)

(they don't have tablet to play games so they invent their own game)

 (kids clothes, seriously a lot of kids here :D )

(gov. should help and educate this people)

Sipadan water bungalow was at the other side of the island. We stay at scuba jeff so its mean we have to crossed the village to get there. It wasn't far, maybe 10 mins walk. If you not a guest at this resort, its not a problem, you still can come and visit for free. This resort built and surrounded by beautiful corals. Its nice that you can simply go down and already can find nice and unique sea creatures there. 

 (Observation deck view)

 (during low tide)

(Sipadan water village)

(small blue color fish)

Our vacation been blessed with a fresh seafood, right after bajau laut people back from fishing. They usually come to our chalet around 10am taking live crab, lobster and udang selipar(really dun know what this called in english) with them. We really regret for not taking blue lobster for RM180, when we went to Kota Kinabalu normal lobster already cost us RM200. Udang selipar however taste a bit like lobster and they sell it for RM10 each, RM20 in KK. We love crab so much and for 2 days during lunch we had crab. They sell crab RM20 for 6 nos. We then asked chalet cooker to cook for us and we simply love "ketam masak pedas" or crab in spicy sauce. 

(Bought it right from the boat)

 (otw to kitchen) 

(thats was udang selipar)

(masak pedas...nyummmmyyyy)

We are lucky to be able to see such gorgeous sunset on our second day in Mabul Island. Every body just sit by the deck, with drinks in hand and friends to hangout with and looking at the sun finish its duty for that day.  Mabul island is a place to relax, to forget everything and a place to have a humble life even for a short weekend.