In Reply to: gili islands posted by moomoo on Saturday, 4. July 2009 at 14:01 Bali Time:
The Gilis is different to Bali.
Last year I took a Perama trip to Gili Trawangan (GT). As the Perama boat from Senggigi to the Gilis was not operating and the coastal road north was blocked by a landslide, the Perama bus had to travel south then inland through a monkey forest. Eventually, we reached the small port of Teluk Nara which is south of Bangsal. We waded to a 20' boat then headed to GT through two metre high waves. The face of one of the Australian ladies onboard took on the colour of her green top.
When the boat arrived at GT, I tried to find a hotel from the guidebook. A fellow came up to me with photographs of rooms in his Losmen. For Rp 80,000 a night (without breakfast) he offered me an air-conditioned room at Aldi Homestay in the village. This large room was clean with two large beds. More expensive rooms were closer to the beach. During the day there were frequent power cuts and thus no airconditioning.
As I am not a party animal, my two 'must dos' on GT were snorkelling and visiting the Japanese Cave.
I simply rolled up near the jetty at 10 am and for Rp 60,000 for the trip plus Rp 10,000 to hire flippers I went on a six hour snorkeling trip around all three islands. On my trip, I saw a large turtle swimming underwater and a Japanese wreck. Others saw a giant clam. We had lunch at a small restaurant on Gili Air which is not included in the price.
My other 'must do' was a visit to the Japanese Cave. If you walk to the back of the village and along a wall, you will see concrete steps going up to the Communications Tower on top of the hill. The steps stretch for about a kilometre. When you get to the top there is a great view of the islands. Walk around the tower and follow the track at the back. You will see a small sign in English and Japanese. Walk down a slippery slope for twenty metres and you will see the entrance to an L shaped Japanese Cave. The cave looks like something out of the film "Letters from Iwo Jima". It has been blasted out of the rock. It has about a one metre high entrance and is about four metres wide. I walked in about twenty metres but did not fully explore the cave as I did not have a torch. I still do not know whether the cave was built by Japanese soldiers themselves or by forced labour.
You can return the way you came or walk down another set of concrete steps on the other side of the hill. If you do so, you will arrive at the "The Stud" - a horse riding place. Keep walking towards the beach and follow the path back to the village.
GT is a lot busier than Gili Air and is currently undergoing a boom.
GT is a scene with western tourists lying on bamboo platforms near the beach ignoring the ocean and watching DVDs on small TVs. Their other recreation is to smoke through sheesa pipes.
There are no motor vehicles on GT. The only form of transport is the Cidomo, a horse drawn cart.
After three nights on GT, it was time to head to Lombok. Perama took me by boat to Bangsal. There, I had to carry my luggage three hundred metres to the Bus Station. From there I took the Perama bus firstly to Senggigi, then to Mataram.