Finding that rare spot of paradise – a visit to Gili and Lombok

When I was a kid I remember having this feeling of complete happiness. That kind of undisrupted happiness that is pure and completely free from any worry. When I think of it I think of playing with my brother on warm summer nights, of hanging out with friends and the smell of rain after a warm sunny day. If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago I would have told you that this feeling was meant for a childhood happiness, but traveling like we do right now, being as free as we are, and on our way to a so exciting future must have triggered something in me. Because suddenly this feeling came to me again. We were in the most amazing place, on a small tranquil island called Gili Asahan – part of the Southwest Gilis just off Lombok, or the secret Gilis as they are also known as. The island is 5 km in circumference, there are no cars, no ATMs, no real modern facilities, only one small village and there is basically nothing to do but just enjoy barefoot life in a hammock or on the beach.
Doing exactly that, lying in a hammock with a sleeping Gustav on top of me, I had this feeling of pure happiness. I was lying there looking at the beautiful blue ocean with my baby while Søren and Carla were sleeping in another hammock. I don’t think the moment could have been more perfect.

In Gili Asahan, and in the Gilis in general, we found our paradise. It is seldom nowadays that I come across places that really feel like paradise, but the Gilis have blown my mind. Both the secret and not so secret Gilis!

Upon leaving Thailand we flew to Bali. And oh, how nice it was to be back in Bali! We were there about 6 months ago at the end of our round the world trip. And now we came back. It felt SO good! …I’ll get back with another post on Bali though, because after a few days there, we left for Lombok and the Gilis, and we will go back to Bali to explore much more after Lombok and Gili.

Our first stop on Lombok was on Gili Asahan (Gili actually means island). We flew to Lombok after storing some luggage at the last hotel we stayed in on Bali. Arriving on Lombok we could immediately feel that this place is very far from Bali, despite being only a flight of 20 minutes. Lombok is culturally very different being muslim vs Bali’s hinduism, and while Bali receives milions of tourists every year, Lombok only gets a few hundred thousands. We were going to the Southwest Gilis on the island farthest away, but in kilometers it was only about 75 kms, so we were surprised to realize that the trip would take about 2 hours. But it did. After driving through small villages and following a beautiful hilly coastal road, we ended up at a small beach where a boatman picked us up. 20 minutes later we arrived at our little remote paradise island.
Our bungalow was something from my dreams. We could open two sides completely, there was an outdoor bathroom, a bed with a mosquito net, a fan (no aircon), and a hammock. Pretty close to heaven in my world!

And of course we were the house guests. A huge gecko was the one really living there. Carla and Gustav know that geckos are our friends because they eat mosquitos, and just like that they like them.

From the moment we sat our feet in the sand on the beach when we arrived, the kids were just so excited. It’s funny how we sometimes think that kids need a lot of things – swimming pools, ice creams, play grounds, etc. Here we were with absolutely nothing of all this, only beach, swings and hammocks. And they couldn’t have been happier. For all of our days there they were so excited. We spent hours just lying in a hammock reading Donald Duck magazines, chasing crabs on the beach or swinging above the beach in the cool swings they had. And every evening there was a big chase of ants in our bungalow. Lots of huge ants came out when it got dark, and every time Gustav saw one he screamed and yelled with excitement for Carla to come and hit it with her sandal. Pure happiness 🙂

After this we spent two nights on Lombok. We had initially planned on staying longer and rent a car. But renting a car showed to be a bit more difficult than anticipated…
Our first night was spent in Kuta – a laid back surfers place on the south of the island, and a place where we would have lingered for much longer time had we been 20 years younger 😉 The second day we had a rental car delivered to our hotel, but ended up sending it back since we couldn’t agree with the rental company about the terms of the rental… So after a quick change of plans we found a driver to take us to a small village called TeteBatu. Very local, and with very good people watching.
Lombok probably deserves more exploration, but since it didn’t work out with a rental car, and taking a driver who doesn’t speak English very well is not optimal with two kids who sometimes needs to sleep and sometimes needs to pee instantly :-). So we decided to skip the rest and go straight to the famous trio of the Gili islands (the ones you’ve probably heard about).

I absolutely love Gili! Both the famous, touristic islands, and the secret ones down south. The beaches have fine white sand, and the water is amazingly clear and beautiful! It is all very basic, despite the many tourists that do visit the islands and Gili Trawangan in particular.
None of the Gili islands have motorized vehicles, and all transport is done by horse carts or bicycles. This definitely adds to the charm of more or less basic island life.

We visited Gili Trawangan, which is the ‘party’ island and the most ‘developed’. Well… we didn’t party, but it was very nice, with a nice beach and a few cafes with healthy choices on the menu (a rarity around here outside of Bali, if you don’t count all the rice based meals). In terms of development, which is a bit of a misplaced term here, there are loads of restaurants and atm’s, and you can buy ice cream and coconuts on the beach. But there are still no cars and Starbucks’ (or any other international brands), and once you move just one block inland it all feels very local (almost medieval)!

Of the two other popular Gilis, we chose Gili Meno. This is the most basic and laid back. We had our own private pool and a small bungalow with mosquito net. Again I have this feeling of (almost) always getting the accommodation just right, despite us not planning anything this time.

Gili Meno is for sure not very touristic, and that was its major charm. I’m not sure why it’s like this, since the beach was amazing, but I do hope that it stays on like that so that there are still these nearly unspoiled places left to explore around the world.

And when we left Gili Meno we found a local boatman. He picked us up on the beach we were staying, and dropped us on the sand right outside our new accommodation 15 minutes later. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Now we will go back to Bali and spend some time exploring new parts of the island. And in case you wonder about when we will go to Australia, we don’t know yet, probably within the next 4 weeks or so… But I’ll be sure to let you know when we know more ourselves 🙂