Gili Trawangan, princess of the blue.

"Mirror ... mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all"

If Maldives was the evil queen in snow white movie then the mirror will simply answered "Gili Trawangan" ... i've been to Maldives once, before i went to Gili, and i can say that Gili is not less beautiful. Such a lucky to have that blue here.

Gili means island, Gili Trawangan is a small island in Lombok, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia. Actually it is Bali's neighbor. About the beauty of the island is famously known all around the world, i never been there before as Indonesian for almost 33 years, i should be ashamed! I was really curious though.  

how to go there, by google :

Landed in Lombok, you need to go to harbor, you can choose from Senggigi or from Bangsal, the time cost from airport to harbor aprox 2.30 hours, after that you continue with small boat around 30 minutes to Gili Trawangan pier. 

or

Landed in Bali, you go to Padang Bai harbor, it also around 2.30 hours with car, after that you continue with speed boat around 2.30 hrs , or with Ferry boat around 4 hrs, and ... you there at Gili Trawangan island ... finally!

I decided to went here on Idul Adha 2016 Holiday, it was long weekend from Thursday to Sunday. Even thought i hunted the ticket from a very long time before the day, i still could not win with so many people, it just like people from whole world visiting Bali, the plane that carried us was very very big with full of people inside. So to the point ... i didnt get the ticket to Lombok ... crap! So i had to face the ocean for 2.30 hours. Before we went to Gili trawangan, i decided to stayed one night at Alila Manggis near Padang Bai harbor. There are many speed boat operators there from Bali to Gili Trawangan, you can choose what kind of vesel you can afford it. i choose Gili Cat, why i choose Gili Cat, because it sounds cute to my ear ... hehehe. 
Actually, took a Gili Cat speed boat wasn't bad at all, in fact the boat will not cary more that its capacity. But there was tragedy happen 2 days after i went home. The Gili Cat 2, the boat that carried me when i returned to Bali, was exploded, 1 man died, and 14 injured. I felt sorry and deepest sympathy for all the victims. I felt so graceful that me and my family saved.

Took a speed boat for 2.30 hours in the middle of Bali strait in the morning, brought all the melancholic things out of me. Until today i still can feel that sense, hmmm mix feeling between gracefull, fearful and pitiful.

Anchored afternoon at Gili Trawangan, i was picked up by Cidomo, it was like a cart with horse ... tuk ... tik..tak..tik ..tuk suara sepatu kuda ... pardon for my sang (-_-' )
Bars, pubs, stores, restaurants, gelatos, bikinis all around my eyes. There is no car or motorbike inside the island, all people use bicycle wherever they want to go and yes you have to master in bicycle ... if not you have to pay Rp.150.000,- to take Cidomo one way!! Amazing expensive there ?? Absolutely darn YES !!
To got the bike, usually the hotel will provide it for you, but for rent there are many stores that provide it, price for rent was around Rp. 50.000 - Rp. 70.000,-. Mica get a rode with me and Jocelyn rode her own bicycle, she was really happy. Gili Trawangan was like a very - very big pool, with all ladies using bikini everywhere they go, ride bike with bikini, ride horse with bikini, whenever they want to swim ... they just off the bike and swim, and off the sea again bike again, and so on. I wonder with that two pieces everywhere if their body can stand with the wind ?? hahaha i am sorry for my kampungan thought.

I stayed in Ombak Sunset hotel, the hotel was big. But if i can give stars for it, i just will only give two stars, because the hotel was old fashioned, far from the city center, not really clean, and the food was so-so. This hotel located back to back with city central and the pier, so its quite far for bike. If i have another chance to go there, i will chose another stay near harbor, the view is prettier.

Stayed 2 nights were enough for me, time to went back to Bali, hmm at that day was the day of Idul Adha, Sunday. All the local people went to Mosque for Sholat Ied ... so less Cidomo. Another adventure of waiting the Cidomo. We had a boat to catch at 11.00 Am, and the Que line of Cidomo to deliver us to pier was  so so long, and the worse was all the people need to catch the boat too. since our hotel located maybe at the end of the island it always lost the Codomo-get-competition with another hotel. So i had a little duel with some people there, but speaking of competition, the best the winner, and with a little duel i could got to pier on time. Well that one was very unforgettable moment.

Overall i love being there, the sea, the breeze, all the bike, the blue, the ambiance, the food and all the bikinis ... mixed together and leave me some quite strange happy feelings.

So here all the photos of my memories ...  

This is cidomo, and Gili Trawangan street look like

with my bike

look at the water ... strange but true

The pier of Gili Trawangan

I love this view alot

people die for taking picture on this swing

a very delicious burger

Thank u ... attraversiamo

Perjalanan ke negri Samudra Hindia - Maldives

Well,

First of all, saya minta maaf kepada all budget traveller, postingan saya kali ini tampaknya kurang cocok dan kurang memenuhi apa yang kalian cari, tapi pastinya ada tips - tips menarik jika kalian berencana untuk berpelesir ke sana. Kedua, postingan ini memang sudah expired karena sudah jauh beberapa bulan lalu terjadinya (sorry for my neglected blog), tapi yang namanya pengalaman ya nggak ada kata terlambat untuk diceritakan.

5 May 2016 yang lalu, saya diberkati untuk bisa pergi ke Maldives atau Maladewa, suatu negri kepulauan yang terletak di Samudra Hindia. Rada mumet sih memang untuk memilih penginapan di sini, pertama semuanya mehong sejagat alias mahal banget, kedua masalah di mana letaknya pulau - pulau itu. Saya sempat pusing dan mumet karena semua tampak sama bagus, harganya sama mahal, dan jarak tempuhnya sulit diukur. Untuk diketahui ibukota Negara ini namanya Male, bandaranya bernama Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, ibukota dan bandara terletak dipulau yang berbeda. Jika ingin berlibur hemat, banyak hostel backpacker di pulau ibukota Male, tetapi jujur laut dan pantainya kurang bagus. Jika ingin menikmati laut berwarna turqouis dan pasir super duper putih ga ada pilihan ya harus menginap di resort alias pulau pribadi, atau dipulau lokal. Satu resort berarti satu pulau private, pulau lokal seperti di pulau Maafushi ya non-private bersama penduduk lokal. Ada uang ada barang gitu istilahnya bro and sist.

Di Maldives, jika bukan menginap di Male, ya tidak begitu banyak yang bisa dilihat. Bagi para traveller yang sukanya jalan - jalan, lihat - lihat sana sini, well pasti mati kutu disini. Wisata disini adalah wisata leyeh - leyeh. Jika menginap di resort, cukup bawa kartu kredit, jika tidak ya harus menukarkan uang dengan Rufiyaa ( i wonder how the name of the curency so similiar ... hmmm). Saya pribadi suka semua jenis wisata, wisata alam seneng, wisata perkotaan juga seneng, wisata leyeh-leyeh juga seneng, pokoknya yang namanya jalan- jalan ya sueneng puoll titik. Kalau merasa bosen, bisa mencoba aktivitas air, seperti naik kano di atas laut turqois yang transparan sampai bisa ngeliat ikan - ikan sambil foto - foto pakai tongsis, atau snorkling dan berselfie ria pakai underwater camera, atau bisa scuba dive. Bisa banana boat ga kaka ? Well rasanya ga ada banana boat di sini. Tapi tentunya harus keluar duit lebih untuk bisa menikmati aktivitas air.

Yang namanya wisata khas Maldives itu terkenal akan resort - resort, pantai putih, laut turqois yang ditata sedemikan rupa sehingga orang termehek - mehek hanya karena membayangkannya saja, jadi saran saya kalau mau ke sini ya kumpulin uang dan nikmati wisata khas Maldives.

Setelah berburu tiket, akhirnya memutuskan untuk naik Singapore air, lama penerbangan dari Singapura ke Maladewa memakan waktu kurang lebih 4 jam. Setelah meneliti sana - sini, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk menikmati Maldives di Baros. Yang jadi pertimbangan saya adalah karena Baros terletak di dalam atol, dan tidak terlalu jauh dari bandara. Untuk transportasi ke resort biasanya dari tiap resort sudah disediakan dan ada konternya di bandara, permasalahannya adalah biayanya. Semakin jauh resort tersebut dari bandara, semakin mahal biayanya apalagi kalau harus naik pesawat lagi. Untuk ke Baros, hanya butuh naik speedboat 30 menit (untuk yang suka mabuk laut, harus siap - siap!)

This is no adv for Baros, tapi i was sooo impressed, tidak pernah saya berasa jadi ratu selain di sini. They treated you so special, saat saya sakit kepala dibawain dokter dan dikasih obat satu kotak, saat saya minta dibakarin ikan satu, mereka bakarin semua yang enak tanpa diminta. Snorkling gratis disini. Bahkan ketika pulang masih dikasih suvenir. Baros punya housereef sendiri, artinya kalau mau snorkling atau menyelam ga perlu jauh-jauh. Di sini akhirnya saya dapat sertifikat PADI pertama saya, menyelam di kedalaman Samudra Hindia ... harus bilang apa sama Tuhan ?? Terimakasih Tuhan ... rasanya tidak cukup.

Eniwei, here are my photos ...

Baros map, 30 min speed boat

Baros at the first sight

The Jetty

Water villas, liat airnya!

Baros overall

Breakfast view

my villa, ada tangga langsung kalo mau nyebur. Warna lautnya kayak warna makeup remover dari Mayb..line. Laut yang biru tua artinya dalam, sedangkan yang turois artinya lebih cetek.

Airnya jernih banget sampai ikan-ikan keliatan

My first dive experience at Baros Housereef. Akhirnya ya menyelam di Samudra gitu, kedalaman 12 meteran.

Black tip shark, hiu kecil jinak nan lucu ...

Ikan apa ini ? Banner fish

ada ship wreck juga di sini

Are you Donatelo or Michael Angelo ?

Glowing fish ... so cute.

Baros from the sky (Source : google)

Baros sandbank, kalo punya budget lebih bolh dinner atau breakfast disini. (Source : google)

Baros directory

Sekian dan terimakasih ... attraversiamo ...