Gili Islands to Flores

My second day in Gili consisted of going on a snorkeling trip through all three islands, Trawangan, Meno, and Air. The snorkeling waters were exquisitely clear, but the marine life wasn't anything different than what I'd seen in Australia. We stopped off for lunch on Gili Meno and dealt with all the vendors coming up and trying to sell us stuff while we waited for our food. The amount of locals that won't leave you alone and try to sell you stuff is incredible. You have to admire their persistence, even if it is a little annoying. Most people wouldn't work so hard for so little or face so much rejection and keep smiling.

Giant underwater wrenches

Fish Frenzy

Lunchtime view from Gili Meno

We spent the next few days hiking the island with our newest roomate, French Daphne, because it can be circled in 2 hours. We were able to catch a few sunsets and a sunrise and even found a crazy path up to the island's peek, which had some absurd views. There were also some celebrations to be had for Peppe and Bastiaan's last night, where we got to experience some of Indonesia's finest cocktails including the TVR: Tequila, Vodka, Redbull. Whew...

Wilson?

Horse carriages and bicycles are the only forms of transport other than your feet

This island has a million cats...and 2 baby goats

Some trees have leaves

Others  have shoes

In order to detox, I also spent a day attempting to restore my iPhone, which had crashed as a result of doing an iOS upgrade. Travel lesson learned; Never update your phone in a foreign country. A Canadian girl let me borrow her computer for the restore attempt, since it requires having iTunes and my computer isn't compatible. She even let me keep using it after she switched hostels due to a fear of bed bugs. How nice is that? Trusting your computer to a complete stranger. Canadians, they're the most amazingly kind people I've ever met. I got to 850/892 MBs on the download before it had an error and failed. 5 hours wasted, the universe once again toying with my emotions. Thus I continued to live without a smart phone... It's funny. 20 years ago, backpackers had no internet, smart phones, kindles, etc. and they still made it just fine. Meanwhile I pout over a broken phone, when I still have a computer with me. I'm too pampered! I should be grateful to be able to backpack in such amazing technological times.

Leo had left with Bastiaan to check out Lombok, but returned the next day with a flier for a 4 day boat trip to Flores that left the following morning. It was pretty damn spontaneous, but we decided to do it, having no clue how we would get back. We ended up booking the trip through one of the local guys that worked in the bar of the place we were staying at, Gili Hostel. Buying stuff is insanely shady out here as everyone gets charged different prices and you don't always get a receipt for your purchase, so you have to trust that people are actually booking things for you. Having said trust, we turned over our money and prepared to say goodbye to Gili T, with it's amazing sunrises and sunsets.

Most amazing sunrise I've ever seen

Gili Sunset

Sunset from the top of Gili T

After paying for our tickets, we set out to get some medicine to protect us from Malaria. When we went to the doctor, we discovered it was roughly $30 for 20 pills, which seemed too expensive. Upon saying it was too much, he immediately asked us how much we were willing to pay and started haggling down the price...I mean seriously, even doctors haggle on prices here, how messed up is that?!?! Chances are he wasn't even a doctor and he was just repackaging tic tacs into pill sleeves. We decided to not get the medicine and went for a good nights sleep instead, which basically means I didn't drink and was in bed by 2.

We took the public boat over to Lombok at 7:30 in the morning, which was one of the weirdest experiences of my life. You are on a boat with all the locals transporting their goods across islands and the boat is absolutely packed to capacity. Every time you hit a wave, you hold your breath and wait for the boat to tip over. It's one of the many unexpected experiences you get to enjoy whilst traveling.

We left Bangsal Harbour in Lombok on our appointed vessel, an old wooden ship that was constructed roughly thirty years before the birth of Christ. The main activity on a boat trip like this is to swim/snorkel, so our activity for the first day was to swim ashore a black sand beach. It was about this time, I realized I had the aquatic aptitude of a house cat, and was likely going to drown before we reached Flores. This pill wasn't made easier to swallow by the fact that the Europeans could swim circles around me effortlessly. My humility grows as my pride diminishes. We did at least get to catch a beautiful sunset off the boat, which resurrected my cheer.

That night our crew guide, Sonny busted out his guitar and started singing us some tunes. My fellow American, David, also started playing Eukelele and singing, and I slowly thought to myself...What a bastard. I need to learn a new skill like this to impress women, as my ability to recite the dialogue from every episode of Power Rangers hasn't born much fruit. Our place of rest was a really fancy dorm style room that was accessible by two ladders. When you climbed up, there was a platform about 6 meters deep by 3 meters wide and had roughly 1 meter between floor and ceiling... It contained 20 bed rolls. Surely I was going to be surrounded by women? Nope, I had Leo to my right, A Norwegian named David to my north, and an old French guy to my south, whose bedroll conveniently overlapped mine, locking me into an unforgiving game of footsie, which could only be escaped by curling into the fetal position and crying myself to sleep. On a boat that was 50% women, I was boxed in by dudes... I can't win.

Sweet dorm setup on the boat...20ish people getting cozy

The next day we woke up at 6:30 for a banana pancake and swam over to Moyo Island to check out a waterfall. The trek was pretty extreme, as you basically scale the hill next to the waterfall by grabbing onto rocks and trees along the way. After an hour or so, we traversed back to the boat and traveled to Satonda Island, which contains a giant salt water lake that you can swim in. A few of us opted to take a hike instead so we could get 360 views of the lake and surrounding ocean. We ended up driving the boat overnight to get to our next destination.

View from island with a giant salt lake

No clue what was going on with this shadow in the clouds, pretty cool

The third day was possibly the best of the trip. We snorkeled in some amazingly clear waters in Gili Laba after our habitual 6:30 wake up call and then started making our way to Komodo Island. Along the way we paused at Manta Point, where we saw 15-20 Manta Rays swimming through the water. They were massive, measuring about 2 meters each (6.6 feet). Everyone ran to get some snorkel gear and jumped off the side of the boat to see them up close and personal. The Mantas might be the coolest thing I've snorkeled with, they flutter through the water like butterfies through the sky. They also aren't shy, swimming directly below and around you.

After the Mantas, we arrived in Komodo with high hopes only to leave disappointed. It's totally a tourist trap, with your chances of seeing a Komodo in the wild at 1%. We only saw the domesticated ones lounging around the main entrance. Still, there were pretty good views on the trek and we saw quite a few deer, so it wasn't as if it was completely terrible. That night a few people hopped in the water for a late night swim and were amazed to see that their bodies glowing in the water. The reason being that plankton glows when it's touched at night, and the ocean is teeming with plankton

Mirrored deer

Adding a little flower power to my blog

Komodo Island

Tis the season!

My tongue is more venomous than a Komodo's...

The eye of the Dragon

Our final day started with a trip to Rinca Island where we saw even more Komodo Dragons and went on a two hour hike. Once again we failed to see any of them in the wild, but it's all gravy. We finished up the trip with one last snorkel at Kelor Island and then made our way to Labuan Bajo in Flores, our final destination. After getting off the boat, four of us started looking for a hostel together. Leo, myself, Norwegian David, and Australien Alex. We found a place that was $10/night for 2 people. Those are nearly Bolivian hostel prices!

Komodo Park on Rinca

Psst Psst...Totally looks like it's telling a secret

The views from the island were phenomenal

Kelor Island

That night we met with Sonny for dinner at a bar called Paradise which overlooked the Harbour, but you had to walk through the city in the dark to get there, always a fun experience :). I got a burger, but I'm not sure what meat was actually in it...it didn't have the taste, texture, or color of any beef I've ever had the pleasure of consuming, but I just rolled with it and accepted that I might have diarrhea in a few hours. Sonny also made us partake in drinking Sophie, which is a local drink unique to Indonesia. I have no idea what percentage of alcohol it was, but it burned with each shot. A few people also ordered shishas to smoke, which are extremely popular here. I was pretty tired, so Alex and I elected to leave early, as did a pair of French Canadian girls who had some diving planned early the next morning. Thus we escorted them back to their hostel. Who said chivalry is dead?

Flores Sunset... I accidentally took it with weird settings, but it looks amazing, like a painting

Seriously...I'm going to enlarge this and sell it as a painting

I spent a few days being whiny and pouty in Flores before eventually making my way back to Lombok, but that my friends is a story for another blog...

Random GoPros

Parking Spots

Shallowest corals ever at the Gilis

Drinks and sunsets...Tis a tough life I lead

Armageddon

Unbelievable

Moyo Island Waterfall

Leo taking advantage of the clear waters

The xx - Islands

The bottom cloud in the middle...totally looks like a Nike swoosh

A crow atop the bow

The most unnecessarily long dock ever

Playing with the local kids

No abs, no haircut, no shaving....no worries.  Don't worry, be happy :)

Swimming with Mantas

From Trips in Bali to Tripping My Ballsies

Since our monkey sanctuary trip went so well, we decided to go on a snorkeling trip to Turtle Island, which houses a turtle farm of sorts...  We got to ride there in a glass bottom boat, which was just a normal boat with a small Plexiglas window in the middle, but expectations should be in line with prices. The snorkeling in Bali was disgusting in comparison to Australia due to the thousands of kilograms of trash and debris floating through the water, at one point I saw a half eaten box of noodles floating about 5 meters deep in the water.  I'm not sure on the physics of how that is possible, but clearly it's not natural.  Rising water levels and flooding...Scientists usually reference global warming (climate change), but I'd have to think the displacement of water from all that rubbish plays a vital role as well.  I'll fix it all someday ;).

Glass bottom boat...not what I expected

Nothing wakes you up quite like swimming in the ocean...

After swimming in the soy infused waters, we headed to Turtle Island to scope the wildlife, but I was pretty disgusted to see how they were treated. Every creature looked more depressed than I was after realizing I can't download the Justin Bieber and Susan Boyle Christmas albums whilst on the road.  There was a turtle with a broken shell, a snake that's confined to a container, and isolated monkeys, birds, and bats, licking rust off their cages. All these animals were awake during day, even though some are naturally nocturnal. In addition they're not all solitary creatures, so seeing them stuck alone in such dire circumstances is pretty abysmal.  Whenever you think of bats or monkeys you think of them being in large groups, never alone like that, a cruel twist of fate.  The heart breaks and the head shakes, but no actions the world takes.  This was one of the rare travel days that I didn't enjoy.

That is one depressed turtle

They throw dozens of baby turtles into bathtubs 

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop...uh one, two, three (CRUNCH!)

This bat is actually quite stunning, not scary like I imagine most bats

This is how I sleep, naked and upside down

After getting back to the hostel, I decided to go for a run shirtless in the rain, because that's how I attract the local women and get goods at a discount. When I got back there was a little drama with one of the guests, who was being kicked out. The hostel had an age limit of 35, but there was an American lady there who was closer to 50. She put up a hard luck story about her situation, claimed that the cleaning ladies or someone had removed some money from her room, and hadn't paid for her accommodation for a few days. After getting told to leave, she was crying her eyes out, so a few of us pitched in some money to help her out or forgave her of the debts she owed them, the compassion of backpackers, being quite universally extraordinary. That night we also hit up the dance clubs in Kuta, where I learned that Indonesian Red Bull can eradicate any notions or need of sleep I once had.  I'm also convinced I need to attend Bastian's (Amsterdam) Dance Academy, kid has the dancing supremacy of Kevin Bacon and Patrick Swayze all in one.

In order to rebound from the Turtle Island experience, we decided to rent a car the next day and head to Kuta Beach and then head to a famous temple, Tanah Lot. We also discovered that the hostel owner had given the woman who was kicked out a generous amount of money to help her on her way, before she accepted our money, meaning she basically conned money out of us. Americans...This is why people have a negative connotation of us. Is it really that hard to be a good, responsible person? Ergo, I now tell everyone I'm from Canada City, Canada, and I say it with pride.  I fucking love Canadians!

When we arrived in Kuta, a few of the people in our group wanted to go surfing, which was made easier by the fact that Adam is from California, so he obviously knew how to ride waves and could give free lessons, so Bastian, Emma, and Becca (England) rented some boards to try and catch the waves. While they were failing miserably at surfing, Peppe rocked some juggling, Leo went for a swim, and I snapped a few pictures.

Kuta Beach

Surf's up bitches!

After grabbing a quick lunch, which consisted of the worst fish and chips my taste buds and lower intestines have ever been subjected to, we made our way to Tanah Lot. Timing is of the essence when planning a trip to Tanah Lot, because the temple is only accessible during low tide, due to the fact that it's built upon rocks jutting forth from the ocean. I was basically in seventh heaven in this place as there were several small temples/shrines and coastline views that were unbelievable for photos. There was even a bride getting her wedding photos taken upon the beaches there.

Amazing coast line and black sand beaches

The bride in white

Batu Bolong Temple

Tanah Lot Temple

Sunburst

Most of the group had to disband the following day, as most of the guys were headed to the Gili Islands. I was locked in for another night at the hostel, so I took a down day to catch up on laundry, buy some amazing neon green swim trunks, and finish cooking the remainder of my groceries, and inspire everyone else I met with my beautiful soul and devilish charm... Alright it's probably more likely I put them off with my clumsy antics and smelly farts, but this is my blog, so I can change history!  The next morning I took off to meet up with the boys on Gili Trawagan (aka Gili T), the largest of the three Gili islands.

I arrived at 3 in the afternoon, met with the guys and explored the hostel, then took shrooms, because I couldn't turn down Peppe's sales pitch, "We won't eat dinner until 8, so maybe we do shrooms and walk around the island since we have four hours to kill"...Besides, I was feeling young and reckless!  Thus, for the first time in my life, I tripped balls. Apparently the trick to doing shrooms (mush as the rest of the world calls them) is to consume them on an empty stomach, which worked out perfectly for me since I had skipped lunch. It's also essential that you are in a good mood when you do them, because they enhance your mood happy or sad and you definitely don't want a bad trip.

View from Gili T, you can see the other Gili Islands and Lombok in the background

Leo, Peppe, and I took the shrooms, while Adam and Bastian stayed sober to guide us through the experience. I have to believe that going to an unknown island that is bursting with colors is the ideal way to experience shrooms for the first time, but I'm incredibly self absorbed so I'm always going to believe the way I do things is the best way ever. You have no idea what's coming around the bend and Gili T only has one street that circles the entire island, so it's basically like walking through a video game level of Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter.

As we wound our way around Gili T on an epic quest to walk around the island in it's entirety, we ended up settling for a group of huts instead, about 20 minutes in to the 2 hour walk. They were amazing, with a giant cabana at each end and smaller ones in the middle. Staring into the sky on my left everything appeared to be a soothingly calm blue, clouds drifting into a distant horizon, while to my right, the smaller Gili Islands sprouted up before Lombok, the giant rainforest, covered volcanic island. Above Lombok the sky appeared to be a fiery red, clouds swirling in an abhorrent rage above the mountains. it was the most spectacular display of colors I have ever seen in my life.

Gili sky during sunset

As fascinating as the sky was, the sand, the cabanas, and people's faces were just as entertaining. Everything vibrates, shimmers, shakes, dances, before you. Time also moves at a slow pace, your mind racing with millions of possibilities and you want to experience all of them at once. You wonder what everything is like on shrooms; How much more amazing it would be, with colors more vibrant than you ever knew possible. Talking to anyone sounds exciting, like it would be the most amazing conversation of your life, even if you haven't talked to that person in years. I was unbelievably joyful, excited, interested, and enthusiastic about everything.

At one point I was sitting in a cabana by myself, licking the cheese powder off my fingers from the can of Pringles I had eaten previously, only to discover that I wasn't licking cheese powder at all. Nay, I was scooping sand off my feet with my index finger and licking it off instead. I also had a can of coke that took me over an hour and 6000 sips to consume, leading me to believe it was a magical never ending can of cola. I also spent about 20 minutes taking off my bracelet, which held my locker key, and putting it back on.

My shroom hut

Such a magical place, I'll never forget it

As they were starting to wear off, we headed back to the hostel room and then out to grab dinner, but not before I spoke creepily in my Gollum voice!  It's also weird to be walking around all fucked up and seeing children everywhere, makes you realize what a terrible influence you are.  All in all, the mush lasted about four hours and coming down was a nice and easy transition. I have to say that I'm glad I took shrooms, because some things can't be understood unless you experience them and for less than $18, that is about as entertained as you can be for four hours. I spent a few more days in Gili before spontaneously heading on a 4 day boat ride to Flores, but that my friends is a story for another blog...

Random GoPros

No docks needed, everyone anchors their boat in the water here

I believe this underwater path was created by the Dharma Initiative

GoPro Coast

Time Lapsing

Tanah Lot

2 bags of mush....

Me and the boys!