Day 7: Gili Air

Gili Air is not the island we were meant for. The Lonely Planet all said that of the three Gili islands, this is the one that is the mix of being happening and being chill. I think we were in the mood for more chill. Thus we spent at least the first half of our tropical paradise beach moping! I blame it on lack of caffeine.

The Gili Islands really do have beautiful water. They don’t allow

vehicles on the island, so all you hear are the bells of the horse carts and the dings of rented bicycles passing you on the sand roads around the entire island. The water here is that true aquamarine colour of blue and is rich with sealife. The Gilis is also one of the world’s best and cheapest places to learn how to dive. Our hostel is clean –but for the most part, the people are a bit stuck up. We have hypothesized that most of its inhabitants are scuba divers doing their 2 month instructor training course. What we have witnessed across the island is that scuba folk all seem like cool folk, but birds of a feather who stick together. They also seem to speak this weird scuba tongue. You hear it all over the island.

However, the entire island is filled with restaurant upon restaurant, but there isn’t exactly beach. Each restaurant has its own beach, so it appears that to pick the beach, you pick the restaurant you want to patronage first. We walked a fair piece away from the crowd to find traditional Gili Air food and a great place to just get into the beach. The restaurants all have these raised ‘huts’, filled with a small raised table in the middle and cushions for you to sit on while you wait on the food.
And locals who love Bollywood! Pallavi is like an Indian superstar. Every place we’ve gone, when the local asks where Pallavi says, and she says India, they respond, “India, Atcha, Atchaaaaaa. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai?” Atcha = ‘okay/good’ and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is a popular 1990s movie. Then they start discussing some Bollywood thing or another, and instantly they are friends. I had no idea that Indonesians loved Bollywood like this! Now that woman’s music on the boat yesterday completely made sense!