Gili Air – land and sea
The island is so small, that I decided to walk it all around. The mere fact that I can do it was special for me, as I’ve never been on such tiny island. I started my tour in the morning to discover all the paths I did not see before. I could’ve rent a bike, but I decided not to. It was not the price (around 2,5 USD), I simply wanted to feel the island in my legs. To get tired a bit.
I discovered that the east shore facing Lombok has many restaurants and cafés with nice terraces and great menu options. Every here and there you can find a PADI diving school, a mask and fin rental place, a free diving school or a small supermarket. Suddenly I’ve bumped into a french patisserie and café. On the west shore there is even a pizzeria with wood oven. In the center there are several plots of land for sale, many ongoing constructions and a half ready mosque.
In the afternoon I went snorkeling. I’m not too experienced in it, tried just once in Zanzibar, when the already mentioned story happened with the Indian Ocean. I was just trying to figure out if this is something I like. I was walking in the sea from the east shore, where they say you can see turtles.the first few meters were really weird, I was worried that the water is not deep enough and my body will be scratched by the corals. Once I got over this feeling and believed that it I will be fine, I had an amazing experience. I saw wonderful little fishes in all shades of turquoise, and some bigger and more colorful ones, and huge yellow-white striped ones that seemed to have sails. I also saw an ugly one that bite based on nature movies. But I have no clue about fish, I cannot identify even one type (yes, I saw Finding Nemo, but still), so maybe I’m not right. The best part was, when I found myself in a huge school of fish. They were all around me, and it seemed so unreal. Tomorrow I leave Gili Air to have some mountain experience, but on my way back to Bali I might stop for a day to go for a day trip to snorkel with turtles.
The people staying in the hostel are really colorful. Though the Space Cafe right in front kind of guaranties that some of them are high on mushroom or weed. I interrupted a French couple playing cards when we had a great conversation on our travels, got cool tips and hints from others on Java, Vietnam and Ubud. Just right after we agreed with the French couple, that there are just a few Hungarians on the road in this region and tgey did not meet any, I’ve met Eszter. She lives in London, has years of backpacking experience and writes the www.colourfulhuman.com blog. It all was so funny, as I heard someone saying: Hungary. I was sure it was just my mind playing with me. But when I heard it for the second time, I had to check what’s up. In a minute I found myself playing cards with a group of Irish-British people who just met on the road, and went fir dinner together. We just settled in a beach bar, when a girl with great smile stepped to our table asking, if she can join us. She is staying in one of the beach bungalows but she is the only guest and would love to have some company. I love the world of hostels, it is really hard to be without good company.