Gili Trawangan or “Gili T” as most of the locals call it, is the largest of the three Gili Islands off the coast of Lombok, Indonesia.  Arriving at the port on the east side of the island (where most bars & restaurants are located), visitors may be surprised when they are not immediately thrown into a quiet beach paradise.  Gili’s main street is paved with bricks & filled wall-to-wall with ambitious beach bars, trendy villas, numerous dive schools, and local mini marts.  Mobs of tourists on bicycles and noisy horse drawn taxis fill the streets making it somewhat tricky to navigate on foot.

When we first arrived, I was surprised by how many tourists there were.  I had read that this island was deemed the “party island” of the three, but I guess I wasn’t expecting this much chaos on a tropical island (still nothing compared to Kuta!)…Think Daytona Beach, Ft. Meyers, Siesta Key. The island was much more built up than I was expecting.  Once we made our way off the main street and headed inland towards our villa, the brick roads turned to narrow, sandy lanes.  The further you go inland, the more local it feels.  This is where you will find innocent kids playing in the streets, roosters & chickens freely roaming EVERYWHERE, and rickety warungs (food stalls).  My favorite part about the inland streets is that they feel so authentic, you can get a real taste of the island’s culture…and then out of nowhere a cute little boutique or charming cafe will surprisingly pop out of nowhere.

For some reason our first night here was much busier & noisier than the rest have been. I’m talking beer pong tournaments & greatest hits of the 2000’s blaring from each bar (luckily our villa is tucked away). But the rest of our stay has really been much more relaxed.  The beachside bars have had a chill, relaxed vibe & the main street not as busy.  The east & north sides of the island are much quieter in general. On those sides you will find resort villas and sprawling lounge type bars with comfy bean bag chairs, benches and picnic tables in the sand (exactly what you think of when you picture a tropical paradise).  This is the side of the island where you want to go to relax & take in the breathtaking sunset…and if the sky is clear enough you can catch an awesome view of the silhouette of Bali.

 

Overall, I have really enjoyed Gili T.  It has a a good mixture of vibes for whatever mood you’re in.  Running in the morning has been a favorite of mine, as the island is so calm (and not too hot!!).  I just LOVE taking in the scenery, sights, smells & sounds of where I am when I run.

We have loved the little cafes here, they are SO charming and most give you the ability to eat right on the beach! I keep telling Austin that I need to recreate something similar in my future backyard someday.

During our stay we decide to book our first excursion…a half day snorkel trip that took us to 3 different spots near the islands.  Sadly, most of the coral wasn’t in great condition but the variety of fish we were able to see (and swim with) were incredible!  We were even lucky enough to get close to a giant sea turtle just hanging out underwater!  Totally worth the $7 USD per person!  Tomorrow we pack up & head to Jimbaran, Bali.  We have heard South Bali is beautiful so we will be staying for 4 nights so I can celebrate my birthday (early) on the beach & get everything ready for our next adventure in……VIETNAM!

xo Brittany

Gili T – Fun Facts

• You can walk around the entire island in about 2 hours or run in about an hour (Yes, I tested this and it took me about 50 minutes to run the perimeter!)
• The elusive “Magic Mushroom” is very prevalent on the island.  Although drugs are highly illegal in Indonesia, for some reason this island has been able to find an exception (or just fly under the radar).  It wasn’t out of the ordinary for at least 5 locals to ask us if we wanted “to go to the moon” or ” magic mushroom” during our short walks to the beach.  (No, we did not take anyone up on their offer) 
• Gili T has a sea turtle conservatory on the island where they nurse the baby turtles until they are big enough to be freed into the sea. 
• There are no cars on the island (and very few motorbikes).  Everyone gets around by bicycle, horse drawn carts or foot. 
• Roasted corn is a thing here…and its AMAZING!!  They put an unhealthy amount of garlic butter or spicy butter on it.  You see carts of them all down the main street and they grill it right in front of you…giving it to you piping hot and dripping with butter! (MOUTH CURRENTLY WATERING!)
• There is a night market that starts every night after sunset (around 6:30PM).  Local food vendors set up stands with all different types of local cuisine.  We ate here our first night, we picked out a fish to share and watched as they cleaned and grilled it.  Everyone sits together at long tables.  A normal plate of food cost between $2 – $6 depending on what you chose. 

Oh and one more thing…look what we discovered was living in the roof or crawl space of our villa…