Island tour

Gili T is not that big.. so one morning we decided to take two horsecarts around the island to take a look around.  Our drivers were very experienced..

It was stunning.. and some parts were still almost untouched, or at least uninhabited.  Which--of course--prompted discussions about how much land must cost, and what we could do with it.. and whose hammock would have the best spot on the beach.

on the faaaaar beach, with Mem

Ideas anyone?  We welcome co-investors :)

Gili T signs

Remember I said that Gili T is the party island?  In case we didn't get the clue from all of the "Mushroom shakes here!" signs, we found loads of others too.. here are some:

"If you speak English like a Spanish cow, no problem! We teach scuba in French."  For the fishing trips, there mustn't be too much business today.. see the guy sleeping in the middle of the life jackets.

I think I forgot to mention that we saw more white people on Gili T than I have seen all together in Jakarta the last nine months.  And more of them too.  Kinda weird when the Muslim women in jilbabs walking by (and, hell, aren't they hot with all those clothes on??).

Turtle conversation

We thought a lot about Tirzah this trip!  Just down from us on the beach was a conservation center for turtles.  They had a hatchery for eggs, and turtles of all ages.  They put them back in the ocean when they get big enough--and we saw some of those when we were out snorkeling too, and they were HUGE (but peaceful and shy)!!

 

Look!  So many cuties just cruisin' around..

Loved these signs. 

I need to hang the one about strangers around Jaffa's neck [see forthcoming post on Lady Gaga]

At the beach!!

So it took me a little while to pronounce Gili Trawangan (tra-wang-un).. there are two others: Gili Meno (promounced like Jay Leno), and Gili Air ("air" or "aeeeer").. but no matter.  It was awesome.  Sooooooo relaxing.  There simply is so little to do unless you are getting scuba certified (if you remember, that was my honeymoon.. and I wasn't gonna get re-upped this vacation).  So, we sat and ate and drank and walked and swam and slept.  It was great.  Gili T is known to be a party island, so we had to occasionally lightly explain to Jaffa and Eben why people were passed out, face down, in the sand at 2pm (still).  "Went to bed late" in lieu of "killer 'shroom milkshakes".  Honestly, we old/young people were in bed beforre 10 every night.. so we didn't even hear it.  Won't have to think about it for more than 10 years, I hope.

snorkeling just off the shore!!  and kids being very sweet to one another..

... and great sunsets...

sancastles too, more snorkeling

learning my camera some more.. yay!!

beach treasures

 (and my little brown-eyed treasure!)

spelling!!  next it will be yellow snow.. oops, nevermind.

We had fun, fun, fun!!  We are happy to come back whenever you come visit!!  xoxox

Getting to Gili

We are so excited about going to Gili!! It's Memere's fault, too, because we usually schedule the really fun things when she's here.  In preparation, we ordered snorkels, masks and fins for Jaffa and Eben (pink and green, of course).  We were ready!!

[Insert here Lion Air posting]  So, we arrived safely and quite enjoyed going through the various prayers.  Remember that Lion Air is the one that has a large percentage of pilots on crystal meth, so we were happy to be landing.  On the way in, we saw great views of Lombok.  Pretty place.  And we got to drive through it too [see future post on monkeys in the national park]. 

at the airport in Lombok!

Understandably, we had some sleepy-heads on the drive.. but they sure did perk up when we got into the speedboat!

Now that was fun!  [oh yeah.. lifejackets, huh?!]

It was a beautiful day, and we got onto the dock in Gili and couldn't wait to get into the clear blue water!!

First, the horsecart to the hotel.  No motorized vehicles on Gili, so you can either carry it yourself, drag it behind your bicycle, or take a horsecart.  Option 3, please, as I brought all of Jaffa's bikinis.

The horses have the best jingle because of all of their jewelry.. you can hear it all day long, and all night.  It's lovely.. especially at night when you know the animals aren't too hot.

And finally AHHHHHHHHHHH, we're there!!  The hotel is called Blu d'Amare.. it's run by a fabulous Italian couple (with a beautiful 9-month-old son that Jaffa fell in love with).  They make fresh pasta every night for dinner, and you can order the fish he caught that day.  I did not loose weigh on this trip, and I didn't even care!

Invoking on Lion Air

Up nice and early and off to the airport!  It wasn't too hard to convince everyone to hustle-a-bustle-muscle when the beach was calling :)  We were on time for our Lion Air flight, and after some coloring on seats at the gate, we boarded and found everything we needed on board--including an invcation card.  Yikes!!  What does that mean?  Why would we need to invoke? At least they had prayers for all faiths: Muslim, Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Hindu, Chinese.  No barucha though.  Good think we know it by heart :)

Lunch with Limis

Ouafa and Salah invited us for a fabulous Moroccan lunch several Saturdays ago. Unlike me not to have pictures of food, and the food that Ouafa made for lunch was AMAZING.  We had lemon chicken and pickled peppers and eggplant dip and couscous and fresh Moroccan bread, and fabulous mint tea.  But were were too busy eating and talking to whip out the camera.  Yummmmm..

We fed the kids first, and then planted them in front of a 3D movie while we ate (and ate and ate).  They were pretty cute in their glasses:

Once we ate so much that we could barely move, we rallied and took a walk.. more cute kid pics:

Hiba, Jaffa, Mehdi and Eben

Ouafa promised to swap me her chicken recipe for my chocolate cake recipe... so I will keep you posted on my progress with the chicken. I already preserved lemons, and they are waiting in the fridge for just this opportunity :)