June 7th, 2002
"Fulfilling Sentence in Gili Air"
Currently stationed on Gili Air, a small island (about 1/2
mile square) off the NW coast of
Staying in a bamboo/thatch bungalow on stilts, 50' from the ocean on the north
side of the island. A day in the life...yesterday, woke up mid-morning (don't
bother with a clock), had breakfast consisting of tea, fresh papaya and
pineapple, and a pineapple pancake (included in the $1.50 per day that I'm
paying for the room), snorkeled off the coral reef for a while, ate lunch with
some friends, had some tea, did some more snorkeling on the reef, walked on the
beach, had supper at sunset on the beach (in outdoor hut on stilts, sitting on
pillows cross-legged), then had another supper (whole fresh bbq'd barracuda,
head and all) while watching the World Cup game with lots of Indonesians and
some other travelers in an open hut with geckos running all over the place.
Spent whole day wearing my swimsuit and flip-flops...paradise!
So how did I get here? Back to
Only surfed for 2 days...my knees got pretty chafed from the surfboard. So I
headed inland to Ubud to allow some recovery time. Haven't been back yet to
surf, may not get back, even though I loved it.
Travelled with some nice Canadian ladies for several days there. Rented a
motorbike. Toured around the countryside for two days and made friends with two
random Balinese families. Got invited into a home way out in the sticks. Had a
nice meal of tea, rice cakes, and salats, a quite wonderful and strange fruit
(size of prune, pit like horse chestnut, tartness of crabapple, taste of
pineapple, texture and composition of garlic).
Saw lots of temples, including some surreal ceremonies. Beautiful terraced rice
paddies...motorbike is truly the way to see a country!
Went to a monkey forest and had a tug of war with a hissing monkey over my
camera lens bag. I won. Not advised procedure, but I had my rabies preexposure
shots as insurance and that lens was expensive.
From there, bought bus ticket to Candidasa, but changed my mind en route and got
off early in Padang Bai, a small village on the ocean in eastern
Met some English folks there and decided to climb Ganung Agung, the highest
mountain (actually a volcano) in
Our trek started at 11pm. After a haunting Hindu prayer service at midnight at
an isolated temple up in the hills (req'd for everyone that does the trek), we
hiked all night with flashlights, and summitted around 7am, 2200m/8000ft and
about 15km/9mi later. Enjoyed the view of the neighboring Ganung Batur
volcano/crater lake (incredible!), and Gunung Rinjani, a 3700m/11000ft peak on
neighboring
To fully recover my rest and strength, I decided to sentence myself to a few
days here on Gili Air.
I'd planned to go back to
Away Awhile is hosted by Josh Trutwin.