Gili Air – A terrible place, never go there.

We were so sure we were leaving the Gili’s we wrote a blog entry about it, but a series of very fortunate events would keep us there for one of the best weeks of the trip so far.  Originally, our plan was to go on a four-day boat trip, island hopping our way to Komodo where we’d watch with some giant lizards rip apart live goats. At the last minute, we were told it was overbooked and we got bumped. With the boat trip canceled, we took a ferry over to Gili Air, a smaller and less developed island where we knew some Swedish kids we met on Gili T were staying. The backup plan was to meet up with them and check out the island for a few days before heading to Lombok and then onto Bali. This plan would also be thwarted, but this time it’d be by beautiful isolation and great company instead of a poorly managed tour operator.

After only a few minutes on Gili Air, our standard for a serene, undeveloped, island paradise set on Gili T was shattered. A walk across the length of the island to find our Swedish friends brought us past little farms, coconut groves, and none of the built up tourist restaurants or hotels of Gili T. We found them eating breakfast right on the beach, and together we moved to a guest house on a remote corner of the island. From our place the only things visible were the ocean and two roads headed in either direction, no restaurants, no hotels, no people. Amazing. Of course this may have been a somewhat boring experience if not for real friendships we made and the amazing hospitality of the guest house owners, Andy and his mother (known only to us as Momma).

A few days later a French couple who’s been living out of van for the last 6 months in New Zealand joined our crew and we were like a big happy family. We passed the rest of our time in Indonesia hanging out on the beach, snorkel, drinking cold Bingtang and eating Momma’s amazing cooking. I count those days as some of the best. On the last night we all got together and had a farewell bonfire. It was bitter sweet, tomorrow we’d be heading to Bangkok to start the highly anticipated Southeast Asia part of our journey, but we were leaving behind some great friends and the closest thing we had to home in six months. Without sounding too cheesy we realized that the really great experiences don’t come from the places you go or the things you do, but from the people you share them with… although secluded island paradises do help.