Speedboat over to the Gilis

After three days of total relaxation in Sanur, Bali, we decided to leave the island of Bali and head east to the Gili Islands. It's about a two hour speed boat over to the largest of the three islands, Gili Trawangan. We thought it would just be Keith and myself on this private boat, but no, we were packed like sardines on this "boat taxi." There must've been about 60 of us on this thing, and we were sandwiched in the middle, where there was no air flow. I dont know how I kept from throwing up. A little boy behind me was well into it.

However, if you stood up, you could see the most gorgeous coastline of northeastern Bali. Lots of trees, big mountains, and bare beaches. We're thinking when we return, we'll stay somewhere there. After the rough and hot two hour boat ride, we arrived at the Gilis. There was not even a dock to step off the boat onto...just the beach. Th water here is crystal blue and the beaches are clean, white sand. No umbrellas, just people laying on their towels on the beach. The island doesnt even allow cars onto it - the only way of public transport is via horsedrawn carriages. Random, huh? Ironically, this island in particular attracts a lot of backpackers, so the nightlife is pretty spectacular. Some of the bars dont get going until 11 pm, and the have "full moon parties" that go on until the sun comes up. I cant say i see myself going to one of those, as we get tired around 10 pm. Also, we've been offerred drugs like 3 times since we've arrived. And they dont call it by the drug name. The dealers all have names, and I guess if you're a drug user, you recognise what they're talking about pretty quickly, instead of us saying, "what is that?"

It's high season in the Gilis and we had not booked a hotel in advance. After being denied from numerous bungalows (there's only one hotel on the island), we finally found a place that had one room vacant. Thank goodness, because I was starting to panic. Our hotel also runs a scuba diving shop, so today at noon, keith and I are going for a beginners course. I've dived before in Cozumel, but Keith is brand new. When we fly, KEith has a lot of trouble being able to equalaize his ears, so we are hoping that we're able to do this. The main attaction to the Gilis is scuba diving along huge coral reefs and seeing all kids of marine life, so it would be a huge shame to not be able to participate.

We'll let you know tomorrow how it goes. For now, I've gotta go run and put on my swimsuit. Bye! - kate