A Short Stop on Gili Air

A beautiful sunset over the Indian Ocean

We took the fast boat from Bali to Gili Air during the middle of our three weeks in Amed. We had heard some amazing things about the island such as there are no motorized vehicles on the island. The forms of transportation are walking, biking, or riding in the horse carriages. We had also heard that it is a small island: so small that you can walk the entire circumference of it in less than two hours. We were very excited to get there!

The fast boat over was fairly uneventful, although it was a pretty bumpy hour.

Once we arrived, of course we all piled into a horse carriage to get to our airbnb. We were distressed however at how the driver beat the poor pony with a whip. It should be noted that with the cart, the bags, and all five people, that poor horse was pulling so much more than it even weighed.

The horses lead a pretty tough life

We arrived our Airbnb, and it was less than advertised. The kids’ room was actually in an entirely different building than ours. To get to the other room, you had to walk out of a gate, down an alley and into another gated complex. We weren’t thrilled. At all.

We took off walking to see how far we could get on the outside of the island. There were some amazing views of a storm coming in over Lombok island. One of the things no one mentions about Gili Air is that while it is a walkable island, you really can’t walk on the beach. The inhabitants had used dynamite fishing in the past, so the beach is littered with dead coral. Walking on it is quite painful unless you are wearing shoes.

Lombok in the background under a beautiful storm

During our walk, tide was low. I sent the kids out to see how far they could go with it still at knee level. So they took off walking.

And walking.

And finally gave up when they got so far out they didn’t want to go any farther.

The farthest they made it and still in knee deep water.

We had heard from our new friend on Bali that The Mexican Kitchen had good food (and margaritas). We ate dinner there and fed very well. We were pretty excited to get something that wasn’t Indonesian food.

Yum!

The second day we were there, we made our way to the center of the small island to see a doctor. I had some kind of weird chemical burn on my leg that we wanted to get looked at. During the walk, we saw some of the less touristy areas of the island.

It was a little sad really. The amount of poverty in the middle of the island was pretty surprising considering what the meals, horse rides, etc cost.

The doctor’s office was pretty basic.

I’m not sure he was a real doctor even. (He told me he would give me some topical steroids for my skin but ended up giving me a triple antibiotic cream. Very different.)

The pharmacy.

Ramadan was in full swing while we were there. There was only one mosque on the island, so we felt lucky to get a recording of one of the calls to prayer.

In the evenings, most of the restaurants had signs explaining that most of the workers would be breaking fast so service might slow down. We never experienced any delays, but it was nice for the restaurants to let the customers know. The workers were all very friendly throughout the day and in the evening. We were a little worried it would be a cultural problem to be eating when the majority of the inhabitants were fasting, but they all assured us it was completely fine.

We also found a delicious Italian owned restaurant for dinner. It was a little taste of Italy in the middle of Indonesia. If you find yourself on Gili Air, make sure to visit Classico Italiano.

We ended up going back to Bali two days early. We just didn’t love Gili Air. There wasn’t much to do. Even walking on the beach was uncomfortable. The snorkeling was evidently okay, but some of the folks we talked to while there had gone on the the snorkel tour and spent a tremendous amount of time dodging trash in the water. Yuck. Diving wasn’t worth the effort since the dynamite fishing had ruined the coral and marine life.