Bali pop b/w A Gili

I was going to cram the last seven days into one post but I'll break it up for dramatic effect. Not really, there's just a lot that's gone down and my e-endurance is limited.

I arrived in Bali at around 12 am on Saturday, August 2, officially kicking off the second, responsibility-free month of my Asian summer. I was traveling with a crew of 5 other volunteers and my Indonesian friend Bayu. After touching down in Denpasar and catching a cab to Kuta, Bali party capital, we arrived at our hotel and to our surprise found that our reservation for two triples was actually only for one double. Undaunted, we dropped our stuff in the room and headed out to experience Indonesia's premier first-world club scene.

I got my fill in the 10 hours I actually spent in Kuta. After meeting up the other volunteers (all but one made the sacred pilgrimage) we proceeded to celebrate the end of five weeks in a predominately Muslim, predominately dry (my host family's raging tendencies aside) environment. Spent a few hours "clubbing," something I wouldn't deign to do anywhere else, and a word I hope never to use again. Almost got in a fight with some drunk dude who tried to pull me off the stage I was dancing on with my inebriated peers. Headed to a nice beach at around 4 am and waited around for the sunrise, then, following the advice of friend and fellow former Jaguar Jeff Pickett, made a snap decision to leave Kuta as quickly as possible and take off for the next destination promptly that morning. No hotel room = NO SLEEP.



After some buses and a 6-hr boat ride I washed up on this shore of Gili Trawangan, one of three Gili islands off the northwest coast of the larger island of Lombok. Some lost days here.







On the first day I walked around the island and hung out with some local fauna. The crab was chill (shoot out to cancerians) but the majority of the population was surfing Australians and drunken Europeans, with whom I didn't engage much. Not in a debaucherous mood I guess. I was walking through the western, undeveloped side of the island during low tide so I was able to wade out about 50 yards from the shore in the shallows, through a garden of dead coral and very living starfish colonies. The next day I went snorkeling and generally sunning, and I spent every night laying on sand and looking at stars. There was a sufficient lack of light to see the Milky Way in crystal clarity each night, unfortunately my camera isn't capable of 20-minute star exposures or I'd show you.







The night views led to a subsequent lack of island partying, but beaches aren't my scene. So I decided to leave the Gilis on Tuesday. After a quick morning bite at the colorful Gili Deli (above, above), I lugged my bags on board a small ferry (above, middle), and embarked on a 12-hr trip back to Bali, spending more than a few meditative hours on open ocean (above, below). I ended up in Ubud, the inland, beachless cultural capital of Bali, which is most definitely my scene. But more on that next time.


"You surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally"

Josh