Hey, everyone! A few weeks back, I was on the fence on whether I would make it to Gili Air or not. I’m glad I made the decision to go. I ended up having a wonderful time and if time allowed, I would have stayed longer. It was the perfect island escape.

A few housekeeping things:

1) I have started a podcast on Spotify called Rose Thorn Bouquet. Please check it out!
2) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
3) I have recently finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Death of Duncan Lee. I’ve sent it out to some friends to get feedback and I’m really excited to have it done(ish) finally. If you haven’t read it already, the link to my first book, Eclipse Me can be found here.

Bangsal to Gili Air

After my crazy sailing trip from Flores to Lombok, I stayed in a private room near Bangsal harbor for a night to recuperate. The accommodation was a bit disappointing. After a ~3 hour car ride from eastern Lombok to the west coast, I was ready to just check in and… collapse lol. Unfortunately, no one was waiting at reception and I didn’t see anybody around the accommodation grounds. After about half an hour, I decided to contact the property via Booking.com and let them know I was there. Of course, my mind immediately went to: what if I don’t have anyone to check me in for hours?! I was able to check in. A mattress on the floor, an oddly smelling bathroom, a sink without a pipe… but it was enough. Enough for me to blog, to order some meals from the hostel, and to sleep. (And to experience a strong earthquake, which I mentioned last week.)

In the morning, I set off to Bangsal harbor to take a short ferry ride over to Gili Air.

There are three islands (or “gilis”) right next to one another. Gili T, Gili Meno, Gili Air. Gili T is notorious for its party vibes and drinking shakes laced with psilocybin mushrooms. Gili Meno is the quietest one. Gili Air is a mix of the two. I initially was leaning towards Gili Meno but then thought maybe I would feel a little bored if it was so quiet. Gili Air ended up hitting the jackpot. It was my Goldilocks island.

(These islands are so small, there’s no need for cars which is a nice change.)

I mentioned it in my last post, but Gili Air is supposedly the island where people fall in love. A friend from Ubud told me about the superstition and gave me a few examples. While I don’t necessarily believe in that stuff… I kind of wanted to haha. I think that was a slight push in Gili Air being my island of choice.

I arrived at my hostel a little earlier than check-in. While waiting, I ended up sitting at a table with two Australians. Virginia and Phil were from Australia – Sydney(?) and Tasmania respectively. We talked about Tasmania, Australia in general, Indonesia, the mushroom shakes Phil may or may not have consumed, and more. It was only a 20min conversation or so, but it was a great glimpse of what my time on the island would be like. Connections. Meeting people! AT LAST! So far, Indonesia had largely left me wanting in terms of connection with others. There had been some, but for the most part, I felt people kept to themselves. Gili Air was different.

At noon, I was able to check into my room. I set down my bags, plugged in my phone adapter, relaxed for a second. I was pleased to have secured a bottom bunk – and it was FULL sized, while the top bunks were only twins. WIN! Not five minutes later, the staff was showing someone else to the room.

The employee asked where he was from and he said America. “I’m from America, too.” “Really, where?” “Chicago.” No way. We were both from Chicago. The employee left. Gentle and I continued to talk for the next fifteen minutes or so. About Chicago, about how Gentle had moved to New York a few years back. About our travel journeys. Gentle didn’t realize Work & Holiday Visas were a thing and appeared slightly baffled that I had lived out of the country for two years.

The odds were completely bizarre. Both from Chicago, both in Gili Air for five nights, and both in the same dorm room. We had a number of other things in common, too. Was HE my soulmate?! (Spoiler alert: no. Maybe. He could be!)

I ended up leaving the hostel and going snorkeling. I would say the only downside to Gili Air is that entry points for snorkeling are largely contingent on the tide and the best time to go out is at high tide, unless you want to have your stomach scraping against the coral. But… I was pretty pleased with the snorkeling there. The Gili Islands are well known for being turtle havens. And sure enough, within two minutes, I’d seen my first turtle.

There was also plenty of fishlife to enjoy. All the usual ones, and more. I was pleased to spot a humpback grouper, a fish I’d never known existed. Apparently they are somewhat rare!

(Humpback grouper is the spotted guy below. And can you spot the stonefish in the left picture? Scorpionfish on the right.)

I ended up going snorkeling every day while staying at Gili Air, with the exception of a day where I went diving instead. The water was incredibly clear, warm, and just perfect. Again, my only gripe is that I had to time it around high tide.

In the end, I spotted barracuda, eels, mantis shrimp, turtle after turtle, a harlequin eel, and more. Some really lovely underwater adventures! My Rx dive mask remains one of the best purchases I’ve made in a long time.

Karaoke Adventures

After snorkeling, I returned to the hostel to shower and relax. I went to the north side of the island (a 20min walk from the south) to watch the sunset. Tyler, my kiwi friend from the sailing trip, shared his location with me and I went to catch up with him. We talked about the trip, Gili Air, and more. We decided to grab dinner together. He introduced me to one of his favorite spots – Zzz Warung. He has been to Gili Air a number of times and he always likes to go there. The spring rolls were to die for. I ended up returning I think two or three other times LOL. After, I returned to the hostel.

When I’d first checked in, I was informed that the hostel hosts karaoke nights pretty much every other day and invited me to join. While I have very limited experience singing karaoke (see: Tokyo, and with some friends in Perth), singing is one of my absolute favorite activities and I was eager to join.

Around 9pm, people started singing. Gentle was back in the hostel at that point and we caught each other up on our days. I decided to suss out the karaoke situation but Gentle said he was just going to hang back.

There were only a couple of people up there. A couple, eating dinner, two others in the far corner who weren’t interested in singing, a French Family of four, me, and the local employees. The family had finished up a song and the local, who I later learned was named Ali, put on My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. I started cackling. “You know this?” “Of course.” And he handed me the mic. I later sang Gypsy by Lady Gaga and, because people didn’t seem completely disappointed with my singing skills, I was asked to sing another. I sang Anything But Ordinary by Avril Lavigne.

When Ali would sing a song, as soon as it finished, he would always say, “or sumthin’ like that” – I quickly realized it was his catchphrase.

Maybe ten minutes later, Gentle rocked up and sat down with me. He ordered a beer and lit up a cigarette and then he began singing some songs, too. He has a really great voice!

We ended up talking, singing, and having a lovely evening. Afterwards, we went for a post-dinner dinner. I didn’t eat anything since I’d already brushed my teeth, but just accompanied Gentle. He had mentioned he wanted to go on a snorkeling tour, one that is a half-day affair and cruises to snorkeling spots around the three different islands. I said I would be interested in that, too, and he asked if I wanted to join him. We decided on the day after next.

During the remainder of my time on Gili Air, I continued to go to karaoke. On the second karaoke night two days later, Gentle didn’t join me, but I ended up meeting up with four other solo travelers at the table. Ali was feeding everyone shots (except me lol) and we were all having a great time. Our group consisted of a Frenchman, an Icelander (RARE!), an Italian, a Brit, and me. Later in the night, a French mom & daughter duo joined us, too. At one point, What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes came on and I had to send a video of the singing to my friend Michael. I always hear that song in the most random scenarios when I’m traveling and it always makes me think of Michael.

Ali invited us all to a beach party after karaoke wrapped up. Because I hadn’t gone the previous karaoke night, I decided to go this time. Ali had directed us how to get there. Later, I ended up asking him if he’s from Gili Air or Lombok Island. He shared he’s from Gili Air, and after talking some more, he shared how it can be heartbreaking to meet so many people only to have them leave after a few days. Sad!

The party was fun. House music played over loudspeakers as people danced in the sand. Locals were fire-spinning on the beach… and then someone lit off FIREWORKS steps away from us?!?! I was screaming out loud, “WHAT is going ON with this night?!” It ended up being a fun night but around 1am, I returned back to the hostel. Some of the others ended up staying out until sunrise. YIKES.

I had thought karaoke was only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and because of that I was a little bummed. I was leaving on a Monday and I was hoping for one more karaoke night. To my surprise, I was wrong – it included Sundays as well! On my final night in Gili Air, I returned. Antonio, the Brit, was there, and we caught up. The vibe was a little off because one of the tables ended up hogging the microphone and kind of commandeering the evening. Still, it was a good time. I was glad to have one more night of it before leaving.

I haven’t yet mentioned, but karaoke wasn’t just fun from the singing aspect… it was also fun to spend time with the local employees at the hostel. When certain songs came on, all of the guys would start singing. It just kind of felt like a little family. I really loved it. I would go back to Gili Air in a heartbeat. Because my flight to Malaysia is in a few weeks, and I still have a lot of ground to cover before leaving, I had to leave. Unfortunately, my underwater adventures are also on hiatus for the foreseeable future… likely until I get to Thailand. Drats!!!

Snorkeling Tour & Diving

On my third day on the island, Gentle and I got up around 7am to start our snorkeling adventure. He was a little sidetracked because he’d gotten some unfortunate news. While in Ubud, he’d come across a puppy with broken legs and he raised money via GoFundMe to pay for the surgeries and vaccinations. Unfortunately, the local who had agreed to care for the puppy had changed his mind. Gentle was trying to find a solution.

Yet, off we went on our snorkel trip. We first stopped at Turtle Heaven and followed a guide as he spotted turtle after turtle after turtle for our group. I love turtles, but I really had my eye set on finding a cuttlefish. I still have not seen one, damn it! One day. ONE DAY!

We moored at Gili Meno and got off the boat to see the baby turtle nursery. There are a few programs on the Gilis where they take care of turtles until they’re large enough to fend for themselves and then they are released into the ocean. It was really cute to see all the baby turtles swimming around one another. Cute!

Back on the boat, our group stopped at a somewhat iconic underwater statue. It is a statue composed of people embracing, arranged in a circle. Apparently it’s a famous Instagram thing. I didn’t really care about it that much and instead, went snorkeling off on my own. While everyone was busy looking at the statues, I had a turtle swim right next to me.

The boat ended up stopping at two more snorkeling destinations before lunch and our return to Gili Air. Lots of fish, a mantis shrimp, another harlequin eel (NOT a snake), and more!

Poor Gentle had stubbed his toe while getting back on the boat after one of the island stops. It had turned a dark shade of purple and he was hoping it wasn’t broken. I felt so bad for him! Not only was he trying to solve the puppy situation, but now he had hurt his toe and wouldn’t be able to do the multi-day Mount Rinjani trek in Lombok he had initially planned to do.

On another day, I went diving. Funnily enough, one of the guys in my dorm room who had just moved in was on the same diving trip. David from Germany. Later in the evening, we went to check out the sunset and grabbed dinner together.

The dive was nice. There were a few groups on the boat but every group was assigned a guide. Because of some cancellations, I ended up being alone. Just the guide and me… perfect!

We descended and I was having issues equalizing my left ear. It always seems to give me grief at first. After a minute or so, I got it situated and the rest of the dive was good. There was hardly any current at all which was quite a change from my Amed dives. My buoyancy was really being put to the test. I think I might end up getting my Advanced certification when in Thailand so I can work on my buoyancy and also so I can do night dives. Night dives are when all the good stuff comes out – octopi, cuttlefish, sharks.

My guide spotted a bunch of stuff on our dive. A baby stingray, some moray eels, a couple nudibranches, a little lobster thing that ended up feeling my GoPro with its antennae (after my guide gestured for me to let him borrow the GoPro for a second). There was also a cowfish, stonefish, turtles, and more. It was a nice dive and I’m proud to say, it was actually the longest dive I’ve ever done. All in all, my guide told me it was 61 minutes. I didn’t believe him. I said, “are you serious?!” more than once, because usually my time has been around 40 minutes, 50 if I did really well. Yahoo!

The underwater adventures have been really nice on Gili Air. Ugh. Sad to be away from the marine life for the next several weeks. I’ll survive.

Introspection & Fleeting Connections

I was very pleasantly surprised by the connections I made while staying on Gili Air. After all, I was only there for five nights. It all started with Virginia and Phil (who were actually just having a drink before leaving for the ferry)… then Gentle. Tyler. The karaoke group of solo travelers. David. And Tijana. (Even just random people at times, too.)

The day after the snorkel tour, Gentle decided to cut his Gili Air trip short and went back to Ubud to sort out the puppy situation. I was pretty bummed. I’d enjoyed spending time with someone from home. I had thought maybe there was even a chance we could travel together for a while, but the timing of our itineraries don’t really line up. I enjoyed our conversations – he was thoughtful, self-aware, and a good communicator. After breakfast, he grabbed his things, we hugged, and off he went.

Aside from Gentle (and the many others I had met in Gili Air), I had another pretty strong connection with someone in my dorm room. Tijana was from Serbia. I’ve never met anyone from Serbia before. She was easy to communicate with from the get go, but I didn’t realize at the time just how much we would end up talking before my departure from Gili Air. Tijana is multilingual and has a degree in linguistics. She can speak six languages fluently and can understand even more than that (though she isn’t fluent in the others). I was so impressed by this. We conversed in Spanish for a bit but eventually switched back to English since I’m still not that advanced and we were covering a lot of topics.

The night before I left, Tijana came up for karaoke maybe 15min before it was ending. It finished at 11pm. She and I ended up going to bed at 1.30pm. We talked about so many things. About our families, about our “wounds”, about my recovery. Feelings/emotions, ways of thinking, therapy, horoscopes, perception, etc. It was a really solid conversation. I am incredibly grateful for Tijana, especially because she helped me to realize something important. She taught me that our words hold meaning, towards others and ourselves. I am able to alter my perception and let go of some of the deeply entrenched beliefs I hold about myself, others, and the world around me.

One of my favorite musicians, Marina, came out with a new album recently, and while I really enjoy it, there was some stuff I wasn’t vibing with. But after my conversation with Tijana, the album holds so much more meaning. Marine has been trying to change her perception, too, and trying to re-design her belief system, the things she tells herself, etc. (That sounds weird but if you’ve listened to the album, you’ll know what I’m talking about.)

Tijana and I embraced after a long night of talking, and vowed to stay in contact. When I left in the morning, I left a drawing behind for Tijana as a memento.

Miscellaneous

A very happy, special birthday to my dad!!! Happy birthday! Thank you for being the goofiest, most talented, kindest dad I could have ever hoped for. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m so grateful to have you as my dad and to be able to say that some of your amazing qualities have rubbed off on me. I hope you have the best day!

I’ve mentioned Gili a lot. Gili Air, Gili T, Gili Meno. “Gili” means “island” in Bahasa. And “Nusa” is a “bigger island”.

I connected with Naama after the sailing trip and mentioned how lovely it was to meet with her. She responded in kind and actually told me I’m one of the most special people she has met which was really sweet! Wishing her all th best in this life.

Art of the Week

At the time of completing this drawing, I really liked it but after I started looking back at it… I started to not like it as much haha. I don’t know what it is – I think maybe the eyes are too large and the face is too narrow. But I love the color scheme and it has served as a benchmark for where some of my more recent drawings have been going lately… and THOSE, I am really enjoying. I’ll share the one I’m most excited about next week.

Also, one of these days, I will have to upload a whole slew of stuff to my RedBubble site. Any day now!!!

Reflections

From Gili Air, I took a ferry back to Padangbai, Bali. My stay in Bali was brief, just overnight. This morning, I left at 7am for a 5hr drive to the west side of Bali. I then took a ferry from Gilimanuk, Bali to the island of Java. That’s where I am currently.

This is my first time being in Java and that was my last time (this trip, anyway) being in Bali. It was kind of weird to see the island getting smaller as the boat crossed the channel. I have spent so much of my time in Indonesia… in BALI. And for one reason or another, I still haven’t seen the whole island. I would like to spend more time in Amed one day. More time on the north side. I’d like to go to West Bali National Park. But because of various circumstances (the tattoos, the healing eye, etc.), I just ran out of time. I basically have three weeks to get to Jakarta, fly to Sumatra, fly back to Jakarta, and leave for Malaysia.

What I haven’t yet mentioned, and have been meaning to for ages, is that Bali is regarded as “the Island of the Gods.” It is certainly a special island. While all of the islands surely have something unique to share, there is something about Bali that I really did enjoy. I’ll miss you, bitch!!!

I am also very happy to report that I have successfully and safely completed all of my ocean passages as of today. NO MORE ferries for me for a while. The rest of my time on Java will be on land and Sumatra as well. The reason this is important for me is because I have been pretty anxious about the ferry crossings. I kept seeing on the news, basically since arriving in Bali, how boats were capsizing every now and again, sometimes people were dying, etc. It made me not want to be on a boat at all in Indonesia lol. But, here I am. Alive. Thank you, God!

While part of me would really like to relax tonight and tomorrow, I decided to book a three day adventure instead. One of the attractions on this list is something I saw a photo of years ago and knew I had to see when visiting Indonesia. I’ll be leaving at midnight tonight to begin my tour. CRAZY. Now that I’ve finished writing this, I need to take a nap lol.

It has been a really lovely week and, again, I wish I had more time on Gili Air, but it was time to move on. I am looking forward to everything that comes next. Ijen, Bromo, getting to Jakarta to honor David Bowie at last, and Sumatra. Lots to see, lots to do. And yes, Mom, I’ll be sure to relax, too. But not for the next three days LOL.

And again, happy birthday, Dad!

Until next time, sending you all my love. x