Christmas Digs

I arrived the other day to the tiny island of Gili Trawangan. It is a few hours south of Bali and is part of the larger island of Lombok. There are three tiny islands that make up the Gilis; Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Gili Trawangan is considered the "party" island of the three and has the best restaurants and bars. BBQ, sushi, Indian, Italian, and of course Indonesian are all here. You can eat dinner like a king for $10. Diving and snorkeling are the main attractions here. There are no ATM's, no cars or scooters and best of all no cops. People still hassle you a bit to buy things but it's not as bad as Bali.

I was at the Irish Bar last night and met the owner. She spends six months in Ireland and six months here. One of her friends is a doctor who went to Ryerson so that was fun. They are having a Christmas dinner buffet with a secret santa gift exchange so I'll probably do that. I went on a snorkeling trip by glass bottom boat yesterday and met lots of Europeans. I was talking to this guy from France about surfing there. I think that will be my next trip. Maybe I'll start in Paris and see the French Open and then head to the coast for some surfing and of course some great food along the way. My seven week trip is fairly short compared with some people I've met. There are people a lot older than me that are going on trips for three to six months all over Asia. After three weeks I am just starting to get used to the idea that I don't really have to do anything if I don't want to.

I'm really enjoying my daily dose of banana pancakes and I'm often humming the Jack Johnson song as I eat them. I asked them for the recipe so I'm definitely making those when I get back. And the Lombok coffee I'm sipping right now is terrific.

My accommodations are pretty swank! Upon arrival I was driven around by taxi, a horse and carriage! Most places are between $10 to $15 per night. The place I'm at now is called Hari Puri and is about $25 a night but what a difference. This is the type of place I think about when I imagine Indonesia and one day if I could ever design and build my own house it would be something like this. At night it's very quiet with the sound of crickets and geckos. The property is right across the surf break but it is not that often that you can surf there. I'm staying here until new years although I'm going to have to go to Sengiggi in Lombok for the day to find an ATM!

Tomorrow I'm going to rent a bike and ride around the island. And today? Maybe surf? Definitely another nap. Maybe some writing? Maybe I'll swim? A nice late lunch at Scallywags? Maybe I'll read? That already sounds like too much! Sometimes taking advantage of your day is doing as little as possible. Like Karl, one of the former VRX photographers told me, "Why get caught up doing something when you can be doing nothing?"