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| Penjor poles for the Galungan Ceremony |
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| Riding to the Galungan Ceremony |
Today we were catching a 'fast' boat to the Gilis and we had to
be at the port in Padang Bai an hour before departure - this actually meant sitting
around for an hour at the convenience of the boat companies so they weren't
waiting for late passengers. It was however an opportunity to take some photos.
This was the first day of the Galungan Ceremony and the streets were lines with decorated Penjor poles. It made quite a display and another reminder of how much religion permeates daily life in Bali. There were people dressed in their finest clothes heading in every direction to pack up or deliver people, food or offerings.
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| The deceptively cute 'Dragon Lady' as we nicknamed her who ran the ticketing office with an iron fist |
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| On the fast boat looking back to Padang Bai |
Eventually we boarded the boat for the "1 hour"
trip to Gili Air (pronounced A-i-r). One thing I'm discovering is that
contrary to our service culture where the inclination is to under-promise and
over-deliver, it's the opposite here. For example the "1 hour trip to Gili
Air" is in fact a 2 hour trip as the boat stops at the two other Islands
Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno first. The subtext was that you will see the Gillis
in an hour, the time of actual arrival was another matter.
The boat itself was
cramped and pretty airless so the best positions were fore and aft where it was
possible to get some breeze. John enjoyed a prime spot at the front and received
a decent dose of sunburn and windburn as a consequence. The speed was provided
by 5x200hp outboard engines bolted onto the rear.
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| Organised chaos disembarking at Gili Air |
It doesn't take too much of a stretch of the imagination to
envisage being a refugee in Indonesia looking for asylum in Australia to be
told that their money will buy a ticket on a fast, fully fitted-out,
well-provisioned, comfortable boat to welcoming Australian shores, only to find
when they arrive at the port, that there may have been some
embellishment during the description of the service that would be provided. So, 2 hours later,
we finally disembarked on the beach. So much for a '1 hour' fast boat trip!
At the harbour of Gili
Air, amongst the hundred or so arrivals we began
the hunt for accommodation. The islands are essentially flat sandy atolls with
holiday complexes ringing the perimeters.
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| Pony cart waiting at the harbour |
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| Bundled into the rear of a pony cart |
Small carts pulled by ponies and
bicycles are the only forms of transport on the islands. We decided to accept the offer of a representative of Gilli Air Hotel - promising economical accommodation
(approx $50 per night) with breakfast, WiFi, pool, snorkeling, free bicycles
and views of both the sunrise and sunset. To get there (north east corner of
the island), entailed a 10-15 minute dusty ride in a pony cart not really
designed to carry 4 adults and their luggage comfortably.
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| View from in front of our bungalow |
We arrived and after
some confusion about the rooms (in bungalows) and rates, T&J and Frances
& I settled into rooms at opposite ends of the complex, and finally had a
chance to appreciate the beauty of where we were - oh, and the bicycles were not
free. It was indeed beautiful though with gentle waves lapping the shore only metres
from our bungalow, and snorkeling opportunities on the offshore reef. The rest
of the day was spent with dips in the ocean, plunges in the pool and taking
refreshments at the bar - this really felt like a holiday.
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| The sunset shot |
The music in the bar was the usual collection of Dire Straits,
U2 and Bali songbook favourites, but they were happy
enough to let us (OK, me) choose something else that was less hackneyed. We
befriended Ali the barman and he offered to take Frances snorkeling on the reef when his shift finished that afternoon. True to his
word, he arrived and they set of into the ocean. Over an hour later Frances
returned with a smile as big as I've seen and tales of fish, coral and
turtle-sighting that absolutely made her day. Ali did not want anything or his
trouble, and seemed to be happy to have some company to share the beauty of this
underwater garden.
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| Fresh fish on display outside a restaurant |
The restaurant at the hotel was little expensive so we
decided to eat at Sandy's Restaurant
at the adjacent resort. Surprisingly, even though there seemed to be fairly
high occupancies, the restaurants were nearly all empty. Many had selections of
fresh seafood displayed on tables outside - I wondered if those uneaten fresh
fish would be out again on display the following night.
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| Fresh whole grilled snapper with 'potatoes' vegetables and sauce |
We all had Balinese food that night and no complaints at all
- Frances a grilled fresh Snapper, I, a Gado-Gado, Tamar a chicken curry and
John a vegetable curry, all accompanied by....Bintang. The curries here are
predominantly coconut milk based and quite spiced and flavoursome, although not
hot.
