Bali, Gili T and back again

Wow wow wow! Jet lag takes on new meaning when you are in the air for more than 24 hours. My friend Jane flies back and forth from Australia to Canada and I now get it when she talks of the stress on your body. This year I spent my 60th birthday in the clouds travelling from Calgary to Amsterdam to Denpasar. What a high, literally.

Arriving in Bali was exciting enough but seeing my son Lucas and daughter-in-love Montana was the icing on my birthday cake. Then Tom and Gerry and Jane arrived and we made a wonderful party of 7. Gerry and Jane showed us around their favourite haunts of Kuta Puri and introduced us to Gado-Gado, an Indonesian salad covered in peanut sauce. The noise, the stalls selling everything and anything and the sunsets on Kuta Beach were an assault on the senses. Gerry and Jane left to go back to work (what is that anyway? Lmao!) and the 5 remaining got the heck out of Kuta and did some sightseeing. Holy monkey temples, Ubud, the Bali Bird Park and sunsets at Tanah Lok….all combined with more Gado-Gado, satays, nasi goreng, watermelon lassi and Bintang, the local beer. Rocky and Tom fell in love with the jaffles, a grilled sandwich with all kinds of wonderful fillings.

And then we were 4. We took a bus and the fast boat to Gili Trawangan, known as Gili T. We were only going to stay a couple of days but fell in love and stayed a week. Upon arrival on the island Lucas did his thing, making us comfortable at a coffee shop while he rented a bicycle for $2 and checked out the local establishments. Finding us reasonable accommodation with a/c, breakfast and oceanfront, the GoodHeart Resort. Check them out on Trip Advisor if you find yourself heading to Gili T.

What’s not to like on Gili T? There are no motorized vehicles. Only bicycles and horse drawn buggies known as cidomo. No air or noise pollution. You hear the mosque calling for prayers 4-5 times a day. Snorkel right off the beach with sea turtles, paddle board or scuba if you are so inclined. The food is fresh caught fish done on the BBQ right in front of you or pizza cooked in real wood ovens. Nasi goreng, mie goreng and fresh juice every day. Watermelon, mango, banana or avocado juice freshly mixed in a blender for $1.20 US or $12,000 rupiah. Our wallets were full of bills in denominations of 100,000, we felt rich.

Lucas and I took an Indonesian cooking course while Montana and Voldemort cheered us on and ate all of the dishes we prepared. We took a ferry over to Gili Meno planning to spend the day on the beach. Instead we walked around the whole island stopping when it got too hot (which was all the time) to enjoy a beer or juice. Our own private warung (pub) crawl. We took a snorkelling trip and saw sea turtles and clown fish and so much more, stopping at Gili Air for a lunch of rendang, cap cay and more nasi goreng. (Come to Cochrane. I will make you nasi goreng.). We relaxed on the beach and listened to Montana and Lucas regale us with tales of their travels in Nepal, Istanbul and Europe. And were so happy to join them on this leg of their world adventure.

Beach sunsets, mango lassi, snorkelling with Lucas, grilled lobster a la Montana, travelling with Voldemort…..my life is good.