Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Gili Trewangan

Aaaah Gili...
I wanted to stay 4 days in order to fly to Flores and from there to Komodo as well as the Southern beaches of Lombok locals told me about and while making my way back visit Borobudyr temple and stop over in Jakarta.
Didn't happen!
I did my Advanced Open Water certificate, dived 6 times enjoyed a peaceful but amazing Gili full moon party and went all in on the last night with dive master Mike.
I didn't even make it over to Gili Meno or Gili Air - considering there's not really a lot to do on Gili T but surf, dive, snorkel or rent a bike during the day, it's rather fascinating how time flew by!
I love that Gili T gave me the same vibe as Koh Tao - just with more oceanic diversity and less dead coral which is the tragic fate of Thai reefs :(


Like Koh Tao one gets to the Gili's from Sanur, Padang Bai or even Amed (sporadic services).
I stopped at Lembongan on the way there and did a dive but the island was completely dead otherwise I'd have done some exploration but after Ubud I was dying for some party and meeting fun backpackers.
According to my dive master the Lembongan dive center should have not let me dive at Toyapakeh slope as the currents there claim around 15 lives each year so hearing that afterwards, my heart jumped a teeny bit but I wanted to high five making it out of there :)


I was a bit too busy enjoying Gili T so not much filming was done but here a glimpse of my so far favorite spot on earth! :)

JOSS!!! I had NEVER heard about this before and was intrigued I had to try it before leaving. Seems it is most commonly consumed with vodka. According to my dive instructor (in the video) it enhances the effect of alcohol without you feeling bad and it instantly wakes you up. I did 2 vodka joss shots but as I heard the hangover was horrid, I didn't continue. I had a third joss shot to stay awake and as great as the effect was I woke up the next morning with slight heart palpitations...wish i would have brought some home. This stuff would do miracles for students or working late :D Anyway, here's a video of Mike taking my Joss virginity :)