Gili Islands

I just realized that I've left it about 10 days since my last post. Partly due to crappy internet connections, partly due to laziness, and partly due to the fact that my life is so incredibly chill I am struggling to find things to blog about.

Matt and I left a place called Padangbai on the coast of Bali a few days ago. We got on a ferry headed for Lombok, the next big island over (it's not big at all). Anyway, before I even get on the ferry, this team of Indonesian men grab my bag and start marching toward the boat. I'm not sure what they're doing, but I kinda say "hey, um can I have my bag please...". No response, they keep marching. They get on the boat, set my bag down and about 5 men are blocking it from my reach as they demanded 10,000 rupiah (a little over 1 CDN dollar) for the return of my bag. So, I reply, "Screw you, I'm not giving you anything, gimme my bag!" I grab it and walk up the stairs, meanwhile reasonable Matt Davis reaches into his wallet and hands the angry mob the money they want to avoid a future altercation. I was pretty pissed about the whole thing. That won't happen again, no one's touching my stuff.

Anyway, so we get on the boat and sit on this dirty deck outside. The boat is seriously a giant piece of rusty metal crap. Its only about 9am by this time so we park it and lay down on our bags. I fell asleep for about an hour and a half and woke up dirty, hot, and still tired. I had a conversation with an Indonesian man about the differences in price between our countries. We concluded that for a pack of smokes and a beer in Canada an Indonesian can live for almost a month. Isn't that ridiculous?

After the worst ferry ride of my life we get off and get on a tiny little dirty bus that takes us on a curvy road for about an hour or more. By this time Matt had been feeling quite sick and he was under the least ideal conditions to feel the way that he did.

After numerous touts, scams, and no air-con we arrived on an island called Gili Air where we spent about 4 nights. Locals were friendly and we had a good time relaxing on the beach and doing not much at all.

We left yesterday for another Gili, this time Trawanagan which is much more populated than Gili Air, so there's a little more to do.

Today we spent the day snorkling for about 3 1/2 hours and we were actually able to see some sea turtles just off the coast here chillin in the water. It was great. Good coral and great fish. The conditions were very ideal.

Yesterday after Matt picked up a menu that featured an "Easter Special" we realized that, "Holy crap, it's Easter!". Not much of a celebration here, other than the fact that we're going to that restaurant to eat the "Easter Special". It'll be good...and cheap. Just the way I like it.

In other news, I'll be home in 9 days. I have a long trek ahead of me to get back home, but I'm looking forward to being there...as well as my short stint in Korea.

See ya all soon!