Saya sudah pernah bercerita tentang Gili, tentang bagaimana menariknya Gili Trawangan. Di Gili ada berbagai opsi penginapan, dari kelas resort berbintang, hingga homestay yang dapat menekan budget seminim mungkin. Berikut daftar sebagian penginapan dengan harga di bawah 200 ribu rupiah per malam di Gili Trawangan.
Budget:
·Aldi Homestay, sekitar Rp. 100.000,- per malam,
contact 081339541102.
·Sandy Beach Cottage, sekitar Rp. 100.000,- per
malam, contact 625 020.
·Purple Homestay, sekitar Rp. 100.000,- per
malam, contact 085233330653.
·Lisa Homestay, sekitar Rp. 100.000,- per malam,
contact 081339523364.
·Warna Homestay, sekitar Rp. 150.000,- per malam,
contact 623 859.
·Balenta, sekitar Rp. 190.000,- per malam,
contact 081805203464.
·Welcome Inn, sekitar Rp. 190.000,- per malam,
contact 087864013100
·Bale Sasak, sekitar Rp.170.000,- per
malam, contact 087824684844
·Pondok Twin Garden, sekitar Rp. 170.000,- per
malam, contact 08175708373
·Little Woodstock Gili, sekitar Rp.
170.000,- per malam, contact 082147655877
NOTES:
·Harga bisa berubah ubah dan berbeda, misal harga
di penyedia booking hotel seperti Agoda dapat lebih murah atau lebih mahal dari
harga booking langsung ke hotel, tanyakan dan bandingkan harga sebelum booking.
·Cek fasilitas dan kondisi kamar melalui website,
biasanya homestay/hotel punya facebook page, beberapa bahkan sudah memiliki
website sendiri untuk melihat foto foto kamar dan list fasilitas.
·Cek lokasi, sesuaikan dengan kebutuhan
·Harga yang ada disini adalah harga kamar yang
paling murah, bisa berubah tergantung musim (high/low season)
Non-stop Party Island, mushroom and bikini festive. That was
what I heard about this small island on the northwestern tip of Lombok. So some
parts of the stories is true and some are beyond it.
For decades, Gili Trawangan has its own popularity as a
'Party Island.' Being the biggest island of three Gili Island; the others are
Gili Air and Gili Meno, Gili Trawangan offers a place to party hard and getaway
from all the chaotic senses of tourist destination.
It is quite easy to get into Gili Trawangan, no wonder it is
so crowded during the high season. You can get fast boat from Bali or the slow
boat from Padangbai and Senggigi. From other parts of Lombok you can cross from
Bangsal or Nare Harbour.
The first thing you will spot on this island is there are no
car at all. Take a bike and you can get around this Island in less than an
hour. But if you don't like pedalling then there are more relaxing way to get
from one place to another, which is cidomo - a small horsedrawn
carriage.
Cidomo
The local government forbids all motor
vehicles, that's the main reason you will never find noisy motorized vehicles
here. Whats more interesting is that even for Cidomo, there are some rules even
though rules are made to be broken - so does some might said. No more than 4
passengers for one cidomo and no more than 33 cidomo in Gili Trawangan, I don't
have time and will to count it anyway.
The other unique thing about Gili
Trawangan is also there are no police at all. If some problem occurs, local village
head will take care of the problems. But actually the only problem mostly
happening here is headache due to mixed up alcohol on those never ending party.
Gili Trawangan is developing fast in
the last 10 years. New hotels, resorts and bars are popping out like mushrooms
during rainy days. This fast growing tourist accomodation also gives the local
money earning opportunity. Local people in Gili Trawangan is about a thousand
and tourist came during high season can be about four times the number of the locals
every month.
But the crowd in Gili is in a different
sense with Bali. Since Gili is so small, we will find ourself going around and
meet the same people and going back to the same place before we even realize
it. With no motorized vehicles, I find myself having fun pedaling bicycle
around the beach even though it is quite a hard work on thick sands texture on
some tracks. Bike rentals are everywhere so no worries that you will not get
it, and it is safe to put your bike on the side of the streets, since nobody
will took it outside the island.
Besides feeling like you're between the
middle age with horse-drawn carriage everywhere but bars and pubs are easily
found and party calling every day, Gili Trawangan has two options, on budget
and on your choices of vacation.
If you're not the budget traveler and
want to have stylish accommodation, there are some villas on the other side of
the island. Of course you will have to take cidomo because it will spent around
20 minutes to get to the more serene zone of Gili Trawangan, away from the
collections of groovy beach bars and tourist crowds.
I found myself on Queen Villa, which is filled with
honeymoon lovebirds. Private white sandy beach and serene atmosphere. Here
tourist can have more spaces, I even feel like there is nobody else, and then
realize there are, only during breakfast and dinner.
Spa by the beach
My favourite relaxing moment and I'm sure most honeymoon
couples love it too is the Balinese Spa. They don't usualy provide spa right on
the beach but I managed to convince them to provide it and it worth the
persistence of my request. The key of massage and spa is the relax, serene and
tranquil moments and I always feels like it is best when you can see the blue
sea, hear the waves and feel the wind breezing.
But don't spend time only on the beach. Gili also famous for
its well-known friendly sea turtles, so grab your diving suit and pack your
fins. My diving guide promised that 99,9 percent I will meet the sea
turtles, and it became 100 percent since I met more than five friendly turtles
down the blue sea.
I get so close with the sea turtle :)
You can swim next to the sea turtle but don't touch them
I am so excited seeing the first turtle came. I saw this sea
turtle swimming right to me before actually switching direction in front of me,
seems like since they met human everyday so they don't really get annoyed or
scare to human. You can really chase them, moving and swimming right next to
the sea turtle and amazed on how close you can get with them.
But sea turle is not the only thing you can get. My diving
trip starts from coral fan garden, which is on the northern part of Gili
Trawangan, then going to the western part to the shark point. The spot from
Jackfish point to shark point is home for some moray eel.I saw three moray eel, from a size of a
bottle until about more than two meters long. My advice, better don't get too
close with them, I saw their sharp nasty teeth which can actually harm you if
they felt threatened by our sudden movement and also if we get too close. But
seeing this creature is always fascinating, how a moray eel moves, gliding on
the tip of the corals are like seeing National Geographic live on the sea
itself.
One more fascinating under sea creature I encountered is the
most graceful cephalopoda, the octopus. With their two eyes and four
pairs of arms, moving under water for an octopus is like flying with no gravity
involved on their movements. Octopus actually have jet propulsion mechanism, they
can make water passing their body so the movement is always head first with
arms trailing behind. You can see the video here:
Seeing the octopus changing colors and
textures are also make your eyes widen and you don't even wanna miss a blink
since they are moving fast and easily away from our sight when they hide into
the hard corals. There are also more options for diving
around Gili Meno and Gili Air, and the best thing is you don't have to spend a
lot of time on the boat. These three Gili islands are so close to each other
and small so it only need less than 15 minutes if you want to dive in the
southern part of Gili Air.
If you just wanna wander around Gili Trawangan, you can get from
slope, coral fan garden, jackfish and even if you have the divers lucky gene,
you might find some blacktip shark during your dive, and don't worry since they
are quite friendly too.
For a newbie sea explorer, diving courses are everywhere on
this small island. You can find it both on the resorts or just around the
crowded zone near the entrance dock. On my five minutes of walking on those
areas, at least I can found two dive centre which offers a lot of diving
courses, from discover dive for the very beginner sea explorer, until
specialized skills for divers.
So Gili Trawangan is an option other than Bali, or maybe
after your Bali visit. I've done the more serene and private vacation and
planning to invite my friends to do the party option later next time. One thing
for sure, whatever your vacation option on Gili Trawangan, don't miss the
diving moment.
