Slow Down

Gili Meno 

photo: Cobus Botes

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to visit many pockets of Indonesia. From Bali, vibrant with color, dance and indulgences, to Sumatra with its clove infused tea, reckless reefs, and great Batak houses, as well as to Sulawesi with its sea gypsies, coral gardens, and lonely islands.  While these locales offer adventure and intriguing encounters, none compare for me to Lombok’s Gili Meno, because what this place lacks in culture and curiosities, it makes up for in quiet relaxing community.

The Gilis, comprised of three small islands: Meno, Trawangan and Air, in northern Lombok aren’t off the beaten track. They are easily reached from Padangbai Harbor in Bali, with either a fast or slow boat to Sengigi or Bangsai on Lombok, with easy minibus connections or smaller boats taking you directly to the island of your choice. You could even fly to Lombok’s Mataram Airport as well. Once on Meno though, the only transportation you will find are small horse-drawn carts called cidomos, and bicycles.

photo: Cobus Botes

This is where life slows down. Often on vacations one tends to do as much and  see as many sights as possible. It makes sense; when so much time and money is put into something that might only happen for two weeks a year or even a lifetime. On Meno though you won’t have much choice. Here your days are filled with swimming, reading in your hammock and exchanging pleasantries with locals along the path on your way to a fruit shake.

photo: Cobus Botes

Our two favorite pastimes while there were snorkeling and walking around the island. There are many places to wade in and survey the undersea world, around the island. We often set off in the mornings, stopping wherever it looked easy to get in. Once we’d had our fill we might stop at a resort for a drink or meal, and continue on into the afternoon. A favorite spot was an area famous for its turtles and mild current that pushes you along so you don’t even have to kick.

photo: Cobus Botes

We also took great pleasure from exploring the many abandoned resorts around the island. Here the jungle has begun to reclaim the land, and the gardens, full of fragrant frangipani and glowing bougainvillea, once tended carefully, now cover every bit of free space. There are brightly mosaicked swimming pools cracked and drained. Exploring here makes you feel like you’re in modern tropical version of Angkor Wat.

Another day was spent on Gili Trawangan, the biggest and liveliest of the three islands. Here we could drink proper coffee, rent bicycles to explore the island, use the ATM, and have a beer at a floating bar.

photo: Cobus Botes

Back on Meno, every sunset and sunrise stunned us from our two-story bungalow at the Southern end of the main beach. We stayed at Biru Meno Resort for about $35 US a night, which included a small breakfast and a cold fresh-water shower. Our German/Indonesian hosts made us feel welcome, and brought many cups of ginger tea and cool Bintangs to our very secluded and airy coral cottage.

There are many places to eat on the main beach. Seating is often in private gazebos with ocean views. We ate local favorites like fried rice with prawn crackers, peanutty gado-gado, and fresh barbequed fish. We often spoiled ourselves with surprisingly very good pizzas and calzones as many of the restaurants have wood-burning ovens.

For more information on the Gilis, visit Lombok Network

Bring:

Snorkeling gear can be rented from dive shops, but having your own saves money and you can be assured of the quality. It also means you’ll be more likely to get it the water often, and instead of packing all your snorkeling into one day you can easily grab your fins and mask and hop in for a quick tour around whenever you feel like it.

A dry bag proved invaluable to us. These aren’t expensive, and it meant we never had to backtrack when snorkeling. We could bring money, flip-flops, sunscreen and a sarong, and instead of worrying about our things on an empty beach, we just towed it along with us and got out wherever when we were tired or cold. The flip-flops are especially important if your fins are booty-less, as getting in and out of rocky spots at low tide can be tricky.

What we should have brought was a few bottles of wine from Bali. It is much cheaper there, and the selection greater. You can get tired of beer, and as good as the food was, we had some awful cocktails while on Meno.

Mosquito repellant and coils can be bought on the island, but if you have a favorite kind, you may want to bring with. Long pants are definitely recommended for dusk. Flies can also be a problem during the day, at the restaurants. We made our peace with these minor disturbances early on luckily. We have also heard stories of malaria in the area. You should check what current conditions are before you go. We decided against malaria medication, and were not affected at all.