Hey guys. Just to paint the picture for you. I’m sitting at the Sunset Beach Café which is located on Gili Meno – one of the trinity of Gili Islands
in Indonesia. I made a decision not go deep into all the shit I’ve experienced on the personal level this past week here - if you’re my friend and if you’ve talked to me recently, you know,
if not, just know that it has
been a roller coaster. And I mean up and down and up and down and down and down
and down and then a bit up and shit. Pretty entertaining way to spend your
holidays. I hope yours has been at least as eventful as mine, maybe in a bit
more up way, and that you got all the family and friends time, and love from
every direction possible... I know I did eventually. I also hope you didn’t go too crazy with the gifts which
gonna get thrown away in like 2 months. Anyway, merry Christmas.
This trip of mine started with a fucking
nightmare. Get this. So I download this Didi (Chinese Uber) app to catch a night car to the
airport. When I try to actually do that, I wait for like 15 minutes with no response. Fuck it, I run out of my buidling chaising cabs down the street like back in good old days. Finnaly got one, heading to the airport. Tired as fuck. I get to the counter, show up
my passport, they run it, and the Chinese lady proudly wearing the infamous Chinese poker bitch
face tells me that she cannot give me the ticket. She gets the one she already
printed out and tears it in front of me. She follows up by explaining
that in order to travel to Indonesia, I need a return ticket. Me trying to
explain that I can travel there visa free (or get visa on arrival) does not
help, neither does the fact I actually can extend my visa on arrival by
additional month so I simply do not know my return date. All of a sudden, I’m awake. I park it by the closest
socket, plug my laptop in, find a random connection for a mid-January with an
airline I flew with before, find the old ticket in my e-mail account, change all
the info so it fits the flight I just found, and send that shit to myself. I
show up back at the counter. Now with her supervisor present. I realize I made
a typo in the Denpasar airport code. Running back to the socket (my laptop does
not really work on the battery anymore). I change it once again and present
that piece of art to the lady and her supervisor again. And there it goes. I
get my ticket. Exhausted, ready to die, cursing the bureaucracy in every way possible
in my head. Made it to the gate and eventually on the flight.
Well, I made it to Bangkok, got a cab from the airport, met
up with my girlfriend, we wrapped it all up and went for an evening flight to
Bali. We arrived, got ourselves visa on arrival (see the deal is, if you enter
visa free you get the same 30 days visa on arrival gets you, however, the
difference is, visa on arrival grants you the option of extending your stay by
another 30 days), and went to Pandangbai. Slept for about 4 hours, took a cab
to the dock, bought ferry tickets to Gili, exchanged some money, got ourselves
local SIM cards and off we went.
Now, Gili T is a pretty picturesque island. There is literally no motorized transportation so it’s only
bikes or horses. On one hand, it makes it all romantic, on the other, watching
all the horse-drawn carriages carrying tourists and their shit around does not do much
good for a vegan heart. The island is also small – takes
about an hour to circle it walking. We took advantage of one of the poor horses
and got to our accommodation. The island has sort of a center where the food
market, most of dive schools, tourist centers and bars are. Outside of that,
there are many resorts, massage parlors, coconut stands, and also a strip where
outdoor movie screenings happen every evening. Overall, there are many options
and the fact the island felt far from packed even now, between holidays, made
the whole vibe all chilled. It’s still
a lot different from Jawa, cause Gili is obviously way more expat ready and friendly,
but it’s not bad. Oh, and you can
get weed and shrooms basically everywhere – surf
guy, bars, restaurants, hotels. They got it.
Over the couple of days, we caught some movies in the
evening, did some surfing, tried some food (fucking tempeh guys... fucking
tempeh). And yesterday, we got a boat to Gili Meno - this island is located
just about 20 minutes from Gili T and it's even smaller. We walked around it until we found a place
to stay overnight in this Sunset place and spent the day by the beach. Wrapped
it all by drinks and Gado Gado in the restaurant. Food-wise, I feel way
healthier than the last time I was here. Usually have only one major meal a day
so I feel pretty light, plus all the sea air and sun. This is my climate. Not
gonna post many pictures this time, cause I really was all over the place, but
I’ll make it up to you guys the next
time.
So yeah, this is the last day of 2019. Happy new year to
everybody out there! All the love to my people! Over the past couple of days,
you have been simply amazing and words cannot really express how much I
appreciate you. My family as well. My dad, my sis, her partner, my nephew. The
best fucking family anyone could every ask for. My day ones back home. You know
what time it is. I’m gonna see you 2020 and we
gonna do some dirt. And again, my runners, my vegans, my music fanatics...
Everyone really. Stay away from bullshit, keep it positive... Always walk
around with your chin up and your chest out... And let’s make 2020 count! One!
Highlights:
- Surfing. Gonna definitely try more of that.
- Local food, local coffee.
- All of my people. Gotta shout you out once more cause you have no idea... Like for real for real.
No comments:
Post a Comment