Gili Islands, Indonesia

Sunset over the volcano, Agung, in Bali
On Gili Trawangen - with the island of Lombok in the background
Chillin'
Will Goodman, on his return from his trial dive before going down for 31 hours

Dancers at the ceremony for Will Goodman
Full exposure
Tariq and local boy showing off on the beach

Local kids and one obvious tourist who looks a bit offended
Nice lighting on the beach at Gili Meno and Lombok in the backdrop
Local kids posing for a picture
Local fisherboyz
More acrobats on the beach - this guy has some skills
Hannah and I, after gorging on some fresh, local seafood
More naked kids on the beach (are you getting the wrong idea about me?)
Yellow-fin tuna
A slice of paradise
Ummm.. - I'm starting to get the wrong idea about me
Living a rough life on the Gili Islands

After arriving in Denpasar, I headed directly to the beach town of Kuta on Bali - although I was advised not to. However, after pulling an all-nighter in Bangkok the night before, I was in desperate need of a place to throw my bags and crash out. I spent that night and the following day there just strolling around and making more Indonesian friends than I really wanted to - the town is really built up and the beach is quite dirty and crowded - not what I came to find in Indonesia. Kuta is the town where the Bali bombings happened several years ago and I did pay a visit to the memorial and saw the site of the bar that was bombed - it's still empty and they haven't re-built anything - there are plans to make it into a memorial park. The town is full of night clubs and shops and a walk down the street was almost as much of a hassle as walking down a street in India - almost. The following day, I began my journey to the Gili Islands -which took a full day of traveling by bus to Padang Bai - the port town on Bali's east coast - and then hopping on a boat for 5 hours. The journey was nice, from what I saw - I spent a large chunk of the time asleep on the front deck - still catching up from my party time in Bangkok and the lack of sleep. Arrived on Gili Trawangen in the evening at sunset. The Gili Islands consist of 3 islands - Gili Trawangen, Gili Meno and Gili Air. Gili Trawangen is the busiest of all the islands and I decided to go there because I was ready to meet some fellow travelers and have a bit of fun. Gili Meno is the most laid back of all 3 - with very little in the way of restaurants and bars but beautiful beaches. Gili Air is somewhere in between. At this point, I wasn't sure where Amanda was - I thought that she was on an island off of Bali still and would be coming to the Gilis in a few days - but as it turned out - she was on the adjacent island - Gili Meno - enjoying some down time. I met a lovely German woman, Hannah, the prior night in Kuta and we agreed to meet up on Gili Trawangen. We had a few great days and nights together - partying it up at one of the many bars on the island. There is literally a party going on every single night at one of the bars - they rotate each night. I got burnt out on this pretty quickly after several consecutive nights of staying up until 3 a.m. - but enjoyed every minute of it. I went on a snorkeling trip one day in which we stopped at various spots around the islands and got to see some hawksbill sea turtles up close and personal. Also got to stop off on Gili Air and spend a short amount of time there. All of the islands here are beautiful - white sand beaches, turquoise blue sea, and coral reefs - it just depends on what you are looking for as far as action goes. On all of the islands, it's possible to circumnavigate the entire island by a sandy footpath - and I've managed to do this several times here on Gili Trawangen. On Gili Trawangen, there is a nice hill that you can hike up and get a 360 degree view from the top which is stunning. When I finally found out that Amanda was on Gili Meno - after a few days of being here since our only form of communication was the internet and that required sending an email and then waiting until the other one checked it and wrote back - so it took us a few days to make a plan. I finally went over to Gili Meno to visit her and we had a nice day catching up on things and having lunch together. She decided to come back to Gili Trawangen with me for the night - I managed to get a great room here for only 40 rupiah per night (less than $5) with 2 double beds, bathroom and a little porch outside. There are a few catches to this however: 1) I"m not on the beach, instead I'm in the village which is only a short walk to the beach; 2) I'm directly across the street from the mosque which begins with the morning prayer at 5:20 a.m.; and 3) there is a rooster who is going for rooster of the year that lives next door and conveniently begins his job just after the mosque is finished and you've finally managed to get back to sleep. But, what can I say, I'm cheap and I refuse to move - so I pay the price to suffer. Anyway - Amanda came back for a night with me and we had a nice seafood dinner together - there is a plethora of fresh seafood here - snapper, yellow-fin tuna, grouper, butterfish, barracuda and mahi-mahi - to name a few. You can walk up and pick your fish and they grill it right there and then you get an endless supply of fresh salad, potatoes, etc... The game plan was for me to go over to Gili Meno the following day and then Amanda and I would move to Gili Air for a few nights - and then I was planning to go on a boat trip to Flores a few days after. However, I decided to just stay on Gili Trawangen, because I was having a good time and enjoying the variety of options here. I ended up making some good friends here and having an amazing time - I'll leave it at that. Met some Finnish guys who were a great laugh, along with a crazy guy (just kidding, Tariq) from Montreal - who I ended up sharing lots of laughs and some unforgettable good times with over the past 2 weeks. Yes, that's right - I've been here for over 2 weeks now and can't seem to leave - it's a vortex, I swear. My days consist of waking up to the mosque, then Rooster of the Year, and then a few hours later - I go for my breakfast of a banana pancake and coffee. Shortly after this, I make my way to the beach where I lounge around, swim, read and get asked to buy pearls and necklaces about one hundred times. Once I've had my fill of the sun - I make my way to my favorite coffee shop - Coco's - for the most incredible iced cappuccino in the world and sometimes, a roasted veggie baguette sandwich. Along the way, I am greeted with the usuals, "Hello," "Where are you going?" and then followed by, "Can I come?" - and after a good few days here of being asked my name and where I was from by many of the local gigolos - I now get greeted with, "Ah-laska" My new response to that is to say, "Lombok" (which is the name of the big island just next to the Gilis and where a good majority of the people are from who live here) I find it funny but you may just have to be here to really appreciate it. Some days, I'll go snorkeling, if I can find a buddy because I'm too much of a wimp to go on my own - there are some crazy fish in these waters and I get a bit freaked out. When Amanda came over, we went snorkeling and ended up seeing 7 sea turtles - many of them very close, which was to me, amazing. One night, as I was walking down the street - I looked over and spotted a guy that I had met in Laos - nothing seems to amaze me anymore about traveling. I did know that he was planning to come to Indonesia but he wasn't supposed to be here for another month - so I was shocked when I saw him. So many travelers do the Southeast Asia loop that you seem to keep running into people along the way. Ah yes, and I can't forget to mention Will Goodman - the guy who is here and attempting the world record for staying underwater for 100 hours. Apparently, he already holds the world record for staying under for 24 hours but it was "unofficial" - so he was attempting to go for 100 hours and the Guiness Book of World Records, along with Discovery channel and a few others are here and monitoring him. He ended up staying down for 31 hours - which is still the world record and I saw him this morning and he was looking okay - I guess that there was a leak in his suit and he was getting hypothermic so he had to come up. He is raising money to put towards building a new school here so it's all for a good cause. There's a Swedish guy roaming around here who is trying to stay drunk for 100 hours - you get the idea of what things are like here now? I am gearing up to make a move here soon - which I've been trying to do for over a week now. I believe my next move will be to go to the bigger island of Lombok and check out a few spots over there before heading back to Bali to catch my flight on the 29th of April. I want to visit a town called Ubud on Bali before I go so that I can take care of some shopping, see some traditional dancing, take a few art classes and see some of the hilled rice terraces in the surrounding villages. Hard to believe that I'll be back in Homer in less than 2 weeks. I have gotten very used to this lifestyle and pace - and it's going to be a real shock to my system to go back to "real life." I'm convinced that I could be a professional traveler - if only someone would pay me to do this - any suggestions, anyone?