037 run off the road by the donkey/cart!
017 view from the boat of Lombok (or 028 –with boat) from my free sail.
These thatched bamboo huts look beautiful, but what with the outside bathroom and the outside wildlife inhabiting the inside, it is a mit hard compared to western standards.
With hindsight, I turned these down in India, so my standards have definitely dropped, but in fairness in India rooms were cheap and plentiful, whereas on Gili Air rooms, whilst not in short supply given the season, are not cheap if not like this!
The whole island is low on water, power and generally everything. Food, bar fish, is twice the price of Bali, and hard to source outside the restaurants. I have found the village ‘warungs’ and the tiny market, and luckily breakfast is good. I am missing my deep fried treats, and craving fat!
The hardest part about this island, apart from the outside shower/loo, and see above….is that there is nothing to do.
The beach is so beautiful, and its mesmerising cycling round the island, seeing the coral washed up on the golden sands, admiring the boats, pottering through the village waving to the locals -there is a tiny school here, and shops for the villagers, and a Mosque, they are Muslim here, which took me aback-is wonderful.
It is literally like being back into another world, with no TV, no internet (the odd wi-fi café, hence this getting to you all) and nothing going on. The local people just sit. Or they sleep. If I stop for refreshments, the staff will invariably be asleep on the floor. The beach bars are quiet; it seems a shame to wake them for a diet coke!
I am aware now how hard it is for me to relax and do nothing. I saw this too in India, especially in the backwaters, where I watched fascinated as people sat for hours on end, staring into the water. Hours would pass, and the boat would return along the same canal, and the same women or men would still be in the same place.
There I tried to cultivate the same art of calmness, tranquillity, and failed completely. I have learnt much about myself, but not how to stop. I have learnt that it’s fine to be nervous, even scared, and best to accept that as part of who I am, for every train, plane, bus, boat, but not to let it stop me. And I have learnt that a) anything is possible, and b) sometimes, it’s not worth doing things for the sake of it i.e. if the mind and spirit experience doesn’t overwhelm the body’s discomfort. So I’ve learnt to say yes, and I’ve learnt to say no.
Now again I’m trying to learn the art of meditation-tomorrow I shall not abandon the sunbed as soon as I have swum, but lie instead in the sun with my eyes closed.
017 view from the boat of Lombok (or 028 –with boat) from my free sail.
These thatched bamboo huts look beautiful, but what with the outside bathroom and the outside wildlife inhabiting the inside, it is a mit hard compared to western standards.
With hindsight, I turned these down in India, so my standards have definitely dropped, but in fairness in India rooms were cheap and plentiful, whereas on Gili Air rooms, whilst not in short supply given the season, are not cheap if not like this!
The whole island is low on water, power and generally everything. Food, bar fish, is twice the price of Bali, and hard to source outside the restaurants. I have found the village ‘warungs’ and the tiny market, and luckily breakfast is good. I am missing my deep fried treats, and craving fat!
The hardest part about this island, apart from the outside shower/loo, and see above….is that there is nothing to do.
The beach is so beautiful, and its mesmerising cycling round the island, seeing the coral washed up on the golden sands, admiring the boats, pottering through the village waving to the locals -there is a tiny school here, and shops for the villagers, and a Mosque, they are Muslim here, which took me aback-is wonderful.
It is literally like being back into another world, with no TV, no internet (the odd wi-fi café, hence this getting to you all) and nothing going on. The local people just sit. Or they sleep. If I stop for refreshments, the staff will invariably be asleep on the floor. The beach bars are quiet; it seems a shame to wake them for a diet coke!
I am aware now how hard it is for me to relax and do nothing. I saw this too in India, especially in the backwaters, where I watched fascinated as people sat for hours on end, staring into the water. Hours would pass, and the boat would return along the same canal, and the same women or men would still be in the same place.
There I tried to cultivate the same art of calmness, tranquillity, and failed completely. I have learnt much about myself, but not how to stop. I have learnt that it’s fine to be nervous, even scared, and best to accept that as part of who I am, for every train, plane, bus, boat, but not to let it stop me. And I have learnt that a) anything is possible, and b) sometimes, it’s not worth doing things for the sake of it i.e. if the mind and spirit experience doesn’t overwhelm the body’s discomfort. So I’ve learnt to say yes, and I’ve learnt to say no.
Now again I’m trying to learn the art of meditation-tomorrow I shall not abandon the sunbed as soon as I have swum, but lie instead in the sun with my eyes closed.
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| Approaching the Gilis |
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