Gili Air and Meno 11-18.6

Our journey continued from Lembongan, by the same fastboat as we arrived there with, to the Gili islands. But first a fun fact before continuing. During our trip Rosanna has discovered a new side to herself; she is able to sleep almost anywhere and anytime. She also gets sleepy as soon as she enters a transport of some sort. Examples of places include an aeroplane, a bus/car/tram/van and a fast or a slow boat of any kind. It also doesn't matter how bumpy the ride is or is it a short or a long one. Sleeping is always a good option!

Okay now moving on. So we arrived on Gili Air and walked to the bungalows we thought we had reserved. It turned out that the reservation didn't exist, dunno why, so we headed out with the backpacks to find a new place to stay in. Sweaty as hell we found Tyrrell cottages that had rooms available and decided to stay there for one night and look for a better place the next day. We went to register to Manta Dive where we had reserved an Open Water Diving Course starting on 12.6. We got our diving books and watched some introduction videos. It was quite surprising how much studying you had to do and that there was an exam at the end before one could get the Open Water diver certificate!

The next day we changed from Tyrrell cottages (not so good) to Manta Dive's own rooms which were really nice. The next door restaurant Waterfront served the breakfast and gave a 10% discount for Manta residents so we ended up eating there quite many times. They had amazing juices, watermelon, papaya, lemon, mango, pineapple, you name it. 

Our dive course started that day with a pool day of practising basic skills and getting familiar with the gear. We had four people in our course, us and a couple from Wales, Lydia and Roo. They were really nice and we spent the next couple of days with them also outside the course. The second day we had two dives. The first dive was the most hazardous out of all the dives, naturally. Rosanna had problems with equalizing her right ear and felt dizzy a couple of times during the dive. Oliver didn't spot anything that our instructor Roxanne showed us. Well this wasn't really a problem of only the first dive because Oliver never saw anything that was pointed to him underwater :) The next dives went really well and some of the creatures we saw included six Green Turtles, blue spotted Sting Rays, Mantis shrimps and from fish Buffer fish, Parrot fish, Clown fish (the Nemo fish), Snappers, Trigger fish, Trevallys, Angel fish and Sweet Lips.

There was also a fullmoon party on the island between our second and third diving days but we didn't dare to attend it since diving in a hangover wasn't really what we had in mind...

After our diving course was over and we got certified as Open Water divers, which means that we can dive with a diving master up to 18 m, it was time to celebrate. It was Saturday evening and the Waterfront restaurant had quiz night which we took part in with Lydia and Roo. We came in second last but that didn't stop as from joining the dive crew for an after party in one of their haunts. Roxanne, our diving instructor, insisted we complete our Open Water diving course in Manta dive, which of course meant drinking shots. We have a really funny video of this happening but dunno how to upload it here so ask to see it when we come back if you want to see it :D Overall we had a really fun night and felt hangover enough the next day!

We didn't have too much freetime and didn't get to explore island as much as we maybe should have, because the Open Water course was from 8 am to 4 pm. Of course there was a couple of hours lunchbreak but that we normally spent doing our homework (yes they gave us homework from the course) or sleeping (mainly Rosanna). 

We left Gili Air to head to Gili Meno on 15.6. We took a public boat to Meno and started our search for our accommodation. There were no motorbikes or cars on Air and same applied to Meno; bikes and horse carrages were the only options. Meno is the smallest of Gili islands and it felt like it was the most "wild" too. Super big spiders everywhere and no road lamps, which meant that after 7 pm you needed a torchlight when walking around the small paths of the village. 

We stayed at the Banana Leaf cottages for the first night which was a really cheap and simple hut. Luckily we hadn't reserved any more nights there because a mouse and flying (!!??) cockroaches kept us awake the whole night. The next morning we walked around the island trying to find a bug free place to stay. We were so happy when we got a room at Tropical Hideaways hotel for the next two nights that we didn't really care at that point that the room was a little over our budget. Turned out that the staff was also very friendly and helpful and we ended up liking the place a lot.

The following days we didn't do much on Meno. The island was surrounded by an excellent reef which was very good for snorkeling. We walked along the beach from one beach bar to another and Rosanna also had a massage from a local woman called Uni :)

There is a turtle hatchery on Meno, which we visited and gave a donation to. We got to release two Green Turtles into the sea in exchange which was awesome! The hatchery was only a simple set of small pools on the beach which had turtles of different ages in them. The oldest ones which we freed were 6 months old. The place is run by a local guy and it has contributed significantly to the increased amount of turtles around Gili islands. 

Gili Meno also has a bird sanctuary which was a bit of a disappointment just because we didn't see any birds :D Its located on a small salt water lake in the middle of the island and also held by local people who want to preserve the unique mangrove filled environment for the birds. They have put up signs telling people not to cut down anymore mangroves and also planted tens of new mangroves around the lake. Over 30 different species of birds inhabit the lake but they were all hiding when we were trotting about. Bad luck. 

The village is spread out on the island and Meno also has a mosque and an elementary school. After finishing that children travel to Lombok to go to school. We chatted with some locals working in our hotel and found out that many young people graduate from university nowadays. They also get married quite young, around 24-25 year old. This is, according to the bartender of our hotel, due to the fact that "before you are married, you cannot have sex". Understandable. The island was again filled with cocks and chicken and cows seemed to rome around the island quite freely.

Sunsets are amazing on Meno and we got to wittness a couple really beautiful ones. There were nice places were you could enjoy a juice while watching the sunset.

Of the Gili islands that we visited we liked Air the most. Just because it had a little bit more life in it but it still wasn't too touristy. Both islands were absolutely beautiful and the water so clear blue and filled with corals and other amazing lifeforms. We didn't visit the third and biggest Gili island Trawangan, just because it is the most touristy one and turning into the Ibiza of Asia. Here's one final treat for you guys, taken 7.30 am in the harbour of Meno, just before we left to Lombok.

Kuta/Legian, Bali 5.-7.6.

After flying through the night and arriving to Bali very early in the morning, we were prepared for a long queue for the visa on arrival. On the contrary we were through the airport with our luggage and getting in to a taxi a mere 45 minutes after getting off the plane. Tip for travellers, arrive in the morning to avoid queues.

Our hotel, Hotel Neo, was quite modern and therefore very neat and tidy. It was only a 10 minute walk from the Legian beach. The staff was very friendly and breakfast was nice.

One of the first things we noticed when walking around in Kuta and Legian areas was that there is a massive Australian presence, loads of Aussie tourists and places saying Aussie owned. Also the traffic was quite horrifying with scooters and cars driving like maniacs.

First day we ate breakfast at the hotel and then just relaxed and laid on the beach. Rosanna got straight to her favorite hobby; collecting seashells :) Later we walked around the main streets of Legian and Kuta.

The next morning we missed the breakfast and had to head to the town on search for food. We landed in a small place where the breakfast cost around 50 000 rupies (3€). Not bad at all. Then we went straight down to the beach in search of a surf lesson and found one after a little walk down the beach. Our instructor was a local guy who showed as how to get up on the board and then off to the water we went! The lesson went well at the start and we both felt that we got the hang of it, but after an hour we were so tired and getting out to the waves was starting to feel very hard. Both of us were painfully hit by our boards and Oliver fell over on his last ride the board hitting him on the nose for the second time in quick succession, resulting in a pretty hard nose bleed. Rosanna's extraordinarily sensitive skin was damaged by the board as she got quite painful board rash on her thighs, knees and stomach. After some ice treatment everything was well again and we were already planning the next destination to try surfing again.

We sat on the beach until the sun set looking at propper surfers doing their thing with people clapping on the beach when someone succeeded! That evening we got a bit of a feel of the Bali nightlife and were quite glad to go to bed relatively early to get ready for the next morning and our next destination of Nusa Lembongan.

Hong Kong 2-5.6

It was hot and humid as hell. Our hotel Butterfly on Victoria was right next to a metro station on the Hong Kong Island. To our pleasant surprise we noticed that the hotel was covered in a hood since the building was under a renovation. So we kept our windows shut.

On the first day we visited the Victoria park and took a tram up to the Victoria peak to see the city from a panoramic view. Later we walked to the harbour and were wondering why there were so many people sitting around in middle of the streets having a picnic. Coming closer to the harbour we saw that one of the main streets was closed off from cars. We walked under a brigde to get to the harbour and under it were close to 100 women having a picnic, doing manicures and pedicures to each other and sleeping. Weird people those Hong Kongese. Later we found out that it had been some kind of common holiday which was why everyone were out of the offices and workplaces enjoying themselves. Eventually we took a boat to Kowloon, explored the harbour area there and walked along the promenade when the sun had set.

 

Next day we visited the Big Buddha on Lantau island. The Gondola lift that took us there was a cool experience and we saw some nice views from it. We walked through the small and quite touristy village inhabited by cows. Climbing to the top of the hill to see the buddha wasn't as hard as we thought. Here we took our first unconventional tourist picture. When we got back to the Hong Kong island we hopped on to one of the trams driving through the island. There we met a Finnish guy whic was a nice coincidence. We also did some shopping and in the evening went to see the night market in Kowloon.

The last day in HK we spent at the beach in Stanley, on the southeast side of Hong Kong island. The bus ride there was long and uncomfortable but totally worth it since we were already eager to swim in the ocean and sunbath. They even had cider!

Before heading off to the airport to catch our flight to Indonesia Bali, we ate in a restaurant near our hotel that had the Michelin guide recommendation. The food was good and cheap, hence the recommendation, but it was hard not to compare it with the Michelin guide recommended restaurants we've visited in Helsinki. There was no real effort in food display and the restaurant had a real diner feel to it. It was clearly family run with the mother and daughter waiting the tables and the dad in the kitchen. Very sympathetic all in all!

Our thoughts about Hong Kong were that it's an easy city to get around and felt safe to wonder about. We liked HK with its buzzing atmosphere. One thing to experience are the old trams driving through HK island. They were a very convenient way to get a bigger picture of the island. The humidity makes the temperature feel ten times worse than e.g. in Bali so now when looking back at it this would be one thing that bothered us about HK.