We checked out and took the island hopper to Gili Meno this morning. The island hopper is a 20-seater boat. The islands are about a 1/2 mile (1km) apart, although the dock is on the far side (east). So it ends up being more like a mile journey (1.6km)–about 15 minutes.
We targeted the west side of the island though. So we paid a cidomo $4 (expensive!) to haul us and our stuff a 1/2 mile to the other side of the island.
There are only two lodgings on the west side. And we didn’t have a reservation. There were two rooms left–one at each place. One was a crappy room at the nice lodge; and the other was a step up (but not that much) at the crappy lodge. We took the better one at the crappy lodge.
We had lunch w/ ants. Big. Red. Ants. Did I mention the lodge was the crappy one?
We oriented ourselves with Gili Meno. We walked around the coast. We noticed several Indonesian men with western women–peculiar.
Had dinner next door at Sunset Gecko (the nicer guesthouse). The guests there all seemed a bit out of it, in their own world–off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. There was definitely an underground vibe to this island.
That night we saw galaxies. At first we were skeptical. Could those be clouds? But they did not move. And there was only one streak across the sky. Usually clouds are numerous.
The reason we could see galaxies is because:
- it was a new moon
- there are only 300 people on Gili Meno (most on the east side)
- there are only 3000 people on the three Gili Islands overall
- there are few light posts and no motor vehicles on the Gilis
- Lombok, the nearest big island, is largely undeveloped and uncrowded
That was the purest star-gazing experience I’ve ever had, and the first time seeing galaxies. It was amazing.
