Sunset by the lake

We're fully sinking into the Gili Islands way of life. We had a glorious lie in until 11:30am because we set no alarms and the curtains are way too blackout for their own good! Luckily Kathy the owner was still gracious enough to make us scrambled eggs for breakfast which was a little taste of home. We had a chicken family visit us during breakfast who did a great job at clearing up the crumbs from our toast. Of course we didn't give them any scrambled eggs though! There's a lake on Gili Meno which I find so impressive when the island is so small. Apparently watching sunset from the jetty is amazing so we planned to visit there tonight. However on our hunt to find a good swimming spot we stopped by the lake to see it in daylight as well. On the route we passed many goats and cows roaming around as well as lots of locals who we said hello to. There was a group of tourists in front of us and the men were topless and the girls walking around in bikinis. That's okay on a party western island but on a Muslim majority island and when walking past a Mosque it baffles you how they feel this is appropriate. It's that lack of care and respect that gives westerners a bad reputation sadly. We walked around the lake and saw a huge nest of 4 orb weaving spiders who had built webs together. One's legs were the size of your hand! We hit the coast and headed around to the north east side of the island where many turtles are spotted in the waters. Unfortunately the rocks were once again preventing any chance of getting out far enough to see them so we've come to realise we need to book onto a snorkeling tour to be able to do it here. We gave up on swimming and decided to do Australia planning first so headed around the island back to the harbour jetty and to a place that has okay wifi. We spent most of the afternoon there trying to work out the best places to stop and booking accommodation for the trip. Everything is so expensive so I'm glad we're doing it now before the cheaper places are snapped up. After a couple of juices, ice cream and much frustration we decided we needed to come at it with fresh eyes. We abandoned planning and went back to get insect repellent on and cover up ready for the evening. The sunset at the lake was spectacular. You always feel you've seen the best sunset has to offer and then something just goes ahead and trumps it. The lake was calm and still so reflected the colours and clouds beautifully. We stayed until almost all the colour had faded from the sky and then went back to where we ate last night to have food and use the wifi to plan. We thought it would be the same where we couldn't eat until 7pm but we hadn't realised that today is the end of Ramadan so the resturant was closed as they were celebrating. We ended up eating at somewhere more expensive down the road where the wifi was pretty poor unfortunately but even still we got a few things sorted and booked. Now we're back at the room with a few YouTube episodes saved offline to watch listening to the Mosque calls and a million fireworks going off. Hopefully the fireworks and celebrations don't go on all night but we shall see!Leggi altro