Yup, you got that right. I got married and after 5 long months, we finally went for our honeymoon! We heard about this place (Gili Trawangan) from our close friends and marveled at how beautiful the beaches are from their Instagram. Without any hesitation, we booked our flights in May 2018 (a year ago!) Within the year, there were approx. 3 earthquakes, 1 major one which happened in August 2018 where almost the entire island was badly affected. We were being joked at for choosing an earthquake-prone destination for our honeymoon but we were not shaken. In short, we did not give a crap. Hah!
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| Just can't get enough of the view, sorry I had to block 40% of the view! Hah! |
So here's sharing with you about some of the things we experienced and learned throughout. Hope it helps you in planning your trip here!
1. Getting There/ Transfers
We flew to Lombok before getting to the island (there are many other options to get to Gili islands as well). Booked our flights from AirAsia. Note that there is no direct flight to Lombok so we had to layover at KLIA2. We flew to KL the night before our scheduled flight to Lombok and we spent the night at the airport. Haha I didn't know I would suffer that bad not having a place to sleep. Well, please don't get me wrong, there are places where you can book and have a comfortable sleep but me wanting to be 'adventurous' decided we should try bunking in the public areas (also, FREE ma).Our flight costs (with checked in baggage) for 2 persons:
PEN --> KUL : RM210.90
KUL --> LOP : RM864.80
KUL --> PEN : RM283.60
Total spent: RM1,359.30
You don't have to worry about getting to your hotels/stays because there are lots of options for you to choose from, from the airport itself.
- Here are the available options for hotel transfers:
a) KOTAMA airport taxi service. You just need to get a prepaid ticket priced at IDR185,000 (RM57) - their counter is in the new Arrivals area.
b) The DAMRI airport bus priced at IDR40,000(RM12) the drivers will usually stop on request.
c) Book a driver at IDR 275,000 (RM80).
- Getting to Gili Trawangan from Lombok:
b) A taxi from Ibludan Hotel to Bangsal port that will cost approx. IDR130,000(RM37), and public boat tickets are IDR15,000 (RM4.50) per passenger.
*The options in purple were what we went with.*
*You can use Grab in Lombok if you do not prefer taxis (Blue Bird) Grab is cheaper by a little
*In Gili T, the modes of transportation are mainly bicycles, electric bikes and horse carts.
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| Hello Gili T! |
2. Communications
We immediately got ourselves sim cards after settling transportation to the hotel. I always prefer getting local sim cards to roaming plans. At the airport, don't be surprised to see some healthy competitions between the telcos (which shocked us anyway). Sean took XL by Axiata and I took Telkomsel. Both promised 4G internet and wide coverage. Both were the same price. I was very satisfied with the speed and coverage.The sim cards cost IDR45,000 (8gb for 2 weeks) which is approx. RM13 each.
The people there speak the Sasak dialect, Bahasa Indonesia (very similar to Bahasa Malaysia) & English.
3. Accommodation
We got to experience 3 different properties throughout our stay and I would say we were very satisfied with all 3 of them.a) Ibludan Hotel (Lombok)
Having about 20 hours to spend in Lombok before going to Gili T, we booked a room here because, #aesthetics haha! And besides pretty-looking, it's quite affordable too. Booked this place through booking.com (I am particularly biased towards using this app). I really appreciate how helpful the host was even before I got to the property. I had questions about how we can get to the hotel, how we can get to the port/jetty the next day and how to get to Gili T and the host provided all the info so we both didn't have to worry.
Price: RM164 (IDR565,00) if you pay with card, there is an extra 3% charge.
Night: 1
Breakfast: 2
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| Photo Credit: Agoda.com |
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| Sweet note from our host! |
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| First time experiencing open-air bathroom. |
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| Best granolas ever tasted! |
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| Fruits served before breakfast |
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| A rare sight spotted. The hubs eating fruits willingly! |
b) Gili Villas (Gili Trawangan)
Our first stay at Gili T was at Gili Villas, also booked through booking.com. This being the first time ever staying at a villa, both of us were thrilled to have such a big space ALL TO OURSELVES! We had an entire pool, a living room, a kitchen, dining area, and 2 big rooms all to us. We were greeted by a furkid in the villa and we're totally fine with it! We got to choose what we want for breakfast by circling a piece of menu upon check in. You get 1 juice of your choice, coffee or tea and your main course.
Price: RM821 (IDR2,827,440) if you pay with card, there is an extra 3% charge.
Night: 2
Breakfast: 2
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| Photo Credit: booking.com |
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| Photo Credit: Agoda.com |
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| My choice |
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| His choice |
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| Their choice |
This was where we ended our honeymoon the last 2 nights. A luxurious looking hotel with very, very beautiful room decor and very clean as well. We came here 3 hours earlier from check in time (2pm) and were advised that it will cost us some extra fees to check in early. So obviously we didn't. Breakfast at this place on the first day was on ala-carte basis and the next day was a buffet.
Price: RM435 (IDR1,495,908) there's no extra charge when you use your card for payment here.
Night: 2
Breakfast: 2
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| Photo Credit: Google Images |
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| A random spot at the hotel! |
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| Eggs Benedict. (Was not very good) |
4. Food
Before coming here, we both thought the food would not be good but I think we both were wrong. Haha! We tried food at a few cafes/restaurants and also the local food 'warung' (stalls).
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| Had this in Lombok, together with fried rice and only cost RM46! |
Roast House Gili Trawangan
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| Chicken Quesadilla |
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| Beef Burger. The best we've ever had. No joke! |
Fat Cats, Gili Trawangan
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| Some super good platter! Haha! |
Egoiste Restaurant, Gili Trawangan
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| In my element :) |
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| This is the Royal Platter - IDR750,000(RM218) |
The Royal seafood platter was super value for money! It includes a 500g lobster, a 500g fish, giant shrimps, 2 pcs squid, potato wedges, and veggie.
The Night Market, Gili Trawangan
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| We love this stall in particular because of the wide variety of dishes. And right beside this stall is a seafood BBQ stall which has a lot of varieties as well. |
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| My all-time favorite! Grilled fish with salt. Yum! This was IDR 80,000 (RM23) |
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| We tapau-ed a few times. And we especially love their fried Tempe. |
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| Yummy chicken satay! Spot tempe? |
Random Satay Auntie, Gili Air  |
| Bumped into this lady while walking towards our boat at Gili Air. She didn't have a stall and just walked with the grill and pail on her head. We had to give it a try. Her satay was quite yummy too but definitely cannot beat ours la.. |
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| I had my first Bakso at Gili Air too! It was pretty yummy. It's a beef soup noodle with lotsa beansprouts and veggies. |
Coffee & Thyme Cafe, Gili Trawangan
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| GFC - Gili Fried Chicken |
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| Tried my first ever smoothie bowl! It was okay.. A bit too sour for me. |
We love love love the vibes at the Coffee & Thyme Cafe. Their employees were filled with smiles and joy while at work and it made us somehow jolly too! Also, if you order an iced latte, make sure you order with an extra shot (+IDR5,000) and it's heavenly.
Overall, we enjoyed the food at Gili and we find that the Western food there is even more legit than some of our cafes here in Penang. Probably most of the cafes are run by 'ang mohs'. The prices were fair, not too pricey not too cheap. Although I would hope to have cheaper banana juice.
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| Before I forget, here's a tribute to my favorite juice! |
5. Activities
a) Kayak at the beach - we rented this clear kayak for IDR200,000 (RM60) for 1 hour and Sean paddled most of the time, and here was where I got burnt so badly.
b) Island Hoping + snorkeling trip - this was where we went wrong. When we were at Lombok (at the port to be precise), some men told us that we could book the trip from them as it's cheaper and better. They offered us IDR 200,000 per person for a trip to the 2 other islands. Sean bargained until IDR150,000 and we agreed... The trip was horrible. Too many people in 1 boat and we couldn't really enjoy coz it was simply too crowded.
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| I have a love-hate relationship with them snorkels! |
c) Cyling - you can rent bicycles for IDR50,000 (RM15) per day and it'll take you places :D We took our bikes and cycled round the island (approx. 45mins)
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| We hunted down these bikes with the ratan baskets in front just because.... AESTHETICS babeh! |
d) Chill at the beach & Snorkel - you can rent snorkeling equipment for just IDR25,000 (RM7.50) each for 4 hours and snorkel on your own. We totally enjoyed this coz we saw turtles and many friendly fishes! Bummed that our recording is blurry!
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| Took this while chilling... |
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| It looks like this during the day |
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| One for the gram! |
Alright now, I know I've blabbed a super long post this time and I'm not even sure if you made it till here. But if you did, thank you for reading/scrolling.. If you need any information at all, you can reach out to me through email. I hope I am able to help you experience Gili T like we did!
Thank you for reading!
Love,
Sheryn
