Recess Week: Gili Trawangan, Indonesia February 23-28

Gili Trawangan ... a beach lover's paradise.

      My trip to Gili didn't have the smoothest start. I was so excited to be traveling for ten days in a row but I had a bump in the road at the very beginning. My original plan was to head to Gili T with Michelle and her friend visiting from Canada. Unfortunately, her friend ended up getting really sick so they both decided not to go. That left with me with one decision: do I fly solo? Duh, Yes.

     I ended up catching my flight that Thursday afternoon after talking it over with my parents. Luckily, Sophie and Abby were going to be in Gili the same time so I planned to meet them there. I flew into Bali and arrived in the evening not really knowing what/where I needed to go in order to get to Gili. With the help of my Lonely Planet I figured out that I needed to get to Pandangbai in order to catch the ferry to Gili T island. So, when I got off the plane, I bought my 25 dollar visa, went through customs and was on a search for a cab to take me there. To my surprise there were actually hundreds of taxi drivers as soon as I stepped out of the airport - overwhelming but relieving. I walked up and down the strip and found a man who was willing to take me on the 1.5 hour journey for around 30 bucks. I hopped into his van and we were off! I turned on my cell phone and texted my dad and told him I was in a cab in Indonesia. I did realize it may have been a little bit dodgy to get in the cab with an Indonesian man, but he was from an airport country and I didn't really have much of a choice. I arrived in Padangbai, got dropped off at the=e first hotel Lonely Planet suggested and then went down the strip to find some food. I found the place that had the most people in it, ordered, and ended up being invited to sit with 3 Dutch girls - soon to be my saviours. The 3 ladies have been traveling for months now, 1 was going home the next week and it was nice to enjoy a meal with others. They were just staying on the other side of the restaurant and had told me they found a great deal for the fast ferry to the island. Their deal ended up saving me more than thirty dollars, a definite plus.

My lonely room for the night! $10 including breakfast

       The next morning I awoke bright and early to meet up with the Dutch girls. We met and then got picked up to get to the ferry. At the ferry pier there were a ton of street sellers selling water, fruit, water toys, and sarongs, and I eventually was persuaded into buying a sarong that said Bali for only three dollars. There are 2 ways to get to the island of Gili T: fast ferry, or slow boat. The slow boat takes about 5 hours but is much cheaper. I opted for the fast ferry because I couldn't wait for the sunshine. The ferry was only about 1.5 hours and Gili Trawangan was the last stop after Lombok, Gili Air, and Gili Meno. The other Gili's are more quiet, less touristy - Gili T is where the diving and partying is at. I also heard that Gili Meno is the honeymoon spot so future husband be warned.

Lombok ... What beautiful colours!

     With no way of contacting Abby or Sophie I decided to just stay with the Dutch girls while they found a hotel. I chose not to get a room with them in hopes of finding my Canadian friends, but open to getting a room by myself if I couldn't. The Dutch girls were so kind to let me tag along with them, but I think that when one travels on their own it's really easy to meet people. 

Getting off the ferry and being greeted by this sign!

Gili Trawangan

     After finding the Dutch girls a hotel we headed right to Gili's beautiful beach. Gili truly has the bluest waters I have seen. The beach was white sand, a little busy, and had a ton of restaurants sitting on it. The whole island of Gili has one main strip with beach on one side and diving shops/restaurants/ hotels on the other. After being on the beach for about an hour I decided to walk up and down to see if I could see Abby and Sophie which was a success. Turns out they had gotten there the night before and had a 3 person room ready to go. Abby and Sophie ended up coming to join the Dutch ladies and I, we all got some food and some Bintang beer.

    That evening I moved my bag into Abby's room and all of us girls went for dinner. We went to Rudy's that evening to enjoy some cheap drinks and socialize, a lot of fun that included some dances with the Gili locals.

Abby and I

      The next morning Sophie and I decided to join Abby on a dive. Abby was getting her open water dive course which takes 3 days, so Sophie and I wanted to do one dive for only 60 bucks. In order to do a dive Sophie and I had to do the pool training first. After a mini verbal lecture we got in our scuba gear and headed into the pool. We practiced some exercises with breathing, clearing out masks underwater, and swimming, but I have to be honest I really hated it. I found being underwater SO bizzare and my breathing was definitely at a fast pace. Although I was only sitting in the shallow end I was making mistakes with my exercises and ended up coming up to the service. My instructor, Adam, reassured me when I told him I really didn't like it, told me what to do with my air, and then we went back underwater. After about an hour of being underwater working on some swimming in the pool we got out. I was so skeptical to do a real dive that afternoon, I honestly was too scared to do it.

 Trawangan Dive .. stayed in the hotel over

Sophie and I on our first day of diving

At lunch post pool contemplating whether I wanted to actually dive or not

The Liana boat? Meant to be?

Gili T's only mode of transportation. Motor vehicle free.

     I ended up choosing to go through with the dive. It turned out to be the coolest experience ever. Both Abby, Sophie and I went with the instructor James. We were underwater for 45 minutes but it felt like 10. Seeing the coral reef, tons of exotic fish, and being able to swim so freely was actually leaving me speechless. Oddly enough, as soon as I descended into the water my fears and nerves were gone. I felt so at peace being 12m underwater. For the rest of that afternoon I was on a complete high from the dive, I just felt so accomplished and happy. That evening I spur of the moment decided to actually get scuba certified. I am now a licensed scuba diver ladies and gentleman! Since I was leaving Monday morning I didn't have enough time to get the open water which allows one to dive 18m deep. I am more than okay being able to dive 12m, and I have this certificate for life, which will let me dive with an instructor anywhere for less money than having to redo the practice of a single dive. By Sunday evening I had done my second dive, completed the chapters and tests necessary for my certificate (work on recess week? really?) and went to sunset point and the irish pub on Gili to celebrate. The next morning I was gutted to head back to Bali.

About to do our last dive.. Scuba Abby and Lianne

Last night in Gili

     Monday morning I caught the fast ferry back to Padangbai and a shuttle back to Kuta, Bali for the night. To catch my flight Tuesday morning back to Singapore, I stayed in Kuta for Monday afternoon and evening. Kuta, Bali was just alright. The beach was popular for surfing, but nothing compared to the sunshine and sand of Gili. I did a little shopping and stayed by my hotel pool for the evening. Walked to get some food and actually ended up watching the Oscar's in my room. I was sad to leave Gili, but excited to get back to Singapore for the next part of my recess week: Northern Vietnam with Michelle.

St. Patrick's Day in Singapore

     This weekend I decided to stay in Singapore to first of all save some money and second of all enjoy Singapore! What does staying in Singapore for St. Patrick's day weekend entail? Well, you are about to find out.

     Abby, Michelle, Tanya (all Canadian girls) and I decided to make our March 17th extra special by creating our own gear for the big day. On Friday night we all went to the nearest shopping centre Boon Lay and picked up some white shirts and green paint. After, we painted our shirts and planned to meet in the morning for festivities.

     St. Patrick's day in Singapore turned out to be a lot of fun but not nearly as festive as back home. I love to go all out for these types of holidays so the lack of green all over Singapore was slightly disappointing. However, seeing as almost all Singaporeans don't even know what St. Patrick's day entails, I forgive them. The girls and I enjoyed the day downtown at numerous Irish pubs. A lot of foreigners and visitors were out enjoying the day so we in the end we weren't alone in spirit.

Here are some pictures of the day!!!

The Canadian crew!

Myself, Michelle, Tanya and Abby

Abby and I 

I still have to post about my spectacular trip to Gili, the adventures of Northern Vietnam and the sunshine of Langkawi, and I promise these posts will come this week.

After some calculations I realize I only have about 15 days left actually in Singapore, the remaining 1.5 months will be spent traveling. This weekend I'm off to see the rain forests of Borneo, very excited.

Recess Week Plans

Bali --> Gili Trawangan Islands (Indonesia)

Hanoi --> Halong Bay --> Sappa (Vietnam)

Back March 4th!

Ho Chi Minh City and Mui Ne, Vietnam

     My favourite part about traveling south-east Asia so far is that each place I have been to has been so incredibly different from the others. Bintan island was a great place to get to know my fellow exchange groups on beautiful beaches with locals, Tioman was secluded and adventurous, Hong Kong was a city surrounded by islands, and Vietnam, well, you're about to find out just how amazing it was.

 Abby, Sophie, Herrta and I set off to Vietnam Thursday afternoon. It was a short 2 hour flight but nonetheless we had a great time. I fell asleep during take off and I think that's a tell tale sign I'm getting used to this whole traveling thing, a month ago I would've never fallen asleep for take off. I didn't wake up until I got nudged from Abby sitting beside me. At first I ignored it wanting to sleep as much as I could but when she nudged me again I decided to see what she wanted. I turned to my left and I see Abby holding a beer with a big huge smile. It turns out, the 8 Singaporean gentleman behind us had woken her up from her nap to give her a beer, and I guess it was my turn. After reluctantly accepting a beer, we all cheersed and engaged in conversation. Although creepy at times, it was really funny to talk to the men and they even gave us tips on where to go.

     We landed in Ho Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, at around 6  and had to fill out our paperwork for our visa's. I got a 3 month multiple entry visa for $100. I opted out of the 1 month single entry visa for $60 because I had a feeling I was going to be back. When we got outside the airport our first mission was to find ourselves a cab. They use Vietnamese dong as their currency, which set us up for a confusing weekend. 17,700 Vietnamese dong is the equivalent to $1USD, and although I made strides in making a conversion chart, my math skills were limited on little sleep the entire weekend. We managed to find a cab (a reliable one) as Vietnam is infamous for it's shady cab prices and drivers, and got dropped off in District 1, a backpacker's dream. We got out of the cab and were greeted by tons of backpackers walking the main street, a ton of restauraunts, travel agencies and shops too.

                                     

      We met a lady on the street asking if we needed a place to stay and she offered us a deal we couldn't refuse. For $7USD each a night we ended up staying at her hostel for all 3 nights. The room was large, came with 3 double beds, hot water, and a working toilet. We settled into our room, unpacked just a little and then changed clothes to head out for the night, but not without a dance party first.

                                               

Herrta, Sophie, Abby

     Like most trips, the stop after finding a hostel is for food. We read about a place called Allez Boo's in Lonely Planet so we decided to check it out. We got a few drinks along with famous Vietnamese spring rolls, but we found the restaurant relatively overrated. The prices were relatively high for what I thought Vietnam would be.

     After a couple of beers (and okay, maybe a Margarita) the girls and I decided to pamper ourselves with 4 dollar mani/pedi's. The ladies at the store were great, although the language barrier was large, and we met a really sweet mother and daughter from Seattle. We became instant friends and I even tried to make the mom let the 11 year old daughter come out with us for the night. In hindsight, I think it was a great idea she didn't.

     After our diva moments we headed to the Crazy Buffalo, a main bar in the centre of the main street. Happy hour specials were on so it was 2 for 1 Saigons. Saigon is the local beer and we found it relatively cheap, 2 for 40,000 dong aka 2 for $2.50.

Me on the strip!

Our best friend security guards

     I found it really weird at first that there were so many security guards at the restaurants and bars but I soon realized that they had an important purpose: to keep the street sellers away. While I was sitting in the bar people would come up to me and sell sunglasses, books, bracelets, food, you name it. I don't know if I look like an easy target but everyone seemed to flock to me to buy things. I ended up buying a bracelet, fake Raybans, and even a book Catch 22. It seemed like such great deals at first but I did have to go back to the hostel at one point to put everything away. We roamed the streets after Crazy Buffalo and ended up finding cheaper beer. One of the side streets had convenience stores with tables and chairs outside and had the large Saigon beers for 10,000 dong. THAT IS 60 CENTS CANADIAN. We met some great Australians, a Spanish person or two, and ended up enjoying the rest of our night. It was a late night and an early morning, but definitely worth it!!

I love Vietnam!

     At 7 am the next day we woke up to go down to a travel agency to book bus tickets to Mui Ne, Vietnam. Fun Fact: Vietnam has a ton of travel agencies on every street and street corner. I would say there was about 8 on the 300m street alone. These agencies have all the bus information for tours around the city, country, or information about traveling to other countries. We booked a sleeping-bus ticket to Mui Ne for 10 dollars and departed HCM at 8:30am.

You know you're budget traveling when ....

     We arrived in Mui Ne at around 2pm Friday. Mui Ne is about 4 hours of HCM. Mui Ne is known for its beaches and sand dunes. We knew we had one mission for Mui Ne though: to slide down the sand dunes. We got some lunch on the beach (more spring rolls), and bought a $6 trip to the red and white sand dunes. The girls and I had a driver and his Jeep for the half an hour trip there.

Enjoying lunch. Note: The kitesurfing in the back ... the place to do it in vietnam

The Jeep!

    Our driver was so kind and even stopped at a beautiful point on the way. It overlooked the water with hundreds of fishing boats - breathtaking. We stopped for a couple pictures and quickly resumed our trip to the sand dunes.

     We arrived at the red sand dunes first and we had about half an hour to enjoy them. Immediately after exiting our Jeep local boys surrounded us trying to sell carpet rides. I told them I would take one but only if they showed me the best place to slide. After crossing the street the red sand dunes were so amazing. It looked just like the pictures I had researched, I couldn't believe my eyes.

The little boy I bought from for $1.

Aladdin, is that you?

     I rode down the dunes three times and each time was better than the last. It takes some serious effort to set up a track on the dunes, it wasn't as natural as I thought. The little boys used wet sand from underneath the top layers to make a path to go down. Although it wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, anyone over ten pounds would get stuck quite easily, it was something I'll never forget. The hardest part? Walking back up the dunes. At one point, I got my little friend to help me up haha.

Filled with sand we headed back to the Jeep for our next stop the white sand dunes. I was pretty tired at this point and wasn't expecting much from the white sand dunes but let me tell you I was wrong. I loved the white dunes even more than the red ones. The white sand dunes were so secluded and endless, compared to the red ones being by a road and contained. We rented ATV's for the white sand dunes as they were much larger than the red ones, so we knew if we wanted to make it to the top of them we were going to need a little help. For I think ten dollars each we ATV'd on sand dunes in Vietnam, a thrilling experience.

Abby and I excited for the mission!

White sand dunes, Mui Ne, Vietnam

Sophie and Herrta trying to run me over .... thanks girls

     The white sand dunes were magnificent, I can't even begin to say how I felt watching the sunset over it. We headed back to the Jeep after 30 minutes of ATV'ing and headed back to the main strip of Mui Ne for some much needed dinner. We found a hidden gem on the strip, a restaurant that had everything we wanted for half the price of the others because it wasn't of the beach side of the road. What you need to know about Vietnam? They have the freshest bread! Vietnam has major French influence so baguettes are everywhere. For dinner I had a shrimp cocktail baguette, brushchetta and calamari, all for about 5 dollars.

After finishing dinner we went to the beach to wait for our bus back to HCM. The 1am bus was our only option because buses are limited. We went to the travel agency steps at 12am to start waiting for the bus. After 3.5 hours of waiting on the Mui Ne streets, our bus finally arrived at 3:30am. Being delirious at this point we got onto the bus to luckily find empty beds. I was so tired and slept for the entire bus ride back to HCM (Ho Chi Minh).

Delirious? yes. Thank goodness I brought my bed sheet with me, made the ride warm and comfy.

     Getting back to HCM at 7:15 am meant we only had about 10 minutes to get ready for the day ahead of us. We needed to buy our tickets for the Cu Chi tunnels, the bus departed at 8am. Managing to get together in time and switching to fresh clothes we grabbed some $1 baguettes from a street vendor and hopped on the bus. The Cu Chi tunnels are battleground for the Vietnamese in the Vietnam war from the 1950s to 1970s. The Cu Chi tunnels tour costed 10 dollars for transportation and ground entry.

A trap the Vietnamese used for the American dogs

Vietnamese tunnel hole. So small!

War tank 

Before actually entering an actual Cu chi tunnel we got to do the most badass thing ever, shoot an AK47. The AK47 was the main Vietnamese weapon, so for about $10 I got to shoot of 5 bullets. I was nervous at first, but the shooting was easy. My aim was awful but I felt like a different person.

Repping my MIT faculty shirt while shooting guns. Perpetuating the stereotype that we're badass.

MY FACE... oh goodness.

After the shooting we went through an actual Cu Chi tunnel. It was actually quite scary. The tunnels are only about a metre in height and less than a metre wide, not to mention dark. I was filthy after crawling underground for about 50 metres but in awe that soldiers lived in there for hours or days at a time. We headed back to our hostel after the Cu Chi tunnels for another night on the town in HCM!

We got dinner and found the main market of Ho Chi Minh District 1. I got some gifts for my brothers and mom, managed to find a hammock for my dad from a street seller too! The night market was great and it was once again fun to barter with the sellers. I have to say I actually am quite good at the bartering. That or I just buy a lot so they give me a slight deal haha.

After the market we all showered and prepared ourselves for a night of 60 cent beers. We met so many cool people on the Saturday night: an Ottawa couple that were 28 but already married for 8 years, 2 Saigon basketball players from NYC, Chileans, and we even managed to find some of our friends from NTU. Saturday night consisted of great memories, but I was sad to leave the next morning.

Guilty of buying more raybans. $1 each how could I say no.

HCM and Mui Ne were absolute amazing places to travel to in southern Vietnam. The weekend consisted of great friends and unforgettable memories. In fact, I loved Vietnam so much that I plan to go back to Northern Vietnam in about a week and a half for the latter part of recess week. If my dad comes to visit me overseas I think I will take him back to see the Cu Chi tunnels, and I'd also like to go back to HCM to see the war remnants museum I never ended up seeing. 1.5 months down, 3.5 more to go!!!!!

#ultimatetourist