SAILING TO TRAWANGAN

Monday, 15 June 2009

The fishing outrigger Sri Ningsih arrived outside our bungalow 20 mins early. The tiny sailor, easily dwarfed by Joan, put our two wheelie bags and two day sacks in a black bin-liner and then in a heavy plastic sack and hoisted them on board, with greater ease than I could display these days. We faced each other from two removable slatted seats, and on his own he pushed the boat off the sandy beach and into the sea, a feat normally requiring two or more strong men. In no time he cut the outboard and hoisted the bamboo gaff rigged sail, pointed as he knew towards Lombok and I confirmed by a sly look at my orieteering compass. We set off on a fine reach on a windy day with the wind just blowing the tops off the waves. I have lost my feel for wind strengths, not having sailed for more than fifteen years, but I guess it was a good force five. Anyway the boat sailed at a fair lick and the outriggers constantly dug into the waves showering us with warm spray. Just as wet as a fast dinghy in those conditions, it was an envigorating sail over a wonderful blue sea. The sail sheltered us from the sun which quickly turned from east to the north, as if to remind us we are in the southern hemisphere now, and the canvas sun shield was not hoisted but acted as a barrier to the majority of the spray from windard. I was carrying my little orienteering compass and kept an eye on his direction which never varied for the four hours of a our transit. We suspected where Lombok was, presuming the cluster of clouds marked the location othe high volcano Rinjani. Otherwise all we could see for the first two hours was the open sea, but Joan looking backwards, could always see Mount Agung the smaller volcano on Bali.

At the start of the third hour I took over the helm, and though a little too fussy for a fisherman, trying as I was to drive the the boat in a straight line without a mainsheet in my hand, whereas he only occasionally retied the bamboo boom to keep the boat on course without too much adjustment of the tiller. He took over from me when we were in full sight of land because I did not know exactly where he intended to beach. He started to haul in the long fishing line we had been trailing, with a hook every foot for about thirty metres, but all he had caught was umpteen pieces of plastic bags which he discarded with disgust to the ocean from whence they had come. Cleaning and winding the line onto a makeshift spool as he steered the tiller with his feet.

Approaching a golden sandy shore he handed me a card from Balenta, one of the bungalow sites I had it in mind to try. When we beached we quickly found that all of the properties facing this wonderful beach were full. I gave him the additional 57$ I had promised and he was delighted, no doubt partly because he had been able to sail all the way, and since it was a tight reach would have an easy sail back too. We wondered how much of the 20$ we had paid the night before had gone to buy his full spare can of petrol and how much had gone in commission to the receptionist at Pondok Vienna. Either way we were delighted with the trip which in addition to being the highlight of the holiday had saved time and money. The alternative was a 2 hour drive to the harbour at Padangbai, 132$ for transit by fast catamaran boat, then a series of drives to Senggigi in the north of Lombok and a finally a second ferry to Gili Trawangan. (It may well have taken two days instead of four hours).

Joan was as thrilled with the sail as I was, though we had missed out when he sighted dolphins but Joan saw a Tern and two pairs of Shearwaters or Storm Petrels, both of whom spend their time on the wing at sea except when nesting.

We soon established that everywhere on the sea front was either full or overpriced, so far it is a myth that Gili Trawangan is dirt cheap. Eventually followed a man who had greeted us with promises of cheaper accommodation with a pool a little inland. We settled on 25$for a bungalow at Hideaway, of which some would be his commission, and settled into a lovely bungalow, the only drawbacks being no air con and no hot water shower - neither of which we have missed. The swimming pool was just being tiled and is expected to be complete in a couple of weeks. The first night we were the only guests but last night a French couple from near Jim, 40 km from Nantes in Vendee.

That afternoon LP in hand we explored the beach and located alternative accommodation and the myriad of fine fish restaurants before deciding to eat at the newest and most popular, Scallywags. At the time of writing we have had three successive dinners there, each time choosing from the fixed price columns of fish fllets which were BBQed with as many helpings from a fine selection of salad as you wanted. The cost between 6$ for Swordfish, Snapper and Butterfish, 7$ for Yellow Fin Tuna or Grouper, 8.5$ for Coral Trout or Barramundi, 2oo grm of huge prawn for 7.5$, or lobster at 50$ per kg.

Having noted for future reference that there were a few Internet places at 2.4$ per hour. It was there that I posted yesterday's section on Amed. And so to bed, where we slept soundly as usual in spite of the fact that the ceiling fan was inhibited from cooling us by the large bed shaped top of the unneeded mosquito net, most nets fan out from a smaller central circular shape. We must be acclimatised fully because we did not notice the temperature, also we are beginning to eat at lunchtime and to buy Gelato after dinner.The next morning we revelled in the quiet tranquility of the garden and the shady reading area where we took our breakfast and immediately noted the fine collection of of English books, all in first class condition, Amsterdam by such as Ian McEwan, Arundati Roy, Vikram Seth, Angela Leavy, Amitav Gosh, Rudyard Kipling, Henry James, John Steinbeck, along with books on Indonesian birds, China ....., enough name dropping. There are a few indications that when complete this place will have some nice touches.

Then we decided to stay put because we were only a five minute walk from the island's best beach, of kiln dried fine golden sand with white coral pieces at the waters edge, and Coral just off shore for snorkeling. The magical sea colours varying from golden inshore where the depth was minimal to turquoise and the marine blue of deeper water interleaved with stretches of turquoise. A few km across the sea you could see the sandy shores of the smaller Gili Menor island and hidden behind was the first of the three to be developed Gili Air which has now been left behind in the tourist stakes.

The whole place reminds us of a slightly upmarket version of Phi-Phi in Thailand a year before the devastation of the tsunami it was being developed with much higher class accommodation in the centre of Phi Phi Don, from the quality of the beaches and the range of restaurants. Though the long line of these at the southerly end of the island is also reminiscent of the south of France. The Young and Beautiful are the majority of the clientele, a few middle Aged and even fewer oldies like us, all European nationalities plus Australians.

This morning we saw a couple come ashore by tender from the fine two mast sailing yacht anchored off, then I noticed that the girl was sitting with their luggage under a tree near us and went over to talk. It turned out she was a dive instructor working on the Comodo islands east of Lombok and she and her boyfriend, who was looking for accommodation - by the technique Joan and I have often used, and they had sailed for a week via many island stops on the way in the boat which is called Al Isra.There is little doubt that this is the resort with the most appeal to middle class European tourists, the rate of expansion around our bungalows is obviously not keeping track with increasing demand. We have already decided to stay an extra night making four, ie three beach days with fine eating. Since different parts of Indonesia can set their own rules, no dogs are allowed on the island, they are considered dirty animals, and no motor bikes or cars are allowed so the only public transport is by the Jarvies with their horse and carts, some for transporting people others for building materials which arrive by boat.

At lunchtime for the second day running we went into Mozart, though you couldn't tell it from the music which was typical of the island. A man who might suit the title of Naked Fakir that Churchill gave to Gandhi, though, like me he was red skinned rather than brown, turned out to be the owner of the establishment. We learned later that he had been an annual visitor to Trawangan with his family over many years before deciding to leave his daughter in Vienna and make Trawangan home for he and his wife. We had just finished a snack when he sent over two classy chocolates carrying the name of Mozart, and as we were ready to leave Joan went over to thank him, and so began another enlightening conversation.

Gerhard, as we later discovered he was called, had been diving here for many years including just before the tsunami when he suddenly discovered a large shark, not the usual harmless smaller reef shark, at a favourite diving site and was convinced that somehow it had got prior warning of the onset of the disaster and decided to leave its location near where the earthquake occurred. He had spent twenty years in data processing before ten years in management training courses, in which he still dabbled including getting groups to come out from Austria to gain greater feel for rights and wrongs in a Muslim country. Just two years ago he had decided to move home, and displayed a very sympathetic attitude to the plight of poverty and poor education in the indigenous population and was financing some improvement from his profits and teaching with his wife, his role being to pass on computer use. He explained that though education right though to University level is free that in practice there are additional costs, like buying books or even exercise books and pencils that the local people just can not afford, and this hurdle becomes even greater at the Secondary, High School and University levels. The net result is that a large proportion opt out before they have even completed primary education. Ironically he cannot even offer work experience in his restaurant, as class work and not vocational training is deemed the correct route. He, like me with Ater, was ashamed of his own country when they wouldn't even allow one of his cooks a six month visa to train in an Austrian restaurant, even though he and people in high places vouched for his support and return.

I had been intrigued by the item Home Made Bread which appeared on his menu and ordered a portion, it turned out to be made from a mixture of 50% wheat and 50% rye flour with additions including Caraway seed. It was delicious and quite different from anything we have eaten for the past month. He explained it was made daily and the flours were imported from Austria - others imported Argentine or Australian beef or wine but he imported flour. Another item that took our eye on the menu was Apple Strudel in a country with magnificent tropical fruit - but not apples!

Today (Tuesday 16 June) we took a morning break for Water Melon fruit juice, something we find surprisingly tasty as well as refreshing, and got into conversation with another owner who had been in business on Trawangan from 1992 (electricity arrived first in 1996 before that it was all hurricane lamps after six and nothing at all after 10pm. He came from Mataram which is the capital town of Lombok and he was quite informative. We will leave by boat at 8am tomorrow for Senggigi and Mataram - he confirmed the Austrian's choice of Garden Hotel as the choice of local businessmen. He also said he had previously been a trekking guide particularly for the National Park Area around round the 3,750m high volcano Rinjani - the second highest in Indonesia. For future trips he recommended Flores to gain the flavour of what Trawangan had been like on its discovery in 1986 on a day trip by Williams in 1986.

Previous to that we had walked to the north side of the island and were staggered at the development of international class hotels, including a huge on by the owner of the major cigarette brand here Gadang Garam. They will probably be open in time for the high season of July/August and will mark another major shift in the lifestyle of this island, which the LP still calls the "party island' though the only sign we have seen of that are the frequent advertisements for magic mushrooms. We're off for fish and salad - I doubt we will see the like of that again this holiday.

Wide Eyes Joan spotted a fishing boat with the same multicoloured binding on the join in the outriggers we had had, further inspection confirmed the name too and then she spotted the fisherman who had sailed over again today, another lively breeze with white horses. He was pleased to see us and when asked about fishing he said he had caught tuna this time.

Off then to Lombok I hope to keep contact though that may well be impossible outside Mataram, so if you don't hear again don't worry for everything is fine here. Lombok is said to be a generation behind Bali in tourist development - but catching up fast with the help of Middle East money.

Hideaway
Street one back but parallel to beach road, close to Balenta Bungalow which is in Lonely Planet guide.