I loved so many things about Indonesia- the food, the people, the "Island life" feel, and the style.
The people we met were friendly, kind and gracious toward my self- conscious attempts to mumble just a few words of their lovely language.
On March 9th, it was Spencer's 30th birthday. We started the celebration by taking a joy ride around the Ahmed/ Bali countryside. I was pretty excited to find some goats at a small farm.
The entry way to our villa
Breakfast by the sea
Our accommodations in Ahmed
Ahmed consists a gorgeous combination of rainforests and beaches, and has some of the best snorkeling that I’ve seen.
100% on the disclosure on the snorkeling, though. The water was a beautiful blue and the tropical fish were abundant, but sadly much of the water here was littered with trash.
It’s definitely shocking to be snorkeling while also trying to navigate though clouds of waste that we humans have created- and will not soon go away. I’ve always heard things about trash in the ocean, but I had never before watched fish around me nibbling on the plastic.
After Ahmed, we made the trip to Gili Meno, which required more travel and logistics than we originally anticipated. Several ladies in Ahmed took our luggage and loaded it onto a ferry boat, which took us to Gili Trawangan. From Gili T, we took another short boat ride towards Gili Meno. We expected for that boat to bring us all the way to the shore, but we ended up stopping out in the water and transferring ourselves and our bags to another small boat that finally took us to shore.
There are no motorized vehicles on the Gili islands, so we loaded Kim and the bags onto a horse drawn wagon and met her on the other side of the island at our hotel.
Our accommodations at Gili Meno
The shell and coral variety here was amazing.
My favorite time at Gili Meno was spent on on a horseback ride one morning.
I've been riding horses since I was about 7, and it's secretly been my long time dream to gallop on a horse down the beach with no saddle.
Well, they didn't let me gallop, but they did let me take my young stallion of a horse ("King Star") into the ocean. I think I can cross that one off of my bucket list.
Leaving Gili Meno was as complicated as it was trying to get there. After a short boat ride to Gili T, we waited for a while with masses of tourists like ourselves, where we then caught another boat to a town near where the Bali airport was. From that point, it was another 1.5 hour car ride. Logistics were complicated, but worth it!
Indonesia left a lasting impression on me, and the nearly two weeks of sweet, unencumbered time with our friends in their new world was something we will always treasure.