Gili Meno is an island about 30 minutes northwest of Lombok. Two of the guides went snorkeling with us as we drifted along the west side Gili Meno in the current. Whitney and Macy just stayed on the boat. Carol got in but was having technical problems with her gear and only stayed in for a short time before getting back in the boat. The current was so strong that you didn't have to make any real effort as it just carried you along. There were lots of fish and coral at a depth of no more than 5-15 feet. We did not have to swim back to the boat, it just picked us up when we were done.
After snorkeling we went to a beach on the eastern side of Gili Meno where they have lots of small rustic (and I do mean rustic) accomodations on the beach. I would like to say that the beach and the water around Gili Meno was pristine; but I can't. There was a very noticeable amount of paper and plastic trash in the water and on the beach. In fact when I got into the boat after snorkeling Carol noticed that I had something white in my ear and picked out a small piece of styrofoam! When I mentioned this to one of the guides he seemed to be embarrassed about it and said it is common for people living inland to just dump their trash into rivers and streams which then washes down into the sea. He said that the government is now trying to educate people not to do that but that it is an ingrained practice. Later, on the way back to the Oberoi Hotel landing on Lombok we had to stop and untangle a piece of plastic trash that had gotten wrapped around a propeller. You would think that if the Indonesians really want to develop tourism they would realize that the last thing tourists want to see is a bunch of trash floating around in the water they're swimming in. Fortunately, we haven't seen anything like that close by where we are staying.
Some of the locals were selling fruit, handmade jewelry and cloth for wraps and sarongs on the beach. Below is a woman selling fruit.
This is Amy negotiating for some cloth and another woman trying to sell us fruit.
Below are two women fruit sellers cutting up fruit for some tourists.
On Gili Meno and also on Lombok they have horse-drawn carts to carry tourists and their luggage. I thought they would just plod along slowly as I have seen larger horses and carriages do in New York and Charleston but these horse-carts move along pretty quickly.
When Justin and I were walking along the beach we stopped and got a couple of Bintang beers (a local Indonesian brew) at a little bar on the beach and I had a conversation with a local man who asked where we were from. I told him we were from Minnesota and that we have very cold winters with lots of snow. He said I should buy property in Indonesia and I replied that it was too far away. He said that the bar we were in was for sale and that the previous owner, an Australian, was buried just outside. So we went outside and saw that right next to the bar was the grave of Graham Davies.
Davies came to Gili Meno in the 1970's when he was in his 30's and built the first accommodation for tourists on the island. He was also instrumental in building a school, a mosque and a medical clinic. Quite a nice legacy. The plaque on his grave said that he was 70 years old when he died which is only six years older than I am now and I commented to my son-in-law that I'm now buying light bulbs that may last longer than I do.
This afternoon we heard the news about Air Asia QZ8501 having gone missing. We're flying AirAsia back to Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday and then flying Malaysia Airlines from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo on Friday. Yikes.
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