Gili Islands…

While on a Fulbright in Indonesia (where I was studying Advanced Indonesian, Islam, Javanese gamelan, and martial arts), I had the opportunity to explore Indonesian islands other than Bali and Java. Since I had longed for many years to explore the island of Lombok, I booked a stay at the Oberoi there — which is now one of my absolute favorite luxury hotels in the world (it was paradise, really). From Lombok, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump (well, really a quick boat ride) to the Gili Islands nearby: Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, and Gili Meno.

Once we reached the Gilis, I jumped off the boat to snorkel — and found even more beauty below the surface of the water in the clear, turquoise waters. While swimming with dozens of turtles and florescent schools of fish, I lamented not being a fashion designer — so I could take some of the insanely stunning patterns displayed on the fish and transplant them to a runway. The captain of the boat took us to several different dive locations so that we could experience snorkeling off the coast of all three islands. After a nice afternoon of snorkeling, we retreated for a relaxing lunch on the beach of Gili Trawangan — and took one last swim before returning to the Oberoi in Lombok (wish I could live there, checking out was hard).

Since my memory of the Gili Islands is such a peaceful one, I was surprised to read last week that two foreign tourists in the Gili Islands were forced to take a walk of shame around Gili Trawangan for alleged bicycle theft with cardboard signs around their necks reading: “I am thieve [sic]. Don’t do what I did…!!!” I hope this news story doesn’t dissuade tourists from going to the Gili Islands — the snorkeling is really some of the best in the world and not to be missed.