Gili Trawangan is the most popular of the three islands. And
therefore if one needs a perfect holiday, where you will swim in crystal
clear waters, pool cocktails, seaside BBQ and so much more, Gili
Trawangan is perfectly the best. This place has bungalows to stay in
especially for those who need peaceful quiet places to stay in. The
island is also referred to as a party island with the main streets full
of shops, accommodations as well as restaurants. You will also realize
that prices at the island always double in the peak seasons;
July-August, December-January.
Gili Trawangan has one of the best
facilities around the Gilis and all you have to do is to grab yourself a
ticket to the Gilis and choose to visit Gili Trawangan for the best of
service and excitement. The island has a spectacular outlook, beautiful
sunrises, breathtaking sunsets, coupled with warm hospitality from the
community. It feels good at Gili Trawangan due to the best of nature's
offers. You get almost everything you would ever want to have at this
part of the world. There is no need to get worried when you reach the
Gilis because you will immediately experience the different climate at
the Island.
You can reach Gili Trawangan through a number of means
and these include; air, road and boat. At mataram's Selaparang airport,
you get daily local flight. From the airport, it is a 40 minutes drive
in a taxi to Bangsal harbor and from the harbor to Gili Trawangan it
will take you between 35 to 40 minutes when you use a public boat and
this departs after 20 people have been registered so one has to strongly
adhere to the rules of the place. It is also OK if you are in a hurry
to buy yet remaining air ticket to get the boat moving. Within
Trawangan, there are a number of transport means and these include;
bicycles, Cimodos, and also walking on foot. Which ever is comfortable
for you is what you decide to use.
There are also a number of
sports at the island, these include; Diving which has over seven dive
operators on the island who run a range of courses, such as the Discover
Scuba Diving (DSD) course also known as the Open Water, as well as
Instructor courses during the year. There organized Fun Dives by schools
with local dive masters who have extensive knowledge about every site.
You will also find dive centres almost every where for everyone, where
big busy school like Blue Marlin or Manta Dive, and also smaller groups
at laid back schools such as Vila Ombak Diving Academy and Trawangan
Dive competing with one another.
Some of the schools have been
customized to absorb only French speaking divers commonly called Big
Bubble and also German speaking divers famously known as Dream Divers.
Diving done here is very easy and varies from walls, slopes and plateaus
hence, the maximum depths at many of the sites range from 24m-18m, so
beginners will highly benefit it as well as more experienced divers. All
the dive sites can be easily accessed by boat within 10 minutes. You
will also find attractive marine life such as; turtles, leaf fish,
octopus, black and white tip sharks, frog fish, ghost pipe fish, moray
and ribbon eels, pygmy seahorse, eagle rays, cuttlefish, snakes and
bumphead parrot fish. Gili Trawangan
is really incredible and people should try to see that they never leave
or visit Indonesia without visiting Trawangan. The island is the most
enjoyable among the three Gilis with slightly larger expanse of land and
also having most beautiful and fascinating views and other wonderful
things that you will enjoy and want to stay.
The island has a
daily market which arrives by boat at around 11am going through noon. A
number of women unload their fresh fruit and vegetables, meat as well as
other goods and set up shops next to the village head's office, just
besides the harbour. It is a busy and colourful affair, with the usual
fun, hustle and bustle common at all local produce markets.
The
island has one secular playschool and one religious playschool, one
primary school and one junior high school. Children who want to continue
their education must by all means go to the mainland. The local
population found at the island is almost Muslim with two mosques which
call people to pray five times a day. Although Gili Trawangan is a
'tourist island', visitors are expected to behave with respect to the
religion, and so such things as topless sunbathing are very much frowned
upon. It is against these countless values and great sceneries that one
ought to visit and see what we talk about when we say Gili Trawangan
and maybe believe what they hear.
