The “Road” to Meno

This has been like four vacations in one. First was the hubbub of Ubud, then the zen-like tranquility of Bali Eco Stay. Now we’re off to a totally new experience of island life. Five relaxing days on Gili Meno. There are three tiny islands east of Bali off the NW coast of Lombok. Gili Trawangan, the largest, is known as the party island with all-night raves. Gili Air is a cross between laid back and party. And Gili Meno is the smallest and quietest “the perfect setting for your desert-island fantasy.”

We were up early at the Eco Stay where they were kind enough to fix us a wonderful breakfast of fruit, muesli, coconut yogurt and coffee to send us on our way. Our driver picked us up at 0700 to take us to Sanur, two hours away.

Side note and sights: Bali has lots of kite festivals and we see kites flying high in the sky all the time. These festivals are a big deal and there was a big festival gathering in Sanur so we saw several trucks carrying huge kites. These kites are so big it takes 30 guys to fly them! So when a kite truck goes by you know it ’cause there’s a lot of honking and hoopla with the entire entourage hanging on the truck and riding scooters and waving big flags.

The Eco Stay arranged for us to take the fast boat to Gili T, a two-hour boat ride leaving at 0930. From there we would take the slow boat, 15 minutes, to Gili Meno. The driver dropped us off in Sanur at Scoot, the boat company we were to use, waited until we had our tickets and then drove off to pick up someone else. We were to wait for a little shuttle van to take us to the boat.

All the people in the picture above had disappeared and we were waiting all by ourselves when Chris said “something doesn’t seem right.” At around 0935 someone ran over and said “Hurry, come with me – emergency. We have to take this.” He threw our bags in the back of a sort of mini flat bed attached to a scooter and told us to hop in – and off we went whizzing along to the boat.

Oh, did I mention the scooters in Bali?

Once at the shore we waited with the other passengers and finally were ushered down to the beach where several different boats were tied up. Eventually we were sorted and directed to various boats. We all wore stickers that said where we were going. It felt just like a preschool outing but since the local boat operators didn’t speak any english we were grateful to be wearing these stickers.

Our boat held about 20 people. Some going to Gili Air, a few to Gili Meno.

We finally got underway around 1000 – off on our two-hour express trip…

Thirty minutes later we’re pulling up to Nusa Lembongan, an island due east of Sanur where some people got off and others got on. Then off to Gili T…

Along the way we were treated to water and a snack.

And a nice view of Bali

But Gili T? No – after two hours we landed at Gili Air where most people got off and the six remaining Gili Meno folks were told to stay put. We waited and waited. New people came on board and we thought ok they’ll drop us off next and take the others to wherever they are going…

But no… We then went to Gili T. Again we were told to stay put. We waited and waited.

Eventually the Gili Meno gang was told to get off and wait in the sand. After awhile a Gili Meno boat was called. Eventually we were picked up by this fast little boat and zipped over to Gili Meno by some hot shot driver.