The meaning of life is to give life a meaning.
Pretty much spot on what we were doing in Indonesia.
The last week we decided to leave the peaceful environment of Ubud which we went back to after spending 2 days on Gili Trawangan, right after the Komodo island boat trip!
Gili Trawangan is truly an amazing island, what a paradise!
The first time I was there was 7 years ago, and at that point they just had a few dive shops and restaurants spread out over the island, mostly at the main side where the boats will drop you off!
Second time was 5 years ago.
It was still this tiny little “hidden” gem in Indonesia, sure a big part of the backpackers that visit Indonesia visit this island, but still every time I went there it had this “hidden gem” feeling.
There are no vehicles on it, only horse and carriage! So awesome.
This time though Gili Trawangan had changed into this, the number two tourist spot to visit in Indonesia, and maybe now number one place to party at!
Restaurants all over, side by side along the whole strip, the whole side of the island is one big party.
It is still very beautiful for sure, but what a change in a few years!
They even have a Billabong store on the island which is a big sign of tourism boom!
The famous bar, Rudy’s Bar, where people from all over the world come to try his small,medium or strong magic mushroom shakes that would give you a – one way ticket to the moon.
Signs outside the bar saying – Bloody fucking fresh magic mushrooms that will take you to the moon.
This place had like 4 huts on the beach and they were playing some chill reggae and ambient music, such a cool place!
Now this place has turned into a massive party place, a 2 floor rock bar with a massive dance floor on the other side of the road.
The vibe is all gone, now it’s called New Rudy’s, and it’s all about getting people wasted and fucked up on booze instead.
The new manager still sells those Happy shakes though!
There are a few cool places on the island for sure, if you like to party hard and don’t mind the tourist crowd then make sure you visit this place!
There’s a few spot for some average scuba diving around the island!
I think Gili Air is the island where you will find that same old vibe that Gili Trawangan once had!
The Boat trip from Ubud to Gili Trawangan will cost you about 500.000rps/person (If you are 2 people), the shuttle to Padang bai and from there a small ferry to Gillis.
Make sure you take a seat on the sundeck, the guys will serve you beer and play music!
On the 14th we met up with a bunch of super rad friends in Ubud, stayed there until the 16th and then took the same ferry but this time all the way to Sengiggi on Lombok. This time we were 6 so we only paid 350.000rps/person!
It takes about 1.5 hours to get to Lombok.
For most of this boat trip we had incredible weather!
An elite super group of amazing people rocking the boat with pumping music and a bunch of cold Bintangs, doesn’t get better than that, life is beautiful!
The results of life become a bliss when you put together love of friends, weirdness, laughs and Bintangs on a journey in a foreign country!
Even though the last 20 minutes of the boat ride was pouring rain, the sky was fully open and it was almost a bit painful to stick your head up in the open to meet the super fast rain drops with your face.
Nothing could stop that awesomeness!
From Sengiggi to Kuta Lombok where we were going it takes about 1.5 hours, a taxi will cost you about 450.000 rupees.
You can probably get it way cheaper, but we were in need and they saw that.
All of us were coming in hot, dripping wet and eager to get to Kuta.
If you can’t keep your poker face you pay the price, but hey didn’t matter we paid about 10 USD per person so no worries.
We got to Kuta Lombok and checked in at Surfers Inn, we grabbed their simple fan room for 190.000 rupees which included a breakfast of choice, the normal choices here are pancakes or toast and omelet with tea or coffee, perfect!
The special thing with this place is the pool and the location, it’s right on the beach, well you have to cross a road first but hey close enough.
We totally forgot where we stayed 5 years ago, but realized pretty fast that this was the one!
Kuta is all about the surf and that’s why we went back there!
You got many different locations in this area, so best way to get around is to rent a scooter with a surfboard rack so you can go from one place to another.
Desert point is the most famous one, indeed one of the longest makeable left hand barrels on the planet with over 20 seconds of tube time possible on one wave! Insane!
In Gerupuk bay you will find 3 different breaks, inside and outside Gerupuk, and the furthest inside the bay is Don Don.
All of them awesome breaks, but very dependent on swell and tide.
You take a boat out to these places and the boat captain will stay there with you for about 2 hours, that price will land about 50 000 rupees per person, would say about 150 000 if you are by yourself.
This time down here we didn’t manage to catch a single wave, we totally missed the swell!
A few days before we came there had been amazing surf.
We went out and had a look at Gerupuk, but it showed no sign of anything surfable.
Maui is another surf place which is a few bays away from Kuta.
It about a 30 minute drive with a motorbike.
It’s a great way to see a small part of Lombok, rice paddies and the mountains that cover this part of the island.
Not even Maui gave us any surf, too bad, but that’s how nature works.
But just standing on that beach in that beautiful bay looking out over the ocean I could imagine how good the waves could be.
It’s an incredible experience to just drive around with a bunch of mates, looking for a surfable wave.
Fun times.
We found a few great party’s in Kuta, that kept you going until early morning!
The coolest place was for sure Surfers Bar, not sure if that’s the name, but follow that sign and you will at least get to that area, you will not miss it!
A massive vessel that seemed to not have seen shore, and just smashed right up the beach!
Next to it you have a tiny little bar ran by a bunch of cool Indonesian people all with an Australian accent.
Sweet ambience with chill dim colorful lightings set up all around the “dance floor”
The beach is your dance floor!
We went a bit crazy there one of the days and jumped up on that big boat and made a party up there!
To get up to the boat you got to jump up and grab the side of the boat and drag yourself up, it was about 4 meters up!
The vessel has like 3 floors!
Our friend that is a professional Hula hooper brought her laser LED super Hula hoop that you can program into many different color patterns!
Actually two of our friends are professional dancers, so they pimped up the boat with their magical dancing skills and spraying colors and patterns all over the beach, it looked amazing! Unreal!
Even though there was no surf we still had a great time in Kuta. Cruising around on your motorbike and experiencing the scenery and the beaches is top notch, just the hope of finding a wave to surf is exhilarating and the night time partying is a lot of fun!
Remember to always take pictures of the bikes you are renting, some of these bike dealers live on scamming you, so just to be sure of what was there and what was not.
This saved us even this time!
After that we went back up to Sengiggi, we were about to celebrate a birthday!
The princess herself had found us an amazing mansion up in the mountains, with an infinity pool overlooking the bay and Gili islands.
A 2 floor house with everything you want in it, we had two guys making breakfast for us and made sure we had a great time and we even had our own driver!
Our bed room had a super awesome view, overlooking the pool and the whole gorgeous Sengiggi bay!
Pretty much all of the rooms had this view, so we were all living like kings and queens.
The celebration was awesome and the princess was satisfied!
We all had such an amazing time enjoying that view and all those sunsets that were going on forever!
Birthday cake and tequila, made us go loco!
The girls got pink flowers in their hair, it was like a dream!
This is the way of doing life, the meaning of life is to give life a meaning.
I’m so grateful to have such amazing and beautiful people in my life, to take action and be a part of it is up to each one of us.
To find the raddest you got to let loose, be yourself, be weird and spread love.
It’s all about connection.
Rad = Rad.
Thank you Indonesia for an incredible experience!
We arrived in New Zealand on the 22nd January and now we have reached Auckland.
I just bought my first car ever, and this beauty is going to take us on an epic journey through the land of the Hobbits.
This camper van is under construction now, we are pimpin’ it up!
Lounge, double bed, small kitchen and an outdoor rave area.
We will hit the roads tomorrow! Super stoked!