Less than two days after arriving in Bali we’re off east. A lunchtime ferry booked to the Gilli islands. There’s one problem the ferry isn’t in walking distance and we have to drop a bag in the airport. While paying for the luggage storage a nice Balinese man came over and asked if we wanted a taxi.
Having been accosted by the local taxi Mafia when we arrived we were wary of being ripped off. Checking the price in the Grab app we agreed a price. The driver friendly called Telu. He’s the third of four. Telu being three in Balinese. His siblings named accordingly.
He asked our ferry time and said it would be tight to get there on time as it was a good hour and a half away and that’s all we had before the ferry departed. Google Maps agreed. Touch and go.
Leaving the airport we wove from one side of the road to the other. Judicious and politely Telu warned cars and mopeds around of our presence with a short beep of the horn here and there. At times we’d pass so close skimming vans, cars and mopeds. The margin for error next to zero.
I did a lot of back seat braking as we meandered up and away from Denpasar. My right foot pressed firmly to the floor every minute or two.
At one time under taking a police car while over taking a moped. No one phased apart from the four of us in the taxi.
Telu willing the car forward in an effort to beat googles prediction. At times we were three or maybe five minutes ahead. As we neared the end, our progress thwarted by a paucity of fuel and the need to stop for petrol. In an instant four minutes up to five down.
We missed the boat we’d booked but like so much that happens on the road there’s always a way forward. The ferry company simply putting us on the next boat with a smile.
I was never confident of the brakes in the taxi and it was probably best that Telu only pushed things so far and never over the edge.
As the boat pulled into the the quayside packed with a multitude of backpackers doing the south East Asian circuit it was debatable we’d all fit. In the end it was full, but not to the point of standing room only. It’s mostly young people travelling on a shoe string. But then again for the next two weeks Juliet and I are doing the same.
Bumping across the sea from Bali towards Lombok. At one point the boat suddenly stopped by rubbish caught in the propellers.
There are three Gilli islands. The first and biggest is the place you go for nightlife and that’s where most people disembarked the boat. A few minutes later across the channel and we were jumping off on to Gilli Meno.
Given we’re on a budget Jonny and Alice decided that we wouldn’t book online and just turn up to get the best price.
So the last boat from the island having left for the day and a game of accommodation roulette later and we ended up with some nice “over budget” rooms on the beach. Juliet and I happy with the situation. Jonny and Alice less so.
