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I just checked into a room on Gili Trawangan. It looked nice. Then, short before I had a shower, I noticed something on the wall. It was a cockroach. Then I noticed another one. And another one. The shower only dribbles, the toilet does not work, the light makes the room look like a brothel. Outside you can hear cats sing their mating song and the door only closes when you actually lock it. I’m back in Asia. It’s good to be home!
Recently Timen has asked me to give him some recommendations where to go to in Southeast Asia to learn to dive. This inspired me to come up with a list of my 10 most favorite spots (so far!) in that beautiful corner of the world.
The first stop on my upcoming trip will be Australia. My travel buddies and I have come up with a great idea, though! We leave our car somewhere in Darwin and fly for a little one-to-two-month detour to Indonesia and then onwards to Malaysia and Thailand. I’m really looking foward to this as well, as it will give me a chance to catch up with some friends. Not sure yet, if I’ll be going back to any of these places above, though. I think I’ll be checking out some new fascinating places, but maybe my list gave you a bit of inspiration on where to head for next…
This was my trusted bike on Trawangan. It wouldn’t drive straight, but, probably because of that, it always brought me home safely after a hard party night…
A few days ago I met an old aquaintance of mine. We hadn’t seen each other in years, so naturally we chatted about what happened to us during those years. Eventually we got to me teaching diving in Southeast Asia. This always seems to fascinate people and one of the first questions is usually if I’ve seen any sharks. After more than a thousand dives the answer is obviously a yes, with a huge grin on my face. I love sharks, I think they are great animals and it shows. My old friend didn’t understand me. After all, sharks don’t have the cuddly appearance of dolphins and judging from their reputation with the public, they are more like the mass murderers of the ocean.
If you’re heading towards the Gilis near Lombok, Indonesia, and are planning to do some diving, then have a look at my dive site maps from the area. Might help your orientation a bit.
I worked here for almost a year from 04 to 05, first as a dive instructor and then as the dive ops manager. Check out all those sharks and turtles you get around Gili Trawangan, Lombok.
Beautiful 2spot Scorpionfish
While I was living on Gili Trawangan in Indonesia we had a few fires there. Three to be exact. It has been a while. I don’t remember everything that happened then, but I will tell it as I remember it.
I had just gone during lunch to the market to swap my old book for a new one. I had read almost every book of the two main bookstores and it took me a while to find one. The owner of the store got bored waiting for me I guess and went outside. After 5 minutes he came back all excited. He called to me pointed at the sky and told me to come outside. There was a huge black smoke column rising into the air and seemed to come from somewhere in town. I paid for my book. I overpaid him I think, but I wasn’t interested in bargaining, I wanted to see what was going on and if my house and stuff was safe.
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