We woke up at 6am and packed our bags up. We then jumped on the bicycles, provided by our hotel , and headed to the port to use the ATM. There is only one working ATM on the island and it often runs out of money, as well there are often power cuts rendering the ATM pretty useless. The bike ride was lovely, as it was about 7:20 and only locals were out at this time. It was cool and breezy too! As we returned back to our accommodation Ansel (the host) asked if we wanted breakfast. We excitedly said yes, as breakfast usually starts at 8:00 and it was 7:45. We wanted to have time to eat before heading to the port to get our boat to Bali for 11:15am (needed to arrive there by 10:15am). At 8:00 our breakfast arrived, we cooked our eggs and chowed down. Later we did the dishes and packed up fully by 8:51. We gave Ansel our key and said our thank yous. The Bambu Hut was really amazing and I would totally recommend staying there if you travel to Gili Air. 

We then walked to the port, it took about 20 minutes. We arrived at the docks and looked for the company we were taking the ferry with, but we couldn’t find it anywhere. We booked online with 12Go Asia (which we completely recommend for tickets in Asia https://12go.asia/?z=3535989 ) and paid 31,600 or about $31 CAD each. Eventually after some wandering around I found our company name on a sign at one of the kiosks.

We got our boarding passes, but the guy made us pay 40,000 more to take the ferry boat to Lombok first before the fast boat to Bali. I think we got ripped off, as our voucher specifically said our boat left from Gili Air. Oh well, at least it was only about $4 more. We sat and waited for our boat in the covered seating area of the port. At 11:15 we finally boarded a little local ferry to Lombok. As we got on the ferry, we noticed a sea turtle under the ramp to the boat. It was huge!!

We had to walk along three other boats to get to our ferry. The local boat was exactly like the one we took to get to Gili Air except this time there wasn’t any sheet metal and boxes of concrete in the middle!! We sat at the front of the boat and Jives filmed a rap take as we ferried to Lombok. Once in Lombok we walked down the pier and boarded the Manta boat.

The guys put our bags on top of the boat which scared me because my camera was just sitting loose in the top of my backpack. We boarded last and sat in the only seats at the front of the boat where the gas smell was the strongest. The couple beside us was super old and incredibly sick and looked like they were literally dying of covid…A boat guy walked down the ship asking if people wanted to sit on the top of the ship, we jumped at the opportunity right away! We climbed up the janky ladder and sat at little back rests on the ground. The wind was insane, but it was wonderful and so much nicer than being inside the boat. People were climbing all over the bags that had been placed on the roof. I was seriously terrified that my camera would be smashed on arrival. 

We ordered two beers from the boat which was 80,000 and drank them as the boat crossed over to Bali. It was a delightful ride and a beautiful sunny day. The ride took about an hour, as we arrived at the port at 1:00pm half an hour early. This wouldn’t have been an issue, but I had told the hotel we would arrive at 1:30 and they arranged a pick up for us. So we stood and waited until 1:40 and saw no one. I walked down to the local port in case our driver was there, but he was not. Then both Jives and I walked to the local port to see if we could buy a sim card, but we couldn’t.

On the way we met a man who said he’d drive us to Tulamben for 300,000 so we said yes. Just as he was going to get his car, It was a man from 20 feet away carrying a sign that said “Ho…” It was our driver, we found him! After one hour of searching in the 37 celsius sun, we had found our driver. We apologised to the new driver and followed this guy to his car. We drove for two hours, stopping for gas along the way. We also drove along side a really cool temple procession with people all in white and carrying little shrine things. We filmed it, so you’ll have to watch the video to see that! We arrived at our hotel at about 4:00pm and checked in (P.S our driver was lovely and I am so glad we finally found him). Our room was only 640,000 for two days including breakfast, so $60 CAD!!! The cad ride was 550,000 or $55 CAD. We went to our room and immediately knew why it was so cheap, it was basically a damp cell with a very strong sewage smell. Thankfully there was a mosquito net around the bed and we closed the bathroom door to keep some of the sewage smell out… it was still pretty terrible, and definitely in the top two worst hotel rooms we have stayed in (Sofia Bulgaria still takes the top spot in my opinion).