expiration date 

just like yesterday, the day started with the kids playing on the grass with other kids in the resort, while waiting for our breakfast. chili was busy looking for the boat to take us the the Gili. we finally found one; Pak Edi, the boat skipper, is the brother of the guy who taught us to surf yesterday.

right after breakfast, the group who’s going to the island packed and changed into our swimsuits… and board the small boat around 10:30 in the morning. Oma, my Mom, Gaizka and Ticia, Fenny and Alika weren’t coming.

the ride to Gili was around an hour from our hotel, and was much smoother than i thought it would be. there was hardly any waves. aina, who was nervous at the beginning, ended up sleeping in the boat, rocked by the gentle waves.

originally, we were going to see the famous Gili Trawangan. but Pak Edi suggested to visit Gili Air, because the water is calmer (perfect for kids and snorkling) and it’s easier to park the boat there. because it was closer, we decided to go to Gili Air first, then Trawangan.

but, of course, we had tooooo much fun at Gili Air, we ended up skipping Trawangan all together.

the water was crystal clear and the beach was very shallow with such a tame waves. the sand was white and clean. the water was bright turquoise. and the sun was fierce. it felt like we were floating around in a huuuuge swimming pool along with a big wooden boat…

i got sting by something while in the water, causing a trail of small red dots on my left calf. i wasn’t sure what it was, but the pain went away quickly.

ayoub and aina was busy in the sand. after building some tunnels and sand structures yesterday, apparently ayoub had googled ways on making sand buildings last night and planned to build a pyramid today. aina, of course, loved to be the assistant.

later on, we went snorkling. aina, ayoub and noushka didn’t join the snorking team, as they prefer to play with the sand. Pak Edi walked us to the farther side of the island and wow… it was fun! the fish was colorful and aren’t scared of human. we brought a small piece of bread and they were all over us.

the water around the gili is very, VERY salty. it doesn’t taste good when it gets into our mouth, but it helps our bouyancy greatly… we don’t really have to swim. we float easily and it makes the snorkling effortless.

the highlight was seeing a huuuuge turtle feeding one meter below our feet. it was soooo close, sooo big and so gentle. i wish i could bring my cameras underwater, but we weren’t prepared for that… so, we got no underwater picture at all, even though it was probably the best things we’ve seen in this trip. sorry…

by the time we got back from snorkling, ayoub was finished with his pyramid.

and they were in the middle of getting a lesson from an american girl on how to make a perfect ball of sand. immediately, everyone joined and formed a small ball-making class. it was fun!

it was over 2PM by the time we ordered our lunch (sandwiches, ayam penyet, plecing kangkung… again). we were starving! all that swimming and sand-building made us hungry.

by the time we finished our lunch, it was almost 4PM, which means we had to head back to the main island before the waves get too big.

we landed right in front of our hotel, in the area left of the hotel, where the sand was jet black. yesterday, we played on the left side of the hotel, where the sand was light brown and coarse. on this side, it was black… very black. the texture was very fine, rather velvety. and it turned out that aina looooooved the black sand. when asked what is her most momorable time in Lombok, she said, the time spent swimming in Gili Air and the super short time playing with the black sand.

i kinda wish the whole strip of sand in front of our hotel was the black sand.

» today’s photos are in flickr’s 06/04/2013 photo album.