A tiny, pretty island called Gili Meno

Last night I finally finished reading “Eat, pray, love”, which I had started like three months ago. I really enjoyed that book, even if it had some slow parts where I interrupted my reading for a couple weeks.

I knew that its author Elizabeth Gilbert started a pilgrimage of her readers to Bali, I had read it on the Lonely Planet book guide, which I bought before going to Bali two years ago.

However, I only found out last night, when I finished reading the book, that her last journey at the end of her 12 months to discover herself was in Gili Meno, which my boyfriend and I randomly (well, not randomly but not because of the book) picked when we went to Indonesia. We chose Gili Meno instead of Gili Air or Gili Trawangan (the three Gilis) because it was the quietest, the most peaceful and the most apt for a romantic getaway.

We arrived in Gili Meno from Bali on a late afternoon of June last year, after two hours on the fast boat.

The journey was quite rough, as the sea was rough, but luckily we don’t get seasick easily, and there was a movie on to get distracted (unless that makes you even more seasick…ahah).

As there was no direct journey option from Bali to Gili Meno, we first arrived to Gili Trawangan and there we found a person who was organising the cross to Gili Meno with smaller, fishermen’s boats.

That’s how us and another couple got to the tiny island, and got off the boat with our own legs, right into the sea, as there was no pier. Exciting!

I had booked a simple and isolated yoga retreat which had bungalows, too, called MaoMeno, and of course we had no idea where it was, but we walked towards the centre of the island, leaving the beach behind, and looked for signs: eventually we found our little oasis.

The lady who welcomed us (along with two kittens… what else could we ask for?) was so kind and she showed us to our minuscular but lovely bungalow, with an outdoor bathroom.

Honestly, there wasn’t any space inside except for the bed and two bedside tables, but it was cosy and we had air conditioning! The first thing we did was get our laundry sorted, our clothes were returned like-new and smelling incredibly good.

We were tired and dirty after the long trip from Ubud to MaoMeno.

After unpacking we wore our swimsuits and headed to the beach, as Ubud is not by the sea, so we couldn’t wait for a nice dip.

After a quick swim and a look at the sunset we were so, so hungry that we walked to the first restaurant (yes, with our swimsuits and t-shirt and shorts, but the look on Gili Meno is casual, no tie & heels required!) which happened to offer really good food and became our favourite on the island. They had pasta, pizza, burgers and desserts (cheesecake, brownies and so on). We toasted to the five days ahead that we had there (we were so happy, relaxed and excited, especially for the good food) and then walked back to our tiny bungalow in the total darkness, as in June it got dark quite early, and there are no streetlamps (or streets, actually) in Gili Meno.

And there are no cars, either.

Just perfect.

The following morning we woke up early because of the sounds of the animals (cows and chickens), and we were not annoyed at all by that. I was too excited, I wanted to explore the island!

Breakfast in MaoMeno was slow, quiet and peaceful, we were actually the only guests there for the first two mornings.

MaoMeno is a yoga retreat, with areas to practice, healthy choices for breakfast and, if you like, they will also cook dinner for you if you give them some notice, but there is no restaurant on site and that’s why we would usually leave for dinner (with our torch, of course, to venture in the dark woods).

On our first day we snorkelled, as that’s the best activity to do there, because we wanted to see sea turtles so bad… And we were blessed enough to see three or four. It was my first time seeing sea turtles in their natural habitat. Gili Meno is home to a turtle sanctuary, too.

One evening it rained heavily, too, which I always love to experience when on holiday in a warm and humid destination (in Bali we had a lot of that… too much actually!).

I find the scent of tropical rain magic. It makes me feel alive.

One morning we went to the first yoga class of our lives.

There was a lot of sweating and effort involved, because

1. it was hot

2. it lasted 1 hour and a half

3. our Brazilian teacher was demanding and liked the “workout” kind of yoga, not the relaxing kind of yoga… lol

We spent the following days snorkelling, eating, reading, having cocktails and beer while admiring wonderful sunsets and walking around the island (it took about one hour to do the whole lap).

One evening we were relaxing and having a cocktail by the beach before dinner, and I remember seeing a little boy (he must have been about three years old), in his birthday suit, who was so euphoric because his dad (I think he was his dad, or perhaps older brother or another relative) agreed to bring him on a paddle tour, winning the ride against his 8-year-old or something brother, who was of course raging – crying desperately, screaming and making a fuss…

But he just couldn’t care less and was so excited. It was very funny (you can see them paddling away in the photo above).