Gili T "The Party Island"

Horse-drawn carts resemble a yellow and red Pere Noel tuk-tuk that jingles as it passes. The drivers honk a toy clown horn to let you know they're coming. A few are bumping Kanye. The street is an uneven half rock half dirt highway with foot passengers, happy bicyclists with baskets full of snorkeling gear, and horse carts alike. No sidewalk here, but that's part of the charm. When the horse-drawn tuk-tuks are empty of people they are full of Fanta crates.

Colorful Indonesian boats with names like "Why Not" and "The Rasta" - skinny wooden boats painted white with two long, thin pontoons reaching from either side for balance - pull up on the beach to offload basil, coca-cola, coconuts and other goods. They are reloaded with recycling, and empty water containers.



Our bungalow at Edy Homestay

Indonesian teenagers line the streets yelling "cheap room, cheap room" and holding brochures, just waiting for you to be too hot and exhausted to resist their pokes. After a 20-minute stroll up and down part of the main street, we are sweating from the weight of our three backpacks and one ukulele, and concede to view some of these "cheap rooms." For $20 a night we are staying at Edy Homestay, a coral pink backalley garden retreat, away from the noise of the main street. We get our own grass bungalow with a nice porch and a gorgeous beige stone outdoor bathroom with a hollow boulder for a sink. And, much to Chris' sheer enjoyment, air conditioning.

A cross-eyed, crooked-tailed grey tabby kitten we affectionately refer to as "Bintang" resides at our homestay. He snuggles in your lap and has a pair of very large ears.

There is a lovely Italian restaurant down a back alley off the main street - Trinycora(?). They have the best pizza in all of Indonesia, cooked in a traditional wood fired oven to near-Italian standards. The atmosphere is beautiful: big square wood tables and chairs in a neatly trimmed square grass lawn, under a black starry night. Oddly speckled with psychadelic Tiffany's style 6ft mushroom lamps. Later we had dessert at Cafe Gili Trawangan - perfect little spoonfuls of fresh coconut ice cream accompanied by petite chocolate cakes.

Gili T is the party island and we intend to participate - with cowbell. Our sights land on the Dark Moon party Wednesday night. Since the Full Moon parties only happen once a month, many locations have adopted a Dark Moon party to apease party-seeking backpackers. The party is at the Southern end of the island (the whole island can be walked in about an hour) at the Surf Bar. It kicks off with fireworks and a large bonfire is lit. There's a big grass hut for a bar, and another hut for the djs. There are laser lights and the whole effect is an outdoor nightclub on the beach - awesome. There must be a hundred people here all having a great time and while the dance floor is packed  - in true Indonesian form - the power goes out. It's back on 10 minutes later and a shirtless Indonesian teenager appears with flaming balls on the ends of two chains to execute some poi. He is amazing, I've never seen a fire performance like this. Then it's more dancing until the sun comes up. We head off to the night market before it closes to satiate our hunger. Chris has Mie Goreng and I order what I believe is a chocolate pancake. It turns out to be a full-on cake with about a million chocolate spinkles and tiny chopped peanuts melted on top, then folded in half and chopped into slices before being placxed in a dainty pink and white box for takeaway. I am more pleased than I care to express by this fortunate food order.

I had been itching for a good beach party since we landed in Australia months ago, and Gili T delivered.