Ode to the Mangosteen

My little friend,

you glorious, glorious creation

A small round of purple

A hard hard husk

One split, though, and I'm

through

Southern hemisphere separates

from north

and I see you

Part mango

you have texture

tongue-tasting texture

and richness too

Part steen

what is a steen, they always ask

don't they know

it's the rest of you

so segmented

yet so lopsided

perfectly steen-ish

I have carried you

for days

days on end

and I do not mind

not one bit

As it is true that I would eat you when the time was right

and so it was, and so you were,

and it was delicious

You provided me with refreshment,

when that is what I needed

But more too, rich taste,

the satisfaction of separating you in two

And then there was only one more

and I knew I must treasure it, treasure you

That is why, it was segment by segment,

not mangosteen by mangosteen,

to multiply the bites, to multiply the experience

Because you are my glorious little friend,

and I ate you

From a small island to an even smaller one

For my second full day in the Gilis, I venture off of the "main island" (Gili Trawangan) to the littlest of the three, sandwiched in the middle, Gili Meno. This place is tiny - the island measures 1km wide by 2km tall, and walking around takes about an hour, give or take. I jump on the island hopping boat and am there in 20 minutes.

Immediately, this place is so much quieter than Gili Trawangan. I am in the middle of main street, and I hardly see anyone. I begin my walkabout, heading south on the eastern side of the island.

The first thing I encounter is a handful of abandoned and dilapidated resorts. Wow - huge structures with villas, and swimming pools, all just left to be reclaimed by the jungle. And the jungle does quick work, as some of the buildings are already halfway down.

I continue down that path...

...spy the ocean to my left.....

...and soon find myself at the edge of an interior lake.

This lake was pretty neat - completely still, very bog-like around the edges. I wasn't able to tell if it was fresh- or salt-water.

Time for a break! I sit down and eat a bag of mangosteens, one-by-one, savoring each segment. Ah, what a lovely fruit (and poem-inspiring, see next post).

As the walk continues, I encounter some small wildlife, a beautiful butterfly that I was only able to capture in profile and a single large flower.

Near the end, I find a planted forest of palm trees. Hard to tell from the photo, but they were arranged in a very tidy grid pattern and, I assume, provide plenty of coconuts and oil to the island for use.

Two thirds of the way round I pause for lunch at Balenta (described in food of the Gilis). After a quick, ok lunch, it's time to snorkel! I head to the northwest corner of the island and drift snorkel for 30 minutes. Wow. The first 30 meters into the water are awful, just dead coral bits and other rocks. But then it opens up into about 10 meters deep of abundant life. I see fish and schools of fish of all type: trigger, parrot, and others. I see big coral of both hard and soft varieties. It is a great snorkel. The only miss is that I didn't see any turtles and this area is renowned for the easy turtle-spotting. Next time, I guess!

I make my way back to the harbor, ready for my return trip to Gili Trawangan. Snapped some pics of neighboring Gili Air (size-wize, in between the two) and of mainland Lombok from the harbor. Look how little Gili Air is!

Food of the islands - where's the consistent flavor?

So, I thought I might sacrifice a certain amount of culinary delight in my trip to the Gilis. I mean, these are non-motorized islands we're talking about. I will say, though, that I am surprised the food was so bland, with not much attempt at coherent flavor and very little spice. Definitely tourist-ed food, and not the better for it. The best of the best were some ok meals that had some ups and some downs. Here's the quick rundown:

Starting out not strong at all was lunch on Friday. at Alam Gili, I had the Bakmi Goreng. It was so uninspired. It was simple noodles (much like, if not one and the same, the instant noodles that come in those cheap ramen packets) with a modicum of overcooked vegetables. That's it. No saucing, no sambal, no flavor.

Slightly better was a tapas dinner at Karma Kayak. After my debacle trying to stay there, I had to at least try the food. And it was ok. Good tapas for an Indonesian island, not that good when compared to tapas in San Sebastien (ok, that standard might be high). First was an olive tapenade that was a good change of pace from Indonesian cooking. And, god, I love olives. Then I had a trio of dishes: green beans in sauce, meatballs in sauce, and fried sardines with aioli. The sardines were the winners, nicely fried and with a good citrus kicker. The meatballs were decent, though the sauce lacked punch. The only virtue of the green beans were the nice fried onions on top - the beans themselves were steamed to death and soaked in soggy tomatoes.

I didn't get a picture of an ok and really cheap lunch at Bu'de, an Indonesian warung in the interior of the island. A mixed plate with rice, some saucy chicken, and a handful of other veggies. Not bad!

I also didn't get a picture of my next dinner, which is a shame because it was one of the best. Seafood pizza at Coral Beach 2 Bungalows. They had an actual wood fired oven and they actually knew how to use it. Excellent! The crust was delightful and the sauce pretty tasty too. It only went slightly awry in toppings, where the fish they added had a funky flavor that didn't fit (though the squid weren't bad!)

Next up was lunch at Balenta on Gili Meno (where I was for a day trip). Here I ordered Sasak food (local food of the predominantly Muslim Lombok inhabitants). I got the pelecing kangkung, a green bean dish with coconut and tomatoes. Unfortunately, totally mediocre, providing sustenance and little else.

Finally, I gave Alam Gili a chance to redeem itself, which it did, partially at least. Sunday night turned out to be a rainy night, so I just stayed in and around my room. Dinner on my verandah was a starter of garlic brown bread and sauteed squid with salad and rice. The garlic brown bread was nice, just a bit skimpy given the price (25,000 rupiah for four small slices of bread). The squid was also good though not perfect - the texture was nice and the salad had a delectable dressing. Overall, a B- / C+ effort. But better, at least.

Almost forgot! There was one breakfast at Alam Gili that was actually splendid. Top of the list was the muesli with fruit salad. Everything was fresh and tasty, with the perfect amount of honey. Also good was the drink. And the nasi goreng (rice with egg and vegetables). Oh, and don't forget the view!!!