It's hard to leave the beach. I can see why some can idle away weeks in beach towns, why they could miss a flight by losing track of what day it is. I think I've been in Gili Trawangan for 4 days but it could be 5. If I wasn't meeting a friend for a birthday weekend of Bali pampering, 5 could merge to 7 to 10, every day deciding to the same as the day before - namely, amble to the beach, grab a snorkel, go searching for turtles and tropical fish, and when the need calls, heading to our favourite icecream place to race against the sun before the pistachio, caramel or rum and raisin melts.
The evenings however are an opportunity to explore the tiny island with a very specific mission: to find the perfect sunset. We've gone north, south, west. We've gone to beaches and climbed lookouts. We've watched across oceans, looked down mountains, and sat on low tides. It gives us purpose and ambition. And photos that will never do the reality justice.
We've also been aided by technology, mapping the stars with a smartphone as night draws in to uncover constellations and planets and fill us with a sense of wonder at the scale of the universe.
It will be sad to leave my sunset watching buddies, knowing exactly what they'll be doing for the next few days, but it's time to move on and see what sunsets I can find from another angle. Save my waistline too from all that delicious icecream. At least for a day or two anyway...
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