As said i was first a bit sceptic about renting an Air BnB with a man, but this was really not neccessary. Bale Kampung is a nice group of small accomodations, 2 bamboo huts and some real houses in a yard with tropical flowers, approximately 10min walk from the beach. It is lying in the east of Gili Air, the local area and very easy to find. There are a lot of signs if you walk down the main road from the harbour you turn right once and then left again and you will be there. Also Dean and his family are very popular and everyone knows them on the island, so you can always ask people around, if you are lost. Before i came to Gili Air i asked Dean quite a lot about transport and the boats and he was really helpful and offering me to organise a transport back, once i come to the island. When i arrived, he was not there, but his daughter is organising the place, while he on travel and she is super friendly. There is always someone around at Bale Kampung, if you have any question, they will be always happy to help. You can also rent a bike or they will help you to organsie a trip to another island, or snorkelling adventures. They always know someone, who knows someone, so you can get better prices. Also there is always fresh drinkable water for you offered and coffee and tea, which was super important for me.Also they serve a nice breakfast to you every morning.

The bamboo hut i rented was super clean, as well as the outside bathroom in the back. First it feels a bit weird, but then it's amazing to have a shower in the morning when the sun goes up!

Of course one has to consider, that there are also some negative aspects about a bamboo hut. There is a small fan in the hut, that keeps you cooled at night, but makes some noise, so if you are sensitive to that, you might need earplugs, because without the fan on, it's super hot and impossible to sleep at all. Also better have it on, since mosquitos do not like windy areas, so that keeps them off, as well as a very good repel mosquito spray.

One night i was waking up, because i heard something running around in the hut. It was really frightening and actually it was the biggest cockroach i have ever seen in my life. Not having anyone else in the middle of the night to fight this monster, i was totally stressed and getting super frightened. I know obviously, that they do not do anything, but still they are disgusting. So this monster was running up the ceiling of the bamboo hut and then falling down of its own weight, onto my bed!! Panic attack! Then it was running down on the floor and i saw my chance to finally set an end to this. I got my shoe and managed to slap it once, twice, it took around ten strokes until it did not move anymore, they have such a strong shell. I took it by one of its legs and threw it as far as possible out of the hut, directly closing the door again. After that i actually sprayed my mosquito spray on all small holes i could find in the hut and lay towels in front of the door, because there is a small slit under it, where the monsters crawled in.

Apart from that, my stay at the bamboo hut was really amazing. The bed is really comfortable and if you are not scared of nightly visitors, you will definitly enjoy this!

I paid 27€ a night at Bale Kampung, including breakfast, but prices can variate around the year.