Flores

July 26, 2009

I had a great birthday here in Bali. Antonio took me shopping and bought me a new surfer bikini, very appropriate since we are in surfer heaven. Then we went for an hour Balinese massage and later out for Japanese food. It was a great day.

The last week has been full of last minute changes and a little disappointment. After leaving our beautiful little beach in Waelengga we stayed one night in Ruteng and the next day were picked up by car for the next part of our journey to Labuanbajo, the eastern most part of Flores on the coast. We had booked a "travel" bus the night before in our hotel and when we saw a small SUV come and pick us up I was pretty surprised. This could only mean one of two things, either they were taking us by car to the bus station or we would be travelling by car to Labuanbajo. When we got in the car there were only two other customers, the car seats 6, and I thought no way could we be so lucky to travel the next 4 hours in luxury. I asked the guy in my "best" Indonesian, if they were picking anyone else up. He said "no". But after 10 minutes and driving around the market twice, I realized he didn't understand my question. We were looking for other customers to fill the car and wouldn't be leaving until we found them. Luckily it only took about 40 minutes and when ALL 10 of us were crammed into the car, we left for Labuanbajo. Antonio was sitting in the passenger's seat and I was in the middle seats by the window, so we were pretty well off. The guys in the last seats behind us had to travel with their luggage on their laps. It was a fairly uneventful ride, if you don't count the 4 loud ass burps, three farts and the guy next to me shaving. He threw his old razor on the ground and I made a mental note not to step on it during the journey. We of course had to stop 1hr 30 into the trip for lunch. WHAT??? It was 9.30 and we had just had breakfast 2 hours ago. With a little bit of patience and a good sense of humour these little hiccups are actually something to laugh at.
Finally we arrived at Labuanbajo, a little town on the bay. We had called and luckily booked ahead for a room, because when we arrived everything was FULL. In our hotel they told us we could only stay 2 nights and then we would have to find something else since they were booked. We went to check out the island, which we wanted to visit and the availability there, only to find out that they were booked as well. They said they would put us on a waiting list but until someone checked out they couldn't tell us when they would have a room. This was somewhat frustrating and nerve racking since we only had a room for 2 days and after one night there we still didn't have a room on the island. The next day we woke up and decided to check flights back to Bali, only to find out that everything was book until August. We had our flight for the 3rd of August but I was afraid that if we couldn't get to the island soon we would be stuck in this little town with no hotel and no island. Finally after running back and forth to airline companies, one said they could get us on the flight that same day at 2pm, we said okay. So we paid for the ticket and got our things together and went to the airport. Just as check in was starting the same guy who issued us the ticket came over and asked us to step into the office, he then told us that they were very sorry but that they were overbooked and since we booked the tickets last he was hoping that we wouldn't mind staying one more day. He told us he would book us a hotel and transport to and from the airport and we would for sure be on a flight the next day. I was really perplexed since he swore to me in his office earlier that day that there was no way we could take the flight Friday since they were overbooked. He promised that he would get us on that flight and so we reluctantly agreed. He took us back to his office in town and after calling for an hour to hotels, all were booked, finally got us a very nice room in a good hotel. We both thought "oh well" there are worse places to be stuck at and since we really were not in a hurry it wasn’t such a big deal. The next day they picked us up at the hotel and only after we got our boarding passes at the airport could I relax, but at 11.15 our plane didn't come and we were starting to think that we were going to be stuck here another day. Finally at 12.30 our plane flew in. It was a 50 seater, prop jet plane. I like these planes better than the bigger ones since they fly lower and the view is so much better. We flew over all the islands in Nusa Tenggara, seeing beautiful beaches, tiny islands, and volcanoes.
So now we have been back in Bali and are deciding what to do for the next 2 weeks. This week we will rent a motorbike and explore the nearby beaches and maybe even go back to Ubud, which we liked from our trip last year. A friend we met in Papua, George, is flying in this week and we are looking forward to seeing him. We are also thinking of going to the nearby island of Nusa Lebongan for a few days.

Flores, Indonesia

July 7, 2009

I thought I would give you all a little briefing on our travels but first to explain a bit how we travel.

Antonio and I decide on our destination and then buy our RT tickets. We don't book tours, hotels, guides etc. We have somewhat of an idea of where we want to go and what we want to see but we are always open to suggestions from other travellers. When I said that we had a guide in Sumba, I meant for only one day. We took one of the guys from the guest house because we were going to go to some small villages where we obviously don't speak the language and we would like to understand what we are seeing and be able to communicate with the locals. Plus I think it is very rude to poke my camera in people’s faces, houses etc without asking permission and also showing interest for them and their cultures.

Since my last email we have been to a little village up in the mountains. We rented a motorbike in Ende and drove to Moni, where the volcano Kelimutu is located. It is a volcano with three craters which have lakes of distinct colour in each one. The lakes change colour every few years do to the mineral and sulphur levels and also the weather. Now the lakes are turquoise, dark green and black. We also visited a few traditional villages which are known for there weavings of ikats. They are nice and some take weeks while others up to 4 months. The people here are very nice and instead of the typical "hello mista" we get "hello, where are you going". In our bungalows "mama" the owner made home cooked meals for us every night and we were even offered to try dog, but declined.
Here in Ende there is a nice market and they sell some pretty big fish here. We have seen shark, Manta Sting Rays, large tuna and other smaller fishes. We will be going tomorrow to a small town called Boawe to the west of Ende.

I thought I'd include some funny things that people have said or yelled to us....
"hello mista. I love you and your woman"
" hello foreign"
"bule" which literally means white person

Sumba, Indonesia

July 2, 2009

When we got off the plane we saw family members greet each other by rubbing their noses together and I had to ask myself "where are we?" We had just landed in Tambulaka, Sumba after a 40 minute plane ride from Bali. Sumba is to the east of Bali and we stayed in the western part of the island. The plane we flew on must have been at least 40 years old and I was thankful to disembark into a small one roomed terminal where we were immediately swarmed by people offering us "transport mista". We had to endure the pestering for about 30 minutes until our luggage arrived. Luckily Sumbanese are not aggressive and are just looking to make some money and if not maybe conversation. Finally we left with our privately hired transport to Waikabubak, yes it took me all week to finally be able to remember the name. Waikabubak is a run down, dusty town with hardly any if not no entertainment whatsoever. We checked into the hotel and decided to take one of the extremely basic rooms, fan, bed, bucket shower and western toilet (nice treat not having a squat toilet) and no sink. The next day a wedding was taking place and the tour guide from the hotel was going to be busy with that so we decided to walk around and see the town and the near by traditional villages. We went to the market where we saw dogs and goats tied to posts for sale and later for eating, motor bikes with a wood pole horizontally placed off the back and tuna and mackerel hanging of that. We saw the typical betel nut used for chewing and spitting up large pools of red saliva and rolled tobacco which they smoke, chew or just stick under there top lip. The women and men wear woven "ikat" sarongs as skirts, the women long and the men short. The men wear a wide leather belt to keep theirs in place and in the belt they carry a medium sized sword/machete in an intricately carved wooden sheath with a buffalo horn handle. There were barely any restaurants and most people eat in make shift little shacks where food is served. They usually have the typical fried rice, grilled chicken or fish and all served with an extremely spicy chilli sauce (my stomach is still thanking me today). Our guide had invited us to the wedding and we went for a little bit and because we were the only white people there, not to mention in the town, we attracted a lot of attention. Finally after the wedding was over our guide took us on a motorbike trip to some of the nearby traditional villages. The first village was truly amazing. The traditional homes with high roofs made from long grass and the houses made of bamboo were like out of a movie. The grass hangs low over the balconies and that's where the villagers sit performing their daily duties, breaking the skin from coffee beans, weaving baskets, sharpening knives, drying vanilla etc and of course all the while chewing their betel nut and the men smoking their cigarettes. In front of each cluster of houses is a ceremonial area where there is a small carved statue and large above ground tombs with immense rock lids. The dead are buried sitting up hugging their knees and depending on the size of the family sometimes the whole family is buried in one tomb. We went from house to house visiting the villagers, while some ran to hide, most invited us over and offered us betel nut, bananas and tea. The houses were set up on a hill and it was very green and lush the surrounding area. It was not a tourist thing and like I said it was an incredible experience. We went on to another village later that afternoon which we could only get to by hiking up a winding narrow path. We also rented the motorbike a few days by ourselves and we drove to some of the beautiful deserted beaches and visited other villages. One of the days while we had stopped to take pictures of a procession on the street, a girl ran over and in very good English invited us to participate in a funeral. The funerals can last days and they slaughter many pigs, buffalos and this time even a horse. Luckily we didn't stay long enough to presence that.
In The whole duration of our stay we may have seen 10 tourists and were always received enthusiastically with a "hello mista" and an occasional "hello misses". In fact all the while walking thru towns, villages, driving on our motorbikes people yelled the same "hello mista" and if you gave a wave they were happy. Even the first night we were there and the lights had gone out and there was no moon people still recognized us in the pitch black and yelled after us.
Today we left on another 40 year old plane to an island north of Sumba called Flores. We will be here for the next month. When we arrived at our hotel and saw our room Antonio said "ooh it's nice to be back to a little civilization". This comment came from the fact that there was a "mandi" a shower head in our bathroom. Aaaah, life’s little luxuries.