Bali again and again and again and again.....

Bali is beautiful and has probably a lot to offer culture wise. But it's just so tempting to do nothing there. And so we did..again. Well, we did do some shopping. Using the Australian winter as our excuse to finally spend a lot of money on proper clothes.

We also tried to arrange a visa extension. That turned out to be exhausting and didn't work out for us. So we got back to doing nothing. Enjoying the hotel pool, a brand new one with a great view over the green and the sea. Wonderful.

We just noticed that the title is almost longer than the post ;)

Mantas?

The boat trip ended in Labuan Bajo, Flores. A small harbor city that lives on tourism and has more Italian restaurants than an average Italian village. Tourists come here for two things; komodo dragons and manta rays. The last ones being the reason why there is one business that tops the amount of Italian restaurants; diving. With so many dive shops it's difficult to choose. Going for the one closest to the hotel seemed to be easiest.

Running into our American and Canadian friends we made on our boat trip made them decide to join us for another day on a boat together. The diving day we had great fun together but the diving was the worst we ever had. Although the shop looked nice and organized the boat was the opposite. But a crappy boat was not going to give us a bad experience. Our dive guide did! It was an angry man without the necessary experience for diving in those waters. Which resulted in chaotic and for some moments even a bit unsafe dives. Besides that, diving at Komodo national park was amazing.

The next day we changed to another dive company and had a great time. The dive sites were superb and challenging. The main attraction for this day was manta point. The chance to see manta rays there is about 90%, unfortunately we were part of the other 10%. Unpredictable nature. But we have something to console us with, we saw some of the creators on the surface, which was already really amazing. And don’t forget the sharks and dolphins...

The day we left we took two motorbike taxis to bring us to the airport. Which we found out is just at the end of the street. The airport of Labuan Bajo is like a bus station or actually more like a bus stop. It's so small it's just funny. The plane we had to catch landed in front of us and opened the doors. We could hop on to discover it was already half full. It turned out to be coming from another part of Flores and only came for a few extra passengers to fly together to Bali.

A good start!

To get from Lombok to Flores we booked a boat trip. 4 days sailing with as highlight seeing Komodo dragons.

The wooden motor boat was a little less than 20 m long. It had an open deck with a solid roof. After the first 2 hours we came across some heavy rains. To protect us from the rain the crew closed the open structure with tarps. It kept us dry but had one side effect. The captain's view was blocked. This is no problem for an Indonesian captain who just put his head out of the side window of the wheel house ones in awhile. A bit funny looking but it seems to work till the moment we almost hit an island... The captain was lost.

Under the dark sky at an island he didn't recognize it was time for the navigation instruments. Which was a wooden table with NO map of the area and a compass which he looked at if he was waiting for the moment it started to talk. In the age of I phones someone could show a map and our location. Unfortunately the crew didn't seem to know how to read a map. Turning around and crew members on each side in the pouring rain made us find our way. The first night was a bit longer than expected but we made it to save place to stay overnight. This was a good start.

The rest of the trip we were lucky with beautiful weather. From the water is for sure the best way to enjoy the amazing views with all the little island, deserted beaches, crystal clear water and beautiful colored reefs.

The third day we made it to Komodo island. An island famous for its equally named inhabitants. The Komodo dragons. These giant lizards are known to be the biggest and baddest of their kind. We went for a hike through their territory guided by a park ranger. They are for sure massive, up to 3 meters, but actually look a bit lazy. According to the ranger Rinca island is where the action happens. This smaller island where food is more scarce also inhabits dragons. Several reports of attacked rangers and tourists exists. 

The next day we went to Rinca island for the real deal. It was now about 11 in the morning. Close to the hottest moment of the day, when cold blooded animals are most active.

From the boat to the ranger's office we already saw a few dragons. They all seem to hang out around the rangers camp. This day we got protection from three rangers. As we started our walk we understood why. While watching the first dragon and taking photos two other dragons sneaked behind us and a few smaller ones were approaching. We were surrounded by the deadliest lizards in the world. The dragons didn't look like they were planning to kill but just observing and considering their chances. The rangers, armed with forked sticks, directed us to move slowly. They needed their sticks to drift the dragons apart so we could walk away. We were followed for another 20 meters till they gave up. Rinca is were the action happens.

Lombok

How can we tell you how awesome it was and at the same time explain why we felt uncomfortable. We will try.

Sopi was in Gerupuk so we decided to go there as well. Gerupuk is a little village near Kuta Lombok. A small crappy maintained street leads along the beaches to there. Unfortunately the nicer hotels were fully booked so Meli and Caro went to look for a nice place to stay. Walking around in the streets showed how poor this place is. We have never seen so many street dogs in our whole journey as here. The dogs had all rashes and open wounds on their bodies. The kids were playing naked in the waste water. The town was dirty and smelly. The room we were in for a few days was really hot, I think we never had it as hot as there, the whole atmosphere was bad. We tried to get used to it but after a few days we decided to move to a different place.

During our stay there we tried to learn surfing. You could hire a boot, that brings you to the good places, and a board for little money. The first time Meli and Caro joined. We were sailing to the beginner spot, the view from the boat was incredible, you could see the big volcano Rinjani in the distance and we were surrounded by green hills and cliffs. For Caro it was the second time on a surfboard and she fast figured that this spot isn't really the spot to learn surfing, the waves were to harsh and the water was to shallow so you could get easily hurt.

The following days Jeff and Sopi went surfing and Caro and Meli hired a scooter and explored the surrounding.

Meli and I (Caro)woke up in the early morning, when the heat is still bearable, so we could go for a walk in the hills. We were Cruising around for a while looking for a nice hiking spot. As we found one we parked the scooter next to street and went steep uphill. The sun was broiling and already after 200 m we had to stop and turn around. It was just to hot. We decided a scooter trip is nicer, than we have the wind that cools us down. While getting some gas on our way we were asking some locals for a nice view point. One of the guys offered us to bring us to an empty beach surrounded by green hills. They way to the beach was steep and muddy, with a lot of concentration and panicking we made it to the top of one hill. It was a construction area where the guy brought us and he was the supervisor. Meli and I felt a bit uncomfortable there, it was unbelievable hot and the workers had to work really hard for their money. We felt stupid standing next to them and looking dumb. Also the older people were starring and looking angry, because we were in really scanty shorts. (and yes it is offending but we really hadn't waste a thought on that earlier). We fled to another beach, where the women and old of the town were sitting in a bamboo hut near the sand and enjoying the shadow. The kids where playing in the water and as soon as they saw us they wanted to play with us. We played tag and threw them in the water. Giggling and screaming of all the fun. As we packed our things to go back to meet up with the boys, we got invited into the bamboo hut. The women were curious, larking and friendly. 

Islands

Bali

On the way to Bali we stopped in Kl for 2 reasons. 1, renewing our Visa and second shopping for some new wardrobe at the airport. The second reason was hardly possible, you would expect that such a big airport as KL has a lot of shops. But no, its almost empty. At least we got our visas done. We arrived, still looking like homeless people, on Bali and headed to a hotel near Ulu Watu, where Meli, a friend from Austria was already waiting for us. The hotel was luxurious and we felt happy and comfy. The next few days we have to admit we did not do that much, we were just enjoying our room and the conversations with Meli. And of course our first surfing experience on the Padang Padang beach, the hip surfer point on Bali. Surfing is really hard work but great and exciting.


Gili Islands

Beach, sun, crystal clear water and a good atmosphere. That is Gili T, it is one of the 3 islands between Lombok and Bali. Gili T is the biggest but you can round it within 2,5 hours by foot. The tiny islands are free from cars and scooters instead they have horse wagons. Along a stretch of 2 km are hotels and a lot of bars and restaurants. If you ever want to visit paradise come to Gili T. all 3 of us did some diving there and we saw many turtles and beautiful fish schools. One night after having a delicious dinner at one of the restaurants we met Sopi, one of the volunteers of the Cambodian school. We decided to go for some drinks, lucky us it was party night on Gili T. All the dive shops and bars were playing loud music or hired a live band. The vibe was great and we danced and drunk a lot.

Helllooooo Miiiiiisteeeer

With local buses it took us only! 7 hours to cover 120 km. This is mainly because Indonesia doesn't have bus stops and the buses have no aisle in the middle. So in every little village with about 10 houses it stops 5 times where everyone has to get out of the bus and the new passenger climbs in all the way in the back before the driver continues the journey for another 50 m where the ritual repeats.

But our destination, Bukit Lawang, was worth it. This small village located on the riverbed of a fast flowing river looks right into the jungle. The other side of the river houses primary forests with one of the highest densities of orangutans in the world. The reason we came.

As we arrived in the little town we came a long a phenomenon that we have heard before in another Asian country, Cambodia. Every single local person is greeting us with HELLOOO MIIISTEEER, hooow are you tooodaaay and a big smile. They do not make a difference between gender, everyone is just simply a Mister. We love this kind of welcoming.

We hired a guide and went for a jungle trek to see the apes. We were stunned. Saw like 20 of these beautiful creatures which are so human-like. You could see the difference in their characters like shy, curious and naughty. Some of them came as close as 2 meters to check out.

One of the babies was a curious little thing. Caro was swinging on a liana, the little one came closer to check out what she was doing. He decided that it looks like fun and wants to try it out. He firmly hold the swinging liana and was making giggling noises as Caro swung faster. Both of them had a big lol and did not want to stop. Caro changed her mind as soon as the guide told that orangutans like to give humans warm showers.

Although the orangutans were the highlight of the trek. The Thomas leaf monkeys, gibbons and long tail macaques also deserve to be mentioned here. And a bit smaller but (one of) the largest in their kind 4-5 cm long ants were also impressive.

After the whole day hiking, using the river to get back was a welcome refreshment. Rafting like they call it with truck inner tubes was perfect. 

Volcano, clouds and a strong old lady

A few weeks ago a volcano on Sumatra erupted and 11 people died. They made a danger zone of 10 km, where you are prohibited to enter. A lot of people told us that it is save to go to one of the villages near the danger zone. After hearing from several people that it will be fine to stay in the neighborhood, we went to Berestagi. The first night our host took as near the danger zone, so we could see the volcano from a distance. Unfortunately it was cloudy and we couldn't see that much. Once in a while, after a growling sound, we could see some red lava glowing up through the fog. The sound was impressive though.

The next morning Caro woke up with bad back and stomach pain. She crawled from the bedroom to the dining room of our host to get some tea and painkillers. As soon as they saw that she was not feeling so well, our hosts tried everything to help her. She got some weird and strong smelling tea but they swore that this is the best thing you can get, it cures everything. Our host let an old lady come to give Caro a healing massage. As the lady arrived they put a blanked on the kitchen floor, heated up the oven and commanded Caro to get undressed and lay down. All really weird but we thought why not.. if it helps. They heated some banana leafs on the stove and put some oil on them. As the leafs were hot enough they put them on Caros back. After the hot banana leaf treatment the granny started to massage. Caro was hoping for some relief, but it was not granted her. Without pity and really strong hands Caro got kneaded. Screaming, crying nothing helped, they were so unperturbed by Caros begging that our host did not even stop with cooking meals. They promised her countless times that all the knots have to be released and then she will fell like newborn. 1000 felt hours later the torture stopped and Caro could go back to her bed. Trying to sleep and forget.

The next few days were so cloudy we couldn't really check the highlights of the area. Berestagi, the city we stayed is not the most beautiful one but with only gray tones from the clouds it was just depressing. Time to move on!