Sat 13 June 2015
Flying to Flores today, via Bali, didn't fancy 4 day boat trip, after a friend we'd met told us how hideous it had been...we fly from here at 11.45 to Bali then on to Flores (Labuan Bajo), where we landed at 3.30pm so it didn't take long. Worked out £60 each total so not bad at all.
We wandered around and found a little place called Baja Bakery, where we had a homemade muffin and drink. She recommended a place to stay, Gardena, a hotel set on the hill with little bamboo bungalows, we got one for 220,000 (£11). Really basic, cold shower, bucket flush toilet, but comfy bed and a balcony.
We booked up 3 dives for tomorrow with these guys!
Had dinner in a local warung, Matt had beef rendang which he loved but had indigestion all night!
Views from our balcony
Sun 14
Not a good nights sleep, Matt felt ill and the place is so noisy...anyway we're off diving 7.20am.
We really want to see Manta Rays.
Three dives...Mawan, Manta Point and Batu Balong, the top dive site in Komodo and one of the best dive sites in the world.
The sea was pretty choppy at times, i was really sick after getting back on the boat at Batu Balong.
Top of Batu Balong
Two hours out and back. A long day and unfortunately we didn't see any Mantas :-(. The other group did but we couldn't get through the current.
Mon 15
Better sleep last night. Lazy day today, had a tip from someone about a hotel called Bintang Flores you can go to for the day and use the pool for a small fee, about £2.50.
Nice and quiet, scruffy little beach, but lovely sunset from here.
Crazy locals crammed onto a bus truck
Tues 16
Hired a moped today and went out exploring in search of Rami Waterfall.
We off roaded for miles, Matt did an amazing job. Sore bums at the end of the day after 6 hours on the moped! Amazing scenery though!
Weds 17
Lazy day, moped out to Bintang Flores again in search of peace and quiet.
Thurs 18
Diving with Flores Dive Club again. Today we do Mawun, Siaba Besar and Richa Island to see the Komodo Dragons.
Met at the office at 7.20am. 1 1/2 hours to 1st dive stop, Siaba Besar. It was a great drift dive...huge White Tip Reef Shark, another sleeping under some coral., Green Turtles, Sanpper, huge Sweetlips, Blue spotted Sting Ray, big cuttle fish, huge Ray. Fabulous.
When we surfaced we could see our boat way off! We waved, blew our whistles but to no avail, they couldn't see us.We kept it up until another boat sent a dingy to pick us up!
Whilst bobbing around i decided to recount the story i'd read the night before about a group of divers that got forgotten and had to swim to an island and fight off Komodo dragons all night with their diving belts.
Matt was like 'shut up Milly' ;-D
Turned out our boat had a flat battery, we had to wait whilst another boat brought us one. Eventually got going again.
Next stop Mawan...
We saw Manta Rays!!!! about 12! It was truly amazing, they swam right over us, they are massive.
Also saw Hawksbill, Grouper, Snapper,Unicorn fish, rays...,woohoo! :-D
Press play!
... then roughly an hour to Rinca Island to see Komodo Dragons. We saw quite a few, a ranger took us on an 1 1/2 trek, also saw Water Buffalo, Deer and Macaques.
Had dinner at Cit Ma Bon Restaurant, next door to us with Andre, a German guy who dived with us today.
Fri 19
Decided we'd hire a moped and do a trip across some of Flores! Spoke to the owners of Gardena and
they were happy to look after our big rucksacks for us whilst we were gone. Found a good moped for 70,000 a day (£3.50)
Sat 20
*starting mileage 260982
Left Labuan Bajo around 11am with our little daysacks, one fit under the seat, the other between Matts feet.
Arrived in a little place called Barong around 4.45pm and got some petrol, we thought we'd better find a place to stay as it was hours to the next town.
We ended up staying in a weird hotel as we thought it was our only choice, (we found out there were other options the next day) squat toilet and no shower, it was only about £7, ate at a restaurant opposite, Nasi goreng and Satay Chicken, no one could speak a word of English, we hit the sack by 9.30, knackered.
Sun 21
Matts 1st go using a squat toilet. He didn't like it!
After the weirdest breakfast of ginger coffee and iced finger doughnuts we hit the road at 8am.
An hour later we we'd come to Mblata beach, we met 2 other tourists (1st ones we'd seen since leaving Labuan) who had stayed at the beach bungalows. We headed down to take a look 5 minutes down a dirt track. The beach was lovely, clean, no one on it bar a couple of local fisherman. The owner of the bungalows, Francisco came and said hello and invited us for coffee.
I had a swim. Francisco went fishing in his kayak. He offered us a room to shower, which we took him up on.
He then invited us to a student convention, we had no idea what we were going along to but thought we would. We followed him on our moped so we could shoot off whenever we pleased.
We arrived at a village hall where they had a huge wall of speakers pumping out pop music, honestly it was so loud it made us laugh. There were rows of plastic chairs and a stage with the student, his mother and grandmother on. The idea is everyone gives a donation, which we did, to help the student go to university.
Everyone stared at us and we felt awkward the whole time, they had a big spread of food, we had to go up first, we ate spicy fried noodles and beef?, pork sate, rice, sambal and more... it was so spicy it made my eyes water :-0
The whole thing was amusing. Fransisco kept trying to top our beer up, we made an exit after about an hour and got on the road about 1pm.
Got to Bajawa at about 2.45pm, had a coffee and pancake at Camelia Restaurant and booked in at Happy Happy Hotel! 3500 but clean, en suite bathroom, hot shower!! western toilet, towels, wi-fi and breakfast included. Matt was super happy happy :-D
They made us a coffee and we chatted, they are a Dutch couple, who after visiting for years decided to buy Happy Happy 4 years ago.
We headed to Bena, a traditional Ngada village 19km away, took about 30 mins through amazing scenery including a bamboo forest. The village was really cute, but has been turned into a tourist attraction, can't blame them trying to make money I suppose. You have to pay 50000 to enter but the setting is amazing, at the foot of Gunung Inerie (2245m). At the end of the village you could look out across valleys and forests to the sea.
Had a lovely hot shower when we got back :-D
This trip on the moped from Labuan Bajo we have been quite cold at times, stupidly we didn't bring any long trousers, only shorts and flip flops and luckily, our fleece cardigans which we have worn a lot on this jaunt.
Ate at Ditos restaurant, pretty bad. In bed by 10pm
Mon 22
I had the runs last night and this morning but luckily it cleared.
Breakfast of omelette, bread, jam, fruit, coffee, chatted to an English guy and a Canadian girl who have lived in the Cayman Islands for 9 years, they say they love it there and the diving is amazing.
Set off at 8.15am, after a couple of hours we stopped for a coffee at a roadside cafe. There was a simple drooling boy running around asking for money and an albino, kept Matt entertained.
The lady gave me some papaya, told Matt he was fat and looked like Bon Jovi!!
I forgot to mention the work being done on the roads. They are making the roads wider, we had to wait for ages yesterday whilst a digger knocked off some HUGE rocks down onto our road, they hit the ground with a massive thud and shook the ground. We encountered a lot more today, parts of the road are dirt track and soo dusty. We were filthy by the end of the day.
Crazy local buses and truck buses piled high with people and even goats on the roof playing crazy loud music. It's mental. Saw a whole family of five on a moped today.
Along the roadside you see horses, cows, goats, pigs all tied up on the grass to feed. The children and some adults shout 'hello mister' with huge smiles and try to high 5 you as you whizz by. I hurt my hand a few times yesterday doing that!
Arrived Moni about 2.30pm, so knocking off stopping time we took around 5 hours to reach Moni from Bajawa. Our bums are super sore.
Stayed at Sylvester Homestay, 200,000. comfy bed, hot shower, breakfast included. Popped down the road to Chedny Restaurant for a snack, i had Moni Cake, like a mashed potato fritter topped with cheese, simple but good.
Had dinner at Bintang lodge, like a Chinese style pancake and chips. It was good, followed by a hot chocolate :-). Cold in the evening, wishing we had long trousers, socks and trainers! Slept ok with ear plugs in.
Tues 23
Coffee that tastes of pig shit according to Matt and a VERY plain pancake. Really cloudy morning, waiting for it to burn off before we head up Kelimutu. I shouldn't think the people who left at 4.30am for the top saw much of a sunrise!
Sylvester dressed up and was off to the church to play the organ for 11 weddings at 9am.
They have 4 sons and a daughter and live in a scruffy bamboo hut. He has a flag pole in the garden and raises and lowers it morning and night. The kids are playing guitar and football.
Set off for Kelimutu at 9am, it took about 40 mins to climb the bendy 13km road on the moped. It was chilly. Paid 150000 each plus 5000 to park the moped at the ticket office. Drove on to the carpark and had a coffee and bengbeng choc bar. It was a only 20 minute walk up to the crater lakes.
Spectacular! the first was blue, the second was duck egg blue, like paint, you could see steam rising and smell sulphur which made you cough. A bit further up was lake three. It was also blue, but apparently changed form red, then black, then to blue. Lots of local kids wanted photos with us, crazy.
Bought some some coffee from a little boy called James who also took some pretty good photos of me.
Back to the village for lunch at Bintang. Toasted cheese sandwich and moni cake. Hot ginger to drink :-)
then went back for a nap.
We'd met this guy Fransisko yesterday who'd invited us to dinner at his restaurant in the village, 50,000 each. So off we went, his wife Ente had cooked dinner; rice, omelette, fried banana flower with casava leaf, garlic, onion and eggplant soup, all of which were VERY good. They had 4 boys, 3 of their own and one they were taking care of and a lovely dog.
Weds 24
Start the journey back today *mileage 26627. We were going to see Frans for a coffee but the 4 Italians who stayed in the room next to us said the roadworks would start at 9-12 with the road closed, so after an omelette sandwich we set off at 7.45am. The Italian guys own Mediterranean Restaurant in Labuan Bajo and are on a moped holiday together. We got caught in road works just before Ende for 1/2 an hour, had a coffee by the roadside then we got stopped again around 10.45 for 1/2 hour, on again, then a flat tyre, right opposite a little workshop, they put air in the tyre and didn't seem to think it was a flat tyre. We did.
Anyway we went about 20 minutes and the tyre went flat, this time on a corner by a little shack shop. The guy had a truck and put our moped on the back and drove us about 5km to a mechanics workshop, where they fixed up tyre, it was a previous repair that had popped open so they re fixed it, so fingers crossed it'll stay good.
Note the man asleep on top and live chickens on the back!
wide load!
Arrived at Happy Happy around 3pm. Sat in the sun. Hot shower, lovely :-). Had dinner at a little warung next door, really good food and met a local guy who knew a bit about physics, we had a laugh with him.
Asked Maria about somewhere to stay in Ruteng, she recommended somewhere.
Thurs 25
Booked flight to Bali for Saturday. Set off at 9.45am. Stopped for a coffee at a little roadside place.
A crazy local strolled by stark naked and took a dump at the road side.
Got some biscuits and gave them to the local kids.
Got a couple of bottles of fuel and on we went.
After getting stopped at more roadworks we finally arrived at Ruteng at 2.15pm. Found Santa Maria, a convent that rents rooms.
Fantastic place, really clean room, en suite, breakfast 270,000.
We bumped into Tina and Robin who we'd met in Labuan Bajo. They were considering doing the road
trip and they'd left Labuan on Tuesday so were 2 days in going the way we'd just come back from.
We all went to a local pizza place and had calzone and chips! Actually iy was really good, and a great strawberry juice. Back fro a nice hot shower and then drinks at Springhill Restaurant, a shrt moped ride away. Curfew was at 9pm so we made sure we were back for that!
Fri 26
Up at 6am ish, breakfast served by the nuns of fried egg, sliced white bread, bananas and jam! Matt said he felt 10 again eating a jam sandwich! Set off at 8.15am...
Tina and Robin
Stopped at Cancur to see the stunning spiderweb rice fields, the pattern is created by the way the paddies are divided into segments from the centre, the more resources the family have the bigger the slice of pie.
We arrived in Labuan Bajo at 12.30pm. Total trip 998km. Had a sandwich in Bajo bakert then a coffee at CafeIn.
Went to Gardena where we'd stayed originally and had left our bags and our old room, 22 was free so we went back into it!
Jumped back on the moped and headed to Bintang Flores Hotel to use the pool and chill. Had awarm shower there. Dinner at Cit ma Bon just down the stairs from our room. Bad nights sleep, flippin mosque at 3am, 3.15, 4.15 arrghh. Then cockerels and boats! :-/
Sat 27
CafeIn for coffee and cookies :-D
Flying to Bali at 15.45pm, booked a room at Kendra Premiere again. Had dinner at The Balcony Restaurant.
Sun 28
Hired a moped from Kendra , left our big bags with them and set off on the moped after 12pm with just our day bags. Stopped at Pandang Bai for lunch, then on to Ahmed. Got a room in Banutan at Beten Waru. A lovely little bungalow, aircon, hot shower, infinity swimming pool and breakfast 219,000, about £9.50 :-)
Mon 29
Lazy morning by the pool. Sussed out a dive shop, White Sands, down the road, a locals run place and booked 3 dives for tomorrow. The Liberty Wreck dive, Drop off and a night dive.
Had coffee and popcorn in a tiny yoga and free diving cafe. Bombed over to Tulamben and hired snorkels and fins and snorkelled the Liberty Wreck.
Tues 30
Breakfast. Picked up at 8.30am for diving. They drove us to Tulamben, we kitted up and walked doewn to the beach, very stony, bit tricky getting in and out. Good dive.
Had lunch at the restaurant by the beach then we got driven a short way to another bay for our next dive, a coral wall dive. Pretty good.
They dropped us back to Beten Waru, walked up the road to the cafe for an iced coffee with ice cream :-)
Quick dip in the pool.
Picked up at 5.30 for our Night Dive. It's a full moon tomorrow so its pretty light. Bit trickier getting in in the dark but ok. Off we went with our torches. It was weird seeing other people in the distance with torches. When you shine everything is bright coloured so it's like a spotlight.
It was strangely calming. Matt found it a bit claustrophobic at times but all in all it was a good experience.
Dinner at the restaurant where we're staying.
Weds 1 July
Knackered, lazy morning around the pool. Lunch in the hippy place in Jemeluk.
Snorkelled the Temple which was surrounded by beautiful colourful fish :-)
Dinner at ours again.
Thurs 2
Left ours at 11am and took the coast road to Singaraja
