Blogs from Flores, Indonesia, Asia

It has always been my dream to see komodo dragons, and also to swim up close with manta rays. Bizarrely, I got to cross off two from the bucket list on the same day while visiting the Komodo islands, never mind the fact this once in a lifetime tour also included spectacular elevated scenery of the magnificent islands, and an idyllic visit to pink beach. What a day, what an island, what an experience! Flores is just an hour or so flight time out of Denpasar airport, and travellers quickly discover they have arrived in another world. There seems to be some kind of obsession (on Flores in particular) for locals, both male and female, to want to be photographed with a foreigner. Well, I'm not young and I ain't no rockstar, but in Flores all ... read more

Many, many years ago, in a very difficult phase of my life I was reading the book "Last chance to see" written by Douglas Adams.For those who know this book: Douglas Adam is travelling together with Marc Carwadine to see animals around the globe who are critically endangered. One of his destinations was the Komodo National Parc with the Komodo dragons. It was such a fascinating, funny and exotic story - I had the feeling that I must go there some day. I was so curious to see these animals that look like being from another time or another planet. They live very remote (well, at least when you come from Europe), it is not that easy to get there and it is a superexotic place. Well, nearly. Things have changed in recent years and going ... read more

Just got back from 3 days at sea and I do look a bit like a drunk trying to walk straight! Can’t seem to find my land legs and it’s making me laugh out loud which makes me look even more so drunk ! ??? I won’t bore you with a dive by dive account of the trip but suffice to say it was BRILLIANT ??. In a nutshell it was: Dive - Eat - Chill/Sleep/Sunbathe - Repeat! And this was 4 times per day so now I’m exhausted! (definitely going to write to my boss for an extension on the trip so I can relax a bit as well Lol)? Straight off, about 10 mins into the boat trip I spotted a pod of dolphins ? (& the dive shop said it wasn’t possible to ... read more

Na ranajky som chcel fried rice ale ta sa takto skoro (6.25) este nepodava, tak opat omeleta. Po plazi smer happy dive. Tu platba kartou vratane 4percentneho poplatku. Rupia posilnela, sice o chlp ale posilnela. Docapovanie vody a smer mala rybarska lodka. Dvaja namornici, instruktorka a traja potapaci. Instruktorka a ziaci vo firemnych bielych trickach. Mohli aj mne dat. No ziaci su to uz neni, uz maju certofikat padi. Som zvedavy kedy dojde aj mne. Francuzi dnes potapaju z brehu k potopenej lodi. Prichadzame na miesto fishsoup. Tu nam zacina vraviet sefka vtip o francuzoch, vcera sa bala. Pri jednom ponore vravi potapacom, dame si fishsoup, nato sa jeden vazne ozval, ja som ale vegetarian. Samozrejme pri tom myslela toto potapacske miesto. Vsetko ide rychlo, ziadna kontrola z jej strany. Nasadit a skocit. Okuliare mi namazali ... read more

Konecne poradna postel, ziadny dotieravy hmyz. V noci som sa musel zakrit, sa trosku schladilo. Pusteny som mal aj mini fan a citronovu vonacku (tu som ale neskor vypol bo to fakt uz smrdelo) Na ranajky si davam caj, omeletu a avokadovobananovy tanier. Velke skoda, ze nebol aj chleba k tej omelete. Prelistovany holandsky casopis o indonezii. Knihy na vymenu holandsko danske, ang a svk uz toboz nic. Mini pokec s kanadanom s quebecu. Dal mi par rad ohladom potapania. Nakonec tu ostava este dve noci a pak smer ende a let do labuan bajo. Odduchovat na plaz som sa vybral doprava. Po par desiatkoch metroch rozkladam pod strom plachtu a pustam sa do poslednych stran sary. Postupne prichadzaju deti co tu holimi rukami chytaju male ryby. Toto robili prakticky az do mojho odchodu t.j. cca ... read more