COMING SOON HOUSE ADVERTISING ads_leader
Hotel in Bali
This place draws more Swedes than a Bjorn Borg autograph signing session. After our relaxing recharge on the Gili Islands we headed back to Kuta, Bali for two different reasons. First off, our friend Brendan Moriarty was now in Bali and we wanted to meet up with him for at least one night. Secondly, we had to be in Kuta to catch a flight towards Komodo Island in order to see the famous dragons. We arrived in Kuta at around 2 P.M. and our flight out the next day was scheduled for 9 A.M. which would mean a 7 A.M. wakeup call. It is for this reason that we agreed to have an early night if we were not able to find Brendan.
At 6 P.M. the sun is setting on the day and on our hopes of running into Brendan. We are having a beer at the hostel he was staying at as little as three days ago, but he is nowhere to be found, and the hostel has no record of him being there. At this point he turns the corner and after a joyous reunion our night begins to take shape. He tells us there is a big pool party tonight and since we are only here
Partying in Bali
Brendan doesn't even wear shirts to the bars...living the dream. for one night it is imperative that we attend it. Suddenly our, “Early night” has turned into another wild Friday night in Kuta.
The pool party never materializes but a massive predrink begins at our hostel. Brendan has been in Bali for a week and knows most of the people who are staying at our hostel. They are almost exclusively Swedish and the girls are almost exclusively very good looking. There is also a Swedish hero at the predrink. This guy named Toby is famous in Sweden because in 2008 he rescued a family from a burning building at 2:30 in the morning one night. When this happened he was apparently all over the news and got to meet the Royal Family of Sweden. The best part of the whole story is that he was drunk during the entire rescue. We all thanked Brendan for taking us to a party with a legitimate hero and several girls who looked like they could be Tiger Wood’s wife.
The night ended up being a lot of fun and involved good amounts of both drinking and dancing. Unfortunately, the early morning flight loomed in our minds and we could
The View from the Boat
Also Duncan's sculptured back. not fully let loose. We left the bar at 2:30 A.M. and said goodbye to Brendan after our much too short eight hour visit with him. The next thing I remember is the shrill sound of my IPod alarm going off, and then rushing to pack my bag and leave our room. The rest of the morning is fairly hazy as I was in and out of sleep in the cab to the airport, at the airport, and on the one hour plane ride. We arrived in Labuan Bajo, the jumping off point for trips to Komodo Island, tired but very excited about our coming adventures.
We met a charming hustler named “Tony” at the airport and he helped us arrange our boat tour. After much haggling over the price we agreed and got in his car to take us to the pier. Five minutes into the drive the car got a flat tire, but we were able to slowly continue on until we reached the water. We met the crew for our journey (2 men) and inspected the boat. Everything seemed satisfactory so we went to grab some lunch, while Tony and the crew went shopping for
supplies for our two days, and one night journey. Once everything was in order we embarked on our trip.
The first thing we noticed was the massive volume of the boat’s motor. Until we became accustomed to this it was hard to even have a conversation. We also noticed that the two crew members spoke virtually no English, which meant that any conversations we would be having would be between the three of us. On the first afternoon we went to Rincah Island, where it is actually easier to spot Komodo’s than it is on Komodo Island. Our park guide greeted us by saying, “Welcome to Real World Jurassic Park,” which was exciting and scary at the same time. What was just scary, was the fact that our guide was around 5’2 and maybe 115 pounds. However, most of the komodos we saw on day one were sedentary and lying around the human encampments. They were still scary as hell though and you can check the below pictures for proof of that.
After leaving Rincah, we cruised through the sunset towards Komodo Island. The 2 crew guys also prepared an unbelievable dinner (See picture) considering we
Cobra
This just happened to be sliding along the restroom wall. After seeing this I became much more cautious about where I was putting my feet. were on a boat without a kitchen, cabin, or sit down toilet. After many games of cards we lied down on the deck of the boat and let the slow waves rock us to sleep.
We awoke in the EARLY morning to the shrieks of hundreds of bats flying just over the tree line on the nearby coast. After waking to this unique version of nature’s alarm clock, we ate a quick breakfast and entered Komodo National Park. We spent the first hour and a half of our tour seeing nothing more exciting than pigeons and some orchids. Just like on Rincah, we saw the vast majority of our dragons at the end of the tour surrounding the guesthouse and gift shop. This seemed less authentic but the size of these beasts was awe-inspiring all the same. We left Komodo, and after stopping at a few snorkel spots, arrived back in Labuan Bajo late in the afternoon. At this point we were nearly penniless (Without an ATM in sight) and still had no idea how we were going to get back to Bali.
P.S. No pictures yet for this one but I promise they are pretty
sweet. Right now we are on a Thai island where the internet connections are pretty slow. Hopefully pictures will be up in the next couple of days.
COMING SOON HOUSE ADVERTISING ads_leader_blog_bottom
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0391s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Thata
Martha Yuliana
:)
you had a great time in Komodo island! and sure with those dragons lied around you :P hm..I'm getting excited to visit there too! :P