Indonesia

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From New Zealand I spent a night in Sydney before the 7 hour flight to Singapore, where I was staying for a couple of days with an ex teacher of my sister. She has been living in Asia for the last 12 years, and although I knew Denise, didn’t know her that well. She was the perfect host, picking me up from the closest MRT station (train station) on the night I arrived, gave me freedom of her apartment and allowed me to come and go as I pleased. She took me out on the Friday and Saturday night, showed me the Singapore Cricket Club where she is a member and introduced me to her friends. She also paid for pretty much everything, which was unexpected and unnecessary, but told me I could return the favour when she is next in London - fair enough. It was a gesture I, and my bank account really appreciated - Singapore is not a ’budget’ destination - fact!

I left Singapore on the 3rd October bound for Bali, Indonesia. When I got to the airport and found my check-in desk, I started to walk towards the end of the queue when I heard a German accent shout, “hey skin cancer, what are you doing here?” Skin cancer was my nickname in Fiji, due to my love of sunbathing, and the German accent belonged to Daniel, a guy I had met there a couple of months previously. We had spoken a few times in Fiji, but hadn’t stayed in touch after we left, so was a real coincidence that he too was on my flight. Not only that, but he had pretty much the same itinerary for Indonesia and after a brief catch up, decided to travel together and see how we got on. This turned out to be a good plan for many reasons!

Germany, as he became known, had booked accommodation for that night and said I was welcome to join him in the twin room and split the cost, the first benefit of travelling in a pair. We arrived at the accommodation, checked in, went out for our first Indonesian meal, which was very nice and then crashed out. The next morning we checked out early and into the Sarinande Beach Inn in Seminyak, which was supposed to be slightly quieter than tourist central Kuta, yet still close to the beach and with plenty of bars and restaurants. The hotel was perfect; spacious, clean rooms and a decent pool. We stayed for a couple of nights and did absolutely nothing during the days, except lounging by the pool or on the beach, reading and listening to music, which had been our objective. We went out for a couple of nice meals in the evening and went into Kuta town one night, which is everything I hate about Asia catering for western tourism - tacky bars/clubs, shit faced youngsters and ridiculous amounts of sleaze. Why anyone would want to bring their young children here is beyond me.

Anyway, our plan was to leave Bali virtually straight away, returning later in the trip to look around the island. The reason for this was our flight to Malaysia left from Bali and we wanted to make sure we were actually in the vicinity and not stranded on another island somewhere. We made our way to Padang Bai on the east coast and arranged for a ferry to take us across to the island of Lombok the following day. Padang Bai is a quiet little fishing village and a place where a lot of scuba dive trips leave. There is little more than a row of restaurants, guest houses and dive shops lining the beach front and subsequently, very little to do. To pass the time, we found a beach and haggled over the price of a sun bed, saving ourselves about 20 pence. We were then invaded by a gang of middle age women trying to sell us sarongs. I actually bought one as I didn’t have a beach towel, but the argument as to who should sell it to me was quite amusing!

At 09:00 the next morning we were on board the ferry and heading 4 hours across to Lombok, arriving on Gili Trawangan - one of three islands off of the north west coast - around 18:00. It had been a marathon journey for what was essentially a short trip and the money we had saved ourselves by taking the long route didn’t really seem justified, especially considering the hassle we got along the way. At Bangsal Harbour - the last point before getting to Gili T - I was almost involved in an ‘altercation’ with some vertically challenged Indonesian who was upset that I wouldn’t buy a return ticket from him. Apparently, if I didn’t buy said ticket, I would be stuck on the island with no way back…a very likely story. He then kicked me and punched me in the arm and told me to get out of his shop…which was more like a hut with a tin roof. Indonesia is definitely a place where I wouldn’t want to end up in jail, so rather than rise…I mean shrink to the challenge, I delved deep into my vocabulary and used a couple of choice words to make my fellings felt! It’s good to see that short man syndrome is alive and well!

Anyway, we got to Gili T and found some accommodation. First impression wasn’t much - I had heard it was a backpackers paradise - but was more like Kuta on a smaller scale and a long way from my idea of paradise! We had dinner and a few beers and then got to bed, hoping the next day was going to prove me wrong. After walking around the whole island, which took a couple of hours, I was still of the same opinion and couldn’t help but think how much of a hole it was. Luckily the German was of the same opinion and the following day we took the boat to Gili Air, which is smaller and less inhabited, in search of this paradise we had been promised. Gili Air was fine, basic, quiet and relaxing, which was what we were looking for. We wasted a couple of days on the beach, had a wander around, took some pictures and had a couple of nice meals. It was a vast improvement on its big brother, but I was still happy to leave, neither having lived up to my expectation. I know that sounds snobby, but they are really talked up in the travel guides, when the reality is very different.

From there we took the boat back to Bangsal harbour and a bus on to Sengiggi, where we had to stay the night before joining a tour the next day. Sengiggi was a pleasant enough place, a bit more touristy with some up market hotels that didn‘t fit our budget. We found an adequate little hovel for the night, had some lunch and then went in search of the beach. The best bit about this little outing was manoeuvring ourselves from the beach, to poolside in the Sheraton Hotel, where the staff smiled sweetly and referred to us both as ’Sir’, a title I could become accustom. We spent a couple of very nice hours, sunning ourselves on the cushioned sun beds and enjoying the pool, but refrained from ordering food and drinks and charging them to one of the rooms…although we were tempted! I must have a conscience after all!

We had booked a tour with the company Perama, on what is titled the ‘Hunting Komodo by Camera’ tour and paid 3 million rupiahs (a bit over £200) for 6 days, sleeping on the deck of the boat. When we arrived at the port to board our vessel, the only thing to go through my mind was what on earth would we have ended up on had we opted for the cheaper price with the less reputable company?! I didn’t think we would be aboard a super yacht complete with pool and cinema, but I did think standards would be slightly higher than what we got. To be fair, the food was alright and the toilet and shower facilities were adequate. It was just the sleeping arrangements that were questionable, sleeping on little more than a mat and a piece of foam that acted as the mattress, alongside somebody you had never met before. On board were a lot of couples, including two gay male couples…so not exactly my scene. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against men who like to poking other mens bum bums, but why do some feel the need to mince around like a total pansy? Seriously, one of the guys was so camp he made Dale Winton look like Grant Mitchell!

The tour took us to a private beach the first afternoon, which would have been better had the beach not been full of coral (hard to walk on) and the sun been out! We stayed until the evening, had bbq’d fish then headed on board for our first night. I actually got some sleep that night, sleeping alongside Germany and another mans wife, although getting comfortable was a slight issue! The next day we disembarked on Satonda Island and walked to its highest point, which gave a good view of the surrounding area and of a lake that had been created many years ago when an earthquake occurred, forcing water into the crater of a dormant volcano - pretty cool. We swam in the lake and snorkelled around the boat before sailing overnight to Komodo Island for the main reason of the trip, spotting the famous Komodo Dragon. When I woke up the next morning, the view was spectacular and drew the only comparisons with Galapagos. We were surrounded by tiny islands, it was very picturesque and probably the highlight of the tour. We moored the boat off of Komodo Island and the motorised dingy took us to the jetty and onto the island. We were taken around by the least informative guide you could hope to have - he spoke zero English - was hopeless - ashtray on a motorbike type of thing, leaving all of the information giving to our guide from the boat! To be fair, there wasn’t a great deal to tell and Komodo Island wasn’t full of Komodo Dragons! It was more of a walking tour with no information - so basically a walk - but we were told there would be a lot more dragons on Rinca, an island we would visit later in the trip. We saw one dragon at the very start and some more outside of the restaurant at the end of the walk. As impressive as they are to look at, it all felt a bit false. I hadn’t necessarily expected to see them stalking prey or in mid attack, but certainly in more of a wild setting.

After the walking tour it was back on the boat and full steam ahead to Labuan Bajo, a quaint little harbour town on the island of Flores. We had arranged with the tour company that we would leave them there and finish the remainder of the tour, the next time the boat came around 6 days later, allowing us time to look around Flores. The boat dropped anchor about 200 metres off shore and a little motorboat completed the journey to dry land, dropping passengers on flood defence rocks and not on the jetty which seemed a far better option. We were invited back on board later that evening for a farewell party, so had 2 hours to find accommodation, drop some clothes to the laundry, shower and be back to the rocks to get picked up. The ’party’ was actually pretty good, with the majority of our group having lightened up a bit. The few beers I had been expecting turned into few more and by the time we had to leave the boat I was in a happy state - we all were. The German is a funny man on the piss, he has a great sense of humour and enjoys extracting the Michael out of me. I cant complain, I give as good as I get, but something happened that night that he wont let me live down. The crossing back to the rocks was choppy to say the least and the prospect of standing up and getting off the boat seemed a bit tricky. The 3 American girls got off first, followed by the German. I then stood up and walked to the front of the boat. With the extra weight having just disembarked, the boat was now pitching from side to side a lot more. I took one step onto the bow of the boat…and in the words of Germany went…oh, oh, oh, ohh…splash… Man overboard!! It all happened so quickly, but one minute I was on board and the next I was swimming with the fishes! I emerged to mass laughter - it was funny - until I realised my camera was in my back pocket! I have learnt a lot since I have been away and can now add to the list that salt water is not best friends with digital camera! Considering I had lost my sun glasses two days before when I walked into the sea with them on my head and walked out without them, it had been an expensive few days and was compounding my feelings for the country.

There was not much to do in Labuan Bajo and we wanted to head to a volcano on the other side of the island as we had heard good things about it. Our options of getting there were limited to an 18 hour bus journey or pay about £150 for a one way journey with a private driver. The bus was out of the question, not because of the time but because of the state of the bus…and the roads…and the private driver was way too expensive. The both of us hadn’t been massive fans of Indonesia to this point and after weighing up our options decided to axe the end of our boat trip and took a flight back to Bali. Our plan was to see more of Bali, so after another night in Seminyak, we headed north to Ubud, which is certainly more cultural than anything else we had seen before. The place was nice, easy to walk around and less hassle than Kuta, however I still wasn’t completely sold by the place. We arranged a days tour with another Brit and a Swedish guy, taking in some of the local sights, which consisted mainly of temples. I know I am supposed to appreciate these sorts of things, but its hard to do with so many people in and around these places trying to sell you things you will never want or need. The architecture is impressive though, but I wish we had been able to find out more about the history of them, rather than rely on the Lonely Planet for information.

From Ubud we went to Lovina, which is on the north coast. We checked into a hotel with a pool and made the most of it. We were roped into taking a dolphin tour the following morning, which left at 06:00 and involved sailing a small fishing boat out a couple of miles from shore. We were one of the first boats to arrive and it didn’t take long until we spotted our first pod of dolphins, although they looked a lot smaller than ones I had previously seen. I asked our ’skipper’ what species they were, but my question was obviously lost in translation as he just smiled, nodded his head and said…”yes, very nice dolphin”! Excellent. It also didn’t take long until we were surrounded by numerous other boats - I counted 52 at one stage - all wanting a piece of the action. Whenever a pod was spotted, the boats charged in their direction in a race to get there first. Now I’m no nature buff or conservationist, but surely this can’t be good for them or their environment, however they must get some form of enjoyment out of it, otherwise I don’t know how to explain why they are in the same place at the same time every day.

It was at this point where England and Germany had had enough of Indonesia and decided to bring our flights to Malaysia forward a week. We headed back to Sanur, which was about 10 minutes from the airport and spent a couple of days there before taking the first flight on Saturday morning. As you can probably tell from reading this, Indonesia was a big disappointment for me! I had been really looking forward to it, and at the start of my trip, had pencilled it in as a potential highlight. It just didn’t live up to expectation. I found the people unfriendly, money hungry and devious and am in no rush to go back. I understand that in the tourist areas, where we spent the majority of our time, people are in business to make money from tourists - that’s obvious - but I have been to other third world countries where it is done in a different way. We could have tried to spend time in a village, but then we wouldn’t be able to communicate with the locals, again not getting to know them or understand their culture. I have found this to be a real catch 22 situation when travelling!

Despite Indonesia not delivering for me, my highlight was undoubtedly getting to know Daniel. We are very similar in personality and both want the same things from travelling. From what he has said, it sounds as though we are from similar family backgrounds and have a lot of similar interests. We travel well together, do our own thing when needs be and generally respect one another. For financial reasons it was also good to have a travel partner, increasing our bargaining power or being able to split transport and accommodation costs in half. Indonesia doesn’t seem to have a hostel culture, so if you are travelling alone, you could well spend a lot of time getting to know yourself and for this reason, was certainly glad of the company. I spent a lot of time thinking about home, family and mates, and if somebody had given me a ticket home, I may have very well accepted at that stage. However, I have mates meeting me in Malaysia, then seeing my cousin in Hong Kong, Vietnam will be awesome and then the cricket world cup in India to finish. Indonesia was a small blip, the next few months should be amazing.

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Photos

Sengiggi
Sheraton Hotel Pool...thanks very much

Komodo Dragon
...stay there

Germany & England...
...pissed!