DavidandSara

After breakfast on our veranda, we are picked up by Francis and Chen and drive a short distance to Luba, another traditional village. This area is the territory of the Ngadanes tribe. We were a bit sceptical, having seen two already, but this village was completely different. It was arranged around a central ceremonial area which housed five spirit houses for female ancestors and five for male ancestors, with the inhabited houses ranged around this central area. As this is a matrilineal society, where women rule, the women get bigger and better spirit houses than the men. All the houses are still inhabited, and get rebuilt every 25 to 35 years, as this is the natural life of the timber. We walked from Luba to Bena, another village, followed for a while by three tiny puppies ... read more

Flores is unremittingly verdant. The west-east spine of the island is a continuous run of mountains and volcanoes, and the volcanic soil is of course extremely fertile. Even the steepest mountainsides where trees and the jungle normally struggle to survive tend to be covered in green vegetation. There is no airborne pollution as there are no factories or foundries, so the only sources of pollution are farmers' wood burning cooking fires, the ubiquitous motor bike, some people carriers for tourists, the very occasional 4WD or pickup truck for utility providers or official types, local buses and some trucks. We have not seen a single private car. There is no commercial advertising, no motor dealerships, and really no elements of what we are used to in a commercial economy apart from the occasional bank. It really is ... read more

We met up with Francis, our guide for the next week, and set off for Moni. Francis explained that the endlessly winding road we were driving along is, in fact, the one and only ‘highway’ that links the east and west of the island, grandly titled the Trans Flores Highway. It resembles a minor B road in the UK, but has relatively little traffic apart from the multitudes of people on scooters. We first took a detour to visit Sikka Lela village, the site of the oldest Catholic church on the island, completed on Christmas Eve 1899. The door was locked and it transpired that new regulations require all visitors and worshippers to wear a sarong. Odd. Francis and our driver were given traditional sarongs which they wrapped round themselves, but we were issued with a ... read more

After arriving at the very crowded and bureaucratic Denpasar airport, we stayed overnight at the incredibly convenient Novotel airport hotel – the only hotel where you can take your airport luggage trolley all the way to your hotel room! . Next morning we set off for Munduk in the north of Bali. Getting through Denpasar was no quicker than it was six years ago. The city gradually gave way to villages, but with no break in the buildings. Our first stop was the Tanah Lot temple, one of the iconic pictures of Bali. The temple is on a small island connected to the mainland by a causeway which is accessible only at low tide, so we could only view it from the shore. There are a number of other temples in a small complex on the ... read more

We enjoyed a much needed day off on Thursday, enjoying the luxury of the Alila hotel, with its stunning views over the mountains. It sits on a promontory of rock with deep gorges on either side, and has been built from local stone to blend into the landscape. We did the one hour nature walk but opted not to do the 5km walk in the local area! Friday required a 7am start so we could visit the cattle market at Nizwa. In fact, all the animals being paraded around the small ring were goats, big ones on lengths of green twine and small ones held in the arms of their sellers. There was no auction, interested purchasers simply asked to inspect the animal then offered a price. Once we’d seen enough goats we didn't bother to ... read more

We met our guide Hashim and set off for the Sultan Qaboos Mosque, which for a long time was the largest mosque in the world before a larger one was built in Abu Dhabi. Hashim helped Sara wrap her headscarf in the prescribed manner, and we marvelled at the number of women having to rent long abbayas and headscarves because they’d turned up in strappy T shirts and miniskirts with nothing to cover their bare flesh. Some pointlessly got stroppy with the polite but firm female religious guardians. Many mosques are large but not visually very interesting, but this one is stunning. It’s set in extensive grounds with Islamic gardens featuring water channels, and has not one but five minarets to reflect the five guiding principles of Islam. The outside is polished sandstone and the inside ... read more