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Not a good night the hotel backs onto a rice field and there was a strange hammering coming from outside all night. I cant use ear plugs because I have been bleeding from the right ear so I just had to put up with it and I did initially but around 11pm I had had enough so I went out to try and find the source of the noise which was in vain. I then went and banged on the door of the owners residence only to be told it was frogs making the racket, naturally I couldnt do anything about that so we just had to suffer then to top it off the Europeans returned and made way to much noise till about 1am, so much for sleeping.
Consequently when we finally got to sleep we over slept and were woken by our driver at 4.15am, soon after we were on the 30 minute drive to the Kelimutu National Park. We didnt realise we would need a torch, dumb hey, so we tried to follow the trail from the car park in the darkness, luckily we met an industrious local who carries hot tea and coffee up to the
The coming dawn
Kelimutu National Parklook out point each morning to sell to travellers and he graciously lead the way.
The last stage of the trail were steps that lead up the side of the mountain to the top which is named Inspiration Point, we arrived just befor 5.30am and settled in for the sunrise after buying a cup of our saviours tea. There are three crater lakes here that are usually different colours the Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai (Turquoise Lake) and Blue (was Brown) are to the east and the Tiwa Ata Mbupu (Black) one is to the west, local superstition has it that the souls of the young go to the Turquoise Lake, the old to the Brown Lake and the souls of the wicked end up in the Black.
The sun rose on a fine morning and we were treated to the best viewing conditions, fortunately there were only a couple of other visitors and we were able to snap away without interference from crowds. As usual the Europeans ignore the warning signs and go beyond the fence getting way to close to the crumbling edges. We then headed back down the trail before detouring to the left up
another trail which revealed some fine much closer views of the bluish lakes, without the rising sun shining directly into my camera lens. We then made our way back to the car where our driver was sleeping, we headed back to Moni skirting the odd house sized boulder along the way.
Breakfast was banana pancakes and fruit. We will leave Moni in two or three hours so we decided to visit the big chaotic Monday market in the village. Squeezing between buses, trucks and motorbikes we entered a very colourful if muddy local market where fruit, vegetables and livestock were being sold from stalls as well as cheap consumer goods. We came to look at the Ikat in particular and found what we believe is an attractive piece with images of Komodo Dragons for a reasonable price of about $9. As the morning was heating up and the crowd was becoming oppressive we bought a few local cakes for a pittance and headed to a local hillside cafe for a cold drink, I gave most of the cakes to a very excited little boy.
At 10am Edel called passed to pick us up and we were on our
way to Maumere, Edel's three year old nephew will be accompanying us, he was asleep in 10 minutes and we hardly heard a peep from him. The drive took three hours and at one stage we got rear ended by a motorcyclist who was to close, after a few minutes of loud conversation between Edel and the biker he dragged himself his bike and various parts that had come off, off the road and we were again on our way. On arrival in Maumere we went to a favourite restaurant of Edel's and had another great meal, it was cheap and huge which is always a bonus.
Maumere is not an attractive city particularly in the heavy rain and the sapping heat and I wouldnt have come here if not for the Airport, our hotel was a bit nasty, no hot water, and is home to some of the largest cockroaches I have ever seen, but the dwarf at the desk did spray them all and it does have aircon and cable TV which are handy. It was sad to say our farewells but Edel has to drive back to Moni tonight and then on to Labuanbajo the next
day.
I arranged an airport drop for the morning and then we went for a walk to what we were told was a supermarket but turned out to be a childrens clothes store, which had a small fast food restaurant in the basement so we ate a few child sized chicken burgers before slogging our way through the humidity and rain back to our hotel.
Up at 5.30am and had breakfast before we were dropped at the airport at 6.15am, not a human being in sight, when the security people turned up they kept saying 1pm but we didnt have any idea what was at 1pm, our flight was at 8.30am. By 8am I knew something was wrong and I was pissed off, a couple of girls arrived then on their motorbikes, they worked for Batavia Air so I went and chatted to them to see if they new what had happened to our Merpati flight, they told me the flight was cancelled, I said I need to get to Denpasar today, they said they could sell me a ticket for the Batavia flight leaving at 1.55pm, fortunately we had enough cash on us and didnt have to
go back to town to hunt for an atm.
After five hours of sitting outside in the growing heat the airport finally opened and before we knew it we were checked in, taxes paid and waiting to board our flight, the airport staff have been extremely kind to us foolish Bulays. The plane was late, we should have expected that I suppose so it was 2.30pm before we took off for Denpasar via Kupang in West Timor. Ruth didnt enjoy this part of the flight much as some silly woman straight out of some remote village leaned all over her all the way, I must admit I found this amusing as usually its me who cops the nightmare travellers. After dropping a few people off and picking a few up in Kupang and the aircraft started taxiing the silly woman tried to get out of her seat and climb over us to get to the toilet, we yelled at her to sit down and buckle up, finally and Indonesian guy translated and she sat down. We moved shortly after take off as Ruth had had enough by now.
We arrived in Bali at 5.30pm what a day, fortunately
it was easy from here, collecting our luggage and getting a taxi was no problem and soon we were on our way to Seminyak. Bali has certainly changed since I was last here in 2000, many more shops and many more people and cars. The hotel was great I rarely make the effort to stay in resorts but I must admit it can be a nice change. Our room is fantastic and the bathroom a dream as we both reek from a few days without decent bathing facilities. The balcony looks over the gardens which are fantastic, we have a number of restaurants and pools to choose from as well as a number of shops.
It was time for us to relax and take in our new surroundings and enjoy a long shower, although we did take a short walk around the local area locating a laundry and a restaurant for a quick dinner, in Bali they charge a 21% service charge which is ridiculous when you consider the lack of ammenities on the island, no public transport, dangerous side walks etc. By 11pm we were crawling into our giant bed.
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