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Published: March 18th 2008
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Ina in her Sunday best
My Sunday best consisted of my only pair of trousers and a Tesco T shirt Praise the Lord...I've found God in Ahuwair, Flores"
You won't believe this but this morning I went to church!...no I haven't found God, Ina invited me and I couldn't really say no...of course I didn't understand a thing!. It was OK though, but I do tend to switch off in churches and found myself uncontrollably nodding off! how embarressing...plus I was sweating like a pig!
I have decided I was being silly about my guide. I was talking to a Spanish guy today and he says its quite safe and by far the best way to travel through Flores. So today Patrick and I set off for Moni, a good 3-4 hours away...but 5 hrs with stops on the way.
First stop Wuring Village, this is a muslim fishing village and the people are all from Sulewesi. They live in stilt houses which look like they are about to topple over into the sea. The moment I got my camera out I was suddenly the star of the village. Children, women and men were calling " Photo Miss!!"...it took me half an hour to walk about 500 metres...it was hilarious, the villagers were all posing for photos with
Sunset Cottages
This is the kitchen their kids etc. Check out the photos.
Second stop Sikka Village. Not much to write home about here, just an old church - didn't stay long incase I started to nod off, and a bunch of women trying to sell me Ikat which is woven fabric. Its real pretty but so useless. From here we stopped at a couple of beaches before making our ascent up the mountains to Moni.
So back to my guide, Patrick...I was feeling quite comfortable around him...until he tells me I can hold on to him if I like whilst I am on the bike. Ok so he could just be concerned for my safety, but non the less for the rest of the journey to Moni I sat perched on the back of this bike as far from him as possible...not easy on a motorbike I can tell you!. We ended up getting a puncture halfway up a mountain in the middle of nowhere - all adds to the experience!! plus it was also getting dark...all I could think about was "What if I get stuck here all night and have to sleep in the jungle with Patrick!"...luckily a yellow van came
along to save us, it looked uncannily like an AA van!? he gave us and our bike a lift to the nearest garage.
We drove through this village called Wolorrow, the only village in Flores where they eat dog, check out the photo of the sign for the dog meat restaurant.
So we arrived in Moni about 7pm, there is not much here, its just the gateway to Kelimutu, volcano with lakes that change colour. So all is good, got myself a nice bed to sleep in...and then my guide gets creepy again!...I had asked him where he was staying, I assumed that as he made this trip weekly he had friends he stayed with, or maybe a tent or something...Turns out he has no friends in the area and no tent. So I suggest he asks for a room where I am staying. In the meantime I go into my room and low and behold whats in the corner of the room???? a single mattress!! I'm convinced he knew it was there all along and that he was expecting to sleep on it in my room!!!. So he comes back and tells me its too expensive here,
Wuring Village
one of many kids... he can't afford the room. I tell him that there is a sinlge mattress in the corner of my room which he can use but not in my room as I don't know him. He accepts this and then comes back 5 minutes later, stands in the doorway of my room and shouts at me "What do you mean you don't know me?!!!!!!"...I'm like fuck! I have a psycho on my hands!...I manage to diffuse the situation - Go Laura!, my hand was on my pen knife though incase he decided to lunge at me. Fortunatley he saw my point of view and I offered to pay for his room. I probably shouldn;t have considering the way he acted but it was 3 quid....and to be honest at the tme I would have paid for him to stay at The Ritz if necessary!
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chris
non-member comment
Flores trip
I enjoyed your trip and photos. But I must add a warning for all backpackers. If you agree to go on a motorbike with a young attractive indonesian man you must expect to maybe be hassaled by them, and you have to learn to handle it, without putting it on a blog, and possibly ruining this guys business. I have known Patrick personally for 10 years, and he is the best guide for that area in my opinion, excellent english, good fun. You just have to make the ground rules, and unfortunately a lot of girls do say yes, which makes it difficult for the rest of us.