Blogs from Labuanbajo, Flores, Indonesia, Asia

It has always been my dream to see komodo dragons, and also to swim up close with manta rays. Bizarrely, I got to cross off two from the bucket list on the same day while visiting the Komodo islands, never mind the fact this once in a lifetime tour also included spectacular elevated scenery of the magnificent islands, and an idyllic visit to pink beach. What a day, what an island, what an experience! Flores is just an hour or so flight time out of Denpasar airport, and travellers quickly discover they have arrived in another world. There seems to be some kind of obsession (on Flores in particular) for locals, both male and female, to want to be photographed with a foreigner. Well, I'm not young and I ain't no rockstar, but in Flores all ... read more

Two weeks diving in Komodo National Park. Wonderful to see healthy coral again, many beautiful dives. Didn't realise that December was the end of the dive season from labuan Bajo, but we had good dives on all days. Did a day trip to Padar Island (3 beaches of different colours, great views - and Timor Deer on the beach!), Pink Beach (it really was pink!), Komodo Island - to see the dragons and Manta Point (yes to see manta rays and snorkel). Padar Island is beautiful and that made the trip worthwhile. It was a full day from 5:30am to 5pm. During our diving days we went one day to Rinca Island rather than do the 3rd dive and this was a much better experience than Komdo Island for seeing the dragons. We were lucky and ... read more

Dnes som si pospal o hodinu dlhsie, no pospal. Vypadla elektrika, takze klima dost dlho nesla. Na ranajky ma cakal donuts, sladka tycinka a caj. V uber dive som bol prvy. Nelenim a hned posielam foto. Dobra sprava, v kupangu mam dohodnute cs na dve noci a ak chcem tak na noc aj v atambua. Zrejme teda trosku zmenim plany. Potapat sa budem s dvoma svedmi, nastarost nas ma domaci divemaster. Pesi presun k pristavu, tu nahadzanie topanok do plastoveho kybla. Lod oproti vcerajsku vacsia, na poschodi odpocivaren, dole vzadu nachystane flase spolu s jacketmi,,v strede kuchynka a vpredu briefing plac. Potapaci zvacsa vsetko skusny borci mimo nasej skupiny. Na ranajky kolaciky, banany, kava, caj a voda. Banany boli zelene nie zlte, chutili dobre ale zlte su chutnejsie. Plavba na siaba besar Ubehla rychlo, bo som ... read more

V noci som sa 2x zobudil na teplo, stropny ventilator sa tocil dost pomali. Po sprche a ociste behnutie na ranajky. Zapeceny toat s cokoladou a balijska kava. Normalna zalievana kava to bola, fuj. Presun na postu, podla googla mali otvarat o 8.30 ale realita je o 10.00. V ulicke domaci davaju obete bohom. V kosiku neake kvety a zapalene tycinky, popri tom neake to pozehnanie. Navrat na izbu a smer pesi letisko. V restikach uz kopa ludi na ranajkach. Opat otravny mototaxi a maserky ale v usiach mp3. To tez volako zacina haprovat. Neislo vobec zapat, nastasti v jednom stanku mali spinku tak reset a uz funguje. Hned sa ma chalan pytal ci som z ruska. A povedal mi spasiba. Kesku nelovim, bo opat umiestnenie v hoteli, taketo skryte marketingove uz ignorujem. V bocnej ulicke ... read more

You know that feeling when you are travelling and you realise that somehow time has slipped away like sand through your fingers? You have all these plans, but suddenly they seem unfeasible because what you thought was a lot of time, turned out to be outrageously inadequate? Well, that moment arrived for me when I returned to Kupang from my little visa-run to Timor Leste. Thirty days seemed like a lot on paper, but when I looked at what I still wanted to do, those same thirty days shriveled to nothing. Reality kicked in. Flores, Sumba and Sumbawa in thirty days? No way!! You would think, three islands, ten days each, what’s the problem? Well, ten days for each only works in theory, in reality, you end up with much less, especially when you have to ... read more