Blogs from Labuanbajo, Flores, Indonesia, Asia - page 4

Claire: I thought I'd start for a change! Well I can safely say that today has been far the best day so far! I can not begin to describe how perfect today was! We arrived at the harbour at 7.30 and quickly realised that the pier was not a joke, and that you did actually have to climb on all fours in places to get from one wooden plank to the other, Indiana Jones style. Also that the holes dotted around the pier were not an artistic statement, more that the pier was in fact just falling in to the sea. After this mini-adventure we found our boat and our dive team, and were met initially by a guy a year older than us from Q.E boys! (Nice to meet London lads for a change!) There ... read more

Ellie: We set off today to Labuan Bajo with a ticket saying "Lion Air" in hand. We landed in a propellor plane saying "Wings Air." Hmmm. Well, as a lady called Olga (who happened to be a Jehovah's witness) had advised us on Hoga, "TII": This Is Indonesia. We're here at least. We've had an interesting day, rather too interesting to be documented in full here because we're anxious to start tonight's film, but have successfully organised two boat trips to the islands of Rinka and Komodo with a company called "Dive Komodo," run by an Australian called Greg. We'll be doing two dives with probably around ten other tourists, all legit and PADI certified, promise. Our hotel backs on the beach where we've just watched the most incredible sunset and Claire had fun showing off ... read more

Let op, er zijn twee pagina's voor foto's, zie onder Kelimutu National park, Moni, Nusa Tenggara, nog steeds in Indonesie Als je hier niet dood gaat door een vulkaan word je er wel mee doodgegooid, Kelimutu National park zijn onder andere drie vulkanische meren met ieder drie verschillende kleuren, alle drie de meren zijn te zien vanaf een viewpoint, maar je kunt ook over de rand lopen om nog dichterbij te komen. Niet te dicht want er zijn onlangs mensen naar beneden gedonderd, daarom staan er borden die je waarschuwen, hoe dan ook, het is ons gelukt om dichtbij te komen zonder een gevaarlijk risico te hoeven nemen. ( ik vertel niet precies hoe want de Malpie blijft een veiliger gebeid ) De vulkanische meren zijn heilig voor sommige mensen hier, volgens hun geloof gaat de ... read more

Le moins que l'on puisse dire, c'est que notre départ de Gili Air fut un grand dilemme. D'un autre côté, nous étions tous deux prêt à faire le saut et reprendre la route. À peine sommes-nous arrivés sur Lombok, que le rideau se lève et le spectacle de la vie quotidienne indonésienne reprend. Voitures, carrioles, motos, bicyclettes, enfants et autres se côtoient sur la voie publique. Le temps semblait s'être arrêté ces trois dernières semaines, mais ici, sur la terre ferme, la vie continuait sa course folle. Nous devons patienter quelques heures à Mataram, la capitale de Lombok (l'ile voisine de Bali), avant de prendre une série de transports qui nous mèneront sur l'ile de Flores à l'extrême est de la région du Nusa Tenggara. Durant ces quelques heures d'attente, nous sommes encore une fois soumis ... read more

24 November 2009 - 26 November 2009 HOTEL: Gardena Hotel The most popular place in town and really one of the only places. The others are pretty ramshackle. Gardena is OK price-wise and has a nice restaurant and outside seating area with great views of the harbour. Staff don't speak much English though, and rooms can be a bit unclean. After our "farewell party" aboard our Perama boat and a very decent nights sleep, we had a chance to explore our first town on our trip through Flores. Flores isn't exactly small, spanning about 700km west to east (actually, that's how long the "Trans Flores Highway is!), and 1.8million people, it's a pretty large island. It's also a very poor island and Labuanbajo, clinging to the western tip of Flores is no exception. When we had ... read more