Blogs from Flores, Indonesia, Asia - page 7

The morning after the Komodo trip I took a motorbike to Tebedo, the nearby village which I was constantly assured was home to Wallace's hanging parrots and giant rats. I met up with Frans who lives there (and who was the one doing all the assuring) and we went into the forest where he grows coffee to find parrots. There were none. "Lots of nuri here yesterday morning," he says. I don't think I'll be returning to Tebedo. Even I know when to call it quits! I went back to Labuanbajo, got my bags, and took a bus to Ruteng where the staff at the Rima Hotel were pleasantly surprised to see me again so soon. I basically had two more chances at finding a giant rat, tonight and tomorrow night, and then I'd be out ... read more

Labuanbajo is very hot. I just thought I'd throw that out there. I mean I remembered it was hot, but not really how hot. Although I think its actually hotter than it was last time I was here because all the locals are complaining that its too hot. It hasn't rained since January apparently, and of course the longer it goes without rain the hotter it gets. The first bird I saw in Flores this trip were black-fronted flowerpeckers in the gardens of the Gardena Hotel. I even got some photos. There were other birds around as well but I didn't bother looking. I think that's my problem, most of the birds I'm seeing I've already seen and because I'm really just looking for a few (impossible) target mammals I'm not putting all that much effort ... read more

I got up early in time for the bus at eight to Moni three hours away (ish), after having breakfast I asked the guy at the hotel about an Ojek and he told me the guy across the road would be able to take me, he spoke with him presuming he told him where I was going and with him not asking I was surprised when I arrived at the airport. But after a bit of confusion he understood where I wanted to go and took me to where the minibuses depart for Moni. I was happily greeted by half a dozen men trying to get me to take their minibus after choosing one I sat in the bus about an hour until it had just a few more people then a few more. Than ... read more

(M) After bidding a very sad farewell to Lombok, the time had come to enter the very last leg of our epic journey - to Flores, one of the country’s eastern-most islands. In the end we decided to take overland public transport via the island of Sumbawa, which consisted of a gruelling 36-hour bus-ferry-overnight bus-ferry combination. So we gritted our teeth and mentally prepared ourselves for our last uncomfortable journey, backpacker style. The journey itself was pretty uneventful although we did make friends with two awesome couples from Spain and Argentina, and needless to say we had lots to talk about! Their company and deck of Uno cards went along way to passing the time, and the final nine hour ferry journey in the glorious sunshine, cruising past some of the country’s most idyllic scenery, was ... read more

Well here I am 12hours away from London... and whilst i’m really looking forward to seeing friends and family, visiting my favourite sushi place and wandering around the streets of London, I will miss Indonesia and all the amazing places I’ve been.. but then again I’ve spent more money in the last month than I have in the last 5 months put together ... however that is mainly due to the fact that I’ve been diving in some of the best sites in the world.. and as we all know, diving is not a cheap sport - can it even be called a sport?.. not sure.. ok.. not a cheap hobby!! So i reckon it may be time to earn some money!! So. In the last blog I put up endless underwater photos but it just ... read more