Blogs from Sumbawa, Indonesia, Asia

I never made it to Sumba. Ferry didn’t leave. High seas. Rainy Season. Waves too big. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not. Maybe the next day, maybe not. Unpredictable. I didn’t have time to wait it out. So instead I focused on Sumbawa. With me still was Bilan. Sumbawa is different. Apart from a few surfer enclaves on the south coast, no tourists come to Sumbawa. Most skip it, preferring to take a three day boat journey from Lombok to Flores, just seeing the coast from afar and stopping at off-shore islands for snorkeling and swimming. Sumbawa is also staunchly Muslim. Conservative to the bone. You arrive in Sape from Labuanbajo on Flores and you feel you have arrived in a different world completely. Sape is beautifully decrepit stilt houses, men crafting wooden boats under the blazing sun, ... read more

Day 1 - the old school travel style begins I leave my mini holiday and say goodbye to the friends I made along the way. I was sad to leave but excited and intrepid about the adventure ahead. Backpacks on I had to board a local boat to Lombok. Well me, a load of other people and all the local goods. I waited for the waves to calm and then ran for the boat only getting water to the shins - success. Once in Lombok I met my boat family for the next 4 days. Lots of Germans, a few French, a couple of Swedish and Slovakians, Italians and Spaniards, a group from Java, the crew and myself. Sunny - our main guide talks us through the plan and then we're of sailing East. It's backpackers ... read more

Day two - Sailing through the night I woke at 6am to the sound of the 4man crew preparing breakfast, in the small kitchen at the rear of the boat. We had arrived at Moyo island with the other boat. After pancakes filled with banana we got ready and swam the 150 metres to the island, from here we walked for 10 minutes to find a huge waterfall. A few people decided to climb up the side to have a look at the top ( not that there was much to see) while I took some pictures and waited at the bottom with some others. The plunge pool was a little murky and so being an easy decision not to get in it! Walking back to the beach, again we swam back to the boat and ... read more

Greetings from the road! As the title of this latest blog would suggest, I have finally moved on from Kuta, Lombok; not permanently though, mind, I intend to head back there in ten days or so for a final week of surf before leaving Indonesia. I am now on Sumbawa, the next island east after Lombok. I'm spending tonight in Sape, the tiny port town on the very east of the island, before taking a nine hour ferry to Flores, an island still further east, tomorrow. The title of the blog should also give some indication as to how I made it out here...yes indeed, by motorcycle. Readers of Simon's original SE Asia blog will be aware that my debut motorbiking appearance ended less than ideally, with a small crash into an inconveniently located wall. Needless ... read more

In a way, an adventure into Dompu, NTB is my best adventure so far. Is not only because so many beautiful sights along the road to Dompu. But also patience, time continues to thin out until fatigue that press the spirit to the lowest point. On April 28, 2009 Nunu (camera person) and I flight from Soekarno-Hatta airport to Selaparang Airport in Mataram, Lombok at 8 a.m. We meet Mail (read: Ma'il) at 10 a.m in Selaparang. He is Mataram driver who've I've known from previous meetings when I, Oji (camera person) and him visited Moyo island in the Sumbawa Besar a couple months ago. After stopping to lunch in the stall in front of Mataram Mall and bought logistic (snacks and mineral waters), our long road trip began. From Mataram, we have to take two-hours ... read more