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Published: August 11th 2008
The Boat
Our Perama cruise boat for 5 daysIndonesia - by Kate
Indonesia- by Kate
Our first stop in Indonesia was Bali and the infamous resort of Kuta, what can I say, unless you are looking for Benidorm of the East, don't go!!! We spent two days trying to avoid the agressive hawkers and then escaped by boat to Lombok.
From here we embarked on a 5 day boat trip in search of Komodo dragons. On the way stopping at a traditional village where the women spend their lives making pottery. Only once you can turn a pot can you be considered eligable to marry (just as well I managed ok)
We were very grateful to have booked a cabin rather than a deck space to sleep as it was pretty choppy some nights and the folks on deck got wet and thrown about (annoyingly I suffered from some sea sickness again, blame the Larium!) So we embarked on our journey to the island of Flores and back to Lombok.
Our first night with the crew was a real welcome party, with singing and dancing around a campfire on a deserted island with a great beach BBQ. Ruth from New Zealand made an excellent dance
Potting
Kate turning her hand to pottery partner!
On the 3rd day of sailing, having stopped off for loads of snorkelling and sunbathing we arrive at the island of Komodo and set off to see the dragons!
We cautiously head into the park with a guide who seemd to think a wooden shepherds crook was a sufficient enough weapon to fend off a 5 m long deadly beast, lets hope so! The first one we see seemed harmless enough as they can be quite lazy in the day, but it is huge. They can smell blood up to 12km away and one bite has enough venom to kill any creature unless the limb is removed. We come across one poor buffalo who was bitten two weeks ago, being such a big creature it takes him this long to die. In the meantime the dragon just hangs about and then devours it when it is dead, they don't like sharing though. Their saliva contains this deadly poison complete with an anti-coagulant so you never stop bleeding and they can always find their prey.
On the island of Komodo we see about 5 dragons in total and loads of monkeys as well as enjoying a beautiful walk through the
Ruth and Charlie
On Komodo with Ruth and Charlie (aka Carlos) national park. After saying goodbye to Charlie and Ruth we remain onboard and sail back towards Lombok, stopping at Rinca on the way and seeing many more Komodo dragons, some almost by accident.
We then headed over to the Gili Islands 2hrs West of Lombok where we are very excited about seeing my parents and enjoying the luxury of Villa Ombak courtesy of them, thanks folks! During our time on Gili Trawangen together we went on a snorkelling trip, saw the sunset by horse drawn cart and visited Lombok for the day to encounter an amazing waterfall and loads of bats, Mum's favourite part! Sadly it all went too quickly and so we made our way over to Bali and the Artesan area of Ubud set amoungst the lush rice paddies. Courtesy of Mum and Dads beautiful hotel we enjoyed their amazing infinity pool and fantastic restaurant. We spent a day seeing some of the Northern part of Bali which was very beautiful, large volcanoes, Hindu temples and coffee plantations. One of the best evenings was when we all went and watched a traditional display of Kecak dancing, telling stories of the Ramayana legends of the Hindu religion. There
Dragon
One of the Komodo Dragons in action... was a chorus of 100 men all singing and dancing together and the finale was a man dancing on flaming pieces of coconut husk, truly spectacular!
All too soon we bid an emotional farewell and head to Hong Kong, leaving Ma and Pa to have a final couple of days in Bali and then on to Singapore before their return to the UK. Thanks for a great time!
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