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Published: August 1st 2017
View From My Seat While Descending Into Bali
These two volcanoes are located on the eastern end of Java. 20+ years ago, I stared mesmerized while I was on the Java to Bali ferry, looking at the sun setting behind these two smoking giants.A Soft Landing in Indonesia
It has been a while since I have traveled for a prolonged period of time, so I thought a soft landing into Indonesia would help me ease in, as past experience has taught me that independent travel in Indonesia requires patience and a sense of humor.
My flight into Bali landed at 3.30pm on July 30, and I was booked to fly to Labuanbajo the next morning. I chose a hotel near the airport offering a free transfer. It turned out to be a good choice as I did not clear immigration and customs until well past 5pm. I arrived at The Radiant Hotel and Spa around sunset and elected to eat at the hotel restaurant (rare for me), chill in the pool and have a good sleep. I can't praise this hotel enough. When I arrived at Denpasar Airport, their driver was nowhere to be seen. I called the hotel and they told me the driver was stuck in traffic, and to take a taxi which they would pay for. They kept their word. The next morning, they presented me with a boxed breakfast because I was scheduled to depart before their normal
View From My Seat While Flying to Labuanbajo
The ruggedly beautiful Sumbawa island below. breakfast hours. The hotel was nice, and the grounds were beautiful and peaceful. The room wasn't the best but I wasn't complaining for the price I paid.
I took the same tactic with Labuanbajo, choosing Komodo Boutique Hotel because they offered free airport transfer and free shuttle into town. The Komodo Boutique Hotel turned out to be an appropriate choice for me even though it was 15 minutes drive from the center of town. It was peaceful and away from the bustle of the main tourist drag, and that certainly aided my soft landing. I did feel a bit sorry for their overworked driver, though.
Labuanbajo
Labuanbajo is a gritty port town on the western end of Flores island. After touching down and checking into my hotel, I took the hotel shuttle to town to look for a trip to Komodo National Park the next day. There are many options for boat tours to Komodo NP but many were already full. I found a few places with last minute spots and snagged one at what I think was a discounted price after a little bargaining. I walked around the main throughfare, booked my boat tour, ate
Labuanbajo
The main drag. lunch, had coffee, bought some water and snacks and then headed back to the hotel to chill until dinner.
Labuanbajo has its charms, though, especially in the evening when the tourist strip is lit up and the
warungs set up shop at the pier. I went back into town in the evening and had a very satisfying grilled fish dinner for under US$3! I had a similarly priced squid dinner the next evening.
Chasing Dragons
Remember when I said that traveling in Indonesia requires patience and a sense of humor? My boat tour of Komodo was scheduled to begin at the ungodly hour of 5.30am. I had arranged a 5am shuttle into town, but, come 5am, there was no driver. I eventually found him sleeping in a makeshift room in an annex that was under construction. I woke him up and, bleary eyed, he drove me into town. There was another misadventure to be had coming back that evening that I shan't elaborate on. I have to put aside my Singaporean/American sensibilities and roll with the punches. I've taken it in stride so far.
Indulge me another sidetrack before we get back to the
boat tour. Up until 2010, I thought I never got seasick, the one exception being a horrific North to South Island New Zealand ferry crossing in 1986. This came to an abrupt end in 2010 when I got seasick twice, and, to add insult to injury, the sea was actually quite calm on one of those two occasions. I started blaming my age. Naturally, I was worried about seasickness on this 12-hour trip and so I took a novomin at 5.15am. I'm not sure if it was the pill, but I didn't feel queasy at all despite a few choppy parts. I even managed to scarf down a full lunch while moving. Go me! Confidence restored.
Now back to the boat tour. We set off at around 5.50am. The sun rose above Labuanbajo as we headed west. Our first stop that morning was Padar Island. En route, we saw many ruggedly beautiful islands made even more beautiful by the golden rays of sunrise. We reached Padar Island around 7.30am and we were given one hour to explore. I climbed to the top of the hill and enjoyed the spectacular scenery. The climb and descent took almost the full hour.
Komodo Island
This critter was sprawled across the footbridge. You Shall Not Pass! After Padar, our next stop was Komodo Island itself. It took another hour or so to get to Komodo Island. On arrival, we had to check in with the ranger station and select a walk - short, medium, or long. We chose the medium walk. The walk itself was along a well marked path. Along the way, we only saw two dragons. One of them was nonchalantly sprawled on a footbridge and we had to walk around the bridge. Apparently, it was mating season and the females were hiding from the amorous males, hence the lack of sightings. We saw another five hanging out near the kitchen - some other writers have witheringly referred to the dragons who hang out there as "pets". I didn't quite know what to make of this. I mean, why would wild animals hang out where humans frequent? All seven dragons we spotted were male. We also saw dragon food - deer and pigs.
After leaving the dragon spotting area, our next stop was Pink Beach on Komodo Island. There, we had a chance to snorkel over a pretty healthy (to my untrained eye) coral reef. There was a great variety of fish
and both hard and soft corals. I opted to not carry a GoPro with me in the interest of traveling light, and I now regret that decision.
Our final stop was manta point. As with the komodo dragons, this was low season for manta rays. There were none to be seen, darn it. But, the coral reef was quite spectacular. We then returned to Labuanbajo at 5.30pm.
All in all, this was a great day and a great start to my Indonesian adventure. Tomorrow, I start traveling inland, and I snagged a room at what has to be the most interesting place to stay ever! Watch this space.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
Eeek!
I had never realised how similar they look to crocodiles! :/