Day 148 Bajawa

Banana pancake, melon and coffee for breakfast has become the standard. The guide collected us at 8am in the Bemo, first stop was a short stroll through a small bamboo forest. We have seen plenty of bamboo, this was nothing special but nice big tall stuff. The first village Leba was home to 84 people and Alfonso our guide gave us the run down on the social structure. Within each village there may be several clans and the head male and head female each have a symbol in the centre courtyard. The male, a totem pole structure with thatched roof and the female  placed opposite is like a miniature house. The pole of the male's was dark with blood from animal sacrifices. when these totem poles are being built they dig a 2 meter hole first and place in live chickens, pigs and dogs as sacrifices and then fill it up
Many of the houses had either a miniature house or a figurine holding a spare/knife on the roof to symbolise whether the male or female is in charge of the house.
The second village was a little bigger and was obvious more tourists visited since many women had Ikat they had woven for sale. This village was called Bena and it had a large stone where sacrifices like buffalo are made, Rachel & I both thought it looked much like the stone table where Azlan was killed in The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe.
The third village was Wogo it was a bit smaller and much to our disappointment had power so most were inside watching tv. Rachel loved the cute puppies there.
For lunch we ate with our guide in a local Warung the typical rice, a piece of chicken an egg, spinach and a Thai yellow curry type sauce they all seem to serve.
After lunch we drove for 30mins to hot springs which were very nice. Bajawa is 1100mts up so cool at night and maybe 20 during the day, the springs were down at 800mts. Hot water about 40deg flowed from the ground in to a natural pool area then over a small waterfall in to the river which was also warm but not quite as hot. We spent a couple of hours there soaking and enjoying the strong current and slippery rocks which made a slide.

Day 147 Labuan Bajo to Bajawa

We scoffed down our banana pancake at 7am as the driver of the bus waited for us to come and we joined one other western guy in the back row. He booked through the guys we didn't like and paid 30,000IDR more than us for the same trip.
We climbed fast, central Flores is high mountainous terrain, the roads were so windy I actually remember the only two short straight pieces. It was 5hours to Ruteng where we had a break for a couple of hours and lunch in a local Warung(basic cafe). The 2nd half of the trip was just under 5 hours the road was just as windy but maybe slightly less potholes and dug up bits of road. Surprisingly the road wasn't busy at all and its the only road along the island of 1.8million people.
At a short stop for a drink I brought some passion fruit they were so tasty I went back over the road to the woman's stall and brought a 2nd bag. They were nearly the size of oranges and cost €0.45 for 6.
We arrived in the dark and the bus driver refused to drop us in the town since they were continuing on to Ende. So 3km out we walked instead of getting on one of the many motorbikes waiting with our big bags and being taken probably to a hotel of their choice(commission driven). Along the walk we were offered a ride by several bikes, plenty of Bemos(small vans) and unmarked taxis but it wasn't far and luckily the first hotel we tried was too expensive but a guide was there he took us to our first choice hotel and we booked him for a tour tomorrow.
Bit difficult to snap a picture out the bus on the windy roads but got one of a typical house, walls are a wooden frame covered by weave panel and the one in the photo has been painted. Most the roofs are corrugated steel but the odd one or two is grass.

Day 146 Labaun Bajo

We had a much nicer sleep on the island last night and breakfast before leaving on the boat at 8am. We had the day in the village to book our bus for Bajawa tomorrow and catch up on some internet.

Day 145 Kanawa Island

Usual crap sleep last night we have gotten used to the heat generally but yesterday was particularly hot and the night was still quite warm. Add to that a short bed that my feet hung over, the mozzies wanting to come in our netted sanctuary and Rachel having cockroaches climb up the net and on her it wasn't perfect.
After breakfast we walked up the long wobbly jetty at the end we could see Lion-fish and Tuna chasing huge schools of tiny fish so we got the snorkel gear and started there. The Lion-fish are very pretty we saw about six of them. The tuna were still chasing little fish and they would hang about the Lion-fish perhaps offering some protection. We snorkelled along the edge of the coral for about 400mts till going in over the shallow coral back to the beach for lunch.
After lunch we walked up the hill behind the bungalows for photos, it was a beautiful view we shared with a couple of eagles. While we were up there we spotted dolphins just off the island and got some distant photos of them.

Day 144 Kanawa Island

We stayed again at Gardenia hotel last night and this morning we booked two nights on Kanawa Island. The boat took us out there an hour away at midday. The island is small but is surrounded by coral its a very sweet setting with little bungalows on the beach. Business must be good they were building 3 new bungalows around the first one we were given but we relocated to the deluxe room for and extra €5 away from the noise.
We did one snorkel and cruised the coral on one side of the island seeing a turtle which was great we got close and it didn't get scared by us, there were plenty of the usual other fish too.

Day 143 Komodo National Park Cruise

We Woke to the sound of the crew getting up on the roof above us and starting the two 230/330cc single cylinder engines. We motored to the next bay round where we did a guided walk on Komodo Island. There were lots of Cockatoos, wild boar and deer. The dragons can be hard to find we saw only one dragon on the walk and that one stays in the same spot always, then there were a couple at the camp kitchen area where they wait for food. There are a few thousand between both Rinca & Komodo Islands but they prefer not to be seen. We heard a couple of stories of attacks - a child was eaten and didn't survive a rescue and a ranger who was bitten last year died last week. The amount of bacteria in their mouths kills their prey slowly & they will wait and stalk their prey for weeks till it dies.
We left the island for Manta point where we did a drift snorkel. The current was strong, choppy water and a decent breeze blowing so Rachel like people on all the other boats decided against getting in. Jano & I got in I saw a few fish but nothing like Pink beach yesterday but I did see two sharks and the show piece a Manta ray although it was not a huge one.
Back on board we had lunch then started motoring to Bidadari Island about 3 hours away. We had a temporary engine issue but that was soon fixed. We passed one island with the tide was ripping around it and as we hit the line of current the boat spun 90degrees, I looked back at the captain & he laughed hard threw up one hand while keeping the other on the wheel at full lock.
At Bidadari Island we saw plenty of nice colourful fish and the coral line was on the edge of a steep drop to the deep blue depths. As we were about to get out here we saw a huge bump-head parrot fish maybe 1mtr long and also a black tip reef shark!
As we entered the harbour area I saw a turtle dive away from the boat and that capped off an amazing trip for us - lovely food, crystal clear waters & stunning wildlife.

Day 142 Komodo National Park Cruise

We got up and had the bread roll and coffee offered at the hotel as breakfast included then got the boat at 8:30am. It was two hours to Rinca Island where we took a guide and saw our first Komodo Dragons all lying around the camp kitchen they are big and bulky up to 2mts long.

We did a walk for about an hour with the guide which was the 2hour walk but Indonesians or even in general Asians are not fond of walking so all walking times are well in excess of what we do in a casual stroll. On the walk we saw monkeys, some dragon nests, megapods (bird), a nice view down over the island and a buffalo.

We then motored to a sheltered bay where we did our first Komodo nat.pk. snorkel the water was clear but a little colder than expected. We saw a stingray and lots of pretty fish including some nice big blue luminous ones. We then motored to Pink beach on Komodo island, this spot is an absolute national treasure so much coral and so many fish we were darting about like mad things checking out all the cool stuff to see. This was a highlight of our whole Asia trip!

We then motored to a bay for the night with plenty of other boats, had dinner and chatted the evening away with the captain watching the large fruit bats fly overhead.

Day 140 Ubud to Kuta

A relaxing morning, we had our breakfast served then read till midday when we got the van to Kuta Beach arriving at 2pm. Traffic was horrendous even down the small alleys where we found accommodation and we settled on the 4th place we saw. It is basic but will do us for one night at 110,000IDR. We checked out Kuta beach which was surprisingly nice, Tim did a bit of body surfing in the really clean surf. We then checked out the shops and again found everything overpriced so didn't buy anything. For dinner we ate at a place with decent food and showing a chick flick movie with Reese Witherspoon so I(Rachel) quite enjoyed that. Kuta was definitely party town, on our walk home after dinner the drunken Ozzies were just getting in to the swing.

Day 141 Kuta, Bali to Labuan Bajo, Flores

After a cheap breakfast we bargained hard and brought a few t-shirts and a pair of shorts each then I got a much needed haircut before heading to the airport.

Our flight was at 1:30pm and we landed in Labaun Bajo at about 3pm. We got a taxi for the short trip over the hill to the village to Gardenia hotel which had lovely views of the harbour. Once settled we went around the tour agents looking for the best deal for the 2day 1night Komodo & Rincha islands trip. We took our time even checked one of the boats which we nearly booked till we spoke to a Czech guy thinking of booking with the same company. The tour provider got annoyed and snappy we were discussing money so we left with our new friend & hired our own bigger & nicer boat between the 3 of us, total cost 2,000,000IDR. The guys in this office were lovely and happy that we came back.

Day 139 Ubud

After having a lovely breakfast served to the table outside our room, we started the day with the Monkey Forest a small forest area at the end of the main shopping street with loads of monkeys and a fairly disappointing temple. From there we did a big loop around the town looking at all the art shops with some nice stuff in some but everything was quite expensive even after bargaining so we didn't buy anything and found some internet in the late afternoon. 

Day 138 Amed to Ubud

When we booked our transport to Ubud I asked to go fishing with a local the next morning. I was collected at 5am by the guy we had booked with and rode on a motorbike round a couple of bays to meet his Dad who took me out. I was looking for the local experience and I got it. The Dad & I took his 10ft Canoe with out riggers & traditional sail out with what they said was close to 1000 other boats (the same happens every morning) we sailed out in probably a 15knot breeze for an hour and a half at a pretty good speed. I watched a nice sunrise between bailing the water out, some of the waves were breaking and the open canoe takes on plenty of water when a wave comes in. Besides that the constant spray from the windward outrigger made for wet sailing.
Out at the fishing ground I got a bit confused when we watched a few boats pull their nets & we didn't do the same. He then turned around and we headed back and I think at this point Lombok nearly looked closer than Bali. Back on shore I sat with a few fishermen and had a coffee. I had another coffee with the family who took me out & some rice based sweets the wife had made. The son who we arranged the transport with explained to me why we didn't do any fishing,(It was a bad day & too many nets out already) who the people were and about his family (he had one younger brother and they lived in a plain concrete block house about 5x10metres situated 20metres back from the water). The boat or his scooter were likely more valuable than the house. I was given more sweets to take back to Rachel & thanked them for the experience.
At 10 our taxi arrived and he took us on the 2 hour trip to Ubud, we walked about for a short while trying a few places for a room but after such an amazing spot in Amed it was tough & expensive in comparison but we have a nice room for 180,000IR with breakfast.
We spent the afternoon walking the shops, thats pretty much what Ubud is about, its the art centre of Bali and from what I read and see its the other half to what is the tourist Mecca Kuta Beach.
Neither Rachel or I thought much of the town theres plenty of shops but you need to be careful with quality and the prices are high.

Day 137 Lipah, Amed

On foot and on our way to the Japanese shipwreck a few bays around with our snorkel gear at 8am we saw hundreds of these boats coming in to shore, and when we sat down for breakfast the waiter confirmed they were all fishing boats. When we arrived at the wreck the waves were crashing on the beach and the visibility in the water was nil. I jumped in and had a look at the wreck while Eliane & Rachel stayed on the beach. I had to dive down and get pretty close before I could see it and I included a photo of proof!

We then started walking back and tried the next beach along it was more sheltered and was awesome with plenty of fish and a perfect spot. It turns out this was the beach occupied by 'Good Karma' the hotel we wanted to stay in but was full. The bamboo villas on the beach were very nice and if we ever come back we would look nowhere else, even though where we stayed was pretty sweet!

When we arrived back in our bay the water looked so good we had to get in again so we did and although visibility was not as good as previous days it was still pretty great. Spent the afternoon relaxing and went to a French restaurant for a chocolate fondant desert.