1 September 2013 (this is actually true, this time)
After a short three weeks of the new school year, we had two
weeks off for the Muslim holiday Idul Fitri (the first two weeks in August).
The school couldn’t guarantee we would have our passports back from immigration
before the break, so we just planned to stay in Indonesia. We only had three
destinations.
1. Bali (2 days): Impossible Beach to relax in the sun and
enjoy the ocean. I also bought the Lonely Planet guide to Laos, so I can begin
planning my next trip for October.
2. Flores island (8 days):
b. First stop: Rinca Island to see Komodo Dragons. We did some snorkeling,
afterwards.
Apparently, the guide told us, it’s their mating season. They remind me of a
baby crocodile, but very slow-moving. We also learned that their bite is not
poisonous, but they have bacteria in their saliva, which will slowly kill their
prey after it has been bitten. Then, after it dies, they come back to eat
it.
c. Second stop: Komodo Island seemed the same as Rinca, and
we saw more dragons. We also did some more snorkeling at Kanawa Island, which
happens to be my new favorite place in Indonesia. It was a small, private
island with a restaurant and bungalows that are cheap. We spent our second
night on the boat, but decided to send the boat and captain back to Komodo
Village without dropping us off. We wanted to spend the third day on Kanawa and
get a room for the next night. I lay in a hammock for a big chunk of the day,
just reading my book and planning my Laos trip. We watched a beautiful sunset
and chatted with the other travelers there. It was the most relaxing place I
have been, and it was so gorgeous!
d. Back on the mainland (Labuan Bajo) we rented a car and
driver to take us east, across the island of Flores. We drove a lot, but
eventually made it to Endo (the site of Mt Kelimutu and the tri-colored lakes).
Along the way, we stopped to watch a school’s outdoor volleyball tournament,
but we didn’t have time to play. On the way back, a few days later, though, we
stopped at a soccer match and played volleyball with some kids next to the
soccer field (until Scott accidentally hit the ball into a kid’s face and gave
him a bloody nose).
e. We did a sunrise hike up to Mt Kilimutu. The view was
amazing, but I was cold, until I started hiking around. Scott has grown up
climbing and hiking around his home in the states, so he and I ventured on and
off some trails to get closer to the lakes. At the edge of one of the crater
lakes, we did rock baseball and rock bowling.
f. It turns out one of the places we went required the park
(yes, it’s a national park) to send a park ranger to escort us out of the
“dangerous” area. I never felt unsafe, but the ranger’s boss had to talk to us
to make sure we understood that they were just trying to keep us safe because
they don’t have the resources to evacuate anyone else (they had already had
three deaths to deal with this year). We didn’t get into any trouble, other
than that, but it totally made the 3-hour hike worth it! We were also convinced
that we would have to bribe someone for breaking the rules, but that never
happened either. Kristina also got
into trouble as she went off the trail searching for Scott and me.
g. The perk of talking to the Park Ranger ‘boss’ was that he
arranged for us to ride in the back of a police truck down the hill (we were
definitely done walking after that hike up in the morning). The police truck
took us about halfway, and then Kristina, Scott and I caught a ride in a water
truck. The driver had actually been a driver in Jakarta for years, so we were
talking to him about that. Nicole and Mitch caught a ride in a tourist bus that
had dropped off the passengers and turned around to come back to pick us up.
h. On our drive back to Labuan Bajo, we stopped by a
roadside distillery where they were making the local moonshine called Arak. It
is liquor made from boiling palm nuts. It was absolutely the most disgusting
thing I have ever tasted.
3. Lombok (yes, again!)
If you remember, Lombok is where I have gone already twice
to go surfing on the weekend. This time, though, we had five days to enjoy all
of the beaches and attempt surfing on my own.
a. Surfing was great, as usual! I’ve been upgraded to a
shorter board (not really short,
like the good surfers) that’s not soft. There was one point in the lesson, when
two waves came at me quickly and took me out. As my board flew in the air, I
knew there was a good chance it would come down and hit me, but I couldn’t
avoid it. It hit my forehead hard, but luckily did not break my skin. I got out
of the water quickly, because I didn’t want to risk getting dizzy in the water.
I felt fine after it happened, but there was a huge bump on my head for about
an hour, and now I may have a permanent bump on my forehead (it’s still there
as I write this, nearly one month later). All of my friends were concerned I
had been seriously hurt, but DON’T WORRY (MOM), it is absolutely okay!
 |
| See? This is 3 hours after and you can barely see it! |
b. The next day, we rented boards and took our motorbikes
back to the beach to attempt surfing without an instructor. Turns out, it’s
quite difficult for me to read waves and know which one to catch, especially
without my instructor yelling directions to me. It was still fun, and it was
definitely interesting to drive the motorbike with Nicole on the back along
with the surfboard in the attached rack.
c. The rest of the days were spent driving to the other beaches,
sitting on the sand reading or sleeping and hanging out with my friends. I
really had to rest up and be as relaxed as possible in order to be motivated to
go back to Jakarta and school.
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