a bit shorter today....
Tuesday 6th September
Up at 5:45, bemo to bus stop terminal and away at 7am, packed in with big sacks of rice. It was 4 hours to Ende, where we stopped for lunch; rice, egg and tofu. The Czechs stayed in Ende and Yotam and I continued for 2 hours here to the small mountain town of Moni. The scenery was great, very green, hills, rice terraces, good views and more leg room.
After a bit of a mission, found a cheap guest house. No running water in my bathroom, I have to go to the vacant room next door for the bathroom. I intended to go for just a short walk around the village, as far as the waterfall. But there was a path heading up from the waterfall so I started walking, then met a local lady for directions, and a couple of other tourists.
So we walked up the hill, passing through villages with friendly people pointing us in the right diretions. Nice views of Moni. Got swamped by 10 little kids. Down the other side we passed by lovely rice fields, with a hot spring in the middle, but an older local lady was taking a bath there so we didn't hang around. A bit further along we met the main road and walked back into Moni after a pleasant 2 hour hike.
Wednesday 7th September
Up at 4:15am. Put on some warm clothes. As arranged 'John', whose guest house I am staying at, picked me up with his motorbike at 4:30am for my trip to Gunung (Mount) Kelimutu. It is a 13km drive, mostly uphill, the road is not too bad and it was a bit of an adventure in the dark.
John left me in the car park and I walked with a few other tourists along a path and up to Inspiration Point. Kelimutu is famous because here are 3 volcanic craters, each one holding a different colour lake. I got there just as it was getting light and I could just make out the two craters on one side and another on the other side of the point. Apparently the two lakes change colour but today, once the sun was up, they were both torquoise, while the other is pitch black. The sun came up behind the clouds, and the rolling clouds in the distance added to the overall ambience.
The clouds began to cover the lakes a bit and I wanted to get back down in time for my bus, so I started walking back down at 6:30am, stopping briefly at another viewing point. I walked down the same road we had come up and after a few kilometres I took the shortcut back the way we had been yesterday afternoon, through the rural village of Manukako.
I packed up then stood at the side of the road for about 20 mintues before a bus came from Ende, heading to Maumere. It was a bigger bus and fairly comfortable and the scenery for 4 hours as we wound further east across Flores, was beautiful. Through the hills, past forests and sometimes the sea. The only problem was the deafening music coming from the speaker above my head. It is quite common on public transport and I don't understand the other passengers view of it. Does an old lady really want to listen to bad techno or Bryan Adams blasted at her for 4 hours? Do they like it or do they just have no choice? I just can't work it out. Bryan got the thumbs up from the guys on the bus.
At Maumere I realised the bus was carrying on to Larantuka, where I wanted to go, so I stayed on. Unfortunately this meant a few more hours of Bryan Adams on loop, and other rubbish music being blasted at me. Sometimes they play kind of reggae or Indonesian pop which is ok, but I can't stand Bryan. Still, the beautiful scenery of the coastline and volcanic islands in the bay and Gunung Mandiri in the distance stopped me from jumping off the bus! When we arrived I had a bad headache from the music, from twisting my head out of the window all day to enjoy the scenery and from a lack of food.
The guest house owner in Larantuka is a nice guy and he put me in a dorm room with his visiting cousin. There is a large car/passenger ferry in town, on its way to Sulawesi so the port town has many extra visitors including the cousin, and some students I chatted to near the water. I was then joined by 4 young guys who just wanted to hang out near the Bule (foreignor); one of them spoke good English.
Being in a remote part of Indonesia, foreignors do attract attention and I got many calls of 'Hey mister' and people watching me walk past. That's ok, they are friendly and if you come here you have to expect it.
Tuesday 6th September
Up at 5:45, bemo to bus stop terminal and away at 7am, packed in with big sacks of rice. It was 4 hours to Ende, where we stopped for lunch; rice, egg and tofu. The Czechs stayed in Ende and Yotam and I continued for 2 hours here to the small mountain town of Moni. The scenery was great, very green, hills, rice terraces, good views and more leg room.
After a bit of a mission, found a cheap guest house. No running water in my bathroom, I have to go to the vacant room next door for the bathroom. I intended to go for just a short walk around the village, as far as the waterfall. But there was a path heading up from the waterfall so I started walking, then met a local lady for directions, and a couple of other tourists.
So we walked up the hill, passing through villages with friendly people pointing us in the right diretions. Nice views of Moni. Got swamped by 10 little kids. Down the other side we passed by lovely rice fields, with a hot spring in the middle, but an older local lady was taking a bath there so we didn't hang around. A bit further along we met the main road and walked back into Moni after a pleasant 2 hour hike.
Wednesday 7th September
Up at 4:15am. Put on some warm clothes. As arranged 'John', whose guest house I am staying at, picked me up with his motorbike at 4:30am for my trip to Gunung (Mount) Kelimutu. It is a 13km drive, mostly uphill, the road is not too bad and it was a bit of an adventure in the dark.
John left me in the car park and I walked with a few other tourists along a path and up to Inspiration Point. Kelimutu is famous because here are 3 volcanic craters, each one holding a different colour lake. I got there just as it was getting light and I could just make out the two craters on one side and another on the other side of the point. Apparently the two lakes change colour but today, once the sun was up, they were both torquoise, while the other is pitch black. The sun came up behind the clouds, and the rolling clouds in the distance added to the overall ambience.
The clouds began to cover the lakes a bit and I wanted to get back down in time for my bus, so I started walking back down at 6:30am, stopping briefly at another viewing point. I walked down the same road we had come up and after a few kilometres I took the shortcut back the way we had been yesterday afternoon, through the rural village of Manukako.
I packed up then stood at the side of the road for about 20 mintues before a bus came from Ende, heading to Maumere. It was a bigger bus and fairly comfortable and the scenery for 4 hours as we wound further east across Flores, was beautiful. Through the hills, past forests and sometimes the sea. The only problem was the deafening music coming from the speaker above my head. It is quite common on public transport and I don't understand the other passengers view of it. Does an old lady really want to listen to bad techno or Bryan Adams blasted at her for 4 hours? Do they like it or do they just have no choice? I just can't work it out. Bryan got the thumbs up from the guys on the bus.
At Maumere I realised the bus was carrying on to Larantuka, where I wanted to go, so I stayed on. Unfortunately this meant a few more hours of Bryan Adams on loop, and other rubbish music being blasted at me. Sometimes they play kind of reggae or Indonesian pop which is ok, but I can't stand Bryan. Still, the beautiful scenery of the coastline and volcanic islands in the bay and Gunung Mandiri in the distance stopped me from jumping off the bus! When we arrived I had a bad headache from the music, from twisting my head out of the window all day to enjoy the scenery and from a lack of food.
The guest house owner in Larantuka is a nice guy and he put me in a dorm room with his visiting cousin. There is a large car/passenger ferry in town, on its way to Sulawesi so the port town has many extra visitors including the cousin, and some students I chatted to near the water. I was then joined by 4 young guys who just wanted to hang out near the Bule (foreignor); one of them spoke good English.
Being in a remote part of Indonesia, foreignors do attract attention and I got many calls of 'Hey mister' and people watching me walk past. That's ok, they are friendly and if you come here you have to expect it.
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