Georgetown, KL, Melaka

Tuesday 4th October

Georgetown/Penang. Lazy lie-in. I have had this large dorm room to myself since I got here, which has been good. But this morning an Indonesian girl called Flower arrived. Her family is from Parapat, near Lake Toba in Sumartra, she was born in Jakarta and now lives in Medan; so we already had lots to talk about.

We went for late Indian breakfast and then just pottered around the town. It was a bit overcast and there is not much to see but I was kind of showing Flower around. We enjoyed the sights and sounds and smells of Little India with the colourful shops, the Hindi music playing and the whiff of Indian food. We got lovely crispy samosa. The hardest part of being here is deciding whether to have sweet milky tea or mango lassi with the delcious food. And it is good to have slow days after the hardcore travelling in Flores last month.

Wednesday 5th October

Up at 6am and went for paratha and chai for breakfast at a street stall. At 8am, got the minibus then super-comfortable coach back to KL; I slept most of the way. The coach dropped us close to the hostel here in Chinatown which was good because it is raining.

I walked and got the skyrail and walked some more to the Myanmar consulate and collected my passport and Myanmar visa. On the way back I had a longer look up at the Petronas Towers, and walked all the way back to Chinatown. Sharing dorm room with two Welsh guys and Danish girl.

I had street noodles and chatty Norwen from Brittany sat at the same table and invited me to go with her to see the Petronas Towers by night, so we got the LRT there. When we walked out of the station and looked up, there were the Towers, all lit-up, looking very futuristic. We took some pics, hung around and then walked back to China Town and got ice cream from Macca's.

Thursday 6th October

Skipped breakfast and got the bus out to the bus station from where I took another bus 2 hours to Melaka. But the main station is outside of town so I then had to get the town bus. In town, the driver genuninely forgot to tell me when we passed the road I had said I wanted to go to, so I ended up doing a circuit of the town, going back out to the main station, waiting there and then coming back in. So it was after 2pm by the time I had checked in, so I was pretty hungry. I walked straight out of Chinatown and to Little India where I got a great veggie meal.

It was quite a successful day: the hostel is really good with a clean dorm and free wi-fi, I got Burmese Days from the second-hand bookshop (the specific book I was looking for) and I got a new pair of shorts because my current ones won't last much longer. The new ones have a few grubby marks on them so I bargained the lady down to half price! They will soon be really grubby anyway!

Penang/Georgetown and Melaka are similar in that they both used to be important sea trading ports and they both have Chinatown and a Little India. From walking around this afternoon and again this evening, I think I prefer it here in Melaka. Chinatown is more colourful here and the architecture is much more pleasing. There is a canal/river running through the town with nice bridges across and a town sqaure with a fountain and a church.

I had dinner in Chinatown; the chicken in ginger and onion was ok.

In the evening I got another traveller (a German guy) to shave my head. He only had one blade which we guessed was a grade 4 but maybe was a 2 or 3. It is not flattering but it feels better.

Friday 7th October

Had dim sum at the restaurant nearby. You pick and choose what you want. It did not look like much food at first but it tasted good and was quite filling.

I walked to the old Portuguese fort of Porta De Santiago. An archway (entrance) is all that is left of the old fort (the British destroyed most of it) and some of the walls have been reconstructed. At the top is St Pauls Church and a statue of St. Francis Xavier who was here for a while and whose body was stored here for a few months before being shipped to Goa (where I visited the church named after him).

I ate too much Indian food for lunch. Came back to the the hostel and Chinese guy was watching a Hong Kong soap opera/drama. I had a lazy cat nap and 4 hours later the guy is still here watching the same DVD. There are many Taiwanese/Hong Kong dramas and the locals including the men seem to love them.

Melaka has a night food market in Jonker Street on Friday and Saturday nights. I had a wander up and down but it was mostly souvenirs and tat and some food. I had Nonya Laksa. Nonya refers to people of Chinese descent who married local Malays. Anyway the laksa was good, though no different from other Laksa.

I watched Montenegro v England on the internet in the hostel; never a dull moment following England. Bed at 5am

Saturday 8th October

Slept until 11am, then pottered about. Had Indian food for late lunch, friendly Indian couple I chatted to paid my bill. Went to small cafe with English couple and watched England lose to France in RWC.

In the evening I went out with some Dutch girls and a guy who work in KL. We went to the night markets and ate radish cake, a spring roll, popiah (a kind of spring roll) and cendol (ice with syrup, jellies and chocolate bits). Heavy rain.

Georgetown / Penang

Saturday 1st October

Georgetown. Indian food for breakfast. Had a look in some bookshops and also looking for somewhere to watch the football tonight. Penang is very clean and modern. I walked up to the coast, where a few guys were fishing. Further along I came to the colonial-style Town Hall and City Hall.

Across from the playing field is Fort Cornwallis. This old English fort, named after the then-Governor of India, was first established by Captain Light when he landed here in 1786. It was built for administration and trading as much as for military purposes. There is not really much to see but the old outside wall is still there and there are some canon lining the wall, including a big one dated 1603 that originally belonged to the Dutch.

I left the fort and walked past the Clock Tower that was donated by a Chinese merchant to celebrate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. I met 3 locals dressed in traditional Malay clothes; I walked with them as they went to an outdoor film set where there were others dressed up too. (I should have gone back later but kind of forgot).

After big Indian lunch in a packed restaurant I came back to the hotel and watched England v Scotland on the TV. In the evening I went to look for the football. I tried Little India first but of course that was pointless because most Indians don't really know about football so I walked up to Red Garden Night Food Market, and there they had lots of TV screens and one huge screen - showing the football. Joy. The food there is great, though you only get small portions, but that is ok, I just ate twice. During the first game I had Penang Laksa, and during the second game I had Thai food. Not many people were watching the football, but there were lots of people there, mainly Chinese, and there was some live music too. The place was still busy when I left at mignight.

Sunday 2nd October

It rained heavily last night because it is that time of year. Murtabak and chai for breakfast at the same Indian restaurant. I followed the LP's walking tour, past some of the places I went to yesterday. There are many shop houses here and some Chinese temples which is fine but I have seen those in Kuching so I only have a passing interest.

The Penang Museum was pretty good, lots of stuff about the different ethnic groups that settled here (Chinese, Indian, Malay, European) and some old clothing and furniture including opium beds, where guys would lounge around and get high, which was acceptable before WWII. Most Indians here are South Indian muslims, also known as Chulias; hence Chulia Street (where my guest house is). I also learned that calligraphic Arabic writing is called Khat.

I went to a local's coffee shop hoping for Malay coffee which, the museum display told me, includes butter as well as sugar; but if they had it that's not what I got, despite trying to emphasise that I wanted Malay coffee. Still, it was good to watch the Indian and Chinese guys chatting about weddings and birthday parties while topping their coffee up with whiskey.

For afternoon tea I had chicken and naan bread and a declious mango lassi. I got back to the hotel for the second half of the NRL Grand Final; I sat next to a snoring Chinese man, who was sat next to a Kiwi, great game.

In the evening I headed out to the Red Garden for dinner and football again. It was raining heavily but the tables are under cover and the big screen didn't seem to mind getting wet. I chatted to a nice old Chinese guy who was born here, but I couldn't really understand his English very well, especially with the live music and dance show behind us.

I had Chinese noodles for first dinner. The lady said it was a Penang speciality, but when it came it was just noodles with a couple of bits of chicken and some pork fat; the noodles tasted of pork fat. I have to say that I'm really not a fan of Chinese food. So for second dinner I got veggie jalfrezi with garlic naan and that was much better.

Once it dawned on me that the second game was not being shown, I walked back to Chulia Street and soon found a group of Indian and Chinese guys watching it on a big TV under the cover of a shop porch, with a guy serving tea; so I sat there and enjoyed watching the game with the locals.


Monday 3rd October

Lazy lie-in, partly because I thought it was going to rain. But it didn't, so after breakfast I hired a decent bike and headed out of town (I asked the bike-hire guy for a helmet and he gave me his motorbike helmet!) After half an hour I arrived at Kek Lok Si temple, which is apparently the largest Buddhist Temple in Malaysia. I cycled up the hill a bit and then left my bike locked up in the car park.

There are a few different parts to the temple, including a 7-tier pagoda and a courtyard with lots of small Buddha statues. There are a couple of smaller temples too. Then I went up the short cable car to an area that looks out over the town and where there is a 35 metre high statue of the Goddess of Mercy. Well, it was all very good but I have seen many Chinese temples in the last few months (well, before I went to Indonesia) so I had a quick look around and moved on.

I cycled a short way to the foot of Penang Hill. From here there is a funicular 30 minutes to the top of the hill and, apparently, a great view of the island. Well, when I got to the ticket counter and saw that it was more expensive than I expected, there were quite a few tourists there and that it looked cloudy up on the hill, I decided I couldn't be bothered and decided to just ride my the bike around the island a bit more.

I headed south towards Relau along a busy road; but soon there was a steep hill and I had to get off and push the bike. The road reminded me of the one up to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong; there was forest on either side, tall buildings and the sea in the distance. I was dripping with sweat by the time I was able to cycle back down the other side.

I carried on through Bayan Lepas, past the airport and tried (not very hard) to find the fishing village near Batu Maung, without success. So I decided to head back towards George Town, partly to get back before the rain. The quickest way is along the expressway which runs parallel to the sea. The road was sometimes a dual carriageway and sometimes three lanes and not really intended for bicycles so it was a bit of an adventure, but the traffic wasn't too heavy and the other drivers were good. It didn't rain and I got sunburned, because I had the helmet on and not my sun hat. Doh!

Kuala Lumpar and George Town, Malaysia

Wednesday 28th September continued....

At the airport in Kuta, Bali, I went to the Immigration office, rather than the counters so I could be open about my genuine mistake in overstaying my visa by one day. The guy in the office showed me that it had registered on the computer so they would have known anyway. He was pretty uninterested in my explanation. I got the feeling he just wanted me to pay up and get out, which makes me wonder whether the money will go straight in his pocket. But maybe I am wrong about that, maybe it is just no big deal. Anyway, he gave me the exit stamp and told me to go through the 'Crew only' counter, so I just walked through there without anyone noticing, so maybe I should have just done that in the first place!

The flight was fine. Started reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, had a nap, and enjoyed looking out at the bright lights as we approached and landed in Kuala Lumpar. There was a long line at the Immigration counters and then the Skybus waited until it was full, so it was after midnight when we arrived at KL Central so the only choice was a taxi, which I shared with a Swiss couple going in the same direction. I was glad I had made an online hostel booking; when I arrived at 1am, the guy here at the Irsia B&B was very welcoming and gave me a much needed bottle of cold water. I have the dormitory room to myself - sweet.

Thursday 29th September

Up at 7am, toast and jam and coffee for breakfast. I took the LRT for a few stops and then got off. From outside the station I could see the Petronas Towers; they look good. I walked along the same road for a few kms then turned off and found the Myanmar Embassy quite easily. Once it opened, I was third in the short queue and filled in the application form and should be able to pick the visa up next week.

My next mission was to find a pair of Teva Dosa III sandals, because sadly, after almost 2 years  my old Tevas are finally beyond repair. From the Teva website, I got a list of stores in KL that supposedly stock Tevas, but some didn't sell any Tevas and the others only had older styles. Annoying. Still, I did buy a decent money belt and a red and black stripey t-shirt.

I walked around KL for about 12 hours today, mainly through China Town and parts of Little India. For second breakfast I had savoury Ayam pancake and sweet milky tea in an Indian restaurant, exactly as I had been looking forward to doing. I had Egg Roti and chai elsewhere later on. And Thai for dinner.

Today I found the locals to be really friendly and not at all pushy when I was shopping, a welcome change from Kuta Bali. I had a really enjoyable day running around KL, watching the local Chinese, Malay and Indian people. Each group tends to hang out with their own kind but of course they interact and integrate in the shops and restaurants.

Friday 30th September

At 8:30am, got the big comfortable, aircon-and-seatbelt bus out of KL, 4.5 hours to Pulau Penang (Penang Island) and to George Town, which is just as developed as KL (I hadn't realised that and was expecting it to be more rustic). We had to get another bus 10kms into town. Saw a hostel that said 'Recommended by Peter Pan in Australia' so thought I should check it out, and it's great. I have a dorm room to myself and the Chinese couple running the place are really nice and there is free wi-fi.

Well, I couldn't stay away from Little India. I soon found a restaurant there and had masala dosa and chai. Had another wander round Little India in the evening enjoying the colour and the music coming from the shops, but want to try other types of food too so ended up having Chinese food at a foodstall opposite the hostel.

As I write this in the hotel lobby, there are five locals sitting in the comfy seats opposite with their feet up receiving a foot massage. I am not sure anyone would want to get involved with my feet right now.
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Lombok and Bali (last days in Indonesia)

Thursday 22nd September

Gili Trawangan. I have definitely landed on my feet with this room. It has a proper bed, a fan, a venetian blind(!) and even a wardrobe so I don't have to put stuff on the floor! And the communal toilets are decent and there is a proper shower. For just 50,000 rupiah ($6). People had told me I would probably be paying 120,000 a night because the island is expensive. And I can sit outside the dive school in the morning eating Trangbulan cake and looking at the sea and watching people getting ready for their dives.

So since I will be staying here for a week I have been pacing myself because there is not that much to do. This morning I went snorkelling again off Turtle point. The current was not so strong today. There are some metal framework structures just off the beach; I am not sure why they are there but some great coral has grown on it and the fish hang around there. I swam further south and came to some more good coral and the water was crystal clear. As always, there were yellow and black Moorish Idol Fish. I didn't see any turtles........

....but just when I thought I had finished, I decided to see what three other snorkellers were looking at - it was a big turtle. The shell was probably a metre long and it looked like an old one, it looked like an old man. I swam along with it and it stopped to chew on some plants on the coral. Cool.

I watched another big fish (Yellow Mask Angel Fish?) as it demolished a piece of coral with it's sharp teeth. It bit into the coral and then ripped big chunks off. What amazed me was that it would hold the coral in it's mouth and then reverse and then drop the coral out of it's way, like someone removing soil from a hole. Smart! It stopped for a rest a few times and then ripped off more. I was watching for ages but never figured out why it was doing this; there was no plant or anything underneath. It also seemed to be warding off the smaller fish hovering around.

After lunch I walked around the perimeter of the island; it is only about 4kms. In the north there is supposed to be good snorkelling but it was very windy and choppy out there. Further round the beach was very windy and I got sand blasted! On the west side, I stopped on a low viewing platform by the beach and read my book and then other people turned up too to watch the sunset behind Gunung Agung on Bali, about 20kms away.

There are big rolling waves running parallel to the beach, in the channel between Gili Trawangan and Gili Meno. Also there are smaller waves crashing over the coral onto the Trawangan beach. It is quite mixed up. Some of the fast boats between here and Bali have been cancelled because of the strong winds.


Friday 23rd September

Well, I have a morning routine now: cake and reading at the dive centre then snorkelling. After Gado Gado for lunch I sat on the beach listening to podcasts. By 5:30pm there was a cool breeze on the beach and no one swimming so I didn't either. Bought my ferry/bus ticket for Sunday.


Saturday 24th September

After sitting out of the front of the dive shop most of the morning, I was surprised to then find a note on my door at 11:30am asking me to check out at midday as the room was reserved for someone else. They said the booking was made ages ago so how come I got such short notice? After a bit of a whinge I found a nice homestay along the back lanes.

Snorkelling today I saw two turtles. I followed the first one for quite a while. It was cool when it gently glided up to the surface for air. As it glided back down I could see its belly. Also saw a long grey narrow fish, a bit like a letter-opener, with a long nose and its eyes a third of the way along.

Gado Gado again for lunch then reading and podcasts on the beach and one final swim. In the evening I went to see if I could watch the football; one of the bars had the TV clearly visible from the road so I sat on the kerb opposite, the same as some locals, and watched 1.5 games before going off to bed.

Sunday 25th September

Got the slow boat back to Bangsal harbour (30 minutes) then shuttle bus to Mataram (well, nearly; I still had to get a bemo into town). Back at the Oka hotel for the third time; the ladies who run it are a bit grumpy and not very friendly but its the cheapest place I know of in town. Wandered around finding out stuff for tomorrow.

In the evening, I sat down for noodles at a roadside joint and a couple of locals invited me to sit with them so I did. They are married and both teach English at a school here and also teach specialist English to bankers, doctors etc. They were good company. As they left the guy said he would pay for my dinner as that was the custom. I was a bit uncomfortable about that but only protested a little as otherwise I would have offended them.

Good chat with French couple back at the hotel.

Monday 26th September

At the Commonwealth Bank at 8am to get some US Dollars. It went a lot more smoothly than I thought it might; part one of the mission successfully accomplished. Bemo one hour to Lembar, then passenger ferry for 4 hours to Padangbai, Bali. As we approached Bali I sat under cover on the top deck reading my book and looking at the sea and the islands; my last ferry trip in Indonesia.

Had to wait a couple of hours and then got the tourists' shuttle bus (minivan) from Padangbai to Kuta Bali. We went along a dual carriageway and it only took a couple of hours, past some rice fields with palm trees and the sea beyond.

On my way east I had used local transport rather than tourists' transport because I thought it would be cheaper and I would get to hang out with the local people more. Well, having used some tourists' transport on the way back west I can say that it is often cheaper and quicker to go with the tourists. Still, I am glad I did it my way heading east, along the country roads and through villages.

Came back to same good hotel in Kuta. I don't really want to be here for 48 hours but just wanted to be sure I am here for my flight on Wednesday. Had a wander around in the evening through the neon jungle of Kuta with the throbbing nightclubs.

Tuesday 27th September

Tried to resolve some issues with my bank transaction from yesterday. The bank said to call Visa, Visa told me to call the bank.

Kuta is quite quiet in the morning; I guess people are sleeping off their hangovers. I walked around and around visiting the bank, lots of bookshops and CD shops. I found some Chinese money in my bag so coverted that and bought some knock-off CDs 

Kuta is not typical of Bali, or Indonesia. There are glimpses of it here and there: some of the architecture hidden down the alleyways, the offerings placed outside some of the shops and the friendly locals. But it is not like the rest of Indonesia; the only experience here is locals selling sunglasses, handing out flyers outside clubs or calling 'transport?' at you from across the street. But it's all good.

Wednesday 28th September

Wandered around. Dealt with the bank, a bit stressful but sorted. Kindof. Tonight I fly to Kuala Lumpar, assuming Indonesia lets me out of the country; I am one day over my visa.


 

Gili Trawangan (diving and snorkelling)

Monday 19th September

Up at 6:30am. Got a bemo most of the way to the immigration office. It was open before 8am, and they confirmed that I stuffed up with my outward flight so will overstay my visa by one day so will have to pay a fine of about $25 at the airport. Doh!

I walked about a mile up to a major junction hoping to go directly to Pemenang/Bangsal but I could only get to Senggigi and from there there is no public transport to Pemenang/Bangsal so I had to go on the back of a guy's motorbike which was more expensive. But the scenery was great, views of the bays and the beaches and oceans. It was quite hilly and with my backpack on my back I had to really lean forward at times so I didn't fall off the back; I had my chin pretty much on the guy's shoulder.

At Pemenang I walked along to Bangsal harbour where there were many other tourists waiting for the public boat to Gili Trawangan. The long wooden boat had outboard motor, 20 white people and a couple of locals.

There are 3 Gili Islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Trawangan. Gili Trawangan is the most touristy and normally that would put me off, but I read that there are quiet parts and I heard (mostly) positve things about it from other travellers. Soon after the boat dropped us at the beach, I found a nice place to stay but went to see if I could find anywhere cheaper for the rest of the week. An Aussie girl told me about a place for 50,0000 a bit north along the beach so I went for a walk and found it; the rooms are behind a dive school and the room looks ok. The Aussie girl told me the bathrooms were horrible so I didn't bother looking, I will save that for tomorrow. Had a chat with a dive school guide.

There are a couple of cool English guys here and they directed me to local cheap noodles in the lanes behind the main drag, rather than the more expensive stuff along the beachfront. It is a family-run shop and the mother just took packet noodles and eggs from their shop and cooked them in their own house and it was about a third of the price you pay on the main strip.

I had a cat nap this afternoon and woke up very hot so went for a late afternoon swim in the sea. The sun had gone behind the trees and the water was cold and refreshing.

Chatted to the English guys. One of the guys has been to Myanmar and he waxed lyrical about it and I did the same about Africa. We went down to the market for dinner. The island is full of white people and the restaurants and bars are geared towards western tastes, but the island is quite clean and calm; there are no cars or bikes on the island which is great. There are only motorbikes and a few horse and carts used as taxis and delivery vehicles. There is a good vibe here. My current plan is to stay until the weekend....

Tuesday 20th September

I moved to the rooms behind the dive centre. It is clean and so are the bathrooms. After arranging my dive for tomorrow, I walked north for a bit and then went snorkelling off Turtle Point. There were some good fish, and the current takes you along parallel to the beach. I hadn't seen any turtles so I got out and walked along the beach, back to the start again; you can't swim against the current. Again the current took me south and just at the end I saw a turtle in the sea for the first time ever! The shell and it's flippers were like a leopard skin print had been ironed on. I followed it around for a while and then it went under a rock.

After lunch I sat on the beach and read my book and had a quick snorkel and swim.


Wednesday 21st September

For breakfast I had Trangbulan, the cake that I also had in Ubud. It is cake mixture, baked while you watch and mixed with the ingredients of your choice; chocolate and condensed milk for me. I buy it at the food market the night before and eat it cold in the morning as it is a cheap alternative to the breakfast at the restaurants here.

For some reason the hotel staff asked me to move across the outdoor corridor to an almost identical room. After moving I just read this morning. Pineapple for lunch and then out to the dive shop for my dive briefing with English dive instructor Blair. He showed me the equipment, which looked pretty new and then sat me down and told me what was going to happen and about the dive site. I felt comfortable with him as the instructor and I just let him know that I would be fine as long as we went down slowly.

The staff carry all the equipment to the boat, just off the beach. There were about 15 divers on the boat. The sea was pretty rough and we were all soaked by the time we got to the dive site. Our group was Blair, an American Lady, a local guy and me. I had a few butterflies, but I figure that's how it should be. We rolled backwards off the side of the boat and into the deep blue sea. We met at the front of the boat, but then Blair looked down and told the Captain we had stopped at the wrong point (the buoy had moved) so we had to clamber back on the boat!

After moving to the right place, and rolling back in again we slowly deflated our BCDs and began to sink down to Hans Reef. It took me a bit longer to descend than the others, but once I started breathing out more heavily I went down and my ears were mostly ok, my mask got a bit tight on my forehead. Anyway we went down to six metres to the sandy bottom and then swam along and down, using our breathing  to control buoyancy.

The main site is a large pinnacle of rock with lots of coral growing on it, with fish living in and around the coral. The visibility was good and we saw some amazing fish including large shrimp, lionfish, octupus, scorpion fish, ribbon eel, clown fish, angel fish, nudie branch and tube worms.

The shrimp was as big as my hand and it was disguised against the coral and then when we got close it darted into a hole. When Blair pointed at the clown fish it looked up and was drawn to his finger. The scorpion fish melted into the coral almost exactly; at first I could only see it because of it's eyes and then you can just trace its outline in the rock; it was actually vertical with its underside against the rock. The deadly lionfish was just behind a rock and I had a good long look at it. The Angel fish were the size of 2 baseball mitts. The nudie branch looked like a green slug. The octupus was in a hole but it was still cool seeing its head and body.

It was amazing just looking at this whole eco-system, this whole community living under the sea. Although the coral is not bright it kind of looked old or rather ancient, meaning it has been like this for millions of years - I liked that. I also just enjoyed being under the water and being in control; the only sound being my breathing. It is good to look up and see how far away the surface is.

After about 35 minutes we were all down to about a quarter of a tank so Blair got out an inflatable plastic flare and let it go up to the surface to let the boat know where we were going to pop up. A few more minutes and then we were soon at the surface. We had dived for 43 minutes, to the maximum 18m we are allowed to dive to.

I was really happy at the end of the dive. I had seen some great fish and had none of the stress that I had had at Pulau Weh. The 20 minute boat journey back was very choppy with lots of swell; we got soaked again. Back at the dive shop I got Blair to tell me the names of the fish we had seen.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the beach. I think there are just the right amount of people on the island at the moment. Few enough people on the beach to keep it calm and relaxed but enough for people-watching in-between chapters of my book. And I went for dinner at the night-market by myself but soon found other people to chat to.

From Lembata to Mataram

Monday 12th September

Today I started my journey back west from Lembata island to Bali.

Up at 2:15am, on the bus at 2:45am from Lamalera back to Lewoleba. I decided to travel back with the other guys partly for moral support as the journey here was fairly arduous, and partly to be sure of getting to the Monday market. The journey was actually ok and we arrived in town about 7am, and the others went off to the ferry.

I checked in and went to look for the market. Well, there was some Lost in Translation and I found myself directed to the small fruit market 3kms away. Still, I got to see rural parts of the Island, and at the market I bought lots of donuts and fruit and the locals were friendly. Eventually I found out that the Monday market I was looking for no longer exists!


Tuesday 13th September

The hotel here (in Lewoleba, on Lembata island) gave me banana fritters and coffee for breakfast and I ate 4 of my donuts. Walked down to the jetty and caught the 8am ferry from Lewoleba to Larantuka (on Flores), eating another 5 donuts along the way.

It is a 10-hour bus trip to my next stop, and since I only got here at midday I decided to stay here for the night. Found nice room by the jetty. Walked along the main road out of town accompanied by the near-constant calls of 'Hey Mister'; it gets tiresome responding each time, or ignoring it. Some of the guys gesture that they want cigarettes or my (cheap) sunglasses. But the walk was ok and I found the ice cream 'van'.


Wednesday 14th September

I was sat on today's only direct bus to Ende at 6:45am this morning. But, understandably, the bus doesn't leave until it is full. So we left at 10am. Annoying, but there you go.

The smoking and the music on the bus wasn't too bad. I had grabbed a seat not next to a speaker, and when Bryan Adams inevitably came on, I put my earplugs in. In among the Indonesian pop and rock came Queen's "I want to break free", and Abba's "Chicken Tikka". I was happy when the bus dropped me off outside this nice cheap hotel, in Ende, at 8:30pm.


Thursday 15th September

At 8am I walked out of Ende town a few kms to the small village of Wolowana, where the streets were lined with people selling fish and fruit and veggies, and donuts of which I bought 4. I was lost for a bit but then walked across a bridge and down a country lane, past some small rice fields, nice houses with palm trees, past some cows, with hills in the background. I came to Nanga Nesa which is a black sand beach with good views of the bay.

I walked along the beach for a while and then onto the road watching the mad waves crash on to the beach and on to rocks. The road was then a bit hilly and it was very hot but eventually I was looking down on my destination, the small coastal village of Wolotopo.

A bit more walking and then I came to Wolotopo. I met 3 excitable kids on their break outside their school and they followed me for a while. Then I met 3 teachers and they ushered the kids back towards school. I asked the teachers where I could buy some water and there was no shortage of little volunteers to show me where the shop was (probably because it was nearly the end of the breaktime!). So i followed 12 kids up the path to in to the village. The shop had no water, and we headed back to the school.

I sat in the shade and chatted in broken Indonesian/English to a couple of guys, the older of whom was breaking up small rocks into small rocks using a lump hammer; he had very strong arms, and wouldn't accept my offer of some of the water I still had left.

Back up the path, I found myself pretty much in people's backyard's and was thinking I should turn back, when a guy opened his gate and ushered me through his yard, past his family and onto the right path; very friendly. I had a good view of the village and the Catholic church from the path that runs along, about half way up. On the way back down there was a kid in a tree cutting down durian, and the school kids were playing football.

I headed out of the village and back along the coast road and all the way back to the hotel, via fried noodles for lunch. It seemed to take ages to get back and I was very hot and sweaty, but glad that I had seen Wolotopo and met the friendly locals.

This afternoon I walked down to Ende town and to the harbour. It is not much to look at, and the fish market had (not surprisingly) finished by the time I got there. But there was a cute little kid having a bath in a bucket. Many of the shops were shut and I liked their different pastel-coloured doors. I walked back to the hotel, still hot and sweaty.

Friday 16th September

In Ende. It is often difficult to get accurate information about departure times for buses; I can get 3 different answers from 3 different locals. So I got to the bus station by 6:20am this morning. The bus left Ende at 8am. We got a flat tyre at 8:15am, but they soon replaced it with a bold one.

So of course I was going back the way I came last week so I enjoyed the scenery again, and it was good not trying to take pictures, just relaxing and dozing, because there was no loud music. We arrived in Ruteng at 5:30pm and most people got off the bus, but as arranged, they took me a bit further, to meet my next vehicle, which was not a bus, but a 8-seater Toyota. The guy waiting asked for more money than I had been told when I left Ende, so I stood my ground, even though I had no other transport options. He backed down and I was squeezed in the back with a family of 5.

Eventually we left Ruteng in the dark. There was a video screen in the car and we watched some American Wrestling for a bit before they reverted to the same collection of songs that I have heard in every vehicle I have been in in Indonesia; they must all just have copies of the one CD.

We stopped for a break which was fair enough and then arrived near Labuanbajo around 11pm. They dropped passengers off at their homes and eventually they dropped me at the homestay at 11:30pm and didn't ask for extra cash! I was very happy that there was a bed available at the homestay, albeit the smallest room in Indonesia.

Saturday 17th September

I was woken up at about 6am by music blaring from an old local guy's phone on the communal balcony outside my room. He seemed to be enjoying listening to 'I'm a Barbie Girl' full blast. At the ferry terminal ticket guys were selling tickets all the way through to Mataram which was my destination. Getting there under my own steam would be tricky (I know, having come that way) and so I let myself be persuaded. But then they asked for 300,000 rupiah. I told them it had only cost me 200,000 to get here and that they were trying to rip me off. They said "ok. Sorry. 200,000 rupiah". But they are only sorry after you complain. The ferry left at 9, an hour later than scheduled.

There were some friendly tourists on the ferry and I realised that I hadn't spoken to any tourists for almost a week. It was noisy on the main deck but very quiet on the upper deck, so I stood up there for a while in the shade, looking out to sea and listening to my football podcasts.

We arrived in Sape at 5pm and we were herded onto oven-hot buses that must have been sat in the sun all afternoon; it was ok once we started moving and the breeze came through. We arrived in Bima at 6:30pm and were allocated to "Executive" buses for the rest of the trip. The bus was comfortable with reclining seats. I was sat next to a friendly older local guy called Risky. We broke down after an hour, for an hour. The bus made it's way across Sumbawa island and I managed to get some sleep, and we stopped for food at 4am. Rice of course!

The same as most travelers, I have just sat on the bus across Sumbawa, as a means of getting from Flores to Lombok. It is difficult to explore Sumbawa without your own wheels, but it does look like a nice place. It also looks extremely dry, some of the small rice terraces were barren. I thought that was typcial for the dry season, but on the (English-speaking) news they said that this part of Indonesia is in drought.

Sunday 18th September

Arrived at Poto Tano around 6am. The passenger ferries are regular and the trip is only 1.5 hours. Chatted to ex-pat Geordie guy who was a ten-pound-pom who moved to Adelaide with his family in 1973. I enjoyed listening to his experiences, things I have heard before about how the housing they were given did not match up to promises made. And of course he had many positive things to say too about how his lifestyle improved and how he was successful there and has now retired to Lombok.

Arrived in Labuhan Lombok around 8:30am and the bus continued here to Mataram at 11am. I could have continued to Senggigi but I have things to do here and I just need to stop moving, after 50 hours of travel!

I walked to the immigration office, on a reckie for tomorrow. I bought a new hat since I left mine on the bus the other day. Sun hats are not cool but they serve their one and only purpose. Went to the bank and managed to complete my transaction without waking up the security guard. Mataram is actually ok.

I had hoped to watch the footy on one of the TVs in Macca's or KFC but the locals were watching the Moto GP. Then I was too tired to care so came back to the hotel.

Whale hunting off Lembata Island (really!)

Thursday 8th September

In Larantuka, Flores. Up at 6:15am (when will I get to sleep in!?) After breakfast of coffee and three tasty cakes, I walked down to the harbour and soon found the wooden ferry to Lembata, an island in the Solor Archipelago (no longer in Flores). The ferry is a bit like a big fishing boat and takes about 60 passengers, as well as 10 motorbikes and lots of boxes of mineral water and noodles. The Captain arrived just on time and we set off into the Solor strait among the islands with Gunung De Boleng, a perfect volcano shape, to our leftside. I chatted to Abdul the carpenter along the way.

After 2 hours, we stopped briefly at Lamakera on Pulau Solar where the drinks were unloaded. We then continued for 2 more hours to Lewoleba on Lembata island. I was excited to be arriving on a remote island in the far eastern part of Indonesia (but although it is remote, most people have better mobile phones than me and are quite westernised in their dress and most people speak a little English).

Abdul had said he would help me get to the market in Lewoleba from where I would get transport to Lamalera but when I got off the boat I could not see him in the crowd of people getting off and those unloading the boat. But I found a guy who would take me to the bus terminal in his ute for a fair price so off we went. I am glad I have picked up enough Indonesian to usually get by.

At the terminal I only had to wait 15 mintues before transport arrived. The 'bus' has a truck's cab and in the back are opposing bench seats for about 30 passengers, with the sides just open, no windows, and a curtain at the back to keep the dust out.

The road was bitumen for a short while and then became like a track and was pretty bumpy. Again the music was blaring but the driver's taste was not so bad as yesterday. I did exaggerate my annoyance at the guys smoking next to me. I know I should be used to it but it still annoys me, especially when there are little kids breathing in their smoke. The mothers don't seem to mind, or maybe it is the same as with the music and they think they can't say anything.

After a couple of hours there was a big bang and we had got a flat tyre. It obviously happens quite a bit on that road, and the guys had it fixed pretty quickly. As we approached the fishing village of Lamalera (population 1900) we were looking down on a stunning bay, with a big fluffy white cloud above the cliffs, which drop down into the ocean. There were lots of trees blocking the view so it was mostly glimpses, I will try to see it again before I leave.

The guest house here in Lamalera is nice. I thought I might be the only Bole (foreignor) in town but there is a French/Spanish couple here. I walked down with them to the beach to arrange with a guy for a fishing trip tomorrow. I walked up the hill and down to the other part of the village. Most villagers say hello and a group of schoolgirls ran over to talk with me.

Today on the bus a guy was transporting two live chickens. He didn't seem to care too much for them. One was tied up such that it's head was on its side with it's cheek against the floor of the bus. Later the other one was moving around a bit so the guy just shoved it back in it's bag and into the corner the way you might treat a bag of potatoes. I wouldn't want to be a pig around here either; most of them are tied up and/or in small pens. But this afternoon, one was tied upside down to a log as two guys carried it away to be slaughtered; it was squealing in distress.


Friday 9th September

The locals like to party, put my ear plugs in at 3am. Up at 6am and after coffee and donuts for breakfast we walked down to the beach to see if the fishing trip was on. But the guy came down and told us there was no fishing today because there is no kerosene; maybe that's why they had a party last night instead. So I went back to bed; it's not often I am lazy but I was this morning.

All meals are included with the room charge at this guest house. For lunch we got omlette and rice and vegies; it was left on the table in bento boxes. After lunch, at the hottest time of the day(!), I walked out of the village and uphill to find the lovely view that we passed yesterday. It only took half an hour to get up there and I saw the bay, but there was no shade up there and it was too hot to hang around, I could feel the heat coming from the tarmac through my sandals.

I walked back down to the village and to the other side. I popped into the Catholic church with it's relgious paintings and discarded plastic water bottles.

I carried on along the track, past some villages and orchards. I had planned to turn around at 4:30pm but as I turned a corner high above the sea there was a beautiful view of the sun reflecting on the open sea, with the village of Tapabali in the foreground, so I decided to keep walking. I watched the sun shining on the cliffs with the waves crashing below. I walked back a bit and sat on the road reading my book while waiting for the sun to set. A few locals came past. The sunset was pretty good, but it went behind the haze.

It obviously got darker as I walked back quickly with my torch. I stopped in my tracks as I spotted a small scorpion cross my path. It cordially sat there under my torch light while I took it's photo, good job it didn't get stuck in my sandal!

Pretty tired when I got back to the guest house, but dinner was on the table (Omelette, potato and too much rice), and an Italian guy, Jacomo, has arrived so that's 4 Bole. We took the opportunity to charge up laptops and phones as there is electricity only at night.

 
Saturday 10th September

Lamalera is not an ordinary fishing village; it is unique because it is, apparently, the only place left on earth where whales are hunted by hand, using bamboo harpoons, with the approval of conservation groups, because they only catch about 25 non-endangered whales per year; sperm whales. The whole village lifestyle and survival is based around hunting.

As soon as you arrive in the village you can see signs of whale hunting. Whale meat is hung up to dry in people's yard's, on the beach, all around. The fat from the neck is allowed to drip off into a plastic channel and into a plastic bottle and is used for cooking. There are plenty of whale bones around too. The locals also catch sharks and dolphins. 

The fishing boats are stored in thatched boat houses just at the top of the beach. It was there that we met local fisherman Stefanos to begin our fishing trip at 7am this morning. While we waited we saw a couple of guys come ashore with a dolphin and a shark that they had caught in the nets overnight. The shark had already had it's fin cut off and was being cut in half. I prodded the dolphin with my finger; the blubber is a few millimetres thick and then it's rock hard underneath. 

Our fishing boat was wooden and about 20 metres long with an outboard motor, and 5 bamboo harpoons along the side. There were 5 crew including Stefanos, and four of us Bole. They pushed the boat down to the sea across logs placed at 90 degrees to the boat. We were not sure what to expect today, some people get to see whales being harpooned and stabbed repeatedly in a bloody mess until they die. I was not sure I wanted to see that but was prepared for anything. Ours was the only boat out at that time.

My first priority was not to get sunburned and I was constantly putting on sunscreen. We headed a couple of kms out to the open sea with the crew scrutinising the sea for their prey, while I continuously bailed out the small swimming pool gathering around our feet. After about half an hour they spotted, I think, a dolphin. The one guy stood up the front of the boat, harpoon in hand but then it got away. Soon after, though, they spotted a whale, a prize target. I had wondered how 5 guys on a small boat would catch a whale, and of course they can't and we headed back for reinforcements.

With the outboard motor at top speed we approached the village with the guys all shouting 'Baleo, Baleo', so that the villagers could hear that a whale had been spotted and get themselves organised. It was crazy and exciting as about 90 men from the village descended onto the beach and dragged their boats down to the ocean to join the hunt. Some of the boats don't have motors; we towed one back out to sea.

With about 12 boats, the hunt split up and went looking for the whale. And sure enough the huge grey whale surfaced quite near to us; and other boats zoomed over. The hunter on the nearest boat perched on the front end of the boat with his harpoon raised, but the whale dived and got away.

All the boats split up again and then all killed their engines and waited for the whale to come up for air again. The whale was spotted a couple more times after that but after a couple of hours the whale seemed to have disappeared and the fishermen decided to call it a day and we headed back (I thought they would have stayed longer, but they know best).

Back at the coast the fishermen were hauling their boats back up the beach, across the same logs as before while all the village kids were playing in the water, and body-boarding on pieces of wood. I helped to push the some of the fishing boats back up to their thatched boathouses. They sing/chant as they push the heavy boat and there was a sense of camraderie among the men. It was a bit of a carnival atmosphere; I wonder what it is like when they bring a whale back?

So in a way it was a disappointment that we didn't get to see the fishermen display their hunting skills, but perhaps the kill would have been too traumatic to watch anyway. I didn't really have any moral qualms about what they do, since this is how they survive, they sell some of the whale products and keep the meat for themselves.


Sunday 11th September

Ideally we would have left Lamalera this afternoon, but then we found out there is no transport out of the village on a Sunday, so it was a lazy day. When I got up at 9:30am most of the villagers were away at church. We sat on the verandah reading books, sharing travel stories and watching people go by. And we got in the sea in the afternoon.

Lamalera is as far east as I will travel; tomorrow I will start retracing my steps as I head back west. I am not sure what I will do with the my remaining 15 days in Indonesia (except diving) as I will probably be just heading back the way I came. Oh well, there are plenty of beaches to sit on and I enjoy just being here without necessarily doing anything. I will take my time and hopefully not travel on too many consecutive days.