Time flies! This is nearly my last destination on this trip. The decision to fly to Indonesia was again a spontaneous one. Unfortunately it means that I won't make it to Nepal on this trip, but I'm super excited to discover Indonesia. Arriving in Lombok at the airport everything was pretty easy. You can immigrate for 30 days for free and I caught a cheap bus to the town of Senggigi immediately. When I arrived in the hostel the people were super nice and the kitchen staff quickly made me dinner before they went home. It was after 10pm already after all. I really liked the hostel and extended for a couple days. In the morning I took it easy and then rented a scooter for the day. After arranging some stuff I finally started to explore the island. I drove up the coast and it was just beautiful. While Senggigi is quite touristy with restaurants, hotels and dive shops everywhere, it only took me 10 minutes drive and no tourists anymore. I made some stops along the way and relaxed on some beaches, where only a couple of locals and one or two tourists were found. In the early evening Alina and Elliot, two friends from Rotterdam who were on holiday in Indonesia, had arrived in their hotel. So I drove there to say hello and unfortunately got completely soaked on the way. I was hiding under a roof a bit too late, but luckily it was still warm so I didn't mind too much. It was great to see the two and we had one drink at their hotel bar. That was the most expensive beer I had in a long time, but the views were great. I scootered back to my place to take a shower and the two followed me by taxi for dinner. We got a bit lazy and decided to eat at my hostel. The curry was amazing! We had a good time there with the barman and Jermaine, another German guy who stayed at the hostel and after 2-3 beers ended up going to a karaoke bar together. It was a fun experience, I had never been to one of those private karaoke boxes. Despite the fact that two out of us five didn't really want to sing we had a great time and stayed until after midnight. I guess the beers started to help everyone with their singing skills.
The next morning we started our scooter day as a little group. More and more people from the hostel started to join and we ended up with 6 people on 3 scooters starting a bit later than planned. We scootered up a windy road through a beautiful forest and after a while we saw why it is called monkey forest. They were everywhere along the road. I wouldn't have needed to stop as I find the macaques very annoyingly cheeky. But at one point we stopped for a view and the monkeys came to us. Of course they try to steal whatever they can, one even climbed on one of the scooters and didn't want to leave. Once we got all our scooters back we made our way to the coast. As it was already getting a bit late we decided not to go to the waterfalls and just started looking for a nice beach and a good lunch place. All we found was a very luxurious resort. After a look at the menu it was clear that this was out of our league, but we could order some drinks and have them on the beach. It was amazing. One of the nicest beaches I've seen in a while and we could chill on the deck chairs, hammocks, swings...
On the way back we found a small restaurant and had lunch there. Luckily there was no rain though it was looking like it for a while. On the way back to town we made a stop at a beautiful cliff to watch sunset, well nearly, we were still a bit early and didn't want to wait that long. Especially as me and Jeremiah, the other German from the hostel wanted to arrange a dive trip to the Gilis for the day after still. Alina and Elliot wanted to snorkel so they booked it at their hotel as they got a good deal there. So me and Jeremiah went from dive shop to dive shop to find the perfect offer. We found cheap ones but I didn't trust the quality. The more expensive ones didn't want to give us a discount. Plus Jeremiah had already been diving there before and didn't want to go back to the same dive sites and the shops struggled to guarantee that. We finally managed to get a bit of a discount from one of the big shops and booked there. Puh, tough choice :-)
The next morning I woke up early for the diving and met Jeremiah at breakfast. He hadn't slept much as he got food poisoning. I texted Alina and Elliot and found out that they had the same. The other two girls from the hostel were fine. So we think it was the chicken noodles vs the vegetarian fried rice for lunch that doomed the three of them and spared us three. So the boys cancelled their day plans. Alina felt good enough to go on her snorkel trip and I was definitely going diving. It was a nice diving day with one instructor, me and a couple diving. We directly saw two little sharks, an octopus, a lot of turtles and some good macro stuff. But I have to say I was shocked about the conditions underwater. Maybe I'm spoiled but Mabul in Borneo was much more fishes and the reef in good conditions, while here the corals were mainly dead and visibility was so so.
In the evening we all met again and luckily the guys felt well enough to eat again. To stay safe we went out for western food and I have to admit that it was great to eat a big steak again.
We went to a bar with live music and had one or two towers of beer. Great last night with Elliot and Alina and some hostel people.
The next day I used to relax. I got up late, spent some time at the beach close by and went to the local market for some souvenir shopping. The next day I was ready for the great trek: Mount Rinjani. Despite being the number two tourist activity on Lombok (after diving the gilis) I was warned that this is a tough one. Me and the other three girls from my dorm had negotiated a good price with a company that was recommended to us. So here we are, Jasmine and Nina, two Germans I had met in the hostel (which was really full of Germans) and Orla from Ireland, whom I had met at the airport. We were picked up in the morning for transfer to Sembalu, where we would stay one night and then start our hike early the next day. We got our briefing and then wanted to do a little walk to the waterfalls in town. As it started to pour we waited until the rain stopped. Once we had done our last shopping of snacks and gloves and stuff we made our way to the waterfall. The first one was a tall, two staged waterfall which was nice to look at. But we had been told that it is possible two swim there, so we were a bit dissapointed. The water was coming down hard, the sun wasn't shining and there wasn't a real pool to swim in. We heard there was a second waterfall and so we went to look for it. After a short search we found the path and made it through some small rivers over to the second waterfall. When we arrived the last people left and we had the pools to our self. With my fake go pro we dared to get into the water being soaked already by the spray water from the waterfall.When we had started to walk to the waterfall I wasn't really motivated due to the weather and being a bit lazy, but we had so much fun in the water I was really glad I went.
At 2 am we got up and thought we would get a small breakfast. Well, we got a tea and some dry biscuits. Great. Our guide had given a big speech the day before that we will need to stay together today as it is dark and at some points dangerous. I had told him again that the speed from the day before is the only speed I can do and he said that is OK. It took 2 minutes until they were gone again and had left me behind. Great again. I followed another group that overtook me and got quite annoyed. And the funniest thing: it wasn't that they were far ahead of me. After 5 minutes we got to a part where overtaking was basically not possible and all the 300 people trying to get up the mountain were in one long queue up the mountain. After a while I realised that the guide was looking back to see if I'm there from time to time. At least... After the first hour luckily the path got a bit broader and people were walking more their own speed now. The guide had decided that it is time to stay with the slowest person and started to walk in silence behind me. Jasmine was far ahead with the two Canadians we had met, but Nina and Orla I kept seeing. The same old game, I catch up nearly while they make a break and then they walk ahead again. On the way up it started to get more and more light and the first views were already stunning. The last bit up the mountain was the worst however. Very steep and with gravel, so you basically do two steps forward and slide one step back. Plus the altitude above 3000m started kicking in, making breathing harder. I thought I would never make it up. And when I was about 10 minutes from the peak, the sun made its way over the horizon. I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't made it to the summit in time, but at least I saw the sunrise and was walking up while watching it. Nina and me sat down a bit to watch the sunrise and then made the last little bit to meet with the others. It was really a tough hike, but the view was just stunning, so we were all happy. Our guide had some cookies for us and after 30 minutes of enjoying the view and taking pictures we made our way back down. The first bit was fun as you could just run down, the second part started to be very annyoing. I was very exhausted and so happy when we arrived back at the campsite. Our tents were still up and we finally got breakfast. Jasmine and me were so hungry that we shouted to our porters that we need food soon and surprisingly the breakfast was ready immediately. We felt a bit bad not to wait for the other two, who struggled on the way down with their sneakers and walked a bit slower than us, but we couldn't resist to start eating. After breakfast we had 30 minutes break and I went immediately back to the tent and tried to rest a bit. At 10am we had to continue. 2-3 hours down to the crater lake and then another 3 hours back up. I was so not ready for that. My mood was so bad that at one point I started to turn on my music to cheer me up. At lunch we waited again for more than an hour for our food, but this time I was glad. I was lying down and resting. After 30 minutes the Canadians joined us again. They had left their group behind, who had come down from the peak only at 11am, so after we had already started to go down again. One of their group had decided to not go further and descend on the day, the other two really wanted to do the full hike, but were far behind. So we adopted the Canadians and did the rest of the hike with them. Well, the others did, I again was walking in the back on my own, this time the guide stayed with me as well. I met a girl who really struggled, she had no idea what she had signed up for and just wanted to get it over with. We walked together for a bit, which was really nice. The last bit up from the lake was actually really beautiful. It was with some climbing and with beautiful views. I wished that I wouldn't have been that tired, as it was really difficult to enjoy this. If it hadn't been for the 9 hours before, this would have been my favorite part of the hike. So I was really happy when we made it to the camp site. There were way less people and it was again with a beautiful view. Luckily dinner was ready a bit earlier today and we all fell asleep immediately after.
The last day of the hike was one thing only: going down. 2000 meteres down. Me and Jasmine were a bit faster again due to better shoes and were running down parts with the Canadians. I still enjoy going down a bit more than going up. On the way down I had to make a difficult deciscion: do I follow my original plan and go to Kuta, which is supposed to be nice with lonely beaches, or do I follow the whole group to Gili Air. I had been there 5 years ago, but didn't enjoy it much as I was mainly in bed with Dengue. But I remembered it to be a beautiful and quite lonely island. I heard it changed a lot over the years and wasn't too eager to see that. However, 2 days of lying on the beach and relaxing with the group did sound good. So last minute I changed my mind and joined them. We had looked at some places to sleep but didn't book anything as some in the group just wanted to go and see. I really regretted that.
After a long day of hiking, a bus brought us to the ferry, where we waited for the Canadians. They made it to the last ferry at 5 pm and we all crossed over to Gili Air. Then we started to look for a place to stay, but nowhere they had still 6 beds for a reasonable price. We ended up with 3 bungalows in hotels next to each other. Jasmine and my place was reasonable, but unfortunately the pool was just built and not ready to use. But directly at the beach, so we went straight to the beach bar after we checked in and showered of course. We had a nice evening with some drinks and dinner at the beach, but everyone was tired from the hike so we went to bed early. The next day we had decided to walk around the island in the morning and go on a snorkeling tour in the afternoon. With being 6 people it obviously became a bit chaotic, but me and three others made it once around the island, a walk of roughly 60 minutes which I enjoyed a lot. Funnily I found Blue Marlin dive, which is the dive school where Nina and me wanted to do a liveaboard diveboat trip on Komodo Island. So I went in and got some information on the trip. Nina at the same time was chatting with the owner and with our common effort we managed to book for us the last 2 spots on the dive boat on the dates we wanted.
Just when we had sat down for a quick lunch before our snorkeling trip it started to rain very heavily. No one was really interested in going snorkeling with this weather, but I had to leave the next morning at 11 am with the boat to Bali. We decided that we'd rather get up very early the next day and so we postponed the trip to 6:30 the next morning. So we spent the afternoon at the beach, in the sea, at the beach bar and in the pool of Nina and Orla's hotel. In the evening we split up for dinner, as Jasmine and I weren't too interested in eating western food again. We found a nice barbecue place with a buffet and had a nice evening. As the next morning was early again, we went to the hotel shortely after. As I wasn't ready to sleep and I heard live music, I went to the beach and sat at the bar with live music for a bit, drinking a beer and once more writing my blog. The snorekling trip the next day was nice, we saw again a lot of turtles very closeby. But as on my previous dive trip around the Gilis I was shocked about the bad condition of the reef and the lack of fish, compared to other places I've been to. We were back in time for me to get a quick shower and breakfast before I had to go to the ferry. If only my laundry would be back. They had said it would be back latest at 10am. Well, it wasn't and reminding them again and again didn't seem to help. I got so frustrated because this was the last boat to Bali and I really didn't want to miss it. At the time when I should have made my way to the harbour, the guy from the hostel took a bike and told me he will tell them to wait. 5 to 11 he came back with my laundry, but it was not dry and completely mixed with Jasmines laundry. We got so annoyed and after we sorted it out I just ran to the harbour, without paying for the laundry. They tried to charge Jasmine for it later, but she refused and told them again how annoyed we were about the things that wen't wrong with our laundry :)
So here I am with all my luggage, trying to get to the harbour as fast as I can in the heat of the day. I made it to the office, and they smiled at me and told me the boat won't leave before 11:15. I was partly very happy I made it and partly very annoyed that they had told me I need to be there at 10:40! The boat ride was fun, I was sitting on the top deck where they had loud music, the sun was shining and the wind made it really nice. After the hour boat ride I still had to take a bus to Seminyak, which was about 2 hours. I was lucky to sit in the front seat, because the back was full with people and luggage. I met again nice people and the 2 hours just flew by. Originally I had only wanted to go to Bali for transit, as I decided to fly to Komodo from there and not take one of the cheap but very unsafe 4 days boat trip there. But then I remembered that it was exactly the weekend, where Timo and his parents would be in Bali, so I decided to join them for the weekend. They had booked two villas with a private pool, which were very cool. I made my way there and arrived while Timo was out meeting a friend. I took the time to sort and dry my laundry and wet stuff and was completely relaxed when Timo arrived. We had some beers and caught up and then went out for dinner. It was a fancy & cool place and I spent more for dinner than I had in months :) Late that evening Timo's parents arrived and we had a welcome drink with them. The next day we started slow and went shopping. It was crazy, this could be any big city with all the known brands, although quite a focus on surf brands. I ended up buying a new pair of shorts, finally some pants I can wear without a belt again. In the evening we went to the beach, to watch sunset with a cocktail. For dinner we had decided to go to a bit cheaper place and found an amazing little food place, where they had the best spare ribs and skewers. The next day we had reserved for a day trip. We rented a car and made our way to Tanah Lot, the water temple. It was full of tourists and you couldn't actually enter the temple, but it was still nice to see, and a little adventure as you had to walk through the sea to get close to the temple and the waves were sometimes surprising.
Then we drove all the way down to the southern tip of Bali to the next highlight: Uluwatu. A temple on a cliff. I was a bit dissapointed by the temple itself, there wasn't much to see, but the views were great and here and there were some nice bits. The monkeys added to the amusement, they nearly stole our drives glasses (who should know better, there were warnings everywhere and every 10 minutes there was an announcement to be careful with the monkeys). Our last stop of the day was on a nice stretch of beach with some lovely small restaurants. We again had very good barbecue and I followed through on my aim to try more fish. Clams and squid stay a big no, but I am getting better at the rest. The next day it was already time to say goodbye again. This time I am sure it is the last time I see Timo on this trip!
Around noon I made my way to the airport, where I met Nina again and we made our way together to Labuan Bajo on Flores. We went straight from the airport to our diving school and finalised our dive trip to the Komodo National Park for the next 3 days. I was getting really excited, it sounded soooo cool. We had dinner at the dive school, which had a great terrace with amazing sunset views. After the pickup service from the hostel didn't work and we had waited for more then an hour, we gave up and ordered a taxi. The hostel was up on a hill, with again amazing views down on the Komodo National park bay. We both settled in and then enjoyed a nice movie night at the hostel. It is nice to watch a movie sitting on a terrace in a beanie bag. The next morning we checked out again and took the shuttle down to the dive school. We met the other people from the dive boat and after breakfast went to the harbour and on the boat. It was a lovely boat! Big enough for 7-8 guests, sleeping on the top deck, open air but with see through sides that you can put up if needed. There was a big crew, with 2 dive instructors, a cook, a helper for the cook, a captain, an engineer and the captain of the small boat. They were all really nice and lunch already showed that we would get really spoiled the next days. The group was really cool, two french guys, 2 girls from Hong Kong, a girl from Malaysia and Nina and me. Our dive guide gave us good instructions to the boat and the general dive rules. We were all excited to get to our first dive spot! I really enjoyed the diving. We split into two groups and my group was sometimes a bit of a struggle as there was quite some drift and we were all not too experienced. But we immediately saw amazing things, from macro to bigger things like sharks and turtles. The first day was a bit stressful, as we tried to make three dives even though only 2 are guarantueed, but we all didn't mind. The second day we could choose to go to Rinca island and see the Komodo dragons or go diving (one extra dive). The two girls from Hong Kong chose to dive, the rest of us wanted to see the dragons. It was a great trip, we were the first ones on the island, saw a lot of Komodo dragons, took a lot of pictures and did a little walk up a hill with great views on the island and the bay. I was very glad we were so early as well as it started to get really hot already. After this nice little trip we went back on the boat and joined for the second dive: the place where we were hoping to see Mantas. And we were not dissapointed. It was amazing!!! They were there immediately when we went in, not deep down on a sandy slope. They left for a bit and we swam around and saw a shark and some more cool macro things. Then at the end of the dive we saw them again and I really didn't want to go up, but the otheres from my group were already out of air. I have to say that 4 dives a day is really a lot, but I still joined all of them and as well decided to extend. The boat would be out 4 days and 4 of the group had booked the full trip. Nina, me and the girl from Malaysia had booked only 2 nights and were supposed to leave with the small boat the next day. But I really enjoyed the time on the boat and decided to extend to the full 4 days as my little birthday present to myself - which was the last day on the boat. The next morning we were all a bit slow and suddenly it was a big rush to be ready for the first dive. Our guide was quite annoyed that we were late, but we all hurried to make it on time. This was a very famous spot and so we wanted to be early. I am glad we were, though we were not the first ones there, we were still there before the big crowd and enjoyed the beautiful dive a lot. The only annoying thing: after a couple minutes in the water I realised that I hadn't propoerly closed the sealing of my fake go pro. Bye bye, it completely drowned. I was already the second person on the trip who managed to kill their action camera and now Nina was the only one left with a camera - and she would leave in the afternoon. Her last dive was another amazing one. It was a drift dive with a lot of Mantas, one full black one and one coming really really close to us and staying with us for a while. It seemed he was as curious about us, as we were about him. In the end of the dive we saw them a last time and it was really cool to see them play and make some loops in the water. In the afternoon we said goodbye to Nina and the girl from Malaysia and welcomed one new guy on the boat: Alejandro from Spain, living in the Netherlands :)
The next two days were the same than before: a lot of diving, with some great exciting dives, including one where we were surrounded by 15 sharks and the other group saw some dolphines while diving (we only saw them from the boat unfortunately). I had a great time on the boat, the only thing that annoyed me was one of the dive instructors, who was very frustrating to me. He was moody and he couldn't answer one of my questions without asking a stupid question back first. It seemed like he wanted to misunderstand me every time, so at one point I stopped asking him questions when not needed. I tried to avoid him and enjoyed the time with the amazing group of people. On the boat it turned out that while all the others had to go back home after the boat trip, Alejandro and me both wanted to explore Flores some more. So we decided to rent some scooters and explore the island together.
The last day on the boat was some nice dives in the morning and for lunch the crew gave me a birthday cake. Once the group remembered it was my birthday they kept on singing happy birthday for me. I think they made it nearly to 10 times. Back on land Alejandro and me booked a bed in the hostel I had stayed before and as the shuttle service again failed, made our way up to the hostel by taxi. There Alejandro managed to organise two one-way scooters for us for the next day and agreed with the guy working at the counter that we would start tomorrow together with a trip to some waterfalls. I was really tired, but we had agreed to meet with the girls for dinner in town, so we took the shuttle back down. We went to a nice little dinner place and the girls went to bed straight after. I was close to do the same, but we had said we would do one birthday drink and so Alejandro and me went to a bar that was recommended to us. We made our way there and were a bit doubting if we were right, it was a lonely path and it was already getting dark. But we finally made it there, realising we were a bit early. But we got a beer anyways, and soon after the live band started. It was a really cool bar with great views on the bay and soon after the place started to fill with people: both locals and tourists. It was a great night with some drinks and great live music. After midnight we took the shuttle back to the hostel, but unfortunately the bus let us out at the bottom of the hill, so we had to walk up the last meters. Quite a challange in the middle of the night, but we made it safe.
The next day we slept in and until we had arranged everything with the scooters and had checked out it was already noon. We discussed if we would still join the group to the waterfalls, but it was on the way anyways and Alejandro really wanted to, so we did. It was an hour to scooter there and then we had to walk another hour down. It was a beautiful walk and a nice swim in the river, but I was starting to worry about the drive as we still had a couple hours to go to Ruteng, where we wanted to spend the night. And I was right to, it was a long (and beautiful) drive and we ended up driving the last hour in the dark. What made it worse: my scooter had an awful light and in the end I was driving behind Alejandro and hoping that it would all be OK. We booked a hotel online shortly before we got to Ruteng and were very glad to be able to take a hot shower there. Unfortunately the hotel restaurant was already closed when we came back down at 9pm, but they were so nice to drive us to a really lovely and cheap place. We had good dinner and then they picked us up again. The next morning we decided to scooter a bit back on the way as we had missed the famous spider web rice fields. It was really a lovely ride in daylight and the rice fields were cool. Then we turned around again and made our way to Bajawa. There we followed the advise of the French guys from the diving boat for a hotel and checked in for three nights. We went to dinner at a place with live music, which was full of tourists and their guides and arranged with the guy from the hotel that his brother would guide us around the villages the next day. We got up again very early and waited for the guy, but he just wouldn't show up. Funnily it was the same guy who guided the French guys and so I had his number. Unfortunately we couldn't reach him, so we went to town and luckily managed to get us another guide. He was really nice and spoke good English. We took our scooters and were finally on the way to some villages. They were really nice and Alfredo told us a lot about how they live and about their customs. Around lunch we went to the natural hot springs, which were really great. There was a hot stream and a cold stream coming together and you could change from warm to cold or sit in the middle and be in changing hot to cold water. We had lunch there and then made our way to Soa, a village which had a traditional fighting ceremony today. Our guide told us that it is an honour to fight and that the more blood, the more luck will come to the village. After this I thought it would be very cruel and bloody, but it seems that there is a modern influence to it. Soon after we arrived we were asked to join on the tribune and all foreigners met up there. The event was fun, although from time to time a bit boring. Sometimes it would take 15 minutes until 2 new fighters were found. Some clearly weren't too interested in fighting and did a bit of a show and then stopped soon. But there were also some quite intense fights, which were fun to watch. It was always 2 people fighting, they had a belt around their waist and their breast where two people behind them held them. It was to control the fight and to pull the guys away from each other if it got too intense. Basically they would circle around each other until one hit the other with something that looked like a stone (but was supposed to be a hardened fruit or something) and then they would be pulled apart. After a couple tries or until one of the two gives up, they would give each other a hug and then the search for the next fighters starts. After the fights we left and our guide invited us to his uncles house for dinner. It was a nice dinner and I was surprised that we left very soon after dinner, but then realised that it was already starting to get dark again. Oh no, that was exactly what I wanted to avoid: driving in the dark again with that stupid bike with nearly no light. I got very grumpy and when we were back at the hotel thought about going to bed directly. But then I decided it's not good to go to bed so grumpy, so I joined Alejandro back to the live music place from the night before for a beer. With a lot better mood we went back to the hotel and tried to sleep early, as we had to get up at 2 am the next morning. We had decided to follow another advice of the French guys and climb Mount Inirie. When we wanted to drive to the mountain guides house at the foot of the mountain we had a bad moment: Alejandro's bike, the one with the good light, didn't start. So after a bit of a discussion we got on my bike with the two of us and drove there. We were a little bit late but made it safe there. Eva, a girl we had met at the fighting ceremony and wanted to join us was already there. And our guides: Francesco and another guy from the village, plus two little boys, I think his nephews. Around 3am we finally started our way up the mountain. We had told them that Alejandro walks fast and I walk slow, therefore they came with the two of them. Eva ended up walking in between us with the two boys. It was a long way up, but I did as usual: slow and steady. Francesco stayed back with me and the only english words he could say were "slowly, slowly" (which he used at every part where he thought it is a bit dangerous - or the famous "hati, hati" which means careful) and left or right. These he had to use quite often as well, because there was no clear path up the hill. But he went up that hill so often, he knows it even without light. Finally I thought I made it to the top, to find out that this is only the first peak and there is a higher second peak. I thought I don't want to miss sunrise again like on Rinjani so I said I would want to wait for sunrise here. But Francesco insisted that we can still make it up to the top in time, so Eva and me started the last bit. We were struggling but determined to make it up to the top before sunrise. And we did. Exhausted but happy we sat down, being reminded by Francesco to take our camera out continously - sunrise was about to happen :) It was very cool, a great view from up there, the sea behind us, the sun going up in front of us behind another volcano. A beautiful clear view and us the only ones on the vulcano, what more could we have wished for?
We took our time (and a lot of pictures) and then started to make our way back down. The first bit was really tough, as it was steep and slippery. Then came the fun part: it was again that much gravel that you could just run/slide down. The kids had a lot of fun as well, reckless as they were sliding down. The last bit was annoying again as we were tired and it seemed like it never ends. Around 9 am we arrived back down at Francesco's house and were happy with our performance. around 3 hours up and 2 hours down. Not bad. Not as good as the French guys as we heard, but as so many people had warned us about how tough it is and some told us it is a 6-8 hours hike, we were happy. After this we decided to go back to the hot springs to a well deserved relaxing.
Back in town, I relaxed a bit more and read my book and Alejandro went to get his bike repaired. We met back at the live music place for a tea and went to dinner with two girls we met. Despite being very tired we went back to the live music place for one more beer (and then one more) and enjoyed the company there.
The next morning we got ready to leave and realized we had never paid our beers the night before. We had said goodbye to everyone, but really forgot to pay. We drove back to the place and luckily the waitress was there and we could pay our debts :) So here we are on our scooters again, on the way to our last stop: Kelimutu. The mountain was recommended to me and only on the way there we found out that this one is not really a hike, but you do 90% by scooter and just walk 15 minutes to the top. The drive there was nice and relaxing, we had some stops on the way. We met some nice people at the hotel and had one or two beers with them. We went to bed early as we wanted to get up for sunrise on Kelimutu, despite the reports that the last 2 days before it was completely foggy for sunrise. Well, the alarm went off at 5 am, we opened the door and decided that we won't go up in the pouring rain. We went straight back to bed. When I woke up I realized that my stomach was not doing well, I think from the lunch stop the day before. Alejandro was feeling well, so he did a little tour to a waterfall and then hiked up the full way to Kelimutu. I stayed in bed until I had to check out and then followed him on the scooter. I didn't feel very well, but I had made it here and as we were flying out the next morning this was the only chance to see Kelimutu. The bike ride was OK and I managed to arrive exactly the time when Alejandro arrived there as well. We walked up the last bit, which was a great struggle for me. I felt slightly feverish and very weak. The slight sulphur smell didn't help and when I arrived on top I was completely exhausted. It was a nice view on the colourfull lakes, but it is just not the same if you didn't hike up a mountain. On the way back down we split again, as I just wanted to make it to Ende, where we would fly out early the next morning. Alejandro wanted to go to the hot springs (which he didn't find but ended up hiking to the village where I wanted to hike to originally, which was way longer than he expected). I took my time, made a rest at the hotel from the night before, picked up my stuff and then drove to Ende. I chose a hotel quickly and went straight to bed. Later, when Alejandro arrived we still had to return the bikes which turned out to be really complicated until we found out that we had to put the bikes on a ferry. If we had known that there is an overnigh ferry back to Labuan Bajo, we might have been way better off just taking that! Anyways, we managed to return the bikes and I went straight to bed.
From here on an annoying journey started that I would rather forget: early morning getting to the airport, arriving in Labuan Bajo where we had left our backpacks, pick them up, relax at the hostel, back to the airport and flying to Bali. There our ways parted, Alejandro stayed a couple days in Bali and met with some friends, while I took the next flight to Kuala Lumpur. I arrived after midnight and had hoped to sleep a couple hours until my flight at 6am. What I hadn't taken into account: as my flights were booked seperately and I had check-in luggage I had to go through customs & immigration, get my luggage and then wait until 3:30 am to check-in again. And the front area of the airport in KL is not as nice as the inside area - at least in the middle of the night. I sat on the balcony and decided to watch some series. At 3:30 I checked-in, went through security and then had to wait another 2 hours until boarding.
I have to say that Indonesia really was one of my highlights of the trip. I did some amazing diving and hiking there. Despite Bali and the Gilis being some really annoying tourist hubs, which I didn't like at all, Lombok and Flores are amazing gems still to be discovered (Lombok being in between and Flores being very much at the beginning of developping tourism). It has beautiful nature and I met so many friendly people. Prices are reasonable and who wants to go really cheap can do that as well. I found also interesting that though Indonesia seems to be 90% Muslim, this was definitely not the case in the places where I went. Bali is very much Buddhistic and Flores was mainly Christian, except for the fishing places where there were some Muslims. Not that it would change much, it just surprised me.
Last but not least, there are so many parts that I would have loved to discover still, from diving in Rajan Ampat to temples and vulcanos on Java and Sumatra. The 30 days visa is way too short for all that Indonesia has to offer and I'm sure I will make my way back there one day to discover the rest.
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| Little Beach next to the hostel, Senggigi Lombok |
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| I can see the rain coming, view back towards Senggigi, Lombok |
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| Bike gang on tour: Some people from the hostel and Alina & Elliot from Holland, Lombok |
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| Palm trees, sun setting, what a beautiful island, Lombok |
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| Diving at Manta point, what do we see? White Tip Sharks, Gili Trawangan |
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| So many turtles, picture time! Gili Trawangan |
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| Last night with Elliot & Alina, Senggigi Lombok |
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| Day before hiking Rinjiani we visited some waterfalls, Sembalun, Lombok |
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| Of course we had to swim! Sembalun, Lombok |
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| And because we were late, we had all this beauty to ourselves. Sembalun, Lombok |
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| On the way to the starting point of the Rinjani trek, Lombok |
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| Impressive how they carry 35 kilos in baskets on a stick, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| We made it to the first camp Site. Luckily sunny but very limited view due to the clouds, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| We all made it to Camp 1, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| The last meters up to the top. It looks like nothing but is the worst part. Two steps forward, one sliding back. Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| The sun is up, and everyone is happy to be up this beautiful mountain, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| Tired but happy, peak of Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| So many people. We counted around 150 tents the first night. Not everyone made it up to the peak though, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| But we did! Group picture op on the peak of Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| Cheaky monkeys everywhere in Indonesia. Even up the mountain, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| We are so small! Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| We made it! After 10+ hours hiking this day we made it to the second camp. Well deserved rest, Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| From here it's only going down! Having proper hiking boots and sticks are again a big advantage (and saving my knees), Mount Rinjani |
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| That's it! We made it. 3 days hiking up to 3700m, down to the lake, back up and then 2000m down! Mount Rinjani, Lombok |
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| After that we had deserved some island fun. Snorkeling with the Turtles, Gili Air |
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| Meeting Timo and his family in Seminyak, Bali |
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| Watching sunset at a fancy place, Seminyak Bali |
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| Cute villas where we stayed with a private pool, Seminyak, Bali |
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| Day trip to temples in southern Bali, Tanah Lot |
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| Water temple of Tanah Lot, Bali |
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| Kopi Luwak is sold everywhere. The beans are eaten by this cute animal and after pooped out again washed and roasted and sold for a lot of money, Tanah Lot, Bali |
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| Posing on the stairs of Uluwatu temple, Bali |
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| You couldn't really go in anywhere, but sometimes get a peak of the cool parts of the temple, Uluwatu, Bali |
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| Some more posing at Uluwatu temple, Bali |
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| Beautiful sunset from the dive shop at Labuan Bajo, Flores |
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| Happy being on a dive boat at Komodo National Park |
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| Lovely people watching sunset on the Ikan Biru, Komodo National Park |
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| So many colourful fishes! Unfortunately I drowned my fake go pro during the trip, Komodo National Park |
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| The tank at the left bottom is mine! It was very exciting to lie there in the drift and watch the Manta coming really close to us, Lombok National Park |
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| Good night! Beautiful view on Rinca, Komodo National Park |
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| Ah wait, there is more diving still! Sunset dive and we saw a cute frog fish, Komodo National Park |
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| Strawberry Nudies, so cute! Komodo National Park |
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| I still just love the Nemos! Komodo National Park |
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| So lucky to get close to these beautiful (huge) animals, Komodo National Park |
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| Here come's the Black Tip Reef Shark. Unfortunately my camera was already dead when we were surrounded by 15 sharks. Still not my favorite ones, but I have to admit it was cool. Luckily they had told me by then that these sharks are vegetarians, Komodo National Park |
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| Most of the group skipped on dive to be able to visit Rinca island and see the Komodo dragons |
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| We were lucky as we saw a lot of them! I'm glad I had my zoom lense with me, I wouldn't have wanted to get too close to them, Rinca Island |
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| So nice of him to walk past the National Park sign for a good picture, Rinca Island |
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| They really look a bit like dragons, don't they? Their bite is very dangerous, because they are full of bacteria. No thanks! Rinca Island |
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| We hiked up a little hill and managed to make a fun picture (we weren't that many people, hint, hint) Rinca Island |
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| Back to Labuan Bajo, watching the sunset from the rooftop of the hostel, Flores |
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| Alejandro and me rented a scooter to drive acrosss Flores and started with some other people from the hostel with an adventurous ride to a waterfall, Flores |
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| What a lovely lunch break. And again we have been lucky and no rain yet, somewhere on Flores |
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| Most of the times the roads were very well maintained. But sometimes they weren't and most of the times you need to be ready for a bit of a whole... Flores |
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| Famous spider web rice fields, Cancar, Flores |
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| Selfi time! Cancar, Flores |
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| Beautiful beach stop, well deserved after such a long scooter day, Flores |
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| The name of the beach is translated to something like big rocks beach, Flores |
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| Before we knew we would actually hike this one: Mount Inirie, Flroes |
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| Old lady in front of her house in a local village. The lips are red from chewing betelnut, around Bajawa Flores |
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| Our guide knew all the good photo spots. Local village in front of Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| Their main income is from farming, but the ladies earn a little bit of extra by selling scarfs to tourists, around Bajawa, Flores |
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| Well deserved break at this beautiful hot spring, with nearly no tourists, Bajawa, Flores |
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| We were lucky to be there when one of the villages was holding fighting ceremonies to thank for the harvest and pray for good luck. The more blood, the better chances they say. Soa, Flores |
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| Elderly men entertaining while the next fighter is being searched, Soa, Flores |
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| The fighters are held back by their friends so that the fight stays controlled. Soa, Flores |
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| The whole village and many visitors were watching. All the foreigners were invited to join and watch from the tribune. Soa, Flores |
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| Sunrise on top of Mount Inirie. It was tough, but we made it! Flores |
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| What a view! And we had it all to ourselves! Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| We were so happy! Made it to the top! Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| Don't ask me why, but there were shoes to be found everywhere. In the back you see the shade that Mount Inirie casts on the sea. Flores |
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| The whole group. Two guides as Alejandro and me had quite different hiking speeds and the two boys followed their uncles and ended up guiding Eva in the middle. Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| We made it up, now it is "only" going down, wohoo. Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| Have of the way down was gravel that we were running/sliding down. Most of the time very funny, but again very lucky for my boots and sticks. The boys were doing it in flip flops or partially even no shoes! Mount Inirie, Flores |
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| Live music in the evening at the Milionari. Good mix of locals and tourists are a guarantue for a fun night. Bajawa ,Flores |
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| Last scooter day with a little break at the blue stone beach. In my opinion they are more green, but hey. Flores |
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