Our hosts in Bajawa had suggested that in order to visit the Kelimutu volcano, we could stay in the village of Waturaka. Each villager had turned its house into a home-stay, and each arriving tourist was attributed a room in one of the home-stays. Accommodation was basic (a rustic bed, and a squatting toilet in the shed) but the family was very nice and the mother cooked up some very simple but very tasty food. Next morning, Nim and I drove up to Kelimutu for sunrise. We were a bit late in setting off so in the end we had some good physical exercise rushing up the several flights of stairs to be in time for seeing the sunrise (but it was worth it!). We spent the rest of the day taking pictures of the pose-crazy village children, going to another set of waterfalls and hot springs, and then hiking back up to Kelimutu to see the sunset (definitely a beautiful sight, and hardly any tourists!).
0 Comments
After another long ride with beautiful vistas, we arrived in Bajawa; we quickly found some upmarket accommodation (the room, though smelling of moist, had hot water!) and, together with a nice German guy we met on the road, went looking for the traditional houses of the village of Bena (not hard to find since on our way there, an Indonesian kid offered to accompany us). Thereafter we found some real “hot springs” (you could only bathe in the hot water after it had merged with a cold water stream).
A swift 3 hour scooter ride on the meandering trans-flores “highway” (with all the twists and turns, driving more than 40 km/h was virtually impossible) brought us to Ruteng. Having just arrived, we were immediately invited to come and watch the traditional fights, whereby one guy with a whip tried to hit another guy who only had a shield - each of the fighters had a number of impressive whip scars. One of the locals invited us to come to his house, which was conveniently located right behind the fighting scene. We met the grandmother, who then immediately instructed to serve us lunch and coffee. We were then provided some traditional hats, given front row seats to watch the spectacle, and were asked to take photos with about half the village population. We really felt like halfgods here!
After four days on the boat and three nights of sleep deprivation, I was happy to arrive in Labuan Bajo, Flores. As the boat trip had resulted in me getting a slight cold, going for a dive trip in the renowned waters around Komodo was out of the question. So instead, I booked a scooter for eight days, in order to explore Flores. Via the guy that was renting the scooters (Imam, a funny guy who liked hanging out and socialising with his customers; “Hey Man, Man” “Man, you crazy!”), I got in touch with Nimrod, who had similar plans as me. We agreed to set off together the next day.
4 days on a boat in sunny weather, with stunning views of the sea and the various islands, a close encounter with Komodo dragons and various phenomenal snorkeling spots - there are worse moments in life ;-) Yet, I felt a slightly disappointed having spent (relatively) much money on a tourist trip which I could probably also have done by myself, taking a public ferry. But that’s hindsight, and despite the crew not being very informative at times, and the boat being not extremely comfortable (especially sleeping with thirty people on deck, on thin plastic mattresses, while the boat is sailing all night, running on a noisy diesel motor), I very much enjoyed the trip.
|
Enjoying my blogposts? You can also follow me on instagram or facebook. Click the icons below!
Categories
All
Archives
April 2017
|