Selamat Siang

Sorry it took me so long to write but this is the first internet cafe on the island of Flores (i've been here for a week!) Alot has happened since my last post.

Saying goodbye to Sydney was difficult for many reasons, one of which was the fact that I was absolutely spoiled by the Lanhams who welcomed me into their home with a beer in each hand ;) Like I've said before Good food, Good Drink Good Company - what more could you ask for.

But alas I've said good bye to the english and hello to the world of Bahasa Indonesia. Traded in the "G'day" for "Halo Missus", "Can I bye you a drink" for "Missus, free ride on ojek, no charge no charge" and "You from America" to " You Indyan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai".

I arrived in Denpasar, Bali on 1st of August and caught a glimpse of what the next few weeks to come would bring when i walked up to the immigration counter. "Selamat Pagi, berapa jam indonesia?" Excuse me? He repeats himself and I just look at him with a dumb look on my face - i hadn't gotten to the section that covered jams in my phrasebook.

It seems I look indonesian - sort of. They immediately know i'm of indian origin. I could tell this by the number of 'Halo Indyan' I got just walking 50 meters in Kuta. But many also assume i must be from Java where many people are of Indian descent and therefore can speak bahasa indonesia. So although I looked like more of a local then most foreigners I realized that I would be getting more attention because I was indian. Turns out Bollywood is quite big here and there are many a ojek (motorcycle) drivers that want to be Shah Rukh Khan to my Ashwairya Rai.

With Shaun flying out to Bali in mid-August I made a slight adjustment to my plans and decided to visit Flores and Sulawesi first and then come back to Bali when he arrives. I got a taxi to Fat Yogis and got the last room available for the obscene price of 110,000 rupiah(~$11.50). Visiting Indonesia during the dry season means also visiting during the high season. Prices double and many places have no vacancies. I checked in and then spent the rest of the day booking my flight for the next morning to Flores at the western port of Labuan Bajo and my outbound flight to Singapore.

Labuan Bajo is the tiny eastern port of Flores. I landed on its single dirt paved runway around noon. From this fishing village you could easily charter boats to Rinca and Komodo, the 2 biggest islands of the Komodo National Park. At the airport Jeffrey, my soon to be guide/travel agent/friend approached me asking if i needed a ride into town. He must have noticed the look on my face as I sat in the single building of the airport staring at all the faces of men squeezed up against the glass looking for passengers, not knowing who to go with.

I found a room after trying 2 hotels at the lovely Gardena Hotel. A little hut filled with a double sized bed and its own mandi (bathing room) was great. My goal of the day was to book a trip to Rinca to see the kamodo dragons which Jeffrey sorted out easily and head over to the pelni office to buy my ticket for when i left for sulawesi. My plan was to take the Pelni ferry ship from Maumere to Makassar - a 20 hour trip. The office was only down the street at the harbour. I walked down the steps of the hotel and headed down the street.

Not even 5 feet from the hotel, I got my first taste of the local hospitality. It went something like this -Honk Honk! from a bike driving by... 'Halo Missus' from a school boy walking by.... a not so innocent 'Oi Missus, where you go ,I help' from someone in a group of men sitting around. Some laughing, more halos etc. One guy even followed me asking a bunch of questions as if to try and help me and then wanted to know what hotel i stayed at and finally what room number! HA !!! I told him it was none of his business, where to shove it (even if he didn't understand the english he most definitely understood the look on my face). off he went. Unfortunately what remained was this feeling that I was going to come across this type of 'hospitality' through out my trip in Flores.

the next morning myself and 2 others at the hotel, a father and his son got up early to meet jeffrey and to catch our boat to Rinca. The trip took about 2 hours which was perfect as it gave me some time to just take in the scenery. Sobu, our captain looked like he was 80. A little but strong man who seemed to some how have a never ending kretek cigarette hanging off his lip.

We arrived at Rinca and followed Sobu to the main office to pay our boat fee, camera fee, park fee, because you're a tourist fee, its only a few dollars so you won't notice fees. Not even 100 meters from the office as we headed toward the trail to meet our guide we spotted 6 kamodo dragons! Kamodos have an amazing sense of smell something like 20 km i think and everyday they show up outside the kitchen of the ranger station. The size of these things are impressive - a few meters long, with long gnarly claws. They spend most of morning baking in the sun to raise their body temperature not moving at all. Of course when they need to catch a deer or water buffalo they can go as fast as 18km per hour. Their preferred way to kill is not to waste much energy at all and just hang out till something gets close enough to bite. Their saliva is like a venom and will immediately cause an infection to occur. Regardless of where the animal rests to die the dragon will use its keen sense of smell to find the carcass. Yummy.

The island itself looked like it could have been used to film Jurassic Park. Rolling hills, giant trees, I half expected to see a T-rex come charging down.

After a 3km trek around the island where we spotted a few more dragons and some water buffalo (unfortunately not together) we headed back to Labuan Bajo. Tomorrow I was planning on taking my first bus ride across Flores.