On Saturday, I flew from Jakarta to Bangkok and I was sad to leave lovely Katie and Indonesia. Indonesia, or what I gathered about Indonesia during my two weeks, is a hard place to travel around and a hard place to visit for a short period of time because of the many different islands, cultures, languages, religions, beautiful sites that make up the country. I feel pretty lucky about the time I spent in Indonesia, but wouldn't mind returning in the future!
My first night was spent in Kuta on Bali - such a lively and beachy destination. It was awesome to do the Bali thing - surfers/night clubs/tourists. There were about ten Indonesian ETAs visiting Kuta when I got there and it was a great chance to meet them and compare experiences. It seems that the ETAs have spent quite some time in Bali over their ten months - often using it as a meeting point for adventures to other islands. The seven "Flores trip" members and I left Bali from the Denpasar airport and flew to Labuanbajo on the West coast of Flores. From Labuanbajo, we took an awesome two hour boat ride to a small island called Seraya. Our first night on Seraya involved singing Indonesian/American music with an Indonesian Catholic Church group on a retreat at the resort (the only place to stay on the island). We finished the evening with some night swimming among phosphorescent seaweed. The swimming got cut short when other guests staying at the resort politely suggested to us that it was quiet time :)
The next day we hired a boat to Rinca island to visit the biggest lizards in the world - the Komodo Dragons!!! There are three islands belonging to the Komodo National Park and these are the only places the Komodos are found. I remember when I was younger, I visited a special exhibit with a Komodo dragon at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Who knew that ten years later I would be visiting them in the wild?!!! Rinca is a beautiful island to visit, but I was a little wary when our tour guide described the dangerous dragons and poisonous snakes we might encounter on our two hour hike. Suddenly my flip-flops didn't seem like such a good idea...! I didn't realize how deadly the dragons are, but usually they only feed once a month and often on the water buffalo that live on the island. The Komodo dragon bite is poisonous so the common mode of hunting involves biting a buffalo and then waiting a few days for it to die of poisoning. We ended up seeing about seven dragons - it was kind of anti-climactic since they were just lying around...but I guess I would rather that than have them chasing me! An interesting (and scary!) fact I learned is that when a dragon is born it lives in the trees for the first two years of its life so as to avoid being eaten by its mother - yikes!
The islands in Komodo National park are also known for fabulous diving and snorkelling. On our way back from Rinca to Seraya we stopped for a refreshing snorkel. Thankfully swimming isn't a big trait among the dragons. We were all sad to leave Seraya, but we needed to continue on our trek across Flores. In Labuanbajo, we rented a minibus/driver and before we left Labuanbajo we visited an awesome cave full of oceanic fossils, huge spiders, and bats. Supposedly there are sometimes snakes too, but thankfully we didn't see any. That same day we drove to Rutang, spent the night there, and checked out the grocery store to stock up on food surprises for our upcoming days on the road. From Rutang we went to Bajawa. In Bajawa we visited a village named Bena known for beautiful "ikat" or weaving. We visited with people in Bena and I felt so fortunate to be with friends/travel companions who can speak Bahasa Indonesia. After a night in Bajawa, we drove to Moni which is at the base of the volcano Kelimutu. We took a trip up to Kelimutu to watch the sunrise over the three multi-colored lakes that make this volcano famous. Supposedly the lakes are always changing color because of the mineral makeup of the water. When we were there, one lake was bright aquamarine, one was dark green, and the last one was a dark blue/black. Just beautiful! After Kelimutu, we returned to Moni and our bus driver took us to a waterfall where you can go swimming underneath - so fun! Then we went on to Maumere and stayed at a place on Ankerme Bay that had a diver center. A few of us went for two dives when we were there, and one of the dives was a shipwreck dive of a Japanese ship that was bombed by Americans during WWII. Thankfully the ship was docked when it was bombed, so no one was on board...
At this point, the group split up and some people returned to their respective islands and others kept traveling on Flores. Katie and I went to Maumere and from there we took a plane back to Bali, then a plane to Surabaya on Java, then a plane to Balikpapin on Kalimantan. Balikpapin is a three hour drive south of Katie's town of Samarinda. I spent the last week in Samarinda - co-teaching with Katie and hanging out in her city/home. I'm so glad I got to visit Katie's site, and it was fun to return to teaching for a bit. It was also interesting to compare Flores- a very Christian island - to Samarinda - which is a very Muslim city. Everyday, five times a day, you heard the call to prayer from various mosques throughout the city. It was also so cool to meet Katie's host-teachers and her friends and students. Even though we are teaching in such different places, the attitudes and personalities of our students are remarkably similar. :)
Wow, that was a marathon of a post! Well, I am off to the airport to pick up Beth!
t - 2 weeks till I return to the states! Lots of love!
1 comment:
You are wonderful! Thanks for visiting and have an AMAZING time with Beth =)
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