Magnifique Ile de Flores

Hi Everybody !!!

As I slept very well last night :-) I will write this post in english ;-)

So, As I told you last time, we spent 4 marvelous days in Kanawa, relaxing, snorkeling, diving …

When we were back on Flores, we didn't know what to do : going to Lombok and Bali, or traveling through Flores Island … we finally decided to visit Flores and booked a flight from Ende (city close to the main touristic attraction of Flores, the Kilimutu) to go back to Denpasar on the 9th of November. Which means that we got 9 days to visit Flores :-)

So, first, we had to take a bus to go to Ruteng. There we stopped one night as it was already a 3hours drive and we got other 4hours to reach Bajawa, our next stop.

Well, I would not say that Ruteng is very interesting … we rented a motorbike to go around Ruteng as the rice fields were described as very beautiful. That was true, but under the rain, and as frozen as I was, I didn't appreciate it that much :-s. Of course I didn't think about taking my coat as it already rained during the afternoon … and since the beginning of our traveling it didn't rain twice a day! But in Ruteng, everything is possible … Grrrrrrr. After a good HOT shower (oh yeah! it was such a long time that we didn't get any HOT shower) we went to the "city center" to look for a restaurant … and, it was a disaster! Impossible to find something that looked eatable … but finally, walking back to our room (in the St Maria Convent), we found a street shop which was selling fried stuffs. We don't really know what it was, but as a lot of people were coming by this little shop, we finally decided to try. And, It was quite good :-)

So the next morning, the plan was to go to Bajawa. We woke up not as early as usually, and asked to motorbikers to drive us to the Bus Terminal. Of course, we didn't end up at the bus terminal, but at the car of one of their friends going to Bajawa. We finally accepted their price as they told us that the only public bus going to Bajawa left the city 3hours earlier. We are really not sure that it was true, but well, it was 50cents more expensive than the public bus. The new habit we discovered during those terrible 4hours, was that people from Flores are very proud of their shity Sound Player. Basses are played at the MAXIMUM power even if it's saturating the sound player :-s I put my earplugs just to attenuate the sound …

We finally arrived at Bajawa ! :-)

We loved it! Bajawa is a little, cute, smily city surrounded by volcanos and rice fields. Amazing! Its market is colorful and very clean! A lot of people have their lips orange, due to a mixture they chew. When we first arrived, we went for a walk around the city. I bought mangos and Seb one coconut. We met lots of children asking us to make picture "photo, photo!" ;-)

Next morning, we went by motorbike to visit the traditional villages surrounding Bajawa. Very beautiful! As we went on a sunday, we met lots of people coming back from the church.

We came back to Bajawa to have lunch at our favorite restaurant, XXX, and then went up to see the lakes formed at the top of the volcano (it was described in the guides as a mini Kelimutu). When we left the hotel where we rented the motorbike, they made us a bit scared about the idea to leave the motorbike alone when going up to see the lakes. So they gave us a piece of paper where it was written in indonesian "please, could you take care of our motorbike, we will give you money to thank you". Arrived at the top of the volcano, we asked the only guy we met, and he accepted :-)

Then we went for the short walk to the top. During the short way, we met two other indonesians that looked very strange … one had a knife and followed us on our way to the lakes, and, later, going back to the motorbike we met the other one chatting with our motorbike guard. Well, we don't really know who were those guys, but as we were not feeling secured there, we paid the guy who toke care of our motorbike and went back to the city center. Concerning the volcano, actually as the wet season was just starting, the lakes were dry :-s but the landscape on the way was marvelous!

The next morning, we had to catch a bus for Riung, a small village on the coast. The problem was that depending on the person you ask, the schedule is completely different. Finally, the bus was expected to pass by Bajawa between 12.00am and 3.00pm. So, we left the hotel at 11.30am and we were very happy and surprised when the bus stopped and picked us up at 12.15 :-) we were there for 15minutes when it arrived and I even didn't manage to finish the reparation of the short of Seb.

The way to Riung was quite long … not because of the time, but more because of the state of the roads … we jumped a lot! But, as a compensation, the landscape was very beautiful!

At some point we made a pause to pick up new people and hens … pour of them, they were just attached by their legs on the back of the bus.

Arriving at Riung, we directly felt in love with the village. It looks as an Oasis in the middle of a deserted area but also on the sea. There is a little fish village and children playing all around. As we read in the lonely planet that it was possible to dive there, we directly went to meet the dive master to organize a trip for the next day. Everything looked OK :-).

In the evening we went for diner, and coming back, I almost died … because of a bat! Riung is very well known for its giant bats. During the night, they come to the village to have mangos as a good lunch. And of course, sometimes they loose their mango on the way … that's what happened! And the mango felt just in front of me! 20cm and it was on my head! Well, I finally felt lucky :-)

The day after, we woke up early, 7.30am, to meet our dive master. Unfortunately, I have small feet, Seb is too tall, and they didn't have correct equipment :-s so we had to change our plans :-(

After a long negotiation, we finally got a reasonable price to go snorkeling on the islands close to Riung and make a short stop to see the legendary bats. The day was very relaxing :-)

We saw GREAT coral, blue spot ray, lots of fishes, …

On the way back we stopped by the "bat island". We were both very impressed by : the size of the bats and their number! They are millions there! SPECTACULAR!

After a short night, we took the bus (yeah, yeah, another one ;-)) to go to Ende where we took another "disco-bus" to Moni, small village close to the Kelimutu. We drop off our backpacks at the hotel and went for a "city tour". Moni is a very cute village, but also very pour. There, I have been stopped lots of time to take picture of children … they were so cute and so happy to see them self on pictures. At some point, Seb decided to leave me alone because he was bored waiting for me because I couldn't say no …

Later, we met a guy who proposed us to go to his restaurant for dinner … he first described all the menu (which looked so good and so different from what we were used to eat in Indonesia - mostly Nasie Goreng or Mie Goreng). So, guided by my stomach, I told him that we would come, but then he asked us 5euros for the booking :-s because he had to prepare the dishes during the afternoon. Of course I was a bit disappointed, but at the mean time he brought us his guest book which finally convinced me, but not Seb. But he couldn't resist to my eyes saying : "please, it looks so gooood". So, we accepted :-) And it was a very good idea! In the evening, one english couple came for the second time because they loved their first diner at Bamboo restaurant. After 15minutes speaking with them, we finally decided to have diner all together. It was GREAT! Tom and Catherine are also on a round the world trip but lucky they are, they have 1year to make their trip!

The next morning we rented a motorbike to visit the Kelimutu. As usually for this kind of expedition, it's really advised to be there early in the morning, before clouds appear. So we left the hotel at 4h30 in the morning :-s and we arrived at the top for the sunrise :-) BEAUTIFUL! At the top of the volcano, three lakes : a green one, a turquoise one and a black one!

When we were back to Moni, we packed our bags, and wait for a bus on the road. There, we experienced the BEST "public" transport you could have : the back of a pick-up car. It was PERFECT! Seb had place for his legs, the sound of the music was not too high, the panorama was exceptional and at the mean time, we had fresh air! Everything cheaper than the public bus!

We then arrived in Ende. After a short walk, we arrived on the beach. A very beautiful black sand beach, but so dirty … it's really a pity. We spent the afternoon reading on the beach … and taking pictures. Children are lovely, and cute, but … I have to say that after the numerous pictures they asked me to take … I was starting to feel not comfortable. We couldn't stay reading more than 10minutes before attracting children looking at us as we were monkeys with camera. So, the next morning, before taking our flight back to Denpasar, we just stayed at the hotel, quietly.