Indonesia - So Much More Than Just Bali (Part 1)
BALI
We flew to Denpasar Bali from Kuala Lumpur with a Malaysia Airline special. We obtained a Visa On Arrival. Expect a long wait in line as all the planes seem to arrive at the same time. The hotel we had booked on the internet met us with a complimentary transfer. We had flown to Bali to obtain an onward flight to Flores to take a boat to see the Komodo Dragons. We spent 3 days in Bali and were less than impressed. The beaches have dirty looking sand and were covered with rubbish washed ashore. The shops all seemed to sell the same unremarkable touristy junk. We know people who rave about Bali and go there every year; we can only assume they have never been anywhere else to compare it with.
FLORES
Our hotel gave us the best airfare to Flores. We flew to Labuanbajo on Flores and stayed at the Bajo Komodo Eco Lodge. It was lovely, spacious with a pool and quiet. There is a fantastic restaurant next door. We took some walks and played soccer with the locals and bought cold drinks from a home shop. It is out of the town centre and you need to take transport (motor bikes, vans or hitch a ride on a trailer). I was starting to feeling very ill (dizzy and nauseous when I stood up) and just wanted to rest.
All travel agencies will organise your boat trip to Komodo Island to see the dragons. Shop around and compare prices against what they offer and what is included. We opted for a 2 day/1 night tour. The 3 day/2 night tours only included more snorkelling. People we met on these tours wished they had taken the 2 day/1 night tour instead. There are open deck boats versus cabin boats. We chose the open deck boat, where we slept on mattresses on the canopy covered deck. We found this was much better than being stuck in a stuffy small cabin. Compared to the cabin boats we appeared to have more deck room. Despite still not feeling well we left for the dragon islands.
KOMODO & RINCA ISLANDS
We left Labuanbajo at 8am and there was just Gavin and I, the captain, deckhand and cook on the boat. We went to Rinca Island first where we paid our National Park fee which also covers Komodo Island (so keep your ticket safe). We saw quite a few dragons in our walk with the ranger. After leaving Rinca we went to an area called Coral Gardens to go snorkelling. We have never seen so many different and beautiful coloured corals. The boat then took us to see the huge mangrove bats that leave at dusk. We dropped anchor for the night. We were joined by lots of other tour boats.
The next morning we headed to Komodo Island. The ranger took us into the forest where we came upon a huge dragon which he started to poke with a stick as he said he wanted to get better photos for us! We told him it was fine, after all these creatures eat meat! Lots of the dragons hang around the compounds especially where the kitchens are, hoping for meat scraps.
The boat took us to another island for some more snorkelling which was quite poor. We arrived back at Labuanbajo around 4pm. We stayed at a hotel in town as we were deciding whether we would take a tour to the other end of the island and fly back to Bali from there. In the end as I was still ill we decided to fly back to Bali from Labuanbajo.
To read about our further adventures in Indonesia, please read Indonesia - So Much More Than Just Bali (Part 2)
Name - Elwynn Jones
Website - http://roughitinerary.com
Since 1999 my husband Gavin and I have travelled to 53 countries. Our shortest trip was 5 days and our longest was 7 months. We travel independently and map out a rough itinerary (hence our website name), as we know that our plans will change due to weather, local circumstances or finding out about other attractions not listed in the guide book. We have created this website to share our knowledge, experience and other details we have learnt along the way.