Flores, Nusa Tengara Timur

July 13th – 15th

I spent the night on the docks, with a dozen trucks and another dozen cars. When I woke up, around 6AM, there was already over a hundred scooters queuing up for their tickets. Later I learnt they were waiting for the morning boat, to Rote, the island just next door. Rote is another popular destination for Timorese.

After I got the confirmation tickets for LArantuka wouldn’t be sold before 10AM, I went back to the car for a snooze. When I woke up, I found Rincan, the police officer who was supposed to help me last Sunday. He was very apologetic about Sunday, as he got in late, at 9AM and we’d already gone. So this time, he took my number plate down, with my name, and went to talk to whoever in charge. Fifteen minutes later I got my ticket, with the promise I’d give a tip to “whoever”. Well I’m pretty sure, “whoever” is Alberto, the port officer in charge, I spoke to him on Wednesday and we chatted in Portuguese, as he’s from Dili. Nice guy.

So anyway, at 1AM, it was time to get in line for boarding. When I say “in line” that’s a figure of speech, I meant “get in a chaotic group; cars, bikes and passengers, goats and chicken together” in front of the gates. I haven’t really figured out why some people got in, some didn’t, but after an hour in the beating sun, I got in. So first they load the cars and the trucks, leaving enough space for a toothpick between each vehicle, then they load the bikes, then the passengers and their stuff (and by stuff I mean animals, dead or alive, boxes and packs and bags).

Since there is no catering on board, beside the odd vendors who sell baxo (soup with meatballs, very tasty) or water, I filled the fridge yesterday with food and drinks for the trip. And since there is no way I can open the doors to get out, I squeezed out through one of the windows to use the single toilet then went back into the car and didn’t get out before disembarking. During this quick toilet break, I chatted to a vendor who sells matrasses to be used during the trip, to pay for her university fees. She’s studying at the Kupang University to become a teacher. Her English is better than she thinks, certainly better than my Bahasa…

It’s hot, I was hoping for a nice sea breeze during the trip, but it’s bloody hot. And the owner of the black sedan next to me is determined to show he has the loudest speakers on the ship. At last he turns it off, and I can listen to my movie on the laptop. I was also hoping for a quiet night but no such thing. Oh well.

5AM, we arrived in Larantuka and I disembarked quickly, only to realize I had no map of the island. Not to worry, Labuhan Bajo is on the West tip of Flores, I’m on the East tip. Just head West and it should be OK. I knew there was one place on the island I could not miss, Kelimutu National Park. It’s one of the few parks of the country that’s properly managed. The main attraction of the park are the three volcanic lakes.

Each lake has a distinctive colour: turquoise, brown and black. They say each lake contains the souls of the departed, depending on how good you’ve been in your life you end up in one of them.

On the way, I catch up with Sasha and his wife Kerstin, on their superb Africa Twin (for the bike lovers, this is one of the greatest bike you could find, until Honda took it out and replaced it by a very dull Varadero). We exchange a few tips on the side of the road, including a free GPS map for Indonesia. I gave them our map for Timur and Timor Leste in exchange. They’ve been on the road for quite a while and Kirsten was very jealous of the fact I had the whole of Indo ahead of me. They obviously loved it. So I got to the park, and paid the entry fee. It’s 26.000rp for one car and one person, and if I told the girl at the kiosk I did have a camera I would have to pay an extra 50.000rp… Go figure.

Indeed the park is superb. Not only is it clean and properly managed (I can see they’ve had tips from Australia: toilets everywhere, signs in both Bahasa and English, even the “fire danger” sign is there with the arrow and the colours). After climbing up the hundred or so steps, I got to the top and wow the view ! You can definitely smell the sulphur from the volcanic activity here, but I did not expect the colours to be so vivid! It’s like paint. Awesome. A group of students offer me a cup of kopi, and some biscuits, then each of them take pictures of me, me and them, me and the group, me and the girls, etc… Funny.

But then I realised I still needed a place to camp and the sun was already going down. I got out of the park and found a quiet spot by the side of the road. Time to build a fire. Not so easy when it rains and the fog is rapidly enveloping the mountain. I managed to get something going and cooked my meal but it only lasted long enough for the water to boil.

It rained all night, and the fog is still very thick. No fire this morning, so off I went down the mountain and reached Ende an hour later. Unfortunately, it was foggy all day so I got no picture, I just drove. Last night I downloaded the map Sasha told me about, and it worked like a charm. The GPS tells me Labuhan Bajo is five hours away so I reckon I can make it tonight.

Yeah well, think again. There is only 750k between each tip of the island, so the 350k from Ende seemed like a quick drive. Only you can’t go any faster than 40kmh here. First there is traffic, trucks and bemos (the Indonesian equivalent to the Timorese mikrolet) and scooters, then there’s the occasional landslide, some of which are so bad most vehicle can’t pass it, thank god for four wheel driving. Then of course, there is not one straight line between the two points. Not one. It’s left-right-left-right all the way, and steep ups and downs, sometime in first gear that’s how steep they are.

So after six hours of left-right, I had enough and I camped between two villages. I was also slowly getting annoyed by the “hey mister” each time I saw someone. So I welcomed the peace and quiet of this valley, and slurped my beer while the sun went down. I had a late lunch at 4PM so I skipped dinner and hoped the sun would shine in the morning.

Tadaa, my prayers were heard, this morning, bright and sunny day. This only means one thing: fire and COFFEE! How I missed a cup of black coffee, no sugar, no residue, no nothing, just coffee, strong and black.

Finally I can enjoy the beauty of Flores. It really is spectacular. It’s green and lush; the volcanoes have created a beautiful landscape. The only thing that worries me is the low brake-fluid level on the dash, and the fact I’m in a mountain country…

Three hours later I arrived in Labuhan Bajo, booked a hotel and took a shower, the first in four days…

Distance to-day: 721km, total: 22386km