Dave and Jen had another quick overnight stop over in Bali before jumping on the first flight to Labuan Bajo early the next morning. Hoping to avoid the accommodation problems of last time, this time Jen booked a week in advance. This proved cheaper, but other than that there really was no difference -apart from this time it being further from the airport! The next morning Dave and Jen awoke early to make our flight, went down to the desk and called a taxi (given that we were nowhere near a main road). The man at the desk, who the night before was quite rude and had a slight altercation with Dave regarding our passports, had yet another stand off with Dave as Dave demanded he get the photocopy of his passport back -something which apparently does not happen at this hotel... We then ended up having to wait an hour for our taxi to arrive. Coincidence? Dave and Jen both agreed that the desk man had cancelled our taxi when we asked why it was taking so long and luckily Jen hailed one driving past our tiny little alleyway of a street to make it to the airport on time...
After a quick flight which showed amazing views of Komodo and Rinca islands, Dave and Jen arrived in Labuan Bajo. We got a lift into town, after unsuccessful attempts at bargaining for a lower price, and checked into some really cool bungalow accommodation with spectacular views over the oceans and surrounding islands. For those who do not konw, Flores (the island which Labuan Bajo is on) is a large but little visitied island to the East of Bali, Lombok and Sumba -neighbouring Timor. The landscape is absolutely beautiful and looks very similar to Australia. (Wallace tells me this is because it was once originally part of Australia, and not mainland Asia as all islands West once were...) There is hardly any tourist infrastructure in Flores, partly due to the devastating 1992 earthquake and tsunami, and partly due to it being "undiscovered" by mainstream tourism. With Labuan Bajo and its proximity to Komodo NP, the most visited town.
Dave and Jen did some research about day trips and tours and in the end decided it would be best to charter our own boat and captain to have a day trip sight seeing the Komodo Dragons and explore some of the beautiful reeds on the nearby islands. As it turned out, we met a Dutchman at our accommodation (whose name Jen believes was Joseph, however Dave doesn't agree), who had a similar plan, so we happily invited him to join us so we could split the cost three ways.
Joseph was quite a nice guy and avid soccer fan (probably increased due to Hollands efforts in the Cup this year), with a tendancy to exclaim "fark" (in an appropriately Dutch accent) into nearly every situation, which Jen found really funny. He'd also travelled nearly everywhere so Dave was quite happy to have someone to exchange stories with, while Jen laid in the sun on the bow of the boat... The weather was stunning! Warm, without a cloud in the sky, perfect for 'dragon hunting' and snorkelling... We arrived at Rinca Island around 9am to be greeted by a massive Komodo Dragon sunning itself right at the end of the pier!
Just a quick interjection, I feel it might help if I give a few facts on Komodo Dragons before I continue... Komodo Dragons basically look like oversized lizards, or small crocodiles, that grow up to 3m in length and up to 100kg in weight, can run at speeds of 30km/h and can also swim at least 500m -and they are only found in the wild in Komodo National Park in Indonesia. Their saliva contains deadly poisoneous toxins and they eat wild Buffalo, Deer, Horses, Monkeys, even naughty children I'm told... They hang out near the watering holes, camoflagued in the shade and then jump out and bite their unsuspecting prey. It then takes 3 weeks for the poison to work -which the Dragons spend following their sick prey until it dies! One dragon can easily eat a full sized Buffalo in one sittig!
So we were very lucky that our captain, with his big stick lead us safely to the Rangers office, considering we arrived at their most vicious and active time of day, and Dave and Joseph were inappropriately dressed in shorts and thongs! Dave, Jen and Joseph took the 'long' 2 hour hike around Rinca Island and spotted at least 15 of these great prehistoric beasts along with lots of wild Buffalo and monkeys. It was getting close to midday, the sun was starting to burn, (and there is only so long you can marvel at Komodo Dragons for... ) so we made our way back to the boat for some lunch and the promise of some snorkelling.
Dave, Jen and Joseph stopped at two islands (and like most of our time in Labuan Bajo) -we were all by ourselves! The reef was filled with beautifully coloured coral and tropical fish and Jen and Dave enjoyed snorkelling, while Joseph, typically European, worked on his tan... Dave and Jen returned to our bungalow exhausted for a hard day sightseeing, and sun burnt in places we unfortunately missed with sunscreen. We had an delicious BBQ dinner, at a restaurant which claimed to be Organic (questionable) and watched the sunset before retired for the night early in preparation for our 12 hour long bus ride the next morning...
The elusive good night's sleep...
Unfortunately for us, the guy staying in the bungalow next door to us we suffering from food poisoning, the effects of alcohol or the onset of malaria and kept us up all night by wretching his poor guts out! (Luckily, Jen's iPod volume made up for her weak stomach in such circumstances, and the thin walls kept out the smell until morning) Eventually, he stopped (or passed out) and the silence was then interrupted by morning prayers being sun over the loud speaker through the town...
(I haven't mentioned singing morning prayers before and should probably explain for those who, like me, had no previous knowledge... (and I apologise for my religious ignorance and any mistakes through my subjective overview) According to the Islamic faithy, you are required to pray 5 times daily, when this occurs tends to vary -but from my experience so far it occurs between 430-6am, 10am, 12-1pm, 330pm and again around 6-8pm. In Muslim countries, the Mosques have loud speakers so those who cannot physically make it to the Mosques are not left out I suppose. The prayers are then sung our over the loud speaker, and often you can hear prayers from more than one Mosque, so it sounds almost like some sort of duet! It is a beautiful experience, eating dinner, hearing Muslim prayers and watching the sunset -however this is somewhat debateable at 5 in the morning of a sleep less night.)
Prayers ended and Dave and Jen's hope of finally foreseeing no more obstacles hindering those last few minutes of slumber were shattered when a cockeral took up roost on our balcony to announce the break of dawn. Jen gave up trying to sleep at this point and took a shower and started to pack her bags... While being stunningly beauiful and small, if you are looking for a good night's sleep in Labuan Bajo, I'd definately suggest you head out of town!
