Mountains To Sea

Back on the road for another great ride through Flores, Indonesia.

Leaving Moni and its surrounding volcanic peaks my destination for the day was Bajawa, along the way I dropped down to the coast to the sprawling town of Ende. The road then hugged the coast for a while and I experienced some great views of black sandy beaches and small fishing villages before heading up more twisty mountain ranges for an early afternoon check in at a Bajawa hotel for the night. Bajawa was another inland town surrounded by forested peaks with a very pleasant temperature for an afternoon walk around the busy market area.

 

Up early the following morning for a 7.00 am hotel breakfast, I anticipated a long days ride to my next destination, Labuan Bajo. Not far out of Bajawa I was halted while an excavator and loader cleared the road after a landslide, thankfully my waiting time was short and after snapping a quick photo or two I was rounding up the scooters that had got the jump on me.

 



 

 

Riding on, I reached the mountain town of Ruteng just on lunch time. I spotted a very clean looking Warung with locals eating so I parked the bike, entered and ate a tasty Nasi Ayam. Well nourished and watered, I was back in the saddle to navigate my way out of town, after one wrong turn I stopped for a quick double check of directions from a local and was soon heading the right way.

 

Just out of town, dark clouds filled the sky and rain was a definite so I stopped and put on my wet weather gear. Within minutes the rain bucketed down and rather than seeking shelter I slowed my pace and continued on. On and on and on the afternoon went, both rain and twisties, hill after hill, light rain and heavy rain all afternoon. I reached Labuan Bajo about 4.30 pm, wet through and exhausted from a long day of intense concentration.

 

I fronted up to the accommodation I had short listed, stood ringing wet out side the reception area and asked the attendant if they had a room, a response came not from the attendant but in an aussie accent from a guy tapping away on a computer within the reception area, "no mate, but I am just checking out alternatives for myself on the trip adviser web site". So with that response I met Michael, a kiwi/aussie whom had travelled a very similar route as me after entering Timor Leste in his 1967 Morris Mini. Michael and I discussed the accommodation options and I got back on the bike and headed for the closest one. About half an hour latter Michael turned up after selecting the same hotel.

 

When the rain cleared the following morning a spectacular view of the Labuan Bajo bay dotted with small islands and coastal vista was revealed.

 

 

Sunset views proved equally spectacular.



 

 

Michael, whom had travelled to many parts of Indonesia over the past twenty odd years was a pretty fluent speaker of Bhasa Indonesian, which certainly provided an advantage in communicating with the locals. Michael and I had three days in Labuan Bajo before the next scheduled ferry would transport men and machines to the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, so during our wait we cruised around town in the mini, checked out local bars and eateries including the night market which dished up a delicious version of Ikan (fish) Bakar (bbq) or barbequed fish. The fish on offer was usually a couple of coral trout species, red snapper and cod, My whole coral trout meal was a steel at $5.00.

 

 

Labuan Bajo was also the place to organise a trip to Komodo or Rinca Islands, home to Komodo Dragons. We organised a day trip to Rinca Island, travelling in a timber boat propelled by a chug chug two cylinder engine with no muffler and one speed just over walking pace, needless to say it was a noisy two hour trip their and a noisy slow trip back with a stop off mid way for a quick snorkel over some pretty coral providing habitat for many brightly coloured species of small reef fish.

 

Oh yes, we did see five Komodo Dragons on Rinca Island, most were under the Rangers kitchen, we also spotted their number one meal, Timor Deer.

 



 

 

Before departing Labuan Bajo I took the opportunity to wash the bike at a nearby car wash, the young guy spent about 40 minutes washing my bike then it took about 30 minutes for the photo session, each worker' the owner and his wife wanted a photo on the bike, then one with me in shot, it was all good fun and put a smile on the faces of everyone.

 

After a great three days in Labuan Bajo, it was time to board our 8.00 am ferry to Sape on the Indonesia Island of Sambawa. The ferry journey was about 7 hours in duration, leaving us enough daylight  hours when we reach Sambawa to ride/drive to a town with accommodation. After the Indonesian islands I'd travelled through so far Sambawa proved to be quite a bit different.