December 24 - December 31, 2011. We spent the holidays on the island of Flores. It is a beautiful island.
Bahasa Indonesia: Pulau means island
December 24. We flew to Ende and hired a driver to take us up to Moni.
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| Plane |
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| Mark at airport in Ende |
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| On the drive to Moni |
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| Small children like fireworks |
December 25. Merry Christmas. Went to see the tri-colored lakes of Kalimutu and drove to Bajawa. The three lakes at Kalimutu change color over time. On the way to Bajawa we stopped at a black sand beach with these beautiful blue stones. According to our guide, the black sand is being exported to China (he didn't know what they were using it for) and the blue stones are exported to Japan, where they are popular for rock gardens. Women on the beach collect the stones, separate them by size and color, and then sell them. We told our guide that the blue stones were beautiful and asked him what would happen when all the stones are gone. He told us not to worry because they will keep washing up on shore.
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| On the door of our room in Moni |
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| Kelimutu National Park |
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| Light blue lake |
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| Self-photo |
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| Black lake |
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| Picture in park showing the lakes |
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| Teal lake |
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| Rice fields |
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| Blue stones for export |
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| Black sand beach with stones |
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| Our guide, Rian, and Mark |
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| Mark's black chacos and black sand |
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| Black sand beach with blue stones |
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| Little bananas - Pisang Flores |
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December 26, 2011. We visited the traditional village of Bena and hiked up Wawo Muda, a volcano which exploded in 2001, according to the Lonely Planet guide book. It was a lovely hike. The guide book says that some ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers will take you to the top. We wanted to walk. As we were getting to the top, Mark at one point wondered if we were on the correct path because it didn't seem very motorcycle accessible. We were on the right path and our perception of what is motorcycle accessible was a bit off.
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| Gunung Inerie |
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| Bena village on slopes of Gunung Inerie - look close |
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| Closer view of Bena village |
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| Woman weaving ikat (fabric) in Bena village |
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| Bena village |
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| Cute old woman and children who requested their picture be taken |
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| On top of house in Bena |
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| Top of house |
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| Banana flower |
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| Banana flower |
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| Banana flower |
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| Mark next to bamboo on hike to Wawo Muda |
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| Flowers |
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| Coffee growing next to the path |
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| Agriculture |
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| Wawo Muda |
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| Wawo Muda |
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| Marker on top of Wawo Muda |
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| Mark on motorcycle accessible path |
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| Corn |
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| Banana flower |
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| Mark in hot springs |
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| Hot springs |
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| Tamarillo |
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| Tamarillos and tamarillo juice is delicious |
December 27, 2011. Drove to Ruteng. Ruteng is a great place off the beaten track. Our driver wanted us to stay in an expensive, not so nice hotel. We had to "convince" him to let us stay where we wanted, which was the cheaper, immaculate convent with gorgeous gardens up on a hill, not out of town, but right next door to the not so nice hotel.
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| Mark at breakfast at hotel in Bajawa - notice the passion fruit, more on those later... |
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| BIG BAMBOO |
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| Mark at Danau Ranamese on drive to Ruteng |
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| Bargaining for ikat |
December 28, 2011. Left Ruteng for our final stop in Labuan Bajo. This is the big tourist spot and a lot of development is going on here. It is the jumping off point for snorkeling and diving trips and trips to islands with Komodo dragons. This was our last day of driving and we were ready to not have to spend any more time in the car. The roads are very steep, narrow, and full of hairpin turns as they wind around and up and down the mountains. The drive from Moni to Labuan Bajo is beautiful, but it is not easy driving. We were told our driver had to smoke so he wouldn't fall asleep. Flores has a large Christian community, so we also stopped to take some pictures of the nativities people had set up in front of their houses. It made us think of Sue, who loves a good creche. I resisted the temptation to hide the baby Jesus. Any idea where I would have gotten such an idea, Todd?
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| Scary Santa |
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| Creche |
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| Hati Hati means be careful |
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| Creche |
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| Spider rice field |
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| Our guide, me, Mark, and our driver |
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| Glad to be out of the car in Labuan Bajo |
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| Motorcycle with New Years cargo |
December 29, 2011. Spent the day snorkeling off Pulau Bidadari. It was amazing. It was only a 20 minute boat ride from Labuan Bajo. Our crew was a young man and three children. They seemed to know what they were doing.
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| Our boat on Pulau Bidadari |
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| Mark in the water |
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| It is important to wear sunblock when snorkeling |
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| Pulau Bidadari |
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| Pulau Bidadari and boat |
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| Mark watching the little fish guard a hole being made in the sand by some type of crustacean (?) |
December 30, 2011. Despite our sunburn (we reapplied sunblock but it wasn't good enough), we decided to still go to Pulau Rinca to see the Komodo dragons. On our way back we stopped by Angel Island for some more snorkeling. There was a pretty strong current around the island (I'm glad I had fins) and excellent snorkeling, once again.
Aside: We've ordered stinger suits. Basically this is a full body swimming suit/rash guard with an attached hood. It's called a stinger suit because it can also protect from jelly fish stings, but we are using it for sun protection. I'm assuming that once we get in the water, it won't really matter how dorky we look, and it is a small price to pay to be able to snorkel to our hearts content, which is a long time. It's not like the asphalt tankini is especially glamorous.
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| The ocean was like glass on the boat ride to Rinca and we saw dolphins |
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| Komodo National Park - Rinca Island |
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| Our mandatory guide, armed with a forked stick to fend off any attacking Komodo dragons, snapped this shot for us |
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| On Pulau Rinca |
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| Angel Island |
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| View from our room overlooking the harbor of Labuan Bajo |
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| Sunset - Harbor of Labuan Bajo |
December 31, 2011. Mark's 36th birthday. Happy Birthday, mlh! We flew out of Labuan Bajo back to Jakarta in time for the New Year's Eve celebrations. The number of people on the streets around our compound was pretty amazing. We missed being at home with our families over Christmas, but we thought of you often and loved seeing all of the pictures.
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| I love all cicaks |
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| Komodo dragon statute at airport in Labuan Bajo |
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