So the first bemo (local bus) droped us off at a transfer point, where we waited for our next bus on the corner and were instantly surrounded by local men. I don't know what it is with Indonesia but there are so few women around, very strange. We managed another tiny cramped local bus with locals peering at us like rare birds at every stop. The bumpy ride dropped us off in another town where we had to take motorcycles to the ferry port. It took alot of hassle to get on the boat, without a ticket across Sumbawa, but we managed. The ferries here fill with locals before departure: kids scrambling to collect bottles and cans to recycle, men and women selling food, water, snacks and kids signing for the crowd asking for a bit of change in return. This happens even if you are on a bus getting on the ferry, they all come on your bus, and faking sleeping doesn't work to avoid these salesmen! They are persistent.
We took the ferry across to Sumbawa, and met a Dutch couple on the way doing something similar. We finaly managed to get ourselves on a local bus to the capital city 3 hours away, negotiating only to pay double the local fare. The first bus was alright, but it broke down rather quickly leaving us on the side of the road. Patricia and Alfonso decided to take an aircon bus that puled up to Bima, and we decided to keep it local. The next bus we got on, we sat up front with the driver, staring at the road as it passed beneath our feet thru the rust holes in the floor. A little daunting. Well the bus started chugging and stalled a couple times. Once at the bottom of a hill. So some people got out, I assumed to wait for another bus, but then they shooed us back on and all the men starting pushing it, little by little up the hill so we could push-start the bus. Well after this slow process of a couple minutes, much to the locals surprise we jumped out of the front and started pushing, and in one swift go, we pushed the bus up the hill and jumped back inside. Everyone was laughing and happy when we started down the road again, probably thinking we were either the strongest or heaviest two little foreign girls they'd ever seen!
Well it obviously didn't take long for the bus to um...loose its brakes! and as the driver down shifted to stop the bus, we thought "what is going on!" But again, a third bus came along pretty quickly and we shuffled onto it. I insisted the bags go on the roof, so no one sat on them, cuz this one was packed! And you'll never guess with what: I climbed on only to be shuffled to the back where I leant on about 50 gas cans! Great. When Carla got on smoking, and was surprised when someone said "no smoking on the bus" since in Indonesia you can smoke everywhere(!), she looked puzzled till I explained. Well the only benifit of this was that after not showereing for three days now, atleast the locals couldn't smell me over the fumes!
We took this bus to Sumbawa Besar, finally, where we had to wait for another "big" bus to take us to the port. It was suposed to be 20,000r, and ended up being 70,000, not a pleasant surprise. We waited 4 hours at the deserted bus station, starving, surrounded by men, again, waiting. When the bus finally arrived, it was full of men with two seats left. There was no way we were sitting apart, so they gave us two seats together at the back, in the smoking room! An actual glassed-off section of the bus, also holding the toilet and a refridgerator. Fun! So I took my headband and covered my nose and eyes, and drugged up to sleep on this long overnight bus. Carla woke up to Pervy McPervertson smelling her armpit and snuggling up, so had to stay awake the rest of the night.
We were dropped off at 5am in the port, where we pulled out our sleeping bags and slept on a platform outside a restaurant waiting for out 8am ferry to Flores. Well, keeping with how our day was going we woke up in the am to find out there were no ferries that day, seeing as it was Tuesday!! So we were determined to get on any boat we could and get out of that dock, filled with creepy guys wearing dirty clothes and still not having showered for going on 4 days now. We met the couple from the ferry again in the port and they very nicely offered us to join them on their chartered boat to Komodo and then onto Flores the next day for free. What a treat! So we managed to get some real food in us and hop on the boat for another 6 hours to Komodo. It was a gorgeous and at times slightly wavy journey on this tiny boat where the "toilet" was a blocked off section at the back of the boat with a floorboard missing. nice. I also woke up at one point afetr sleeping on the deck to sliding quickly towards the ocean...a bit scary. Luckily I was caught by the tiny railing and caught all my things before they went overbaord.
We arrived on Komodo and were slapped with a new "fee" to even step on the island. It also turned out to be mating season and so it was not guarenteed we'd see many Komodo Dargons. Well I was more concerned at this point of showering and changing the clothes I'd been wearing for 2 days and one night. Our only accomodation options came with a mandi, and not a shower. I was soo sad. A mandi is just a tub of water and you bucket shower. Which is alright sometimes, but sometimes, is really inefective at washing your hair and this one was dark and dirty. So no clean hair for another day for me.
We did see two giant Komodos, up close. Pretty cool, but they were near the camp, on our hour walk of the park we saw only other wildlife, although the "Flying Lizard" was pretty cool. We got back on our boat to head to Flores and what was suposed to be a great port town. Not exactly. We did stop to swim on the way which was nice, and got some sunbathing in on the roof of the boat. We also stopped at a tiny island fishing village to buy some Bintang beer. We arrived to hoards of screeming kids: Touris! Touris! Mister! Mister! Every kid in town came out to gawk as we walked thru the town. It was so fun. the locals smilled and wanted to be in pictures and we bought candy to hand out to all the kids. We taught them to sing "Ole, Ole Ole Ole..." And they sang it as our boat puled away and we waved good-bye. So fun!
We got to Labuanbajo to find that all the accomdations were full except two rooms in the whole town. It was also quite pricey, and a run down fishing port. Patricia and Alfonso changed their flight to go back to Bali the next day and Carla and I stayed for a couple days, but we couldn't even afford to got snorkelling, and the trip to Kilimetu (the tri-colored volcanic lakes) would have taken us 7 days, that we did not have. So we stayed a couple nights, not feeling very comfortable, and paid one bus company a motherload to take us straight back to Dempasar in a 32 hour bus and boat journey.
So here we are, back in the Bali that we love, staying in Sanur beach and preparing for Australia. We leave on the 6th. We are sad to go, Asia has been wonderful, but still looking forward to the new adventure.
-R
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