Flores, Indonesia’s most beautiful island?

Suda tiga bulan di Indonesia (already 3 months in Indonesia) ? What are you looking for ?? That’s what a friend of my couchsurfer asked me a few days ago. Yeah, what am I looking for, indeed ? I have no idea. I am in Makassar, Sulawesi, second biggest city of Indonesia. I’m about to start my fourth month in this country and still have no idea of what I am looking for here. Am I only looking for something ? Or am I just trying to live one day at a time, knowing that any attempt to make some kind of plans is completely useless while traveling ?

I arrived four days ago in Sulawesi, after almost 20 hours of boat. I took the Pelni (national navigation company) in economy class. I’ve heard a lot about Pelni’s economy class (overpacked with people sleeping everywhere that you could barely walk, overdirty, overnoisy and full of cigarette smoke, etc etc). But in the end, it was not that bad for me : the ship was not overpacked at all, I spent the first part of the day outside on the deck floor, then I met a student working in the boat who brought me to the navigation room, and I eventually ended up in his 1st class cabin with his roommates watching movies – I could even sleep in a bed for a few hours. Pretty cool boat trip !

So I left Flores after having spent a littlebit more than a month exploring the island and around. Hard to describe a whole month in Flores in one blog post, so I will try to highlight the best moments. Flores is the most beautiful island I have visited so far in Indonesia. Its geographical and cultural diversity is incredible. The island is only 160 km long, but the « trans-Flores highway » is about 670 km long, slaloming around endless volcanic mountains. The average speed on the road is 30 km/h. Better not to be in a hurry to cross the island by land. I did, from the western town of Labuanbajo to the eastern one of Larantuka, and this was definitely worth the long trip. Five ethnic groups are spread around Flores, speaking five languages which are really different one from another – people from two different ethnic groups must speak Bahasa Indonesia together. The population of Flores is 90% Catholic, Muslims living mostly in port towns. But ancestral traditions are still important in everyday life, which created an interesting syncretism of Catholicism and Animism all around the island.

 

Island near Labuan Bajo / Komodo

 

The first part of this trip, I was based in Labuanbajo with Chrys and a French couple met on the ferry. We enjoyed diving in maybe the most beautiful diving spots of Indonesia – a HUGE diversity of fish and marine life and diving with the amazing and peaceful manta rays ! We took a 2-day boat trip on Komodo and Rinca islands to « trek » (I think even a child would not call this a trek, this is ridiculous) and spot the impressive Komodo dragons (ok they are beautiful, but I still have the feeling this was a big tourist trap), and also to snorkel around some of the gorgeous islands and beaches of the area. Chrys and I also had a crazy motorbike trip and jungle trek to find an impossible-to-find waterfall (Cunca Rami) which in the end was really worth it. Then I left for a few days to Bali and Singapore in order to do a new tourist visa for Indonesia.

 

Island in Komodo National Park

 

Cunca Rami Waterfall

 

Komodo dragon

 

When I came back to Flores, for the real first time of this trip in Indonesia, I was going to travel alone (I mean, travel more than 20-30 km in a bus). And I really enjoyed it ! Specially because my Bahasa Indonesia was good enough to handle a basic conversation, which was great to make friends in the bus while waiting on the side of the road for the tyre to be fixed. Locals really appreciate if you try to learn their language. For me, it’s a matter of respect – and it’s also better to bargain prices, which you have to do all the time.

 

Manggarai man passenger of my bus

 

The Trans-Flores is stunning. Along a large part of the road are only spread banana trees, palm trees and bunches of bamboo. Forest is lush and untouched and I hope deforestation will never be an issue there. The island, especially the beaches, is still wild – no big hotels anywhere. A real gift. I first stopped in Ruteng, centre of the Manggarai region, for 2-3 days. I went out for lunch and ended up staying for 3 hours in the warung (local small restaurant) because of the rain, where I befriended a guy, Stefanus, who invited me in his family the same evening : they are all musicians so we spent an amazing evening singing and drinking sopi, the local alcohol. The following day, Stefanus showed me around important places for the Manggarai people, including the incredible spiderweb rice fields. The concentric circles represent the community and are central to the Manggarai’s beliefs. Since I miss the last bus (at 10 am…), I stayed one more night with his wonderful family. When they asked me if I wanted chicken soup for dinner, I did not expect we would go to the market, buy a live chicken (looking really sad in its overcrowded box) which has been killed directly in the market, and then empty its organs at home. This was a bit hard for me (I’m mostly vegetarian, but not always easy while traveling), but when you think about it, it’s a bit « better » than the way we treat chickens in our countries. At least, these ones could walk around freely, are not fed with antibiotics, and in the end you get real fresh meat (there is no fridge anyway).

 

Spider-web Manggarai rice fields near Ruteng

 

Traditional Manggarai village near Ruteng

 

After Ruteng, I went to the mountainous and beautiful Bajawa area, home of the Ngada people. The Ngada society is based on matri-linearity, which is quite unique in Flores. There is an interesting co-existence between the ancient belief system of the Ngada people and catholicism. The centre of a Ngada village stands several ceremonial edifices, which represent the ancestral protection of the village. These include the Ngadhu, which resembles a man in a huge hula skirt, the thatched skirt sitting atop a crudely carved, phallic forked tree trunk, which is imbued with the power of a male ancestor. The female part of the pairing, the Bhaga, is a symbol of the womb, a miniature house. The symbolic coupling is supplemented by a carved stake called a Peo, to which animals are tied before being sacrificed. The different levels in the village represent the different clans. I visited some traditional villages and got lost on my way to Wawo Muda, the youngest volcano of Flores with two orange volcanic lakes. That was for the best, because on my way back I’ve been surrounded by women of the village with whom I ended up chewing betel nuts (the taste is quite horrible I must say). They were so excited to dress myself in their traditional outfit and then take pictures of me ! Specially one amazing old woman full of energy even if she gave birth to twelve children ! A woman living in the next village brought me in her family for the afternoon. I had lunch with them and spent a few hours driking local alcohol and improving my Indonesian skills while waiting for the rain to stop. Some of my best memories from Flores !

 

Crazy time with Ngada women near Bajawa

 

Ngada traditional village of Bena with in the middle Bhaga in the front and Ngadhu behind

 

Wawo Muda, Flores’ youngest volcano

 

In Indonesia in general, but more particularly in Flores, when you travel by bus, you are not really traveling in a bus but inside a night-club. Seriously. And my trip from Bajawa to Ende became a nightmare because of this. Imagine 5 hours in a bus with shitty house music terribly loud with basses at their maximum. And you cannot escape. And your earplugs are inside your backpack on the top of the bus. That was my beautiful trip to Ende. Hopefully the mountainous landscapes and later the wild coast were beautiful. The most impressive is that locals do not seem to be annoyed by this. Many of them are sleeping, even young children. I am amazed how tolerant Indonesians are regarding to noise in general! In Ende, I met Veronika and Irka, a nice couple from Czech Republic – I traveled with them for like 10 days, before they left to Timor and I to Sulawesi.

I stayed in Ende way longer than expected. One day, the rain poured like crazy, I had never seen that much rain before. The following day, the airport was closed because a boat sunk almost on the airport lane or something like that. And parts of the road were closed due to landslides. Hopefully, contrary to a lot of tourists we met, we had time and took advantage of the situation to visit the area. We trekked on Gunung Iya, small volcano in Ende (600m high) – seriously the most difficult trek I’ve ever done, not because of the trail, quite easy, but because of the heat !!! Even early morning, it was almost unbearable, we had to stop every 10 meters at some point. But it was definitely worth the pain to walk around this beautiful crater ! We also rented a motorbike to explore the coast around Ende. Every day, locals are gathering strange blue stones on the beach (no one knows where they come from), which are sent to Japan where people use them in their gardens. But the highlight of this morning was certainly witnessing Irka impressively climbing a palm tree to get fresh coconuts for all of us, in front of an amused old guy who was so happy in the end to get some money to buy cigarettes ! He was screaming “merokok merokok!!” (smoking) while imitating a smoking gesture! And finally the highlight of the afternoon was walking on Ende’s airport lane, around children playing football or kite. Good luck to see this in Europe!

 

Gunung Iya

 

Kids on Ende beach, Flores

 

Stunning scenery on the road between Ende and Moni

 

Ende airport!

 

Wild coast near Ende

 

On our way further east was THE touristic spot of Flores, the 3-colored volcanic lakes of Kelimutu. We spent two nights in Moni, village at the bottom of Kelimutu, maybe the most friendly place I’ve seen so far in Indonesia. People are so nice and helpful in the area, smiling even more than anywhere else. I discovered bananas roasted on the fire, something you should definitely add on your next BBQ shopping list. Eat the banana with small barbecued fishes, it is even better! Anyway, we went to Kelimutu for the sunrise, and spent almost all morning around waiting for the lakes to be completely under the sunlight. For once I was lucky, there were not a lot of tourists, the weather was amazing, and these lakes really impressive. I understand why they are sacred for the inhabitants of Flores – souls of dead people are believed to go inside those lakes (one for the young, one for the old and last one for the wicked).

 

Kelimutu volcanic lake 1 …

 

… and lakes 2 and 3!

 

Sunrise at Kelimutu

 

Leave me alone!

 

We left Moni one early morning, and had the best bus ride ever: since the bus was already full, we sat on the top of the bus beside the luggage, the best spot possible! It was a sunny day so perfect to take pictures, we were not packed in an overcrowded bus, and last but not least, we could avoid the night-club!!! Well, we could feel the basses under our butt, but it was not too bad! We traveled there almost until Larantuka, last town eastern Flores (we had to go back inside the bus because apparently the police was in the area). Short story long, we did not like Larantuka, totally unfriendly (and where I fell in a big hole on the sidewalk, ouch!), and had not a good feeling on Adonara, the nearest island. Even if on Adonara we met a cool guy who is speaking English really well, learning by himself, movies and music since he’s 12. We spent a few hours with him and had lunch with his family, but even though, we followed our intuition and went back close to Maumere, 3 hours from Larantuka, to rest on a bungalow-beach run by a lovely family, waiting for our respective ferry to continue our journey. The best idea ever. Because believe me, traveling can be really exhausting!!! 😀

 

On the top of the bus!

 

Wodong beach near Maumere

 

Beautiful road in Flores

 

More pictures of this beautiful island…

 

Island in Komodo National Park

Island around Komodo

Bajawa area, Flores

Children in a village near Bajawa

In a Ngada village near Bajawa

Ngada family near Bajawa

Children in a Ngada village near Bajawa

Beautiful family who invited me to eat

Bajawa

Bajawa

Ende market

Ende market

A coconut guy, Ende

Gunung Iya volcano near Ende

Wild coast and blue stones of Ende

Rice terraces near Ende

Little boys to whom we gave pens, near Moni

Ferry from Larantuka (Flores) to Adonara island