Every country has their catch phrase, not sure if anyone puts theirs to use as much as Indonesia though, probably not even close.
I`m 3 weeks and a few hundred thousand 'Hello Misters' into this trip, and to be honest it hasn't been the easiest country to navigate with a depleted ambition to travel. Distances are huge and boats can only go so fast, not as easy as hopping on a last minute train like in India that's for sure. I skipped most of Bali and Lombok because of the shear amount of high season tourists and made my East to the jungle clad island of Flores. Two ferries, two buses, and 27 hours was the bill at the end of the journey, a common scenario when you're too cheap to fly in this country from what I gather.
Komodo Dragon spotting is the real tourist draw to this region, so after ticking that off the tourist check list I did some R&R time in the port town of Labuan Bajo. Cheap seafood and new found friends kept me busy, that as well as trying to wrap my head around the non existent public transportion system here. I chose Bajawa as my next stop, a town near the base of a cartoon-like Volcano that's scattered with traditional Ngada villages in it's surrounding hills. I visited the most popular one -Bena, but the real highlight was the motorcycle trip there. Asking for directions in my sorry excuse for Indonesian to red mouthed women chewing Betel Nut was quite entertaining, and aside from the insinuating vibe for you to purchase random things while roaming around the village, Bena was a great experience.
I am still missing India very much, just about every single thing about it. Getting from point A to point B was a piece of cake compared to here. As for the lack of English, the only person to blame for that would be myself. I was aware that English was borderline non existent when you leave the tourist centres here in Indonesia, and Bahasa Indonesian isn't exactly the hardest language to learn. But I'm slooooooowly grasping some key phrases.
From here it`s on to the island of Sumba, probably one of the more isolated and poorest of the islands in Indonesia. What brings me here you may ask? From what I've read it has beautiful deserted beaches and villagers who practice some pretty interesting religious ceremonies. Funerals are a big deal in it's villages; the importance and wealth of said person's funeral is directly proportional to the amount of buffalo and pigs that will be sacrificed. I get a bit squeezy at the sight of even a small cut let alone a 1000 pound water buffalo being hacked to bits, but it's all part of the experience I guess...that's if I'm lucky enough to track one these events down that is!
Other than that I'm basically just throwing darts at a map. I could pick anywhere as my next destination in this sprawling archipelago, but I'm starting to like testing just how far off the beaten track I can go by myself. Sumba has an airport with direct flights to Bali, so an escape route is within easy reach if things get too difficult!
Finding things to photograph was a bit hard as first, or perhaps I'm just spoiled from the 5 month smorgasbord of photo ops in India. Here's a few shots of Lombok, the village of Bena, and the port town of Labuan Bajo. I was told the rooster in the pic was a pretty big deal in the cock fighting world; I met the large beast at a bus station in Lombok. He was being treated like a king by his owners right beside food stalls that were deep frying his cousins!
