We ended in Ende

I’m not sure where to begin. Indonesia was amazing. So amazing that I can’t help but feel indifferent to the coming leg in Northern Thailand. Yes, the Thai food will be amazing. But can it compete with Indonesia in any other category? We’ll have to see.

Let’s start from the beginning-Gili Air.  With the introduction of a new international airport on Lombok, Gili Air was only a short (and very cheap) flight from Kuala Lumpur, an hour taxi, and 20 min ferry. And just like that, you’re at the perfect Island getaway. Was Gili Air one of the most amazing places we’ve been too? Probably not, but it remains as one of the Ultimate vacation destinations we’ve spotted out for future use. Let me get into the details. The island takes about 1 hour? Maybe 2 to circumnavigate and 90 percent of your destinations are within a 10-20 minute walk. This makes everything so dang easy. Secondly, there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. This makes everything so dang peaceful. Thirdly, and maybe this should go first, there is a bar located on a great beach, with great sunsets, with great cocktails (and great prices), and great music. The sunsets in Indonesia are truly out of this world. It still is just entirely beyond my comprehension how the sky can be more beautiful in different places around the world (my newest theory includes the height of the clouds, they seem lower here). I joke with Libby that the sunsets here have an “Indonesian” filter that we’re Beta testing for Instagram.  Fourthly, they have excellent food for extremely reasonable prices. You know a place is a veritable paradise when capable cooks/entrepreneurs/whatever decide to just sort of chuck it in and just go set up shop in paradise. Whether you want fresh fish on the beach or an Italian style pizza cooked up by a Milano on his wood-burning stove, there are options for you. Fifthly, there is excellent snorkeling located right off the beach. The current gently pulls you along like a conveyor belt (also known as a travellator according to the Bali airport) so you just walk up the beach, swim out and enjoy the ride. Considering we saw 3 turtles and many scorpion fish in our two times snorkeling, I’d consider that good snorkeling from my experience. 

And then there was the diving…  

I think at the end of the day, diving was the main reason we came to Indonesia. You know that feeling of supreme self-satisfaction you get when you have an idea or a rough plan you want to accomplish, and it turns out that idea was something close to one of the GREATEST IDEAS IN THE WORLD? That was diving. And honestly it was a big sacrifice choosing to include diving in our Indonesia itinerary. Y’all might not remember but Raja Ampat to me, in the initial pre-trip planning stages, was like the holy grail of the whole 4 month trip. And after a lot of number crunching there was a time when I was ready to sacrifice diving to make Raja Ampat possible. Thankfully, we stuck to our guns and held on to diving as our primary objective. What a great idea, it’s difficult to think of what life would have been like if I just would have stuck to snorkeling. Diving is something I will certainly hold on to for the rest of my life.

Back to Gili Air. I honestly felt Gili Air was the perfect introduction to diving. First off, the diving itself was really, really good. It’s not quite world-class (since I know what this now hehe), but there are some things that would draw even the most seasoned divers. First off, it’s so dang easy. In Komodo, it takes 2 hours to get to the farthest dive sites and here it’s 15 minutes. That means you can go for a morning dive, come back for an espresso and tuna wasabi salad and then head back out for an afternoon dive. On Komodo it’s an all-day affair. Libby was nagging me for weeks about how lame and decidedly unspecial her birthday was going to be, and I definitely encouraged it by being honest that while on the road there’s not a lot of time to go searching around in the boutique shops ect ect. But in the end, she got to go scuba diving for the first time on her birthday. Honestly and truly, I can’t think of a more special experience of that. Diving for the first time is one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. It was one of those rare moments I’ve had on this trip where you get that tingling sensation and the hairs stand up on your neck. I’ve talked with people quite a bit about what makes diving so great compared to snorkeling and the best answer I’ve heard is that diving is 3-D while snorkeling remains 2-D. literally speaking, we’re comparing spheres to lines. Listening to me gush, you might ask, “Andrew, is it possible you like diving more than skiing these days?” The answer thankfully remains a definitive no. I guess what intrigued about diving in the first place is how my brother could essentially give up skiing for diving. What makes diving so amazing is how spectacular it is from day 1. They teach you a few basics in the morning and then throw you into this stunning reef full of amazing fish and from that instant you’re totally hooked. Skiing on the other hand, requires hundreds or thousands of hours to reach a level of expertise that’s satisfying. Diving on the other hand is almost instantaneous. That’s also what keeps it from being the best sport ever, diving isn’t extremely engaging or interactive. Diving is like 70-90 percent observing nature and the rest of it is finning around and maintaining neutral buoyancy. It’s very dependent on what you’re able to see. Thankfully, we were in the best places in the world to see stuff.  Our instructor on GIli air was amazing, and is further proof (in my opinion) of how amazing the Island is. Logically, the best instructors would choose to be located at the best dive sites in the world, but some might choose a perfect combination of great diving and living. Needless to say, it was really hard leaving Gili Air after 5 breezy days of total ease. At the end of the day though, we didn’t want to continue bouncing around in the minor league and knew it was time to take our diving to the big leagues.

                Enter Komodo. Well first, should I tell you about how we were unable to get on our original flight to Labuan Bajo since Lion Air won’t let you pay for your plane ticket via the internet 48 hours in advance and you must use a bank which doesn’t exist on Gili Air. So our boat and our bus were on time and we arrive in Bali just in time to make our flight. Of course our reservation was lost and in that 36 some hours the flight gets fully booked. As we’re banging our heads against the glass in frustration we see the prices for the next day shoot up 50 percent literally in front of our eyes. Really in times like that, to save your sanity, it’s best to be thankful you over-budget, pull out the credit card and close your eyes just to make the pain stop. The next antidote to stop this downward spiral was to splurge on a hotel with wifi, hot water, HBO and a pool and take refuge from the world that seemingly was trying to crush you. Anyways, that ended up being a nice fix and the next day we were in Labuan Bajo.

                I really grew to like Labuan Bajo. Labuan Bajo is a diving town. Besides diving, you can see Komodo dragons but that’s honestly about it. There is one street, and all the accoutrements one could possibly need with diving are located on the one street: nice coffee shops, bars, restaurants, convenience stores. The next day we went diving and I won’t even bother going into detail. The weather was s***, and unfortunately with such weather-dependent sports (like skiing), you just have to be prepared for days like that. The next day we started our advanced diving certification, but more importantly the weather was beautiful. Sure enough, it felt like moving up to the big leagues. The coral was amazing, so were the quantity and quality of fish. We dove for 5 days total in Labuan Bajo and I can’t even begin to go into detail all of the things we saw. I’ll talk about the mantas, because that’s the marquee animal people come to Komodo to see. They are spectacular creatures, enormous and incredibly graceful. It’s really hard to estimate their size as water distorts your perspective, but 10-15-20? Feet across, hard to say.  Libby describes them as being about the size of a small car or queen sized bed, but she tends to underestimate.  You find them at the “cleaning stations” where they go to have fish eat the parasites that grow on their skin. If you’re lucky (which we were), you’ll see them (two separate occasions 4 and 12 of them) and if you’re more lucky (which we were), they’ll fly right overhead. They were within feet of us and it is stunning to get so close to these animals. We even got to see an enormous pregnant one (they keep a 1.5 meter baby manta in their stomach)!!! Let me just say there was a nice Frenchman who had a manta necklace along with a very large manta tattoo on his side. We did 14 dives in Komodo and the best one was our second to last dive. Komodo is known for its strong currents (which is why we got our advanced certificate, and also so we can go to 30 m), but sometimes you can miss them. They were really blowing on the last day since it was nearing full moon, and we arrived at Batu Balong (one of the most famous dive sites in Komodo). It’s a seamount that rises up a foot or two out of water, located in a channel between two islands. The current was so strong that you could see the V split the current was making as it hit the mount and there was whitewater and whirlpools all along that V. Anyways, we jumped in-between the V and from the moment you descend you see a handful of sharks hunting, groups of enormous giant trevally swimming around, hunting yellowfin tuna, titan triggerfish, and all the little fish the big fish eat. Besides the giant wall of coral teeming with life beside all of this. There was too much to see you honestly didn’t know where to look, all those things I mentioned were swimming above below and beside you at all times. I also loved the current, it makes it more exciting and I finally got to see the infamous Komodo site of Fish swimming vertically upwards or vertically downwards due to the up and down currents. One of the highlights was seeing this enormous shape emerge from the blue and find the biggest Napoleon Wrasse we had seen the whole trip.  The last dive of our trip we got to do another one of the trademark dives in Komodo that was also like a badge or a notch in the belt. Within the dive site Cauldron, there is something known as the “shotgun.” You are in sort of a recessed bowl in-between two islands when you ascend slightly above the lip of the bowl and then are suddenly blown through the straight. Being somewhat of a thrill seeker, I wanted to see what these “ripping” currents were all about, and wow! The visibility was not strong, so we had close to no warning when all of a sudden you start getting pulled above the lip and just like that you’re off. Honestly you don’t have enough time to look at much as coral is really just zooming by below you and then all of a sudden you have to fin for your life to try and get out of ripping current all the while attempting to dodge coral mounts that you’re flying into, and keep an eye on the guide. I think all of us for a moment or 2 or 3 didn’t think we were going to make it out of the current and into the protected bay and when we did it felt like we just had run a 200 meter sprint. Kid you not, you’re just sitting there at 10-15 meters sucking on your air regulator for dear life. Afterwards the whole experience was made even better because we were the only group to successfully make the “shotgun” while the other two groups on our boat and a few others on another boat all missed it. It was the perfect ending to an amazing introduction to diving.  Also I should mention we saw 4 pygmy seahorses which are amazing little creatures.  At the cauldron, our dive guide had to look for about 5-10 minutes at a fan no larger than 2 feet by 2 feet before he could spot it, then lost it, then finally found it again to point it out to us. They have impeccable camouflage.

Almost as an afterthought, because that’s where the Flores road trip stands in my mind compared to diving, was the 6 day road trip we took through the Island of Flores as an interlude to our diving.  Let me start by saying the island of Flores was the most stunning natural beauty I’ve yet to see. As I see it, there were more beautiful snapshots of scenery in Northern Vietnam (terraced foothills) and Palawan (white sandy beaches lined with palm trees and encapsulated by limestone cliffs), but taken holistically, Flores was unmatched, specifically the 50 km from Ende to Moni. In 6 days, we drove 1,120 km or approximately 700 miles and let me just say that I didn’t regret for one minute having to drive 350 of those miles on the exact same road we came in on. It was that beautiful. Constant winding up and down volcanic mountain ranges made for slow driving, but who cares! We found a German to accompany us on our moto trip which was a good idea to have a second bike in case one brakes down and also because it’s just good to have a German with to keep you on your toes in terms of persevering, punctuality and maximizing value (which to young Germans, seem to just be the cheapest possible level). Being a good German, he never complained and was always 100 percent reasonable. He was a perfect travel partner and probably the best friend we have and will meet on the road. On day 1 we had a flat tire in a tiny, tiny village and it was hilarious to have 30 or so of the villagers come down to the mechanic and crowd around and stare at us as well as snap dozens of pictures of Libby. From day 2 on the road just starts getting surreal. What I loved about this drive and what made it so unbelievable was just the sheer diversity in beautiful scenery. You have bamboo forests, which I love (I’d only ever seen large patches of bamboo). You have hardwood forests. You have banana plantations. You have palm plantations. You have proper jungle. You have raging rivers. You have volcanoes in the background. You have rice terraces stretched along open fields. You have rice terraces cut out of the jungle. You have blue stone beaches. You have volcanic black sand beaches. You have moss covered ridges. I hope I’m adequately conveying Flores’ natural beauty. Let me explain the 50 km from Ende to Moni in more detail. You start heading up a valley from Ende with moss covered volcanic ridges on either side. Down below you have a beautiful river cutting through the valley. Along this river are these beautiful meadows in which palm trees and rice terraces reside. At the end, there are the tri-color volcanic lakes of Kelimutu and some nice hot springs to relax in. Hot springs abound in Flores which is reason enough to visit this island (at least for me). It was the most amazing motorbike ride we’ve ever taken.

So, you might be wondering, “Andrew, if there was the most beautiful natural scenery on an island with world class diving (and hot springs), which you come to find out you love, on just one of the numerous islands in Indonesia, why are you leaving?” To which I’d answer, I’m not quite sure. But there are a few things that keep Indonesia from being an Eden and lessen the sadness of leaving. First, there’s the food. Indonesian food is just plain boring. At its core, there’s Nasi Goreng and Mie Goreng, which at their core are simply fried rice and fried noodles. Yeah there’s a bunch of fried vegetables, potatoes or eggs you can put on rice, but trust me, it all gets old fast. The one exception to this terrible cuisine is the fresh fish in Labuan Bajo. The best fish I’ve ever had. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much. First, you need red snapper caught less than 6 hours ago, secondly you need to cook it over the smoking embers of coconut shells, thirdly you need to constantly be seasoning it with some mixture of soy sauce, chilis, lime, maybe salt? Lastly, they chop the fish in half and cook it whole so you’re cooking very thin slices of it and retaining the moistness and flavor. That’s it, so simple, yet so astonishingly delicious. But let’s get back to the negatives of Indonesia.

The biggest problem with Indonesia is the cost of diving in concert with the cost of accommodation. I liked to tell my parents that diving sucked every penny out of our pockets and left us staying in the biggest sh**hole at the end of the day. When we weren’t diving we were still staying in the biggest sh**holes in a vain attempt to try and make up some of the money. There are the cheapest rooms we’ve seen in Southeast Asia here in Indonesia and you get exactly what you pay for. 7 dollars was the cheapest room we stayed in. What do you get for 7 dollars? Not a hell of a lot. The bathrooms are worst, definitely the worst part of the 7 dollar experience. I used to dread the squatter. Indonesia has taught me to admire the squatter. There is a far worse evil out there. It’s called the conventional toilet that has been presumably broken and then turned into a manual toilet. It’s a flawed design. Boy is it flawed. I’ll keep it PG. No matter how many scoops of water you throw into the toilet that toilet is still going to have yellow water in it. This inevitably leads to an aroma that permeates into the walls of these bathrooms. Next there is the reservoir that you use to scoop the water into the toilet or just a spigot. Invariably, these become leaky. This water creates some sort of terrible dampness and humidity that just sucks up any and all odor and as a byproduct becomes a breeding ground for mosquitos. My parents were like, “oh, I’m sure there’s worse bathrooms out there.” I was like “feasibly, there could be worse, but there would have to be excrement smeared over the walls, that’s the only thing that could make this situation worse.”  Even Libby who is the one forcing us into these rooms avoided the bathroom at all costs and would hold out for a nearby coffee shop. 

In many bathrooms, showers were out of the question, but there still came that time in the middle of the night where you woke up and just had to go to the bathroom. I would wake up, and be like, “oh no, please still be dreaming, please don’t let that be your actual bladder telling you it’s time to go in there…” And then you’d just have to dive in. Of course, sinks were a thing of the past. I didn’t even know not having a sink in a bathroom was a real thing, but it is. All of these wretched bathrooms situations of course are exacerbated by the “traditional” Indonesian restaurant in which dishes are prepared in the morning and then sit out all day until you point at it and they put it on hot rice for you.

The sheets are scary, have they ever been washed? Does it matter? I had laundry done in one of these places and all my clothes came back smelling damp and musty with all of the dirt still on them. You sleep in your sleeping sack until the tiny fan in the room isn’t enough and you start sleeping on top of the sleeping sack. Then you wake up half on the sleep sack and half on the…sheet.  In the place in Labuan Bajo the puppies were always fighting, the cats meowing, the chickens crowing, and there was always a cacophony of noises emanating from the common area that I told Libby I felt like I was living in the projects.  

Finally, there’s the crème de la crème of bathroom horror stories. This one is less scary and more hilarious. Remember the bad day of diving I mentioned earlier. Let me first give some pretext. There’s this strange phenomenon in diving, I think it’s the increased atmospheric pressure down there, that makes you really have to go every time you finish a dive. Well as I mentioned, the weather was really bad and when we came to the surface there is like 4-8 foot swells that are rocking the boat up and down. It was really hard to get back on the boat so we had to wait like 30 minutes holding onto a rope in the water while we got onboard one at a time. More pretext, during our initial boat briefing the staff inform us that the toilet onboard is a marine toilet meaning it just goes straight into the sea, it is also located in the back of the boat. By the time I got onboard my bladder is exploding and I rush right into the bathrooms. First off, it’s a balancing act in and off itself just to stand up, and we’re off to the races. Then we come crashing down and I feel like a something. “Uh oh.” We start rocking up again and I try to quickly shuffle to the side of the toilet. Not enough room, we come crashing down and that direct “marine” path down to the sea comes blowing back up like Old Faithful. I couldn’t just stop so after a few more series of crashes I end up taking a little shower with the good ole bum gun in the bathroom.

Now we’re off to Northern Thailand and maybe a bit of Laos before heading to India.  Until then…