On exploring new world

Being limited in budget and time I try as much as I can to fulfill my travel craze. It’s not really craze though, because I’ve met people who schedule the whole year for trips. It is as they live and work for travel. So I decided to make it a dream to travel to at least one unknown place in a year. Ideally 2 places, one within Indonesia and one abroad.

Last year I was fortunate to be able to visit Makassar then continued to Toraja. Fabulous places, especially Toraja with its fascinating culture. Then I had a chance to have another trip before the end of the year, to Kupang (NTT) on September and then the following month to Vietnam. Yes, I’m blessed to be able to visit these places. All in its unique characteristic.

And to this year.. oohyeah.. another Nyepi, another chance to skip the island and visit another new place. This year I decided to go to Labuan Bajo, another island in the same province as Kupang (NTT).

It was an excellent choice. The main purpose was to see Komodo Island so as soon as I arrived in LBJ I went to one of the trip providers stationed along the road on the way to the sea port. So many options, from daily trip Komodo island, dive trip even 2-4 day trips to other islands and even Lombok.

Dithering about my choices I decided to take the 2 day trip. It took me a while to decide because I wasn’t sure I can survive a long boat trip considering I’m prone to having sea sick. I figured if I got sick I’ll just throw up and I’ll be fine. Been there, done that.

Early morning, had a quick breakfast and headed to the port. Met the boat captain, his crew, and a guy who will be my fellow traveler. Good, otherwise I’d have to cover the cost myself! 2.5 hour ride, we arrived at Rinca island. Had the first trekking looking for Komodos. Strangely enough not so many on the trekking, but we saw 4 of them on the base camp area. There they were, chilling out under the shade, not having a care of the world. Of course the ranger/guide kept reminding us not to be fooled as the komodos are always alert and ready to chase their prey. Yikes.

Next stop was Pink Beach. Fabulous. The corals were just beautiful! And it was low tide, I could almost touch them, but of course I didn’t, not wanting to harm them. So many cute little fish, tiny school of fish swarming at you. Just wonderful.

We headed to the Kalong island and spent the night on the sea. I was quite surprised that throughout the trip the water was so gentle. And during the night it was even more beautiful as we could stare at the sky full of stars.

The following day we went directly to Komodo island. The trekking was also interesting, it’s quite different than Rinca island with more trees covering us, the komodos were bigger than the ones in Rinca, and there were deers as part of the food chain.

Finished trekking, we went back to the boat, up for another snorkeling trip. We stopped at Kanawa island and Bidadari island, both were as beautiful as Pink Beach, even in Kanawa I spotted a handful of baby sharks. I couldn’t believe it at first, but there were baby sharks.

I wished I had more time. Could’ve spent a night in Kanawa or if even longer, take a ride to Ende and explore the island more. But due to limited time and budget, the komodos and fish were the main focus. Perhaps I need to return.. :).

My travel information:  I took a flight from Denpasar, Bali. Boats usually depart around 8am, either package deal or custom made. Cost for 2 day trip was Rp.1,500,000. There were only 2 of us, so more passengers works better as you can split the boat cost. Max. passenger: 7 pax.

Here's an amateur Flores underwater video I did. Not bad, huh? :)