Upon arrival to Labuan Bajo, we noticed that the scenery was quite different than that of Lombok and Bali; it looked almost Jurassic Park like. The mountains were lush and vivid green in color, the reefs crazy clear and wide, and the airport let alone just tiny and old school. When we arrived we instantly felt like we had entered an entire different country.
Ariel view:
The two plane airport:
We lucked out and checked into Gardena Hotel (center of town), which is a Lonely Planet recommended bungalow stay and hard to ever score since so many people also want LP recommended stays. It was $203,000idr/ $20usd for a simple bungalow with a toilet, safe drawer, free b-fast and a huge trek up an old concrete stairway garden to and from the room.
Day 1 we walked around town and found a delectable place to dine on Italian food- La Cucina. We noticed that about 50% of the restauntants in town are Italian and later learned that the 19 Italian restaurants in Labuanbajo are all owned by Austrailians.
For lunch Aidan ordered amazing pesto and tomato gnocchi and I ordered eggplant, tomato, garlic and basil spaghetti. The restaurant was located right above the harbor and overlooked the bay, ramshackle town and surrounding green mountains.
Ramshackle view:
Day 2 we wandered about town and found ourselves trecking down a junglous hill to a fisherman village that was right on the sea. The locals all seemed surprised and excited to see us when we reached their little shack filled village and acted like they had never seen a "pale face" before. It began to rain so we sat under a tree for some time and looked out at the ocean, then headed back to the town.
We noticed that the locals in Labuanbajo stare at us wide eyed everytime they see us, even though tourists frequently filter in and it of the town. However, we were among the few tourists in the town at that time so maybe it was shocking to see white people during rainy season. Overall, the town is much more indigenous and definitely off the beaten path, which is a nice change of scenery. We also noticed for the first time in a while the presence of Catholic Churches in town (Timothy!). Since Lombok and the Gili islands we have become accustomed to the numerous prayer calls echoing from the minarets of the many mosques. Here in Labuanbajo the two religions seem to mix.
Fisherman village:
Walking around:
The churches:
We made our way back to town and searched for a bite to eat, we naturally ended up at a supermarket where I bought a chocolate bar and Aidan bought his one and only love, a loaf of bread. We ate lunch at "Blue Marlin Dive," which surprisingly had delicious vegetable quiche, green salad and beef lasagne!
Bread!:
Quiche & lasagne lunch:
After a tiring day of wondering around and eating Italian food, haha, we sat at the hotel's deck area with a bottle of "Two Islands" Indonesian Merlot and watched the sunset that night.
Aidan reading on our bungalow deck:
Watching the sunset:
Day 3 we chartered a boat, which we ended up having all to ourselves, to go to
Rinca Island in Komodo National Park. Since we were the only people who ended up booking the day trip, the tour agent insisted we pay more $$, however we declined and paid the originally negotiated price of $300,000 per person/ $30, rather than $400,000 per person for private.
Some random man, separate from the tour agent, walked us to the harbor and pointed for us to get on a boat with the captain who we think was his son, but since he spoke not a word of English we didn't find out anything about himself that day! The captain and his friend, who were likely around the age of 22, brought two hours out to sea via dinky, slow, ghetto, crank start long tail boat to Rinca Island. Aside from the slow moving, sketchy boat, the scenery along the way was unbeatable. The deserted and unpopulated mountains and islands were even more green than before and the blue water with random turquoise sand patches were all amplified by the beautiful weather. We were surrounded by total and complete natural beauty that day.
When we arrived at Rinca Island we were introduced to our tour guide named Cuba, who spoke excellent English and brought us on a 3 mile, Komodo Dragon trek. Within the first few minutes on Rinca, we saw our first Komodos! They were massive (roughly 3 meters long), creepy looking creatures, who can run extremely quick for little bursts of time and will charge at you randomly and with a deadly, venomous bite.
There were a few Komodos hanging out in the shaded areas near the ranger station, apparently "begging" for the food that they could smell in the kitchen, but after seeing the first two or three dragons at the start we were only able to spot one more dragon in the middle of the hike.
The hike was beautiful and we saw lots of plants and wildlife including, palm trees, acacia flowers, ficus tree (baby Komodos hide there for the first 3 years of their life because Komodos are cannibals) water buffalo, monkeys, Kewi Birds, and of course Komodos.
Some skeletons of animals that Komodos killed:
After we toured the national park we hopped back on the boat and set off to a nice snorkeling spot on a small, deserted island. The water was very choppy when we got to the island, so we only snorkeled for a few minutes, however when we were in the water we saw vast, colorful reefs with tons of fish and sea life. The rest of the time we swam in the clear, sandy parts of the island and collected tons of red coral and shells from the beach.
Day 4 we ate breakfast at the hotel (fried eggs, fried rice, banana pancake, cucumber onion mix, toast), then packed our backpacks to leave a few hours later. For lunch we went to "Made In Italy," a restaurant we went to for dinner the night before, delectable, and ordered a salad and pizza. After that we headed to the airport to set off for Ende, Flores, then to the small town of Moni at the base Mt. Kelimutu.
Bye bye Gardena:
Made In Italy:
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