Bali Lovina Beach - delayed

This is our navigation map.
 Little problem the maps are not accurate in Indonesia
 so we find ourselves " on the land" so to speak a lot of the time.
 White=deep water blue=shallow water yellow=land.
This was us on the way to Lovina beach- black circle.


Delayed Bali Lovina Beach Buleleng Regency positioned between Java and Lombok
08 09 South and 115 00 East September 22-25

Visited hot springs...pretty and very enjoyable HOT indeed.




This is one of the holes and there are so many.
 Found out during rain that whole family gets into these and bathe.



The bull race that is traditional in Bali.



The view from a monastery beautiful spot and HOT HOT
 unbelievably HOOOOOOOOOOT



In the land of"everyone wants to sell you something every second
of your stay. This lady wanted me to buy her bag than incense
 than shoes and piece the resistance - some dead fish
 that had been in the bag and in the sun for hours.LOL



And every person here would ask if you want to buy,
We wanted to run



Even sitting in a restaurant is not sacred.They will find you.
Beautiful and a lot of time too much.

Try to read the sign. It was welcoming us to Bali.
The operation of placing it took about 1 1/2 hours and
 10 man oh and the truck. We watched in amazement.

Have seen some very exotic animals and this one was just
sooo beautiful. Nice to touch too.

Traditional Bali

Hindu water temple - spectacular!!!

Botanic gardens - so magnificent and grand
 unfortunately it rained on our parade.

Ubud - Bali (delayed )



Welcome to Ubud
The place we visited only because I was searching for the healer




Balenese woman selling the traditional lunch of
 rice dried fish and some vegetables...all will be
 wrapped in paper and eaten from paper by hand.



The offerings given to Gods several times a day.
Belanese pay women like her to call to homes
and businessesand live offerings.



"You seek and you shell find" even if all is against you
 and you don't speak the language.
 The house of Ketut Layer a real character from
the book Eat Pray Love



Ketut on his porch where he reads palms and heals.
He comes from a long line of healers.



Everyone wants to sell you something in any way possible.
Just wanted to open the car window and
 take a picture not of sarongs.



Lotus Garden a splendid restaurant with millions of
 lotuses and the best lime drink
 with cayenne pepper...different and delicious.



One of the many hindu celebrations and
 many would be an understatement here.



Ubud is a fantastic cool little town in the hills with
 little boutique hotels like this where
 you can stay for as little as $30-











Bali Benoa - the braekdown - delayed

The wonderful mechanic that actually solved the problem
 and "The Boys" assisting.



And the civilisation we were expecting. Same same as they say here.



Our moring...that is something else. It held.



Very narrow entrance to the Benoa Harbour with surf on either side.
This boat is permanently on coral. It has been towed in.



Beautiful sunsets - good to know that some things remain constant unchanging.



Us a bit relieved that the problem had a solution - even here.



Us being towed in by Barry and Chris from Apsara
over the distance of 60 nm in swells and at a speed of over 9 knots.
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH

Lombok Barat Regency - delayed



The perfect picture from Medana Bay Marina.
 Marco Polo and his carer on their evening stroll.

Such a well taken care of place
 with plenty of places to escape the HOT sun

 Delayed due to coverage 12th to 15th of September - North Lombok Anchorage 08 21 South and 116 07 East


A free school where children learn english and not to be beggers.
They need simple books. If you have some it is easy to post.
Address below.

Staying away from the HHHOOOOTTTT
 sun with Bintang maybe friends and the best
 Nasi Goreng I have tasted in Indonesia ( on a clean beautiful plate)



We did not buy a pearl and suspect that
 it put us and another boat in danger and caused enormous problems.



Komodo Island and the Komodo Dragons- delayed



One very hot komodo dragon hiding in the smallest shade.
 Not frisky today at all.




Approaching the absolutely stunning Komodo Island
 and some of the 162 islands.




This it the food that sustains the dragons.
 They are part of the animal kingdom here.
Nothing is brought to the island for Komodo's. Self sufficient.




And the boats just keep on coming everyone wants to sell us something.
This one brought lots of wooden Komodo Dragond.
 Look at the size of the one on the front of his boat.
 Of course they are careful coming near Cognac
and we have looooottttssssssssss of scratches...this one is
 part of the whole experience.




Well we did not want to buy Komodos so guess what...
another proposition...pearls...small ones tiny ones and great big ones too.
 They apparently come from this area.




This was a classic a father and son team on a hand made boat
 with a small  polystyrene outboard.




And yes they had dragons to sell too. Very small an absolute classic...




Most of the area around Komodo Islands was rather turbulent.
 Very large areas of currents willies the size of 2-10 m.
This required total attention skill strong hands at times and a lot of time.




This one also a classic.I was too tired to take a photo at this anchorage and
 this little boys was maybe just old enough to walk got into a boat and paddled
 all the way just to see Mister..oh he could not speak yet..worth a picture



Cognac and friends boat Apsara at the entry to Komodo National Park.
We were charged for moring(parking) outside for the short 2 -3 hours
 we spent there and got approximately 17 receipts for it
 each stamped and stapled and placed in an envelope...
unbelievable and that is Indonesia



Home sweet Home

Nice

Like the song saysn..."There is no road too long to get gome"

Labuan Bajo - delayed



This boat was right next to us when we came ashore
 by dinghy. Fish is drying for dinner already.

 (Delayed due to coverage) Labuan Bajo Anchorage 08 29 South and 119 52 East Mangagarai Barat District and it’s 162 small islands.


We decided to miss Nagekeo Anchorage go right trough to see Komodo Dragons for couple of days North Lombok ahead of time and all the other boats and than into Bali for some civilization which we needed. As soon as we arrived in Labuan Bajo we were innandated with tour operators wanting to take us to visit Komodo dragons. A “NO”as an answer is not what they want to hear. They come before the boat is anchored which is not an a good time. Anchoring is important a lot depends on it. Well than there is the waiting game and this one lasted for hours like 5-7 hours in hot sun was nothing for them to wait.

Challenging and not what you need after a long trip.

The city itself was smallish and dirty. We did find one good restaurant which we had no pleasure in dining in ages. The prices were high and the food and ambience great.

The next destination now Komodo National Park.


A beautiful old lady selling dry fish.Can you get used to that smell...don't know
truly




Seems that 3 things are always present wherever we go - rubbish and the smell
( what you see here is very organised rubbish)dry fish and the smell
and really looooongand really loud muslim prayers
even in 90% Christian areas.



Labuan Bajo -the city. Truly hoping that 162 islands will be different than this.










Kelimutu trip to the lakes - delayed



The little and painful bemo with our guide.

 (Delayed due to coverage)Sometimes between the 23rd and 26th August Kelimutu Lakes trip still the Maumere experience. Another great one! We all wanted to see the multi colored lakes formed in the craters of volcanoes. So of we went arranging our trip and in the Indonesian spirit and fashion organization is not the best skill.

 Ata Bupu the dark lake for old people

Blue lake for young people.

The offering and prayers to up ease the gods.



ROUGH BUSY ROADS




And back at the car park having a chat with the local
 merchants of goods we did not want to buy.
They even had letters in English telling us how wonderful
their goods are and that we should buy.



The many trips the "Boys" have made to arrange this trip...Thanks



Just a quick visit to the local market to buy some green food.
One thing every dog was expecting puppies or just had puppies. No exception

 It took some time some perseverance and we were ready and due to leave at 6am when the trip got cancelled at 4am than it was on again than there was no bemo and at the end we went bemo(that little car) showed up the uncle of the cousin of the guide came (laugh if you want). The drive was long eventful and painful for some. Robert had a spring pressing his bottom we laughed at him and had to throw away his shorts after the trip as the spring went let’s say too far. Gary had to hold on for life or money to a little pole to stay on board myself and Chris were the winners as I brought a bean bag pretty white one – not white anymore. It saved our spines. Barry sat with the driver as he was the tallest and got intoxicated with smoke inhalation.


The trip was amazing after passing many beautiful rice fields unmade roads with no bridges we got to the top where we stopped to give offerings and prayers. Our guide did that. He said that every time he forgot the lakes were covered with clouds and invisible.

We stopped at the car park for a little while to pick up our coffee man who carried the coffee all the way to the top.

It is believed that spirits come to Kelimutu when people die. The Mae – spirit would leave it’s village and come to stay at Kelimutu forever so it is a sacred place. Which lake the spirit would enter depends on age and its spirit when alive. The lakes look like colorful paint and change color without any prior natural clues. It is no wonder this mystical place has become a legend. The lakes were truly beautiful very big and very deep. There were some monkeys on the way too. After having our coffee at the top we came back to the car park for another session with our bemo. Great trip and great memories…

Lots of rice fields on the way to Kelimutu.Beautiful really.