Komodo Latte

After three days of exhausting travel across some notorious Indonesian seas on a boat which looked like a shed I'm finally face to face with a dragon. We are on the legendary Komodo Island, a world Heritage site and a unique place. The savage beast which has struck fear into the hearts of man for generations is only a few feet away from me. It's about 2 meters long and I can see it breathing. I can almost smell the power of this ferocious reptile. And do you know where this harbinger of doom was when we came across it? Next to the bloody visitors cafe! Probably wondering if it should order the cappuccino or the latte. They really do not know any fear and a bunch of gringos fresh off a boat was not going to scare it.

If my first encounter with the fearsome dragon was not exactly what I expected, it certainly wasn't the last. Komodo national park covers three islands are are the only home to this endangered species. Across two days we hiked on Komodo and Rinca Islands which sit just off the coast of Flores. I counted about 15 dragons in total (which conveniently made the park entrance fee 1 dollar = 1 dragon, which is probably a fair price..). Also on the islands were, buffalo, deer, monkeys, wild boar and some fearsome looking cobras.

All the time I was walking through this amazing landscape all I could think when we spotted another animal was 'Dragon food!'. The Komodo Dragon has no predators and so it sits impressively on top of the food chain on these islands. Even so there are only just around 3000 of the dragons left in the wild, and a extensive conservation program is being undertaken to keep these unique creatures alive.

A guide shows you around and carries a big stick to whack a dragon on the nose if it gets too close. A few tourists have ended up dragon meat whilst visiting. Even the late Steve Irwin (see No More Jam passim) almost got bitten by a dragon and had to quickly climb a tree to escape. We met the guide who showed Irwin around when he made his TV show. By the expression on his face when he told us about the incident you could tell he thought Irwin was a bit of a fool for going so close to these unpredictable killers. "You never know when they are going to attack, even if they are resting, they always have one eye on the prey".

Into the land of Dragons

Just back in civilisation after taking a four day boat 'experience' from Lombok to Flores. I'll post a decent story about coming damn close to some dragons in Komodo, but I really need to get some food before I faint with exhaustion.

Needless to say it's a story of high jinxs on the High seas, a boat which should have been down the bottom of someones' garden, Chemistry experiements involving beer bottles and nooses, a close understanding of the feeling when you dive into a jelly fish and ultimately the answer to the question; Do dragons cast magic spells?

An Island in the sun..

So the No More Jam trip is fast approaching it's conclusion. Soon it's back to London and reality beckons! What a dreadful thought. To stave off such thoughts (and they are coming thick and fast now) I have found a small island called Gilli Meno to retreat to.

Sitting off the coast of Lombok, the island boasts only 300 full time inhabitants. You can walk all the way around the island in just over 1 hour, it's that small. It's also an exercise in sensory deprivation as well, to put it bluntly, there is not a lot to do. You can sit on the beach, or go out with your snorkel and play with the sea turtles, a colony which live about 100 meters off the north coast, by a coral wall. And that's about it really.

I was told to come here by a genial Irish couple who I met in Ubud a couple of weeks ago. "Go stay with the mad french guys at Tao Kombo!" they had insisted. It was one of the best tips I've had on the trip. See their site for some good pics. Any guys that quote Emile Zola are cool in my book. It's a top place. Last night a family from the one village on the island came and played (it was Indonesian Independence day). with simple drums, a cross between a guitar and a lute and some haunting singing by an 83 year old, the atmosphere was pretty cool. I'm staying for a week before heading to the madness of Hong Kong. Salut maintenant mes amis!

Let me take bag, yes?

One of the downsides of travel, especially in the Far East is the amount of hassle you get. Mostly it's good natured and you can't really resent a bloke showing you a suitcase of knocked off watches whilst you eat your Nasi Goreng (fried rice) in the local Warung (food stall).

It becomes more of a problem in other situations though. This morning I took the public ferry across from Bali to Lombok. As you aproach the boat a gaggle of blokes abound to take yuor bags on board the boat for you. Obviously this invovles a tip. The big problem occured when a couple of the 'porters' just grabbed some random bags and ran on board with them, and then demanded money from the people once they caught up to claim their bags!

A full on row happened in the middle of the 'lounge' deck of the boat. The 'porters' were demanding money for their services and this danish couple were refusing to pay. A sort of mexican stand off ensued for the next couple of minutes before the porters eventually sulked away! Well after that exciteent the next 5 hours of the ferry ride were an anticlimax of bad pop videos and overpriced snacks. Ahh the joys of travel....

Monkeys, Dragons and Seaweed

A bit of a catch up on the last week or so in here in Indonesia. I'm sitting in a cafe in the port town of Padang Bai, waiting to catch a ferry over to Lombok.

I spent most of last week in the glorious hill town of Ubud. It's sits in a river valley about 25 km north of the capital Denpasar. Rich green rice paddy fields flank either side of the town. I spent some lovely mornings walking up the Capuan ridge amongst the long Elephant grass overlooking the town.

Ubud is famous for it's culture and everywhere you look there are artists, writers and musicians working away in studios. The town is also famous for it's Dancing. I went one night to a traditional Kecak dance which depicted the story of a prince and princess being separated in a forest by an evil Ogre. There were 6 main players but what made it special was the choir of a hundred or so men who kept up a trance like chant for the whole performance. They also set the scene for each act and made great monkey noises "Cha-cha-cha-ou-eiieee!". Great fun.

Monkey's abound in Ubud. The main drag where I stayed was called Monkey Forest Road. At the end of this drag was a temple with a large colony of grey Macao Monkeys. They are nothing like the dosile pictures on the ticket you get at the entry though. They're greedy sods! Half way around my walk and there's tens of the guys all jumping around you wanting bananas. One ever jumped on my back, only to run off again when I had nothing to offer it.

After all the culture you can relax and get a massage. Ubud excels at this. For about 5 pounds I got pushed pummeled and cleansed of the nasty stuff in me for an hour. Afterwards you sit under a pagoda drinking ginger tea and feeling, well, blissed out.

For the last few days I travelled over to the tiny island of Nusa Lemborgan. It's main product is seaweed. They harvest tons of the stuff here from the nutrient rich water. Every afternoon they crop comes in and they lay it out on big blue sheets to dry before it is packed in plastic to be shipped away. Seaweed is an emulsifier. It's the stuff in ice cream which makes it creamy!

So now off to Lombok. I tried to get here on my 2000 round the world tour but they were in the process of burning Christians out of their houses. I hope I get a better reception. this time around....

Bali rising

Over a beer in a hotel in Oz, I mentioned to an aussie that my next destination was Bali, Indonesia. "Why the hell do you want to go there? They all hate us!" He almost spat over the table. I tried to reason with the guy that the hate of a few medieval religous fanatics shouldn't stop you going to visit a place. He wasn't being convinced though and muttered into his beer that what I was doing was stupid and dangerous.

The Bali bombings of October 2002 have left a big scar between the two countries. Over 200 were killed and 88 of those were Australian. Relations between Jakarta and Canberra have been pretty poor ever since. When suicide bombers blew themselves up in Kuta Square in 2005 a bad situation was made worse. Tourist numbers that were dramatically down, plunged further still, and now there are 50% less Aussies and Japanese visiting than in 2001. Since Bali was the prime overseas destination for Antipodeans, that's a lot of people for an economy which relies heavily on tourism to cope without.

After a few days in Kuta beach, the centre of tourism on this small island I was wondering what the place would be like if it wasn't for the bombs. The place is maddeningly busy! The beach and streets are teeming with visitors. This is high season and just getting across the street can be an exhausting process. Motorbikes and small jeeps are everywhere. If you're really brave you can rent one from any of the guys on the street. I looked at the traffic and gave it a miss.

Kuta Beach is the big attraction and I grabbed a surf board and headed in to the waves. Surfing is a huge draw here and there are many big breaks along the coast. As I'm fairly amateur at it I was glad just to be able to stand and follow the surf in. Guys behind me on th the bigger left handers were zipping along and producing mean cut-backs and drop-offs. If I had a year practicing every day maybe, just maybe I could get that good!

Three days was enough for me in Kuta and now I'm in Ubud to get the lowdown on the culture, visit some cool temples and go chill out in a spa. Ahhh........

The farewell to Oz Top End Tour

By the time I landed in Darwin, I was wanting to leave Oz. I've been here two months now and it was starting to take it's toll. Endless anonymous backpacker hostels, bad meals and TV leave you feeling drained. I needed something to engage in again, and then I found it out in the bush. The three national parks of Kakadu, Nitmiluk and Litchfield are the big draws to folk who venture up to the 'Top End' of Australia. There are many tour companies ready to take a hefty wad of dollars out of your wallet to show you around.

Well being a hardy traveller I didn't feel the need to be guided about, I wanted to explore out my own pace. So with three new friends I found from loitering about in the backpackers (Big up Ian, Nina and Kim!), we hired a campervan and set out into the wilderness.

Kakadu is larger than Belgium, and has only two roads accessing it (probably just like Belgium). We cruised down the Arnhem Highway and checked out the huge turmite mounds which stand up to 5 meters tall on the side of the road. They're also magnetic and the little critters always build then North/south so they get the least heat from the sun and so keep themselves cool.

The landscape is awesome out there. Natural Rock escarpments meet wetlands and tropical rainforest. An abundance of wildlife from wallabies, kites, bald headed eagles and crocodiles call this place home. Ahh the crocodiles. There's a reason they shot a lot of 'Crocodile Dundee' here. Saltwater and Freshwater crocs are everywhere. Talking to a Ranger he said they counted 90 crocs in a 4 km stretch of the park. Wanting to see for ourselves we went down to the banks of the East Alligator River and almost immediately saw one on the far side of the bank. Being careful not to stand too close to the edge as tourists have been eaten by Salties in the past we peered into the murky depths. It all got a bit frightening when the croc turned and headed towards us then suddenly dived underwater. Time to go!

The park also contains some great waterfalls. Having only a 2WD we didn't manage to check out Jim Jim Falls but went to Gunlom instead. These falls drop into a large plunge pool from a series of four infinity pools 70 meters above. TRhe water was great to swim in and was croc free!

Onwards to Katherine Gorge. This stretch of the Katherine river 200kms south of Kakadu is famed for it's sheer limestone cliffs and pristine water. We hiked 5 kms from our campsite to through Butterfly gorge to the river. En route we, wait for it, yup saw butterflies as well as a couple of fast moving snakes. Luckily they were moving in the opposite direction as my time here has only fuelled my paranioa of the dastardly creatures.

The gorge opens up onto a spectacular bend in the river after cooling off in water we eat our sandwiches on the bank and wached turtles come up and nearly nibble on our toes. Cool.

Lastly we hit Litchfield park about 15o km's south of Darwin. The park has a series of swimming holes and yet more waterfalls for the perfect spot for a natural shower. Florence and Wangi falls were still pounding water over their edges even two months into the dry season. The pools are big enough that you can still get away from the day trippers and find a quiet(ish) spot.

Over 6 days these three parks showed me that the best parts of Oz are the ones miles away from the towns. Going bush is the way to go.

Onwards to Indonesia!