Category Archives: Wildlife

Day 195 – Freshwater dolphins

A promenade runs along Kratie’s riverfront.

Today was our full day in Kratie. Travelling slowly means you get a bit more time in each place which is actually very cool at the moment. After breakfast, with the temperatures rising to another hot day, I pushed for a visit in Kampi.

Kampi is about 15km north of Kratie but there is almost no tourist infrastructure there so everyone needs to stay in Kratie. But Kampi is interesting because at its location next to the rapids in the Mekong River. Tiny rapids, however, they seem to have the side effect that dolphins like to hang out around there. Yes, around here, there are freshwater dolphins here. Theoretically. The Lonely Planet states that there are under 100 left so that seemed like there is only a small chance of actually seeing one. I wanted to try anyway.

the boat and the small sandbanks in the river.

We took Rocinante out and found the place soon enough. It is quite well organised. For US$9 per person, Flo and I got a fisher boat with a driver for ourselves and off we went onto the river. While we still looked around the rapids and islands, I saw the first dolphin jumping out of the water. It took me by surprise that a minute in, I would see the first dolphin. Also, they look quite funny with a bulbous head…like a mini version of a pot whale.

From here on, we paid close attention. Our driver who stood in the back of the boat would also try to spot more dolphins and then point them out to us. We saw many, including at least four of them swimming and playing together, but it’s really hard to take any good pictures.

The Mekong still has its usual brown grey colour here but if you look into the water, you can see quite a lot of smaller fish swimming around. Our driver also kept an eye on the rubbish level in this section and asked us to fish out a blue plastic bag that was floating around at one point.

The best shot we got … not too shabby, I’d say.

After an hour, the trip was over. We had seen so many dolphins! Walking back to the bike, it was incredibly hot. Well, it was noon by now. Shortly before we reached it, a minibus exploded next to it and spew forth at least 20 local tourists who all gathered around the big bike. It was so funny that I took a picture.

Flo, then, had the idea to visit a temple on the way back. In theory, I was all for it but when I saw the 500 steps that we had to climb in the heat, my enthusiasm dwindled. Anyhow, we made it to the top of the hill, next to the temple where I, once more, got upset with tourists. Before you tackle the last flight of stairs, there is a note on how to behave and please, do not disturb the monks. Thus, please keep silent. But no, people on the top were chatting away quite happily. Cultural insensitivity, anyone?

booze with views

Back in the guest house, I looked up online what the temperature in Kratie was supposed to be today. Flo remained stubborn that it is “around 30 degrees, as always” which I couldn’t believe because it was so hot. Turns out that it was 37 degrees. That was the excuse we needed to just chill for the rest of the afternoon. 🙂

Only when we realized that the sun was about to set, did we leave the guest house again. It was still so hot that a simple stroll to the riverfront resulted in sweating. Here, I convinced Flo that we should sit down in the fancy as “Jasmine Boat” restaurant, have a cocktail and simply enjoy the view. Which we did. It was enjoyable. We ended up having nice neighbours (once again that the best Americans are to be met outside of the USA) to chat with and then had Khmer food, which wasn’t even that expensive here.

: A promenade runs along Kratie’s riverfront.

: Obviously not sea sick

: We opted not to do the kayaking thing – too hot!

: the boat and the small sandbanks in the river.

: First one caught on camera.

: The best shot we got … not too shabby, I’d say.

: There must be an easier way to steer …

: These are not all people coming out of that one van.

: This is half way up the first flight.

: Wrong steps, there were the living quarters.

: statue at the top

: The view was pretty good, although with trees in the way

: Not sure, but there were a lot of monk statues following a snake lady

: The river took a bite out of the road – this is the first bit of major un-repaired damage in all of Cambodia.

: Cambodia = epic sunsets

: Little boats ferrying the tourists over to the sandbank

: booze with views

: I guess this would look epic with a tele-converter

: the sun is gone, but the light still shines

: … gone

Day 164 – Once more with feeling

Today is the third time we “leave” Kuala Lumpur. All jokes aside, it will very likely also be the last time we set off. We left Sonja and once again all we had to give was an inadequate ‘thank you’. We receive so many acts of kindness. People go out of their way to help us, often as if it were the only logical thing to do. We say ‘thank you’, take a photo and move on, but without all this kindness, we would have provably given up a while ago. This is what keeps us going and is, for a big part, also why we are on the trip in the first place.

Frankly, Nina and I talk often about how we will repay this life debt. Not in the sense of to “repay” everyone we meet, but in general. What can we do to give others this immense warmth?

Did not realize how much of our gear is in coprate colours

To follow right up in the same vein: I wisely gave Tony Lim a call after breakfast. He is the Malaysian importer for Touratech and had a shop in Penang, where we will arrive in a couple of days’ time. Or so I thought. I found out just in time that the info on the Touratech website is outdated and he moved shop to a suburb of Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately, I also learned that the two pieces of Touratech kit I was hoping to replace were out of stock, but after a brief discussion we decided to pay them a visit nonetheless. After all, our bike is so kitted out with their stuff that we once were asked what kind of motorcycle brand Touratech be. 🙂

It turned out that Tony and his staff are incredibly kind and hospitable people. After a last ditch attempt to at least find one pannier-carrying handle to replace ours (which has a broken buckle) we got invited to lunch! At our pick, we went to this lovely Malay place. There were even all sorts of desserts thrown in for us to try out. I liked the rice with palm sugar water steamed in tapioca leaves.

Nina’s comment: It didn’t stop with a simple invitation for lunch. No, Tony made dead sure I had enough vegetarian food available and, in the end, even got me a take-away bag with rice crackers because I grew to like the crunchy addition to lunch a lot!

Everyone sports the Touratech logo but we are the ones with the most yellow 😉

Before the mandatory good bye photo session, Tony loaded me up with contacts for Georgetown and Bangkok as well as some Touratech merch to replace some of our wearing wardrobe.

We took the motorway north all the way to the turn off for the Cameron Highlands. The ride was once again blissfully smooth, the one brief gust of rain not withstanding. At least this gave us a chance to experience another cool feature of Malaysian road infrastructure. Here, motorcyclist are not left “standing in the rain” or ducking precariously under bridges but rather every bridge is upgraded as a proper rain shelter. With little ramps leading on and off to get out of the way of the trucks. Even on stretches without bridges, there are little shelters set out in good intervals.

The moth it was eating was bigger than most spiders I know …

Turning off the motorway we got the last bit of shopping done to be prepared for our first night camping. Or so I thought … As we arrived at the designated campground / nature park we first were a bit unsure because it was almost fully abandoned. No money collected at the entrance booth, the cafes all closed up and locked down. That alone would probably not have stopped us, but walking around to check out the site we found something that surely did: Two massive spiders, as big as my hand sitting in nets spanning 2 meters across one of the paths. Right next to the designated camp sites. Nina pulled her veto card – for what I think was the first time on the trip. We explored the site for a little while longer, enjoyed the also enormous Raja Brooke butterflies and then headed off further up towards the Cameron Highlands.

We ended up booking into the Twin Pines hostel. Back to slightly moldy rooms and shared bathrooms it was, but at least at $16 NZ the price tag was good 🙂

: Did not realize how much of our gear is in coprate colours

: Everyone sports the Touratech logo but we are the ones with the most yellow 😉

: Us and the rest of the team

: Charowo with Tony, the Touratech representative in Malaysia in front of the shop

: Foreboding skies

: Sure enough, the clouds unload

: The moth it was eating was bigger than most spiders I know …

: A second one? Well, that settled it!

: No romancing, godamit!

: The reason they congregate …

: is that over night, some animal pee’d here.

: And them Butterflies love some tasty pee …

: This big waterfall appeared in one of the corners. We didn’t even get the name…

: Flo blogging in the communal area. Note: It’s cold enough for a fleece jacket!

Day 162 – Hostage in Melaka

Uncertain about what to do in Melaka we booked into our hostel for two nights last night. After our first round of sightseeing though, we felt like this would be a bit excessive. Turns out, canceling one night was harder than we thought though, so we ended up staying to not waste those $20.

Coffee, tea, muesli, toast and jam…it had everything that we wanted

It was not all bad though, since this gave us a chance to finally fully catch up with the blog and get some postcards sorted. Not before a good long breakfast, though. Unfortunately, the 3 year old Lonely Planet turned out to be useless once again. No Chinese breakfast treats for us then. Instead we found a cute and cozy western style cafe. The prices were steep, comparatively, but the food and coffee were excellent.

We made up for the expensive breakfast a while later, when we re-emerged from our hotel to have lunch in a nice Chinese Vegetarian restaurant. For about a third of the price of our breakfast. We also found our Malaysian go-to drink in the form of lemon iced tea (That is tea on ice with lemon juice). Cheap as and so refreshing.

View along the river towards our guest house

After lunch, we walked once again to A’Famosa and the area with all the attractions to get stamps from the post office. On our way back, we took the scenic route along the river. It is very pretty, a bit reminiscent of Amsterdam, but would be improved dramatically if it were not for the smell. We got rewarded though by spotting a pretty large reptile swimming in the river.

By this point I almost dread going into detail for another meal, but for us the last attraction of the day was going to an Indian banana leaf restaurant. Banana leaf, because instead of a plate, you get a large piece of banana leaf put on the table in front of you, a bit like a place mat. On that the waiters put the rice and a couple of veggie / stew things plus some curry over the rice. it was, once again, delicious. After that, we rewarded ourselves with a coffee and chai – Nina remarked that it was almost as good as dessert 😉

Yeah, Melaka, lot’s of food 🙂

: We thought it is pretty. One of the many mosques around

: Cozy cafe with outdoor seating

: Coffee, tea, muesli, toast and jam…it had everything that we wanted

: Colourful trishaws waiting for customers. Many also blast loud music

: Large reptile we spotted

: Typical street view

: This is the expensive side…not where we are staying 🙂

: View along the river towards our guest house

: The Chinese characters are strong in this one =P

: Coffee and yummy Chai as a dessert

Day 147 – walk to the pier

The bungalow for the first three nights

One more day that started like a real holiday. Good and long breakfast, chilling and lounging around and a cheap lunch that Flo went and bought at a roadside eatery while I was watching a movie.

In the afternoon, we were at a point where walking 50 meters to the pier to watch the monkeys didn’t sound outrageously exhausting anymore. We all got out our sunhats and off we went.

It might have still been a bit early and thus too hot for the whole gang of monkeys but looking out from the pier was lovely anyway. Enough monkeys showed up so that we managed to get some good shots while Flo even found someone with a motorbike to talk to.

In the late afternoon, we played two rounds of kniffel. Klaus won the first one with two totally undeserved kniffel while I won the last round…totally deserved that victory. :p

: The bungalow for the first three nights

: Not many but some

: Did not expect it, but they eat these mangrove greens in the back

: one’s missing for the set 😉

: on the pier

: The reason why I am here … literally 😉

: Checking out the kayaking routes

: The bay next to our hotel

: Daytrippers on boats and kayaks on the bay

: I have never seen a step through with panniers before.

: Gonna go kayaking here next year.

: Back to our hotel

Day 140 – Jingle Bells in Bukit Lawang

The recommendation from our guides was to get up early to increase or chances to see Orangutans. When we got downstairs, a macaque jumped away, having stolen something from the kitchen. Despite being watchful, we didn’t see any more apes or monkeys.

Giving it pieces of banana

Until we had banana pancakes for breakfast. Then, a “funky monkey” (I don’t actually know what kind of monkey it was) appeared to join in the breakfast. We fed it a bit and took pictures but I refrained from touching it.

After breakfast, we went on a walk through the garden. It is quite steep and full of fruit trees just for the apes and monkeys. Suria pointed to many a tree and said “never had fruit from this one, the monkeys get there first”. Well, it’s the whole point of the garden to give the apes a variety of things to pick from. We sat down on a giant “jungle umbrella” leaf and waited for over an hour but no Orangutans appeared. It was a long shot to begin with.

It was very peaceful, though, to look at the wall of green on the other side of the river and hear some of the birds call.

It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

Back at the lodge, we packed our things. Rafting back to Bukit Lawang was scheduled for 11am and the inner tubes were already being tied together. Down in the main area, we now had the company of four “funky monkeys” who were waiting on an opportunity to get into the kitchen. Most likely to steal more food.

Our full backpacks were put into double plastic bags which then were tied down very tightly so the whole thing looked very secure. Our shoes were in the pack as well this time so we would just have one set of wet clothes in the end and a whole bag full of dry clothes still with the motorcycle. And off we went!

Our rafting trip was accompanied by Suria who sat in front to steer and look out for dangers. Then us two on the middle tube, feet and legs hanging over the rim and Merah in the back, also with a staff for steering. Ikbal hopped on the left side of our tube and double-functioned as a human shield: Whenever we got close to rocks, he would use his feet to push us away from them, so the tubes never actually hit a rock.

The guys transported some of the empty equipment back so we had an empty gas bottle hanging from the back tube as well. You could hear the “clonk” sometimes when it hit something.

…hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

Rafting was fun. The three guys had so much fun that it felt a bit like they were doing it for themselves which was great. They were laughing and singing a song that had the melody of Jingle bells but lyrics saying something about watching monkeys in Bukit Lawang while they were getting soaked, smashed and bruised. Their good mood never left them. The river has some decent rapids where Flo and I got pretty thoroughly soaked but it also has parts where the bed is wide and the water level thus shallow. The “jungle taxi” faced quite some “traffic jams” when the guys had to jump off and drag us back into deeper water.

Seeing the hiking path from the river, it definitely made more sense to take this route back. Soon we were close to the village again. Suria had told us about a flood just over a week ago but the damage was only really comprehensible if you see it from the river. Whole concrete flood walls had been torn down, bridges and bits of buildings were still lying in the river and had to be navigated while parts of buildings were still standing on the verge of collapsing or falling into the river. Guest houses with half a room open to the river because the other half had been torn away; guest houses with doors leading straight into the river because the veranda had been taken. Seeing this massive destruction, we could understand how the only boat ferrying visitors across to the Orangutan feeding station might have been lost in the flood and why this is a fact the guides are reluctant to share. Now, maybe more than ever, the money tourists bring in is needed. With 75% of tourists coming exclusively to see Orangutans, it is a hard hit that the boat is gone and hasn’t been replaced yet.

We stopped at a pile of rubble over which we could climb out of the river. All our things had made it in one piece and dry while we had made it in one piece and soaking wet. Out of the water, Flo commented very silently that this rafting could have gone bad quite easily with concrete and steel cables in the water but we both chose not to think about it for long. We did have three human shields as bad as it sounds…

Ikbal and his custom-made trike

For the next hour, we were occupied with getting back on the road. Changed into a set of dry clothes, packed all our luggage again so it could be strapped onto the bike, had a snack of deep fried tofu, tempe, potato and bananas as dessert and left towards Tanjungbalai, the harbour from which we want to ship out of Indonesia.

The first kilometres were a much easier ride than on Sunday as all the day trippers were missing but coming close to Medan, everything ground to a hold. I guess this might be what a rush hour looks like in a city that doesn’t have the infrastructure of Jakarta. The going was very slow and time (aka daylight) was starting to run out on us. So we pulled up on the side, decided on a backpacker in Medan and clawed our way there.

The room was more expensive than we wanted and right at a very busy street but Flo was knackered and we needed to stop. At least wifi was available. We then realized that Flo had lost his credit card two days ago. When we were in Medan last, he must have left it in the ATM when he withdrew money for the Orangutan watching. Being only 4km away from the bank where we must have lost the credit card, we put it on the agenda for tomorrow to go there and ask if anyone had found it.

: The waterfall where you can have a shower comes with “jungle umbrellas” right next to it

: Giving it pieces of banana

: Very sceptical

: It kept hanging around to wait on more banana

: Suria also gave it some treats

: Looking down the river…ready to raft?

: …hell yeah! Our awesome make-shift raft!

: Ikbal and his custom-made trike

: Could have been a scene from Mad Max

Day 139 – Surprises, good and bad

We had a lovely breakfast with Boston Cream donuts but couldn’t help to notice that “Durian” is a regular flavour…

The trip to Bukit Lawang, although only 80 km, took us all morning. This may have had to do with our extremely lazy getting up, or with the decadently long breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. But it surely had to do with the fact that it was Sunday, as well. Sunday meant that although Medan itself was quiet, the only road out that way was not. The region and Bukit Lawang are a common day trip for smog chocked Medanese.

Not even 10 meters beyond the welcome sign of Bukit Lawang we were swarmed by hawkers. “Can I help you?” “Which hotel?” … my tolerance for rubbish has worn mighty thin after 50 days in Indonesia, so we left it to brisk answers and avoided eye contact. For some reason the sale’s pitch under the pretence of altruism gets me extra riled up. Luckily, we got left alone after a couple of moments of our silence treatment to sort out accommodation ourselves.

The place that caught our fancy the most was called “Back to Nature”, supposedly sitting within 80 ha of privately preserved rainforest on the edge of the Gunung Leuser National Park. The Lonely Planet was a bit vague whether a road would lead to the place, so we called to find out. No, no road would lead there, but we could park our bike in town and a guide would pick us up from there. Hmm …

Suria, our guide, arrived just a couple of minutes later. He suggested we should have a bite to eat before heading out (it was noon by now). Hmm … How long to the place? Just 30 to 45 min. Ok … still, food sounded right. During lunch we tried to find out a bit more about what, where and how. The big ticket item, at least for Westerners, is the daily Orangutan feeding, a little bit into the park on the other side of the river. Thus hit the bombshell – not quite willing to get it out right away, we prodded Suria to find out that the feeding is closed until further notice. A big flood hit the village a week ago and the boat to ferry visitors across got washed away (more on that flood to come). Wow … what now?

There were two things we could do to still get a chance on seeing Orangutans here. One would be a guided hike into the national park, which would be way out of our budget and probably our available time as well. The other, with a small chance of a sighting, would be to still go to “Back to Nature”. Their garden has attracted some of the big apes and they get visited 2-3 times a week. Plus, it would still be a night in the jungle, something I had not done as of yet. Nina was doubtful to sad, but in the end went along. Maybe it was Suria’s inexhaustible cheerfulness filled with catchy one-liners that pushed her over the edge.

We went down this way just after a motorcycle came up. No way Rocinante would have made this

So we stored our bike and our gear at a place in the village and started walking along the river. We had what we thought we needed distributed between our and another borrowed backpack. Spoiler alert, we would have needed different things. A couple of hundred meters in I accepted that I would not have gotten Rocinante through here. A small bike coming up a staircase tipped me over the edge (if only I’d known). The path follows behind a row of houses and the wall of the gorge. The houses are strung along on the river’s edge. Where the houses ended, the walkway turned into a hiking path – ok, surely no way to get the bike here.

Behind the next bend, the hiking path abruptly ended in a broken staircase and the brown river hitting a cliff face on our side. This was the place where the boat over to the feeding station was moored until last week. Someone with a lorry’s inner tube had joined us a moment ago. With continued cheerfulness we were told that the tube is for us, the only way forward is through the water and it is about chest high. Great! Remember the things we packed for the day? Guess what, swim trunks and a change of pants were not among them! Our gear was carried over and we made it with newly soaked butts. It was warm alright, but having your only change of clothes wet is not the most charming of starts. “Is this the only place where we cross?” “Sure brother, don’t worry be happy! Welcome to the jungle!” On we went, but I had a certain suspicion. The map to the place showed two river crossings via cable bridges ahead. Rubber tube guy kept on following us …

Our two guys bringing our backpacks to safety first

Soon, we came upon the first cable – but instead of spanning the brown floods, it was blocking the path on our side, ending somewhere behind us in the water. Last bit through the water, yeah right! The flood that hit the village also destroyed sections of the path from here on and both cable bridges. To get there, we would need to cross 20m of river twice. I am still not sure what kept Nina from snapping right there. Instead we both embraced the sheer weirdness of the whole thing and went along. Down to our underwear we went. My only worry, and it was a huge one, was about our packs. Mine held all our major electronics – laptop, camera etc. and we had brought no waterproofing. Turned out that my worries were well founded. Suria, while carrying the pack across, stepped into a hole and sunk in to the chest, holding the pack over his head for dear life. He made it …

Before we plonked ourselves into the rubber tube, we saw a couple of tourists (recognizable by the white skin) getting ready to raft down the river in a make-shift raft out of four inner tubes tied together. It looked like considerably more fun than trying to hike upstream through the river. We stored that information in the back of our minds for the way back tomorrow.

I was already on land again when the guys went back to get Flo

Then Nina, who was struggling with the strong current even in knee-high water, was dragged to the other side. It took both guys and some floating through the strongest current to make it. I was next and though I made it further than Nina on my own, the current was something to be wary off. Again, we both had wet undies and, this time, also wet shirts. Afterwards, Suria and Mekah (tube guy) needed a smoking break.

From here, it really wasn’t too far to the guest house anymore. It looked very charming with all the furniture made out of (drift)wood, overlooking the river. We got a welcome tea which tasted a lot like Christmas with spices like clove and aniseed. After already being dragged through the river three times, we didn’t feel like going for a swim and, instead, had a shower under the waterfall which turned out to be very, very cold.

Macaques taking a bath

Sitting around, reading, we were called by one of the staff as a group of macaques climbed along the other river side. It was cool to see monkeys in the wild. They even went for a swim in a separated puddle which had almost no current; surprisingly good swimmers, all of them.

I felt a bit restless so I went through the gardens on a little guided tour but without seeing any apes or monkeys. Ikbal, another staff guy, arrived with some supplies and stories about his own motorcycle.

It got dark when we had dinner so the generator was turned on. The whole place lit up beautifully!

: We had a lovely breakfast with Boston Cream donuts but couldn’t help to notice that “Durian” is a regular flavour…

: We went down this way just after a motorcycle came up. No way Rocinante would have made this

: Getting closer and closer to the river. Merah and the inner tube appeared

: Continuing the hike, now with wet pants

: Our two guys bringing our backpacks to safety first

: I was already on land again when the guys went back to get Flo

: This is what the setting looked like. And the guys were still having fun

: A close by tree was flowering and attracted many butterflies

: The lodge seen from the gardens

: Our welcome tea with spices

: Spot the macaques!

: Macaques taking a bath

: If you look hard, you can spot me reading…

: Lights at night

Day 117 – Ninja Turtles

hard to tell who is more excited …

Staying right at Sukamade beach had one clear advantage: We could tag along to the release of hatchlings in the morning! It would be an early start at 6am but well worth it. A few words to the turtle saving program at Sukamade first though. The beach is, for some reason, the preferred beach for laying eggs for green turtles and leatherback turtles. No one really knows why as there are similar beaches around but it is how it is. Currently, Sukamade is part of the Meru Betiri National Park and a turtle saving program has been running since 1988. Turtles will come on land to lay eggs, burrow them and then go back into the ocean, leaving vulnerable eggs on the beach. Those eggs are threatened by natural predators such as wild boars, crabs and even ants but maybe even more so from poachers. To help keep turtles numbers up, the rangers dig up the eggs, burrow them in their own hatchery and release the hatched turtles back into the ocean.

Since 2005, all adult turtles coming on land to lay eggs are checked and tagged. Flo and I were lucky enough to see a green turtle last night as it was checking out the beach, probably to lay eggs later. Continue reading →

Day 116 – By any means

Sadly, she decided not to lay eggs (before we were allowed there). Only 30% nests compared to last year.

The moon stood almost full in the sky, peeking through impressive backlit clouds. The surf was thundering a couple of meters away and there is no light but the moon’s. Excitedly, our little party patrolled the beach. We spotted tracks in the sand, but the real goal of this nightly adventure was nowhere to be seen, until finally: A one meter long greenback turtle was spotted, scuttling over the beach. The ranger turned on his torch, we walked up from behind not to disturb it. What a magnificent sight. We are once again humbled and stunned by our trip. How did we get here?

Continue reading →

Day 110 – Indiana Jones and the temple of the holy spring

Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

We had an oddball of a day today. After a good night’s sleep and an incredibly tasty breakfast at Cafe Smorgas, we left Sanur in direction of Ubud. This was our planned lunch stop and then we wanted to continue around the east coast and sleep in Amed. Thus the plan.

It took us ages to get out of Sanur. Traffic wasn’t too bad but we stopped ever 10 meters to check on an ATM and a supermarket. Every single ATM we tried would limit the amount you can withdraw to $150 which seems so little if you keep in mind that we pay a $6 fee for every withdrawal. To round off this slow start, it was about 40 degrees at 11am already.

Failing at getting out money and sweating quite profoundly, we made it to the Big trees chocolate factory that I had read about only to find it closed on a Saturday. *meh* Guess we have to come back on a non-weekend day. So we turned around two corners and tried the next ATM before looking for a lunch place. It was 12.30 by this point.

Chocolate factory made out of bamboo…we’ll be back!

Flo went inside, did some things, talked to the staff and then poked his head outside again. “Take off the gear, we will be here for a while. The ATM just swallowed my card.” Oh fun. The ATM had a mechanical defect with the card slot and was unable to return it…so it just kept it. Talking to the company was rather painful as they insisted that the card either was destroyed already or would be destroyed when they found it. Flo managed to get to the point where they will look for his card on Monday and then inform him to pick it up.

Leaving without Flo’s credit card felt odd but we still have about 5 credit cards left so will still be able to get to our money. Now looking urgently for food, we found the next odd thing: Warungs on this stretch of Bali’s roads are strictly non-vegetarian. We tried three warungs, I said my helpful sentences to convey my vegetarian request and they all waved me away with “tidak sayur, all beef/pork”. That’s new. We finally found a very cheap roadside place that could offer me rice, an omelette and a corn fritter. Starving, we took the greasy offer.

Close-up of a bridge guardian

Ubud was only a couple of kilometers further and full of tourists. Which helped us as we found the much sought after ATM with a higher limit. However, it also made Flo itch to get away again. Stopping at a square with a row of shops and cafes, he at least agreed to check in the lonely planet what one should do in Ubud. One of the suggested sights was an “Indiana Jones style temple in a forest full of monkeys”. That was a sight that had to be seen.

Driving through the streets full of shops and tourists, I spotted a lot of things I would have liked to check out. Flo still hated the sight. Coming close to the temple, the amount of monkeys wandering around increased. It cost a bit of an entrance fee to get into the area but the whole thing was quite amazing once you managed to get away from the worst crowds. There were monkeys in

Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

abundance, also willing to jump on you if you held up food which we didn’t as we’re not big fans of overly friendly monkeys. The statues, temple parts and walkways were awesome for an afternoon stroll and we felt very much like in an Indiana Jones set. Again, a tele might have been nice but these monkeys let you get close anyway.

It was getting late for my taste and I also still wanted to check out the tourists shops so I convinced Flo to stay the night in Ubud. We found a lovely, big room for a very reasonable price tugged away behind a temple. Flo even got Rocinante in the little pathway at the back so it could be behind a gate at night.

For dinner, we found a vegetarian warung (also a novelty for me) before I went on my evening stroll through the shops.

: Toasted sandwich and yummy muesli with fruit and yoghurt

: Gigantic statue at a roundabout…not the last one. This seems to be a thing

: Chocolate factory made out of bamboo…we’ll be back!

: Lovely carvings and monkeys is a good description for our experience at the Indiana Jones style temple

: Different statue…still monkeys

: Close-up of a monkey

: View of the actual temple. It was closed to the public but if you want to pray, you can get special entry

: Close-up of a statue

: Close-up of an ongoing flea treatment

: Close-up of a dragonfly

: Part of the holy spring guarded by giant lizards. Or maybe Komodo dragons…

: On a bridge in front of a giant ficus benjamini

: Guess the monkeys deserved a statue, too

: Flo on an epic bridge in midst of ficus benjamini

: Close-up of a bridge guardian

: Our lovely room for the night. Just under $20

: Too hot for Flo so he borrowed my sarong for our “welcome” coffee

: Little details…Flo got “Papa” and I “Mama” on our cups…

: Rocinante just past the line saying “Tude Home Stay”. Safe behind the gate

: A detail of the temple that we stayed behind. Had to pass it on our way to dinner

: Dinner in the vegetarian warung Sopa

Day 97 – Manta Manta

Morning mist hiding the sun a bit

To our surprise we had a good night’s sleep in the cabin of our little boat near the flying foxes. The sea got dead calm over night and once everyone was settled into their resting place, the swaying stopped and the boat stood calm and still through the night.

We got up early to watch the sunrise and the flying foxes one more time. The vistas were once again beautiful, the breakfast of batter fried bananas and Flores coffee rocked and soon we were well under way towards Manta Point.

Passing close to the boat

Once again, we scored with the wildlife! Two rays were feeding at this point, and we got within meters of them snorkeling around. Nina was a bit apprehensive of their tail spikes and got back onto the boat while I stuck with them and got to swim a while longer with these majestic creatures.

After that cool start, we made our way, roughly back towards Labuan Bajo to stop at the last itinerary of our excursion: Kanawa Island. We did another two great sets of snorkeling to explore the reef. Once we were good, the last lunch of the trip got served (I got the fish that Aco caught last night). And that was it, two hours later we were back in Labuan Bajo, gave our exhausted but happy goodbyes to our crew and retired to our hotel for some wifi and packing.

Tomorrow, Sumbawa …