Indonesia is redeemed! Well nearly. Day 44 saw us up at 5am determined that we wouldn't let any ferry that might run that day leave before we could work out which port it would leave from. A rather surreal 20 minute moto ride alongside the black sand beaches of Flores got us to a port with definitely no ferry but a large group of Indonesians apparently as confused as us, yet seemingly perfectly content that at some point a boat would turn up.
And turn up it did! Albeit a rust bucket (see our photos for this leg), rocking in the swell as horses and goats slid off amongst the packet carrying passengers, bracing itself for the military landing craft style rush of the awaiting throng of passengers.
Rather ambivalent to the length of journey given the range of estimates we'd been given, we were happy enough just to be onboard and sailing southeast towards West Timor, and the regional centre of East Nusa Tenggara of Kupang, still just about on time to make our scheduled arrival date in Australia.
The next day was to be one full of surprises - and generally of the good kind. After 19 hours of cramped sleep using some of our trip learnt contortion positions, and hopefully our last pot noodle of the journey, we arrived EARLY in Kupang and 3.30am moto-ed by starlight to one of the least salubrious accommodations we've enjoyed. Waking up next day we found ourselves right on the seafront with views along the beach, and a bustling town most notable for by its country and western / hiphop pumping pimped bemo minibuses.
After the ferry delays in Indonesia, to have had any chance of catching a cargo ship down from Dili to Darwin we needed East Timor to have kept to their word and processed our visa applications in the promised 10 days, however even trawling spam boxes proved fruitless in our search for a reply meaning, in the consensus opinion of Kupang, a three day delay waiting for the letter and stamp that would let us into the world's "newest nation". Sweet talking was required, and dressed as smartly as we would (OK, so not that smart, but at least the flipflops came off) we assaulted the Timor Leste consulate with our full arsenal of pleasantries, smiles, linguistic abilities and subservience and respect for people doing an obviously extremely important job.
It worked, and six hours later (a record we are told) we had the letter, and were headed via a few frames of pool in the sunset where Will made a controversial comeback (a deliberate miss involved) to win the night 7-6 to Kupang's lively, fish packed night market for a juice, a beer at Edwin's L'Avalon bar to thank him for all his help during the day, and bed ready for (another) 4.30am start.
Day 46 was pretty much written off as a bus/border crossing day and we weren't far wrong as the West Timor road suddenly became a dirt track as we passed Atambua, the last West Timor town, and headed for the frontier. Stamped and inspected by a whole host of military, police and immigration authorities along with the standard money changing touts, we passed muster and were allowed into Timor Este, our 19th country of the trip, and miraculously still on schedule to make Australia as planned by 1st July, albeit now with no hope of making it onto the cargo boat that was our only (faint) hope of really making this epic journey without any flying.
As we drove noorth east towards Dili, the landscape became more and more arid, and further and further from the jungle type vegetation and favourable agricultural conditions of Flores and even West Timor, and settlements appeared poorer compared to their western neighbours. Stunning coastlines prevailed as we moved towards the UN compound/town that acts as Timor Leste's capital since their bloody independence from Indonesia and subsequent UN governance over the last two decades.
Smarting from the cost of accommodation, the price of food didn't really help as it became increasingly apparent that the abundance of UN and NGO staff, combined with Timor Leste's need to import almost everything (a pint of milk comes from Australia and is USD $5) makes for a bad budget backpacker location. Still, I didn't mind as the slope of the pool table played to my advantage and the score levelled at 9-9.
Bed was not particularly appealing, but given how much we had paid, we made the most of it, our last real "travelling" night of the trip.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... IN OZ NOW!
Ende - Kupang: 19 ferry hours / 250 km
Kupang - Dili: 12 bus hours / 250 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 19,015 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,780 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan - Ende
At last! A Ferry Schedule! You may laugh, but right now all we want is a ferry! Click on the photo for more (interesting) pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 39 - 43: Gili Trawangan (Lombok) - Ende (Flores)
Maybe our joint subconscious in demanding a break in Gili knew something we may have suspected, but always hoped, wouldn't be the case: that travelling through the world's largest cul-de-sac of the volcanic Nusa Tenggara islands would be the most frustrating, time consuming and complex part of the journey as we moved well beyond the standard backpacker trail of Bali and western Lombok and onto islands so remote that even Google thinks they are empty (see our Google Map).
Leaving behind the comfortingly almost symbiotic relationship between tourists and locals on the Gili islands full in the knowledge that rapid progress was needed, we sacrificed the amazingly tempting tourist snorkelling boat via Komodo (of dragon fame) for the local alternative: a 16 hour bus through Lombok and Sumbawa islands to meet the 12 hour ferry on to Lubuanbajo at the western extreme of Flores.
The lack of comfort sleeping amongst sacks of rice, heads resting on the subwoofer speaker as water leaked from the onboard toilet past our feet, has become pretty much the norm, but the major problem we were finding ourselves coming up against was the plethora of inaccurate travel information through which we had wade to try and divine what transport might actually happen. To say this disinformation is malicious is certainly true in some cases (our need to save time saw us done out of $10 each on this leg), but in most seems to stem from a refusal by locals to ask anyone who might actually know, relying instead on family and friends' opinions as unquestionable and beyond doubt, certainly by jumped up bule like us.
Mildly soothed by the stunning scenery of Komodo island from our ferry, and then the mountainous story book style tropical landscapes of Flores as we enjoyed the luxury of a hired car, the key question in our minds became how to turn early Lombok assurances that a ferry operates every Tues, Thurs and Sat between Ende in Flores and Kupang in West Timor, into a ticket and a big white boat that would actually take us across to the next island on our journey.
Doubts over even what port the ferry would run from, before even worrying about days and times, seemed only to multiply in Lubuanbajo to the extent our agreement with the owner of the car we hired to cross Flores was that we paid him once we were on the Kupang bound gangplank - a very shrewd move as three hours cruising the appropriately named Ende on our arrival culminated with no ferry on the day we'd been promised, and none likely until at least two days after. Not ideal. Will & Rob not happy. Can ANY other place in the world have such poor and apparently randomly generated information with such feeble resemblance to reality?
As I write this we still don't know if they'll ever be a ferry, but at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifleast the delay here in Ende allowed us to shoot out north to the majestic and breath taking Kelimutu volcanic lakes (towards the end of our photos for this leg). Sitting on the rim blinded by mist there are few words to describe the beauty and almost unworldlike appearance of these crater lakes as the cloud rises slowly revealing their cameleon like colours, changing through blue, green, red and black as their mineral cocktail evolves over time. A further 10 US cents spent saw us enjoying the spa like hot volcanic spring water bubbling up in the middle of the surrounding paddy fields. Did it stop us worrying about the ferry? Well no, but I tell you, for any readers thinking about taking a ferry from Ende, this is the place to come and wait!
Indonesia is certainly proving the most challenging country of the trip so far, its outstanding natural beauty just about making up for the frustrations of travelling here. Let's just hope the ferry does run tomorrow! Come on Indonesia, redeem yourself!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Mataram - Lubuanbajo: 32 hours & 14 ferry hours / 450 km
Lubuanbajo - Ende: 12 car hours / 400 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 18,515 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,620 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Leaving behind the comfortingly almost symbiotic relationship between tourists and locals on the Gili islands full in the knowledge that rapid progress was needed, we sacrificed the amazingly tempting tourist snorkelling boat via Komodo (of dragon fame) for the local alternative: a 16 hour bus through Lombok and Sumbawa islands to meet the 12 hour ferry on to Lubuanbajo at the western extreme of Flores.
The lack of comfort sleeping amongst sacks of rice, heads resting on the subwoofer speaker as water leaked from the onboard toilet past our feet, has become pretty much the norm, but the major problem we were finding ourselves coming up against was the plethora of inaccurate travel information through which we had wade to try and divine what transport might actually happen. To say this disinformation is malicious is certainly true in some cases (our need to save time saw us done out of $10 each on this leg), but in most seems to stem from a refusal by locals to ask anyone who might actually know, relying instead on family and friends' opinions as unquestionable and beyond doubt, certainly by jumped up bule like us.
Mildly soothed by the stunning scenery of Komodo island from our ferry, and then the mountainous story book style tropical landscapes of Flores as we enjoyed the luxury of a hired car, the key question in our minds became how to turn early Lombok assurances that a ferry operates every Tues, Thurs and Sat between Ende in Flores and Kupang in West Timor, into a ticket and a big white boat that would actually take us across to the next island on our journey.
Doubts over even what port the ferry would run from, before even worrying about days and times, seemed only to multiply in Lubuanbajo to the extent our agreement with the owner of the car we hired to cross Flores was that we paid him once we were on the Kupang bound gangplank - a very shrewd move as three hours cruising the appropriately named Ende on our arrival culminated with no ferry on the day we'd been promised, and none likely until at least two days after. Not ideal. Will & Rob not happy. Can ANY other place in the world have such poor and apparently randomly generated information with such feeble resemblance to reality?
As I write this we still don't know if they'll ever be a ferry, but at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifleast the delay here in Ende allowed us to shoot out north to the majestic and breath taking Kelimutu volcanic lakes (towards the end of our photos for this leg). Sitting on the rim blinded by mist there are few words to describe the beauty and almost unworldlike appearance of these crater lakes as the cloud rises slowly revealing their cameleon like colours, changing through blue, green, red and black as their mineral cocktail evolves over time. A further 10 US cents spent saw us enjoying the spa like hot volcanic spring water bubbling up in the middle of the surrounding paddy fields. Did it stop us worrying about the ferry? Well no, but I tell you, for any readers thinking about taking a ferry from Ende, this is the place to come and wait!
Indonesia is certainly proving the most challenging country of the trip so far, its outstanding natural beauty just about making up for the frustrations of travelling here. Let's just hope the ferry does run tomorrow! Come on Indonesia, redeem yourself!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Mataram - Lubuanbajo: 32 hours & 14 ferry hours / 450 km
Lubuanbajo - Ende: 12 car hours / 400 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 18,515 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,620 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan
Click on the photo for more pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 34 - 38: Jakarta - Gili Trawangan (Lombok)
Jakarta, in addition to being one of the hardest to love places I have ever been to (and I say this after much soul searching and five attempts to enjoy the city), is obviously a subscriber to the assertion that best laid plans shouldn't always reap rewards as Day 34 turned into one of the most frustrating of the trip so far.
Lulled into a false sense of security by our decision the night before to have a travel agency arrange our bus tickets (it always seems impossible to me to work out where in Jakarta each company's buses leave from), our semi-bright eyed and bushy tailed moods were in for an early disappointment as the agency's claimed bus departure time slipped from 9am to 11am to 1pm to a definite 3pm. The bad start continued as the agency decided to bajaj (like a prehistoric tuktuk - see photos) us through Jakarta's tangible to the eyes, nose and taste bud pollution to the bus station, the same bus station we had been dumped at the night before.
"Executive" buses from our company Lorena came and went, yet none apparently were ours. As time ticked by, the metal benches became less and less comfortable and our frustration at losing time, a frustration compounded by the fact we were still suffering bus hangovers from the previous leg, grew and was only partially soothed by cold drinks and Ayam Goreng for Will and fresh mangoes for me.
Our frustration and persistence eventually paid dividends as Lorena got fed up with us and shunted us onto another operator's service with us finally wheels rolling at 6pm. A very frustrating and sweaty day, which has done little to improve Jakarta's standings in our league table of places we'd like to come back to.
Rant over. Shell shocked by the day so far and with our bodies seemingly numbed from the discomfort of the bus journey from Jambi, we settled in for the reported 18 hour ride through to Denpasar, the capital of tourist central Bali. We must be becoming used to these journeys as the hours passed reasonably rapidly, the (surprisingly good in my book) food stops came regularly, the scenery was at times pleasant (note to go back to the central Java volcanoes sometime) and even the traffic jams seemed to be limited to only the main cities, and some place near Surabaya where an over zealous gas exploration company hit a mud volcano.
Our popularity with young school girls on trucks and buses as our coach slalomed the 500km or so through East Java seemed to extend to the first of the two ferries on the journey, the hop from Java to Bali where an entire school trip including the teacher got their cameras out. That apart the ferry journey to Bali was uneventful other than finalising our pay off to the bus drivers to let us stay on all the way through to Mataram in Lombok. An agreement that seemed to make us new friends for life.
More bus, and a five hour ferry across the Lombok and Jakarta + 41 hours we arrived in Mataram fully ready for, and only one step away from, our mini break in the Gili islands. Taxi (yes we were getting pretty tired of buses) to the beach and a quick boat hop saw us leaping with joy onto to pristine sand of Gili Trawangan, a true gem of the tropical island world and a sign of where the real beauty of Indonesia lies.
2 days off. Just what the Doctor ordered.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Jakarta - Mataram: 41 bus hours including 2 ferries / 1,200 km
Mataram - Gili Trawangan: 1 taxi hour & 30 launch minutes / 35 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 17,665 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,570 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Lulled into a false sense of security by our decision the night before to have a travel agency arrange our bus tickets (it always seems impossible to me to work out where in Jakarta each company's buses leave from), our semi-bright eyed and bushy tailed moods were in for an early disappointment as the agency's claimed bus departure time slipped from 9am to 11am to 1pm to a definite 3pm. The bad start continued as the agency decided to bajaj (like a prehistoric tuktuk - see photos) us through Jakarta's tangible to the eyes, nose and taste bud pollution to the bus station, the same bus station we had been dumped at the night before.
"Executive" buses from our company Lorena came and went, yet none apparently were ours. As time ticked by, the metal benches became less and less comfortable and our frustration at losing time, a frustration compounded by the fact we were still suffering bus hangovers from the previous leg, grew and was only partially soothed by cold drinks and Ayam Goreng for Will and fresh mangoes for me.
Our frustration and persistence eventually paid dividends as Lorena got fed up with us and shunted us onto another operator's service with us finally wheels rolling at 6pm. A very frustrating and sweaty day, which has done little to improve Jakarta's standings in our league table of places we'd like to come back to.
Rant over. Shell shocked by the day so far and with our bodies seemingly numbed from the discomfort of the bus journey from Jambi, we settled in for the reported 18 hour ride through to Denpasar, the capital of tourist central Bali. We must be becoming used to these journeys as the hours passed reasonably rapidly, the (surprisingly good in my book) food stops came regularly, the scenery was at times pleasant (note to go back to the central Java volcanoes sometime) and even the traffic jams seemed to be limited to only the main cities, and some place near Surabaya where an over zealous gas exploration company hit a mud volcano.
Our popularity with young school girls on trucks and buses as our coach slalomed the 500km or so through East Java seemed to extend to the first of the two ferries on the journey, the hop from Java to Bali where an entire school trip including the teacher got their cameras out. That apart the ferry journey to Bali was uneventful other than finalising our pay off to the bus drivers to let us stay on all the way through to Mataram in Lombok. An agreement that seemed to make us new friends for life.
More bus, and a five hour ferry across the Lombok and Jakarta + 41 hours we arrived in Mataram fully ready for, and only one step away from, our mini break in the Gili islands. Taxi (yes we were getting pretty tired of buses) to the beach and a quick boat hop saw us leaping with joy onto to pristine sand of Gili Trawangan, a true gem of the tropical island world and a sign of where the real beauty of Indonesia lies.
2 days off. Just what the Doctor ordered.
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Jakarta - Mataram: 41 bus hours including 2 ferries / 1,200 km
Mataram - Gili Trawangan: 1 taxi hour & 30 launch minutes / 35 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 17,665 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,570 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Friday, June 17, 2011
2 Bridges Photos Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta
Click on the photo for more pictures!
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
If you like our pictures, please consider a donation to our charity Doctors of the World - to donate click here
Day 30 - 33: Singapore - Sumatra - Jakarta
With complete expectation that the real travelling part of the trip was just about to get started, we made the most of our day of Singaporean comfort, AC and excellent food before enjoying Marina Bay's light show in the relative cool of the evening in this Asian haven of organisation.
Our expectation was not far wrong as Day 31 saw us gradually moving down in the travel hierarchy from Singapore's commuter shuttle hydrofoil to Batam, to a nine hour Indonesian boat across the millpond like sea to the Sumatran mainland (many thanks to our new friend Aris who turfed some locals out to get us the best seats), negotiating a whole town who wants to get involved search of our baggage - well done Will for such imagination in bringing them onside - and finishing with a three hour cramped minibus ride in the dark along one of the worst roads we've travelled so far this trip, punctuated by the obligatory meal stop in one of the less impressive restaurants and toilets we've had the pleasure of visiting.
The accompanying change through the day from Singapore's skyscrapers, pristine MRT, non-negotiated taxis and shopping malls, to the island houses built on stilts within sight of the Singapore coastline, to the rural, mountainous paddy field landscapes of southern Sumatra told its own story, as we found ourselves ending the day firmly in real world Indonesia, cruising Jambi at 11pm in the almost hopeless quest to find a spare hotel room in this regional at best city - nice to know so much is going on here but really, could it not have been another night?!?
Day 32 was to prove even more of a travel test as again our preferred option to Jakarta was fully booked, leaving us on a second rate luxury bus for the supposed 22 hour ride down through Sumatra, over the short ferry crossing to Java ($1 saw a well deserved upgrade to "executive class", and Rob take an unassailable 1-0 lead in our best of 1 chess match - Will blames the deafening cover band), and into Jakarta. 30 hours, at least 5 meal stops, one fairly major pit stop (involving hammers, wrenches, and removal of part of the bus engine) and little sleep later we finally crawled into east Jakarta, for an ojek (the motorbike ride of your life through Jakarta's reknowned clouds of pollution and traffic jams) and busway ride into town to find our trains to Bali fully booked, a disappointment only softened by the excitment of the "18" hour bus alternative, a meal of Padang and a mini night time excursion of Jakarta's Thursday nightlife...
More next time, off for the next leg through to Denpasar, Bali - wish us luck!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Singapore - Batam: 1 boat hour / 20 km
Batam - Sumatra Coast: 9 boat hours / 200 km
Sumatra Coast - Jambi: 3 bus hours / 130 km
Jambi - Jakarta: 30 bus hours / 1,050 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 16,430 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,420 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
Our expectation was not far wrong as Day 31 saw us gradually moving down in the travel hierarchy from Singapore's commuter shuttle hydrofoil to Batam, to a nine hour Indonesian boat across the millpond like sea to the Sumatran mainland (many thanks to our new friend Aris who turfed some locals out to get us the best seats), negotiating a whole town who wants to get involved search of our baggage - well done Will for such imagination in bringing them onside - and finishing with a three hour cramped minibus ride in the dark along one of the worst roads we've travelled so far this trip, punctuated by the obligatory meal stop in one of the less impressive restaurants and toilets we've had the pleasure of visiting.
The accompanying change through the day from Singapore's skyscrapers, pristine MRT, non-negotiated taxis and shopping malls, to the island houses built on stilts within sight of the Singapore coastline, to the rural, mountainous paddy field landscapes of southern Sumatra told its own story, as we found ourselves ending the day firmly in real world Indonesia, cruising Jambi at 11pm in the almost hopeless quest to find a spare hotel room in this regional at best city - nice to know so much is going on here but really, could it not have been another night?!?
Day 32 was to prove even more of a travel test as again our preferred option to Jakarta was fully booked, leaving us on a second rate luxury bus for the supposed 22 hour ride down through Sumatra, over the short ferry crossing to Java ($1 saw a well deserved upgrade to "executive class", and Rob take an unassailable 1-0 lead in our best of 1 chess match - Will blames the deafening cover band), and into Jakarta. 30 hours, at least 5 meal stops, one fairly major pit stop (involving hammers, wrenches, and removal of part of the bus engine) and little sleep later we finally crawled into east Jakarta, for an ojek (the motorbike ride of your life through Jakarta's reknowned clouds of pollution and traffic jams) and busway ride into town to find our trains to Bali fully booked, a disappointment only softened by the excitment of the "18" hour bus alternative, a meal of Padang and a mini night time excursion of Jakarta's Thursday nightlife...
More next time, off for the next leg through to Denpasar, Bali - wish us luck!
Ps. Check out our updated Google Map of the route and our stop off points (click on the map to zoom in).... "not far" to go now!
Singapore - Batam: 1 boat hour / 20 km
Batam - Sumatra Coast: 9 boat hours / 200 km
Sumatra Coast - Jambi: 3 bus hours / 130 km
Jambi - Jakarta: 30 bus hours / 1,050 km
TOTAL TO DATE: 16,430 km
FUND RAISING TOTAL: GBP 3,420 including Gift Aid - please keep these Doctors of the World donations coming - click here!
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