Splitting up

The sad part about meeting people when you travel is that eventually you have to say goodbye and today is the day the boat party starts to go their own way. I miss saying goodbye to Naimh Cesar and Elena but manage to share breakfast with Richi. As we walk back we meet Sarah and Olivia who are also leaving. Honestly all the young people I met on the boat have been wonderful which really makes me smile as they are the new generation. In the morning the lady comes from immigration and gets me to fill in my form and take them away, this has been such a bonus as usually it's 3 visits and the only time I'll have to go is to do my fingerprints.Mo Celine and Richard are moving to a new hostel today so in the early afternoon I just chill and try and do some photo editing. When I wander down to the harbour in the afternoon it seems like everything is starting to get back to normal there were a lot of protests yesterday with 80 people getting arrested however today definitely seems a little calmer. I really admire the people here after coming through the pandemic they are still willing to sacrifice money they would make for what they believe in and protesting against a government policy it's not something that would happen in every country. In the afternoon Selene MO and Richard have invited me to chill out there hostel as they have a pool but when I arrive I refused entry. After a bit of sweet talk and a little bit of local lingo I manage to talk myself in. The hostel as much nicer than the one Im in but I'm due to check out tomorrow so really can't be bothered packing and then unpacking. As I leave the hostel there it's a huge procession of young children ranging from girl guides to boy scouts and people wearing traditional dress. I stand for nearly 10 minutes watching the parade go past with children waving and asking for photos. After a quick shower I walked down to the harbor and manage to catch the last of the sunset. I walk to Warren brothers and order food but after 30 minutes no food has arrived and the guys message me to say they are going to the fish market so I agree to join them however as I'm walking there they are walking towards me and tell me it's closed so it's back to warung brothers where I once again enjoy the Barracuda. We spend the evening in here although it's a lot more low-key than it has been for the last few nights and throughout the evening we're joined by various other members of the boat. Later in the evening one of the guys shows me a government video which is the plans for Komodo. The 3.7 million increase is to stop the backpacker tourists and the plan is that they want to build a high end resort on the island. The increase in price was supposed to be to protect the dragons but now I understand a lot more why the protesters are so focused. These plans would bring in a totally different clientele and most of the businesses here would go bust. I see so much of this as I travel where foreign investment takes over the actual places that make local people their bread and butter. Just before midnight I bid my goodbyes as I have to be up early.Read more