Ae Ruju

19/12/16

Labaun Bajo - Flores - Indonesia

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas?

All restaurants and shops have got Christmas decs and music going on which is weird when you're sweating buckets with the tiniest bit of movement.

Woke early (4am) to watch the sports personality award come in and was gutted to hear muzza won it again. Hockey girls won nothing.

Saw I was loosing the weekend warrior step count competition and thought, I'll go for a run to catch up.

Holy crap. I went for 1.6k. I have never sweated that much in my life.... It's 5am how is the humidity this high it's insane!!?

The full port is alive and kicking at 5am aswell. It's daylight, children showering with buckets, chickens on full cock alert, getting hello'd from every which way. Still nice going along the sea front!

2000 steps only and totally failed at weekend warrior. To boot heavily sun burnt and covered in midgie bites AND severely hung over after last nights rasta bar escapades!

Got back, and we are both on full rear alert again having gone through 5 full toilet rolls in two days. I have no idea what is making us go.... Reckon it might be the bottled water which is bottled on the Island.

Go get the laundry done £1 per kg, and grab some lunch before we fly to Ende. It was terrible! Deep fried portion of chicken although I don't know which portion, firey hot sauce... I got cocky thinking it was tomato salsa had a gob full and nearly cried.

Noblet tactically brought us to a restaurant with slow service so he could get out of walking to the airport.... In revenge, I got us 2 motorbikes to get us there (saved us £2 in the process).

He had a 15kg rucksack of aswell... His terrified face was a picture and worth sacrificing some steps for!! The driver gave him a pink helmet and proceeded on the slowest motorbike journey ever .... Engine nearly died dragging his arse up the hills!!!! We drive past him and he is hanging on for dear life... Best £2 saving ever.

He was like 'consider revenge had' haha

We get to the worlds smallest airport Komodo, to find our flight to Ende has been delayed by 40 mins (its a 40 minute flight so not sure how this has been achieved!!)

All construction details analysed. Continue with the same theory that no one in Asia can finish buildings, we've still not seen one its ridic!

We're on Tsumami watch following an earthquake (our second at 5.2) there are warnings on all the TVs in the airport!i

After a long delay we get on the prop plane which has 40 seats on it. Yet again we've managed to secure the seats at the front which come with additional leg room, thank god, Poor Noblet is hunched up otherwise! Think they give us these because they trust white people to follow the instruction card in case of emergency which sees us removing doors and getting everyone out lol.

We land, in a storm, and it's a very bad landing where everyone on the plane shits themselves. We're in the midst of a monsoon. It's an insane downpour and the airfield is flooded under at least an inch of water. We're given umbrellas as we get off the plane and get to shelter as soon as possible, drenched, even with the protection of the baby umb. The lads working on the airfield are doing their signalling under an umbrella and a couple sack of duties and take refuge under the fuselage 😂

Manage to share a minibus with a couple which halves the price winner, not one word of English between them but we offer them snacks and vice versa as seems the custom in Asia. They're friendly but there's a kid in the car and everyone's smoking, windows are open but the smokes just blown into the car.... Feels wrong but only the same as what everyone did 10 years ago. Understandable.... What we can't get our heads round is that we are driving through pristine rainforest and he finishes his 1.5L coke and lobs it out of the window.... Want to cry.... Then finishes his snacks, cardboard, plastic, polythene bag, cigaret plastic... Each done separately and with each drop it was like a massive I want to smash you in the face, but at the same time it's your culture observe only holly OMFG so annoying!!

Looking at the villages as we drive through predominantly tin huts, some bamboo. Everyone is well fed, no one looks like they're starving unlike India. There's also more cats than dogs for the first time and there's not that many cats! All animals look well fed.

We're making good time despite picking up a 50kg sack of rice, some lettuces and a few other bits and bobs on the way for our fellow travellers.... Driver was totes ok with it.

Hotel, noodles & bed!

In the morning 3.30am we're going to see mount Kelimutu!!

Donkey Noblet for thinking the drivers aid he wanted money when he was saying we're nearly at moni!Read more