Pelabuhan Ende

I decided to plan out the remainder of my time in Flores after hearing negative stories about accommodation from westbound travelers. My intended next stop from Bajawa was Moni, where I had planned to stay two nights - the plan was arrive and stay the night, to go to Kelimutu for sunrise, hike back down, and stay another night. After that, I had booked a beach resort east of Maumere as a special treat to myself after staying in budget places and traveling rough(ish). I also booked a ticket out of Maumere to Bali on August 9. I was wary about planning that far ahead and focusing on the destination rather than the journey. Both my lack of planning and my advance planning come back to bite me in the a**.

Moni is the hopping off point for Kelimutu's crater lakes. With few exceptions, all the accommodations there are budget, and almost none are bookable online. In fact, only a handful had email addresses. I contacted those with email addresses and they all told me they were full except for Homestay Daniel. So, I reserved a room for two nights. I was ecstatic to find a place, but that came to an abrupt end when other travelers told me that this same homestay had confirmed rooms for them and then not had any when they arrived. It seems as if it was a first come first served situation. I was therefore anxious to get to Moni as quickly as possible to snag a decent available room.

I checked with the staff at Hotel Silverin, and they advised me to be on the highway at 6am and to flag down buses headed east. I had to take the public bus as the Gunong Mas vans originate westwards and don't roll in until noon. The wonderful staff there even arranged for an early breakfast for me at 5.30am.

After breakfast, when I walked out of the hotel I saw a shared ride van outside with a man washing it. I hopefully enquired with the man if he was headed to Moni. He said he wasn't, but he made a call and before long a public bus came along, at which point he came and took my bag, loaded it on the bus and bid me farewell. In other places, the fixer would ask for a tip. No such expectation here. I was pleased as I would get into Moni before 1pm at this rate. I was the first passenger on board and I got the choice seat by the door. Even though I was alone on the bus, the aisles and the spaces under the seats were already stacked full of stuff - sacks of rice, cans of cooking oil, etc. The bus then set off towards Ende, which is en route to Moni, blaring dangdut music (at 6am?!?). Along the way, we picked up two other passengers, one of whom was an English-speaking nun on her way to Larantuka. Both passengers had lots of stuff (boxes of food and drinks) and they crammed the aisles even more full with their cargo. Along the way, I enjoyed the spectacular scenery as it was lit up by the early morning light.

Four hours or so later at Ende, the driver made several rounds around the city but only got one additional passenger. I'm used to Indonesian buses doing this so I wasn't unduly fazed. We stopped briefly to eat before heading on to Moni. A few miles out of town, the bus developed a mechanical problem. For about 45 minutes, the driver and his assistant replaced a part and tried to get it to work. I was getting increasingly anxious. In the meantime, the guy from Homestay Daniel emailed me to ask where I was. I told them I was in Ende and to hold the room. I took this to be a positive sign. Nevertheless, I resolved to flag down the next bus heading to Moni. But, none came. I could hear traffic on the other side of the farmhouses, so I guessed we weren't on the main road but on a parallel road. The nun confirmed this. At this point, she told the bus driver he needed to take care of the visitor. So, the driver's assistant took me to the next road after I waved my cheerful goodbyes to the nun and the other passengers. A passerby made a call. They both waited with me and they flagged down the bus for me.

I was relieved to be on my way again. But, this was shortlived. A few hundred yards after picking me up, the bus stopped at what appeared to be a transfer point, and the driver got out. I knew we were waiting for more passengers.

One key rule in traveling is Asia is to never display anger or impatience. I often have to suppress my inner Singaporean/American. After about 20 minutes, I approached the driver and had this conversation with him:

Me: Tunggu lagi orang?
Driver: Yes. Tunggu sepuluh minit. Dari mana, tuan?
Me: Amerika.
Driver: Obama.
Me: Obama habis President. Obama bagus.
Driver: President sekarang Donald Trump.

I make a gagging sound. Everyone within earshot bursts out laughing.

The ice is now broken. I'll be looked after. I think this conversation may also have incentivized the driver to depart at the time he said he would. While waiting to depart, I bought and ate a couple of tangerines. I placed the peel in a plastic bag instead of throwing it away at random, eliciting praise from a fellow passenger. Flores definitely has a trash problem.

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