13-22.01.2020 From Vorarlberg via Singapore, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa to Ende

After our vacation 'at home' was over, we headed back home! In the middle of the night, we boarded our plane to Singapore in Zurich. Due to a technical defect with the ABS, the whole thing was delayed, and the pilot questioned whether we would even fly that night. Fortunately, everything was repaired, and we took off with a one-hour delay.

We arrived in Singapore at 6 pm the next day. Since we had another 10-hour layover, we left the airport again. This time not for long, as we wanted to be back before the last train departed. However, it was enough time for Lea to buy a new pair of sandals and for us to have dinner in a small food court. Back at the airport, there was still plenty to see. You can easily spend a few hours at Singapore airport. There is a great selection of food, some of which is open 24/7. It should also be mentioned that it is one of the few airports where you can get really good food at prices that are only slightly higher than in the city. So, our pre-flight Burger King ritual is not an option here. So much for the airport, our actual destination is Indonesia.

After a two-hour flight, we landed in Denpasar, Bali again. This time in daylight... It's worth flying to Indonesia just for the view from the airplane. Even though Lea slept through the whole thing. We had already missed the heat and now we could experience it in all its strength by taking a three-kilometer walk from the airport. We marched through Kuta, the most touristy part of Bali, and were glad that we neither settled here nor ever will (probably)! Well, from here we took the bus via Ubud to Padang Bai on the east coast of Bali. Slowly but surely, it became difficult for us to keep our eyelids open. After about 36 hours, our journey from our accommodation in Feldkirch to our next chosen accommodation was over, but the jet lag would last a few more days.

Since we had to be in Makassar by January 28th for various reasons, it was important for us to catch a ferry from Maumere in the east of Flores on the 26th. So we set off on the ferry to Lombok the next day. The whole thing took 4 hours. Here we stayed 2 nights in the city of Mataram to recover from our jet lag a bit. The city is pleasant enough to take a stroll through the streets and for Mathias to taste one of the probably best versions of "Ayam Bakar Taliwang". But we didn't have enough energy for big sightseeing, so we visited a slightly underwhelming "palace" area and a market near the bus terminal. From that terminal, we immediately booked a bus ticket further.

Our next stop was Bima, a small, not particularly inviting city in the east of Sumbawa Island. The island is supposed to be pretty nice, as it is considered "off the beaten track" even for Indonesian standards, and most tourists in the area skip this island. Unfortunately, it is not easy or cheap to travel this island in a short time, so we decided to only spend one night here. The bus left Mataram at around 9:30 and three hours later, we boarded the ferry. After a 1 1/2-hour ferry ride, we drove along the fairly empty "highway" through Sumbawa to Bima. In the city of Sumbawa Besar, we were served our included lunch. We arrived at our destination Bima just after 10 pm. So far, everything went quite smoothly, and it was also nice to see before the sun went down... well, our overnight accommodations could have been less shabby, but we had to get up a few hours later anyway to continue.

Next, we wanted to visit Labuan Bajo, a small port town in the west of Flores Island, for a two-night stay. For this, we took a shuttle bus at around 5 am, which is intended to catch the 7-9 hour ferry at 9 am. Just after 6, we were already at the port of Sape on the eastern tip of Sumbawa. At this point, we were very happy that our schedule seemed to be going well so far. The ticket counter was still closed, as it was supposed to open one hour before departure. We thought, no problem, and surely the other waiting people thought so too. However, it did not open at 8, nor at 9, nor the hours after that. At 11, we ate the food we had bought at the port. Even after that, nothing seemed to happen. In the meantime, we watched goats that kept storming the trash cans on the port area and counted how many flies were landing on our feet at once... a record of 23 on Mathias' right foot at 1:15 pm. At 2 pm, we were awakened from one of our numerous naps on the tiled floor of the waiting hall because suddenly the counter was "Buka/Open"! So we boarded the boat and looked forward to the imminent departure. Meanwhile, the ferry came from the other side, so ours had to make room on the dock at 4 pm and finally set off. We chugged along for about half an hour when the ferry stopped within good sight of our original port and drifted in circles for about 1 1/2 hours. We had been spoiled by punctuality in our most recent countries, so we had almost forgotten how different things can be. You never get any information about why or how long you will wait, but apart from other Western travelers, it seems that few people are interested in that anyway. Shortly before 1 am, our ferry finally arrived at the destination port in Labuan Bajo. But since the city is really small and sleepy, everything was closed, even though it is a relatively touristy destination. After wandering around the city for a bit and even being helped by two still awake backpackers (one of them Viennese, who believes that people from Vorarlberg are the best people), the night watchman of a hostel let us occupy two quite overpriced beds. For the next day, we immediately booked a nice private room at about 2/3 of the price.

We spent our day in Labuan Bajo drinking coffee and taking a walk to viewpoints. For most visitors, the small port town is the starting point for tours to Komodo National Park, something that does not fit into our schedule or budget. We found it quite nice, and the views were really beautiful. The selection of local food was a bit limited in our area, but at night there was an open-air market where you could eat delicious grilled fish and of course something vegan as well.

The last stretch in this blog post took us to Ende, a city in the middle eastern part of Flores Island. Since the hotel owner in Labuan Bajo had family connections to the bus company (who doesn't here?!), he was able to arrange for us to be picked up directly at the hotel at 8:30. The road that runs through Flores is in very good condition but has a rather intestinal-like layout, i.e., even more winding than snake-like. After a short time, one of the passengers had had enough and had to empty their stomach. Apart from that, the journey went quite smoothly and relatively quickly. Four hours later, in a mountain town called Ruteng, we had to change buses. Here we had enough time for lunch. During that time, some students from a tourism school approached us and wanted to show us their school. We found them so nice that we couldn't refuse. On the school grounds, we talked to numerous other students and were observed by about 150 others and warmly welcomed. They told us, among other things, that it was "English day", the day of the week when all school interactions take place in English. In the city, it seems that everyone wants to become a tour guide in Labuan Bajo. Early in the afternoon, we continued on to Ende, where we arrived at around 9 pm. Here we have another two-night stay to stretch our legs after all the buses and ferries of the last few days.

In Ende, we are now sitting in a cafe, where Lea is working on her "digital nomad" job for a few hours, and Mathias is writing an entertaining blog post about our time in Indonesia so far. Our sprint to Makassar is not quite over yet, but the finish line (not the city) is definitely in sight!