BootsnAll Travel Network



Goodbye Luxury, Welcome to the Real Indonesia

As much as we enjoy living the luxurious side of life, of course we need to balance that with a little reality.

mission toilet

Welcome to Reality.

We are spending the next week on the island of Flores – a mountainous island east of Bali. Tiny villages dot a gorgeous countryside of hills and valleys, full of palm trees and rice paddies. We’ve joined a group of 12 people for this part of the trip – once again playing Group Roulette. We are an odd array of people from completely different worlds, about to bond over an experience few people have the opportunity to share.

Our trek through Flores is bringing us to surprisingly remote locales, where the only other tourists seem to be missionaries. The local people gather and gawk at us, trying desperately to touch our white skin. There are no beggars here however – while poverty is rampant and the people live more primitively than we could ever imagine, their greetings are genuine.

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Our accommodations this week reflect the villages we are living in – hot water is non-existent and we are thrilled when the cold water pressure is enough to wash in. We stay at Catholic missions a few nights, sharing a manual flush toilet (mandi) and bucket to wash in. The toilet doubles as a shower stall. (see initial photo) Our ‘suite’ in Riung has power from 6 pm to 6 am. And with no AC or ceiling fans in sight, we are thrilled when our accommodations actually have a window – with mosquito netting on the bed, of course. We share our space with chickens and pigs – Avian and Swine flu seem less of a mystery now. The roosters wake us at 4:30 am. If it’s not the chickens, it’s the mosque’s call to prayer. Or maybe the traffic. Or kids. Or blaring Christmas music at 5 am – ironically, Silent Night.

mission room

Our ‘restaurant’ choices are extremely limited – most towns have one or two warungs or local restaurants, so by definition, we eat what the locals do. And yes, there is a limit to how much mie goreng (fried noodles) you can eat. And no, nasi goring (fried rice) isn’t enough of a variation on the theme. But curiously, there is no limit to the sambal (spicy chilli sauce) that Brendan can eat.

Unexpectedly, we are spending 5-10 hours on the bus every day. It’s incredible that an island only 275 km wide can take so long to traverse.



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