Bush cruise in indonesia

We woke up early this morning to have some breakfast before our adventure. The weather was beautiful and we were all well rested and ready to go. We decided that it was basically a bush cruise because we stopped to look at things and the road was very rough (although paved)
Our drive took us up a very curvy steep road. Numerous times we stopped on the side of the road for pictures and/or to look at different plants. We saw (in no order) bananas, jack fruit, coffee, cocoa, papaya, Duran, pineapple, rice, cashew, teak trees, candle nuts, fern trees, and a bunch more. The bush was a jungle of all these plants.
Our first real stop was to see a waterfall. We thought that we would be able to get out of the car and perhaps walk 5 minutes to get to it, but that was not the case at all. When we arrived our guide handed us off to another guide ( who did not speak English) and informed us that the trek to the waterfall was 2 hours ( return trip). This came as a bit of a shock but we decided to give it a shot.
So off we go in our sanuks, lead by our guide and followed by 5 or 6 of the local children who showed up for the journey. The trail lead us down a slippery steep hill which we were all dreading walking back up. When we got to the bottom of the hill (30 min) we found ourselves in a rice patty. One of the little girls who came along for the journey, Helen, helped aunty down the mountain. So when she took off her flip flops so did the rest of us. We maneuvered bare foot through the rice patties, slipping once or twice into the warm muddy water where the rice was growing. We passed cows
grazing, waved to locals working in the fields, and finally arrived to the waterfall.
It was well worth the walk. Taryn, Jordan, and I flopped into the cool fresh water and swam under the falls. Aunty kept the children company and took lots of pictures. The kids all implied that it was too cold to swim!! We spent about half an hour there enjoying the scenery and cool water.
The hike back up was grueling. We all went bare foot and one step at a time made it to the top. We were sweaty ad exhausted. What a hike!
Back in the car we drove to a town close by, and rejuvenated ourselves with lunch. We were completely exhausted after the hike. Our driver took us to some more rice fields and then home. It poured rain all the way. All in all the trip was wonderful. Amazing views of the island and how the people here live. We also learned a lot about their crops.
Off to the Gilli islands tomorrow. Not sure when we will have Internet but we will do our best to find some. Cross your fingers for us that we can find a place to stay wen we get there as we have heard that it is booking up fast! Love to you all, attached are some photos of today and a Komodo!

**taryns joke that she made up today -

We were talking about names today like sensitive Sally and negative nancy, chatty Cathy, greedy Gloria. Etc and Taryn came up with pessimistic Pete. Then she said that They have anti-depressants for pessimistic peters.... Think about Peter heaters I you don't get it. Maybe not the best joke in the world but Taryn's still laughing at it.

Labuanbajo

Today was a recovery day. I know it doesn't seem like you should need to recover on a vacation but we were all exhausted after our boat trip. In the morning Taryn wasn't feeling 100% so she and aunty asked Adrian ( the man we are staying with) and he recommended to go to the doctor. Aunty and Taryn caught the bemo (bus) into town and went to the doctor who said that she had an infection in her throat and her leg ( which got burnt on a motorcycle) so she got a shot for pain - in the butt - and some good antibiotics. She was able to sleep for the rest of the day and is already perking up. Hopefully it will be the end of her being sick!
The rest of us went into town for lunch and wandered around for a while in the grocery store. We picked up a cup of soup for dinner tonight and some juices and fruit.
We also planned a day trip for tomorrow to drive around Flores and check out caves, waterfalls, rice plantations, and other crops such as coffee and vanilla. It should be a nice end to our adventure here in Flores and also give us a better look at the island itself.
Hope you are all doing well. We think of you everyday. Attached are some pictures of the streets in Labuanbajo.

Komodo, Rinca, and private islands

3 days of amazingness doesn't come close to how incredible our trip was. The food was delicious, every meal there was more then enough for us to eat. Our first night we had fresh calamari and fresh crab. Plus an array of other dishes. There was fresh fish every lunch and dinner also.
There was no shortage of animals either. We saw reef sharks, turtles, manta rays, Komodo's, dolphins, water buffalo, deer, wild pigs, monkeys, and so much more.
Our captain and his helper were great. Neither spoke English but we were able to get by just fine with the few words we knew and the few they knew along with lots of hand signals. They were very friendly and always had a smile.
The beaches had spectacular white sand with shallow turquoise water surrounding it. Coral reefs were knee deep and there were tons of fish, like clown fish and parrot fish, and life in the water, like lobsters and star fish.

Parts of the ocean that we boated over had incredibly strong currents. It looked like a river, with whirlpools and rapids. Quite eire. It reminded us of Narnia with islands scattered throughout and all of these swirly pools and rapids in the middle of the ocean.

The trekking was awesome. We did both Komodo island and Rinca island trek in the same day so we saw a total 15 komodo dragons. It was easy paths through the forest. We were able to see lots of wildlife and plant life.
Last night we pulled away from Rinca island and as the sun was setting we pulled around an island of mangroves and thousands (Seriously) of fruit bats called Fox Bats flew from the mangroves to the main land. It was a steady stream of bats flying through the sky for probably 20 minutes. It was quite a sight to see and to hear them all screeching at each other. We anchored there for the evening and the bats returned at 3ish and made just as much noise.

The worst part of our trip was sleeping with cockroaches. Also Jordan and aunty got a bit of a sunburn on the first day...

Other than that everything was perfect. Attached are a few pictures of our adventure.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and missed us there :) We missed you all and hope your enjoying the snow and company.

Merry Christmas

Happy holidays to you all. We are off on our 3 day 2 night boat excursion in the morning and we will be away for Christmas. We are all looking forward to the trip.
Today was a relaxing day. We were served a beautiful breakfast to our room eggs, toast, banana pancakes, and fresh fruit. Then we walked down to the harbor and wandered around the village. It is quite poor but everyone is very friendly. We get big hellos from everyone we walk past. Especially the kids. One girl came up to us just so she could have her picture taken. After wandering around we stopped at a really nice place to relax. We all enjoyed a coke, played some cards and I beat Jordan twice at backgammon. Then we shared a pizza for lunch and a fresh arugula salad. Yummy.
We went back to the room and checked with Adrian about our boat trip and he had everything organized for us. It works out to 80$ each for the whole trip, food included.
We spent the rest of the afternoon packing for our trip and relaxing. Attached is a picture of Taryn's and my villa.
We all miss you and we will be thinking of you on Christmas while we are snorkeling in warm turquoise water and adventuring with Komodo dragons. We will be in touch when we get back to main land sometime on the 26th.

Love to you all

PS - Dianne - aunty bought mousse!!!

PS - Uncle Tom - we hope your built in snot catcher helps you out today at the skill hill...
*** Taryn's advice to aunty regarding Komodo's and how they eat humans " mom, don't fall behind"

Bayview Gardens - Labuan Bajo

After a lovely flight on a small plane we arrived to Flores. We were picked up at the airport and drove 5 minutes to our hotel. It is so beautiful here. We have a spectacular view of the harbor and the ocean which is scattered with small islands. We are all memorized by the spectacular view. In the background we hear Allah roccbah... It is paradise. We have made plans to stay at this place for two nights, then we will go out on a boat for 3 days and two nights to visit Komodo and the surrounding islands. We will be staying on the deck of the boat which has no cabin! Aunty is a bit nervous but it will be worth it! When we return from our boat trip we will be staying in a villa here for 3 nights (same price)
We are enjoying a beer sitting on the deck watching a rain storm in the distance!

Kuta

We are staying one night in kuta. It is soo busy. Like cancun. We found a small place for 150 a night with free breakfast and a pool. I wouldn't describe the rooms a clean but they are okay. We did a bit of shopping today. There are a lot of clothing stores around - the cheap ones so taryn found some shorts that she likes and Jordan got a top. We are all really looking forward to our trip tomorrow. We have arranged for a nice place to stay with a Dutch man who speakers English and is more than willing to help us out with finding a boat to tour on and he will pick us up from the airport. We had a nice afternoon today. We went to the ocean and had a beer on the beach for 20 000 each so about 2 dollars and we watched all sorts of people and explained to the ice cream salesmen that we were on "diets" and we did not want to buy any! Then we went back to our hotel and sat by the pool and had a long visit with a Dutch couple who had been traveling bali for about 6 months now. All is well here and we will be trying to keep in touch!

Another day in Ubud

It looked like it was going to be a sunny day but it is starting to rain again. We spent the morning trying to decide what we want to do for the rest of our trip. While sitting at the pool a Canadian man overheard us talking about going to Komodo island and told us that we should he told us all about it and how wonderful it is and what they did when thy where there.
We then went to the travel agency across the street and asked for help to book flights to Labuan bajo. We booked flights leaving on the 22 and return on the 29 to denpasar . Our plan is to get there and walk down to the harbor and hire a boat and crew for 3 days. They will boat us around the islands and stop where we want and feed us. The man at the pool said that this was the best and cheapest way
We are all very excited to try it out!

After booking our tickets we walked up to the market and did a bit of shopping . There is so much to see and even more to buy. It's not that cheap but we are trying to get good deals.

Monkey forest

Although it is a rainy day we still had a great time in the monkey forest. It stared out with Jordan purchasing 4 bananas and having monkeys running towards us and us throwing away the bananas so they wouldn't climb on-top of us. Jordan passed one to me and a monkey jumped right onto my shoulder. I had a little panic attack but i got over it. We proceeded into the forest with no bannanas. Then taryn got charged by a monkey while walking down a set of stairs. It took a while before she was able to get back up the stairs. It growled at her and bared its teeth. Lucky for taryn aunty yelled at it for her... Not sure it helped but she was looking out for her. All in all it was a good time. I found a lychee and gave it to a monkey who ate it while sitting on my shoulder. It was really neat. When we left the temple we saw 3 more which we're more than willing to hold still for pictures. (attached)
Taryn is feeling much better. 100%

Ubud

We made it to Ubud today! We decided that since the weather is a bit rainy we would come north and check it out. We found a place with really nice rooms for 150 000 a night including breakfast. It is a pretty good deal. We are very close to the monkey temple and we will probably check it out tomorrow. We have already seen a monkey though.
We just came from the beach. It was a bit rainy but very relaxing. The food is amazing and the beer is very cheap we are all getting along very well and have been laughing non stop . Taryn is not feeling so well she has strep throat. We found some drugs at a apototeck. We took a cab to Ubud for 200000. About 25.00 for an hour and a half drive. There is lots of shopping here. And had success using the ATM machine. Please phone guny as he does not use Internet.

PS Taryn has been recognized by a lot of people as a true Danish Viking!! From her big feet to her facial features!