Maumere to Arwanty Homestay, Moni, Flores - Indonesia...
Breakfast at the hotel in Maumere was a little different, two pieces of untoasted white bread with butter and jelly and a hard boiled egg. He also brought us a couple of bananas at the end of the breakfast. The standard free breakfast included with the room throughout the rest of Flores, a banana pancake and a choice of tea or coffee.
We tried changing our tickets on Merpati Air to leave on the 17th rather than the 16th. The first Merpati office couldn't change the tickets and said we needed to call the airline office at Labuhanbajo to make the change. We went to a telephone office to use a pay phone. John called the office, told they the date and they asked what day of the week that was. Don't they have a calendar in front of them at the airline office? She said they didn't fly that day so we decided to leave the tickets as they were. The Lonley Planet guide said flights often get cancelled so we need some extra days in case that happened.
The scenery from Maumere to Moni was beautiful! Very lush vegetation. The roads are "like snakes" as I driver put it, very windy. The traffic hazards are plentinous - things on the road - goats, chickens, dogs, people, cows, water buffalo and - the road itself - sometimes severly pot-holed, small landslides covering part of it or just large rocks strewn randomly as they had fallen.
The driving technique in Flores is like Bali, virtually never stop, give way to the larger vehicles, beep when you doing almost anything or when you're coming near cars, people or blind corners, and pass virtually anywhere with some beeping and quick cuts out and back in again. What takes getting used to is that they cut it so close on passing vehicles and people on a constant basis. One might say they use the road very efficiently, because on most of the maneuvers there is no wasted space between vehicles! They also pass at any location, blind corners, going up or down hills, and sometimes passing in a group of two or three vehicles at a time. The only saving grace is that most of the time they are not driving very fast.
We arrived at our lodging about 1:30 in the afternoon. I decided to rent a motorbike for the rest of the afternoon, since it was out in the country with less traffic plus there wasn't a lot to do there just walking. I had a motorcycle for over six years, but hadn't riden one in quite a while. It wasn't in the best shape and it took a little while to get it started. Until I was driving up the road I didn't realize that it didn't have a functioning rear-view mirror. This might be a bit disconcerting in the USA (and illegal), but in a place where the roads are an ongoing traffic hazard and people are passing all the time at any place, it was quite daunting. I had a full cover helmet on and could only check by turning my head most of the way backwards while driving the bike. It started to rain as well, so I decided to turn around and return the bike early.
I negotiated with the guy renting the bike to pay $2.50 for the short time rather than the $4.00 that I had previously agreed to. As happens, I didn't have exact change and ended up giving him $3.00 and, when he pressed, I just said keep the difference. Shortly afterwards, he invited me to a local wedding reception. I had no idea what this was about, but it sounded like a neat opportunity, so I said yes. He said bring $1.00 (10,000 rupees) for the wedding gift and he went to get ready. I met him a little later and he asked about my dress, explaining this was a "party" and I needed to have a better shirt (I had a tee shirt on). I ended up borrowing John's shirt and jumped on the back of his motorbike to go to the reception.
We saw many people coming from and going to the reception. When we got their there was a large tent set up with chair for about a hundred people. There were greeters at the entrance to the tent and they seated us. The other local people at the reception were very curious about me, giggling as I sat down and laughing, the kids waving at me, but very friendly. Shorthly after being seated we went up to the bride and groom and their parents, who were on a dias, and shook their hands (I made some mistakes on the handshake customs, but they were forgiving) and presented our gift into a slot in a box in front of them. Almost immediately after we took our seats, I had a shawl placed on my lap. My friend told me that this means I have to go up front with one or two others that were chosen and dance. Fortunely before I got up he received one as well. They had a huge load speaker bank and load, fast music. It wasn't hard to dance to and I tried to follow the local dancing format, that was quite simple. People seems quite entertained by a foreigner in their midst participating in this custom and were laughing and smiling. When I went back to my seat several women were kind enough to encourage me saying, "you did good!".
We were led to an area of the tent and given plates for food. They had rice, chicken, beef, chili sause, vegetables and prawn chips. It was quite good. I was presented with the shawl one more time and danced once again. Afterwards I presented it to the another person, as is the custom. We stayed about an hour and then went forward to give a final greeting to the bride and groom and departed.
It was a very warm and memorable experience.
Breakfast at the hotel in Maumere was a little different, two pieces of untoasted white bread with butter and jelly and a hard boiled egg. He also brought us a couple of bananas at the end of the breakfast. The standard free breakfast included with the room throughout the rest of Flores, a banana pancake and a choice of tea or coffee.
We tried changing our tickets on Merpati Air to leave on the 17th rather than the 16th. The first Merpati office couldn't change the tickets and said we needed to call the airline office at Labuhanbajo to make the change. We went to a telephone office to use a pay phone. John called the office, told they the date and they asked what day of the week that was. Don't they have a calendar in front of them at the airline office? She said they didn't fly that day so we decided to leave the tickets as they were. The Lonley Planet guide said flights often get cancelled so we need some extra days in case that happened.
The scenery from Maumere to Moni was beautiful! Very lush vegetation. The roads are "like snakes" as I driver put it, very windy. The traffic hazards are plentinous - things on the road - goats, chickens, dogs, people, cows, water buffalo and - the road itself - sometimes severly pot-holed, small landslides covering part of it or just large rocks strewn randomly as they had fallen.
The driving technique in Flores is like Bali, virtually never stop, give way to the larger vehicles, beep when you doing almost anything or when you're coming near cars, people or blind corners, and pass virtually anywhere with some beeping and quick cuts out and back in again. What takes getting used to is that they cut it so close on passing vehicles and people on a constant basis. One might say they use the road very efficiently, because on most of the maneuvers there is no wasted space between vehicles! They also pass at any location, blind corners, going up or down hills, and sometimes passing in a group of two or three vehicles at a time. The only saving grace is that most of the time they are not driving very fast.
We arrived at our lodging about 1:30 in the afternoon. I decided to rent a motorbike for the rest of the afternoon, since it was out in the country with less traffic plus there wasn't a lot to do there just walking. I had a motorcycle for over six years, but hadn't riden one in quite a while. It wasn't in the best shape and it took a little while to get it started. Until I was driving up the road I didn't realize that it didn't have a functioning rear-view mirror. This might be a bit disconcerting in the USA (and illegal), but in a place where the roads are an ongoing traffic hazard and people are passing all the time at any place, it was quite daunting. I had a full cover helmet on and could only check by turning my head most of the way backwards while driving the bike. It started to rain as well, so I decided to turn around and return the bike early.
I negotiated with the guy renting the bike to pay $2.50 for the short time rather than the $4.00 that I had previously agreed to. As happens, I didn't have exact change and ended up giving him $3.00 and, when he pressed, I just said keep the difference. Shortly afterwards, he invited me to a local wedding reception. I had no idea what this was about, but it sounded like a neat opportunity, so I said yes. He said bring $1.00 (10,000 rupees) for the wedding gift and he went to get ready. I met him a little later and he asked about my dress, explaining this was a "party" and I needed to have a better shirt (I had a tee shirt on). I ended up borrowing John's shirt and jumped on the back of his motorbike to go to the reception.
We saw many people coming from and going to the reception. When we got their there was a large tent set up with chair for about a hundred people. There were greeters at the entrance to the tent and they seated us. The other local people at the reception were very curious about me, giggling as I sat down and laughing, the kids waving at me, but very friendly. Shorthly after being seated we went up to the bride and groom and their parents, who were on a dias, and shook their hands (I made some mistakes on the handshake customs, but they were forgiving) and presented our gift into a slot in a box in front of them. Almost immediately after we took our seats, I had a shawl placed on my lap. My friend told me that this means I have to go up front with one or two others that were chosen and dance. Fortunely before I got up he received one as well. They had a huge load speaker bank and load, fast music. It wasn't hard to dance to and I tried to follow the local dancing format, that was quite simple. People seems quite entertained by a foreigner in their midst participating in this custom and were laughing and smiling. When I went back to my seat several women were kind enough to encourage me saying, "you did good!".
We were led to an area of the tent and given plates for food. They had rice, chicken, beef, chili sause, vegetables and prawn chips. It was quite good. I was presented with the shawl one more time and danced once again. Afterwards I presented it to the another person, as is the custom. We stayed about an hour and then went forward to give a final greeting to the bride and groom and departed.
It was a very warm and memorable experience.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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