Chapter 4, Part 2: East Indonesia 5-Oct-08 to 10-Oct-08 +ve spin rating: 9.5 out of 10

Komodo Boat Tour:

Undoubtedly one of thee highlights of my travels so far and it wouldn't have happened if not for the advice from LT and an added push from Matilda (who I met in Phi Phi)... thanks guys! The group I was in was class, there were 16 of us in total, 10 of whom were lone backpackers, so absolutement ideal for moi. Now this was the cheap cheap Komodo Tour so everyone was up for a laugh (well most were, I'll mention no names). The way the tour worked was we got picked up from Gili T, bussed to the other side of Lombock then we boarded what was to be our home for the next 4 days and 4 nights. Like I said this was the cheap tour so we weren't expecting any luxury... no-one was disappointed. We had a boat with just about enough floor space to sleep 16 people, the crew slept on the engine or somewhere like that. Every day we had breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked for us on the boat and served to us by Wadi, the only English speaking member of the crew and coincidentally our guide. Because Wadi spoke English he probably got an unfair share of the credit even though the other lads worked their holes off to make sure we were comfortable. On our last night we had chicken i.e. the used to be live chickens that had been hanging out the back of the boat in a wooden crate for 2 days or so.

Each day we sailed, by engine power (what else would you call it?), towards Komodo, stopping off at a beautiful uninhabited island here and there to have a swim or snorkel in yet more clear blue warm sea waters. Can you imagine the stress levels - off the charts... not so much. Each night we Bintanged the sh*t out of it, actually, most mornings we had a few Bintang's too! Night swimming was also permitted, as was nudey night swimming, as was nudeyness in general but the girls wouldn't play along. Lads are way more craic.

So with all the tomfoolery we still made it to Komodo for the main event. These reptile lizard creatures have been around for 5 million years, they grow to max 3m in length and way about 90kg... pretty impressive. They live only on Komodo Island and Rinca Island (beside Komodo) and there are a total of about 2400 of them left, stat! This number stays pretty consistent though, so although they are extremely rare their numbers are under control. Unfortunately we didn't get to see them prey on a dear or anything else, but we were allowed to be about 3m from them... they're pretty docile but still one wouldn't want to piss them off, I mean, they'd kill ye!

When we got to our end destination, Flores, we all slept on the boat in the harbour that night. Aw bless, we just couldn't handle the thought of not being cramped together on the boat for 1 last night. The next day 10 of us dove as it is said that Komodo is one of the top places in the world to dive and also a good spot to see the Manta Ray. Now we didn't get to see a Manta but we did get to see almost every other type of sea life you could imagine. I was way too hung up on seeing a Manta and was pretty gutted when it didn't happen but Chris (Canadian pro Lacrosse player) told me to shut up and think about all the stuff we did get to see, so I did, thanks Chris. We celebrated our last night together with a feast and a few Bintangs (obviously). Chris, you're brutal at singing but hilarious; Mike, your a lunatic; Thomas, good head-banging! So the next morning we all parted company never to see each other again, except for Anita, Brigit, Thomas, Chris and I who would do the 24hr bus and ferry journey back to Lombock together. Great to meet the rest of you too - Pepper, Astrid, Robert, Mike, Diana, Linzy, Sam, Denise, Steve, Trevor and Rachel.