Capture 2: Labuan Bajo...a gateway to heaven on earth

If the famous Komodo Island or Padar Island is your next destination, for sure you will not be able to escape Labuan Bajo. This town has the nearest airport called Komodo Airport if you fly in, and if you arrive by road from other location in Flores, this town is your final stop then. There are many piers along the waterfront, for boats that bring visitors to the beautiful surrounding islands for the cost starting from Rp1.5 million per boat. Just a small town, famous with it's night seafood stalls (at Kampung Ujung) yet has so much to offer. Daily flights from Bali (Nam Air and Wings) take about 45 minutes to reach Labuan Bajo.



Boarding the boat to start the adventure. At one of the pier in Labuan Bajo.

Being the main town for the surrounding islands, Labuan Bajo become the business center where people visit frequently for
food products and other necessities.

 Dried seafood seems to be one of the favorite food products as the main market here 50%  filled up
with dried fish, dried squid and dried prawn.

Me, getting the local feel again....and in this case the smell too.

 

There are many hotels and inns around the town, and many tour agents offering the boat services for island hopping. You can opt to overnight on the boats too if you fancy that, or you can even choose to stay in the local boat owners home if you manage to find boat owners who offers that service. For food choices, there are few local food restaurants and a western food café open during the day, and for the night you can indulge as much as you like with so many sorts of seafood dishes offered when the stalls are open for business. The little town, turn into a vibrant town in the evening. 

 

 Pak Jaharudin (mobile no: +6282147325705) we chose him to take us for the island hopping and we stayed
 at his place on Komodo Island.

 Scenery of the waterfront

Labuan Bajo seen from the sea

 

 Landmark of the water front, in between the main market and food stalls rows. 

 There are many snacks stalls open at around 3pm at the waterfront area. This one is the delicious hot
fried banana, which I could not resist.

 Part of the activities of the local children in the evening. Cheerful!

The airport is called Komodo airport, with a new and modern building

 

 





Capture 1: Pulau Padar...an amazing journey

Pulau Padar, a beautiful island located in Flores, is not something that you should skip when you are traveling in Indonesia. This island is accessible by boat from Labuan Bajo (nearest airport) and the ride normally takes around 4 hours. 



The 4 bays surrounding the island enhance the magnificent view of this whole island.

Few flights such as Nam Air (Sriwijaya) and Wings (Lion Air) fly from Bali to Labuan Bajo on daily basis. Even though Labuan Bajo is a small town, you have choices of accommodation ranging from backpacker's inn to a five stars hotel. It is also easy to find boat services for the tour to the surrounding islands including Padar and the famous Komodo Island. If you are okay with staying with the locals in their home, you can choose to do so in Komodo Island (contact: Mr. Jaharudin +6282147325705, a boat owner), this will cut short your journey time to Padar Island the next morning. But please take note that the stay will be very basic and only for those with adventurous heart :)

 

Do start the journey early so you can reach Padar Island before 8am, for two reasons 1. It gets crowded by 9am onwards 
2. it get super hot and humid by noon

 The boat owner, Mr. Jaharudin

 Approaching Padar Island. Already quite a few boats docking as early as 8am.

 I truly enjoyed my time taking shots and shots of photos. This one was pre planned as I love to do something different during
my hike here.

 

No one lives in Padar, 99% of the island are solid rock with so little of vegetation, only few trees spotted around the island. The trail and ascend is easy to moderate and suitable even for small children. The hike to the top usually takes about 45 minutes, and you will be greeted with a breathtaking view...almost paradise on earth.

Mt. Ijen a repeat journey to inspire

It was never a plan to repeat Ijen in such a short time, within 3 weeks to be exact. My original plan was to do Mt Bromo with few of my colleagues and friends from Malaysia and Germany. But again when it comes to mountains especially volcano, you just have to accept what the mountain brings you. Bromo turned active and closed for trekking...we can still proceed with the viewing from Bukit Penanjakan, but that will not be a complete journey though, so I decided to switched to Ijen. In fact this is the second time I have to cancel Bromo trekking plan this year, as the mountain became a bit angry :)

So it's Ijen again...
After few arrangement  of switching flight and flight time, and pull out of my friends Eva and Gitta from the trip due to timing issue, we left with 5 persons to proceed to Banyuwangi. This round I made the trip arrangement with Pak Ary from Bromo Ijen Tour Transport which consist of transporting us from Surabaya to Banyuwangi directly to our guesthouse, finding us places for great local food, drive us to Paltuding post, getting us the guide for the trekking and drive us back to Surabaya. In overall I'm happy with all the arrangement by Pak Ary, who is responsive to all my enquiries and also by Mas Nico, the one who drive us throughout the whole journey. I'm impressed with the good time management shown by Mas Nico, it made our journey super smooth.

I flew from Jakarta to Surabaya with Dian, and we waited for everyone at the agreed meeting point in terminal 1 Surabaya airport. Midie flight from Kuala Lumpur was delayed, so we had to wait quite sometimes until he made his way from terminal 2 and arrived terminal 1 at around 11 pm. From there we directly hit the road to Banyuwangi, 6 hours journey in the middle of the night. Before the trip begun, Mas Nico has made a suggestion that we will stop at Pantai Pulau Merah first upon arrival to Banyuwangi as it going to be too early to check in to our homestay. We made few stops along the way for toilet break and hot tea. In Indonesia, all the 24 hours minimart offered a great convenient as they allowed toilet use, making traveling along intercity road become easier.

We posed at our meeting point in Surabaya airport before proceed with road trip to Banyuwagi

We made a short stop to grab hot tea from this minimart in Jember

We reached Pantai Pulau Merah at 10.30am. Quite a nice beach to hang out with good facilities. Immediately we freshened up before we took some  rest under the umbrellas along the beach.

 

Local food peddler

 Thirst quenching fresh coconut water

 Pop Mie instant noodle taste better on the beach :)

 One of the facilities at the beach
 

We did have some fun

By noon, after enough rest, we continue our journey to Banyuwangi, heading for the guesthouse in the town where we will continue to rest and sleep before hiking Mt. Ijen in the midnight. Of course mid way, we stopped for a superb Banyuwangi's Nasi Tempong lunch at Dapur Bintang restaurant.

 Super yummy dishes. The sambal is so hot and delicious

 A rare local bottled drink

 Warm tea and warm lemonade

 All the interesting nasi tempong's menu

A rare snack...snail cracker

 

In the evening, we explore a little bit the area nearby our guesthouse and had our dinner at Satay Jamur restaurant. Not bad at all.

 

 Found this at the guesthouse wall

After dinner wefie

 

Around 12 am, we were again on the road, this time headed for Mt. Ijen. Everything was arranged accordingly by Mas Nico, and by 1 am we started the ascend towards the mountain top. This round, I accompany all the ladies while our guide and Midie go ahead with the blue flame chasing.

 

 Posed just before we started the hike

 Take five for the 20th time...haha

 Thank God!! We reached post 1

 Stealing some sleep :)

 We didn't make it to the top before sunrise. What most important for me this round is to get everyone to the crater top

 Nice bluish morning sky

 I just love the mystical look surrounding the mountain

 Another pose before we leave the crater top

 Yeay!!! everyone made it to the top.

 

 

Even though in all it took me 5 hours to bring everyone to the crater top, it was such a great experience. The fact that everyone encouraging each other and a great level of tolerance help all the first timers achieved the magnificent view up there.