The next day i woke early for my ride to the main bus depot on Lombok which was over at Mataram, The depot was very busy and also extremely disorganized. There were bus's every where and they don't have their destination wrote on them at all, asking around was worse than useless too, so many people said they knew which bus i needed, so i would walk over and try to find the driver amongst the crowds that swarm around each bus, once i find the driver he would instruct me that i should go to another bus as his one was not going where i wanted. This went on for at least half an hour, before i finally found a bus that was heading to the port of Lambuhan,on the east side of the island. Now i found the correct bus i had to somehow instruct the driver that i wanted my bag placed in the hold and not on the roof, as i was seeing just how badly other items were being tied up there. This done i climbed on the small bus, which was empty as i got on, i had booked a seat which was at the front and away from the toilet at the back. There was a French couple sat behind me. We just settled in when a man claiming to be the owner came on and told the couple that they had to move seats. After a bit of a heated discussion they did so, but were not happy as the seats they now had were closer to the toilet. I was just starting to think that i was glad it was not me, when another man claiming to be the owner also came on board and asked me to also move seats, i asked why should i as my ticket clearly stated seat 7, of which i was sat. He told me that there was a mistake at booking and that this seat was taken already, he took my ticket and wrote a new seat number on it, saying this is now my seat. I checked the seat out which was only two rows back, and decided it was not worth any more fuss, so i moved back. Now settled into my new seat, i closed my eyes trying to get some sleep, this lasted all of two minuets, as i was disturbed by a third man claiming to be the owner, and guess what he wanted me to move seats. I said calmly that i would not, and told him that i had already moved once, and that once was enough. Whilst this was going on i see that the French couple were alsogoing through the same with a Fourth owner. They moved further back again, and now they were just one row in front of the toilet, which was already starting to smell. The man asked me once more to move, and i told him calmly once more that i would not. With this he walked off shaking his head. I thought that was that and it was over. But within minuets the man came back to me, this time with another man who was the agent, or so he says. They had a little conversation standing next to me, then the agent said that i had to move seats. I went through the same story with him again, where i told him that i was 1st sat in seat 7, when i was asked to move to the seat that i was now in (seat 11). He asked for my ticket, which i gave him. He then asked me to confirm that i was sat in seat 7 at 1st. I confirmed this was correct, i then told him that the ticket now states seat 11 as the first alleged owner changed it. When he heard this he changed the seat number to 23 on my ticket and said that that is my seat number. I laughed, stood up seeing that seat 23 was next to the toilet, i snatched the ticket back and the pen from him and wrote seat 11 back on it. I told him that i was now seat 11 once more and trust me that was how it would stay, i then asked him to go away as i sat down back in my seat. They were still stood there looking at me, so i told them that if they still had a problem with it then maybe they should take it up at the next board meeting with all the other owners. This was a totally wasted on them, as they clearly did not have a clue what i was on about, but in away it worked as they walked away with puzzled looks on their faces. I then noticed that the bus was now full and all heads were looking my way, a Indonesian man then turned around from the seat in front, he said that, i was correct not to move as they have no right in asking me to do such a thing. They are just agents that promise certain seats to the locals that are buying the tickets just outside the bus. He also told me that they will always ask the tourists to move, which is wrong as the tourists would have paid almost double what a local would have paid. This really annoyed the French couple who started to complain to the many agents, but it was to late, the bus was full now.

Anyway after all this we started to move off (1hr 40 late), we moved all of 100m when we stopped again and the door opened once more. Then the floor of the bus was loaded up with pipes, boxes, bags and pieces of wood. After another 40 minuets doing this we finally left the depot. We traveled around the corner and then pulled into a petrol station to fill up. Something you would think best done before the bus loads up with it passengers. This took another 20 minuets before we began our journey. We left town and were heading eastwards through the center of Lombok island. But once more we pulled over and then more people boarded, handing the driver money as they did so. There was no seats left, but they were happy to stand. This happened 4 times, and was clearly how the driver made a little extra cash on the side. The 45Km journey lasted 3 hrs, before arriving at the port of McLuhan. The bus loaded on to a waiting ferry, with surprising ease and speed. Then we was sailing across the small stretch of water called the Selat Alas, towards Pulau Nano on Sumbawa Island. This is the next link in the chain of islands that are know as the Nusa Tenggara, which stretches from Lombok all the way to Timor near Australia. The ferry was small, hot, cramped and dirty. Luckily the crossing was short and then it was back onto the bus and back to seat 11, we left the port heading for the city of Bima, where i will have to change bus. Sumbawa is very poor, and it showed. I see many children clothed in filthy rags, they were just sat on the side of the road, and were looking very sad. I passed many towns that were more like camps, as there were many tents being used as houses. And the houses that were there were not much better than the tents. All around these camps, there was rubbish stacked up, some of which was burning. I could see that this was not the only way that they dispose of their garbage, i passed rivers that were blocked from flowing freely by dames of waste. In the same rivers i see people bathing, children playing and vegetables were being grown.

The roads were very poor also, full of pot holes that were deep enough to ground cars, and that would certainly dislodge a cyclist. The bus crossed bridges that were crumbling into the rivers below. Some were so badly damaged that the bus crossed over using the steel rods that should have been giving the concrete its strength. The journey to Bima took around 10hrs, and when we did pull into the Bima depot it was late at night, almost midnight. The depot was deserted apart from some stall traders selling tea, coffee and some not very appealing snacks. I had to wait a further hour here before my new bus was ready to leave. This bus was even worse than the first, it was so cramped that even i who stands 5ft 8" had to sit with my knees raised to my chest. There was no AC and the door did not close, so all the dust from the road blew in. As the previous bus, the floor was used as extra space for cargo, and there was also people sat on this . This journey lasted a further 6 hrs. we had to climb high into the hills and through the forests of bamboo, palms and tamarind trees. I could see monkeys sat on the side of the road in much the same way as i see the children doing the day previous. We finally arrivedat the port of Sapa at 07.30, after many stops on the way to pick up and drop of people. Once at the Sapa port i was taken to a small cafe where i was told that the ferry was canceled, and that the next one "may" leave tonight at 20.00. I had heard that the ferry's in Indonesia were unreliable at best and that was proving to be correct. Also in the cafe with me was the French couple and now we were joined by a couple from York. On hearing this new the French girl stormed out of the cafe in tears. I thought there was nothing that could be done about it so i sat down with the English couple and drank some tea (a true brit way of dealing with drama). There was food on offer at this cafe, but there was no way i would chance any of it. The cafe was filthy with flies and goats were walking around freely, as were rats. So there it was at least twelve hours to be spent here, in this hot hell hole of a cafe. But that was not the worst of it, as we seemed to be a strange sighting in these parts of Indonesia, so a crowed gathered both on the tables next to ours and also on the outside they were sat, with their eyes fixed on us. It was like we were animals in a zoo. The cafe belonged to the agent that was to give us the tickets for the ferry and we were told to ask one of the staff here to collect them, i did ask if we could have our tickets, but this was met with a yes but then a laugh would break out amongst the workers, and even some of the locals that were sat there. I kind of got the feeling that maybe again that we had been conned. Then the French girl reappeared not looking happy, she started to scream that there was a boat leaving in 40 minuets and why had we been told that there was no boat. She asked for her ticket to be issued and was once more laughed at. She was really shouting which made a larger crowed gather around. She was told once more that there was no boat going that morning and if there was why would there be so many lorries parked up waiting? She did not believe it and was getting very angry, problem was this was also making the crowed more hostile and some were shouting at her. I thought it was getting well out of hand so i made a suggestion to the owner that he should take me to the ferry office, so i could ask to make sure. Reluctantly he agreed and i jumped on his motorcycle to the office. Here it was very hard to find someone that actually worked there, but i found one guy who was a sleep in a office, and once i woke him and he cleared his head he told me that the boat was canceled due to a breakdown.

I went back to the cafe and informed the others that it was true there was absolutely no ferry this morning. This made the French girl once more burst into tears, and that also made the crowed start to laugh again. Well i thought that would be the entertainment for the day, but i was wrong. After about 5hrs of being sat there, trying to amuse ourselves the best we could, which included a small game of football outside with some of the truck drivers, and also a game of chess. A fight broke outside between two truck drivers, it was quickly broke up by the crowed that had stopped looking at the tourists just long enough to split the two men up. One of the men jumped on a bike and sped off, leaving the other one boasting about how he see him off. He continued this for 30 minuets with his chest out and basically feeling really good with himself. Then there was a scream and i see the other guy had returned but this time he was armed with a sword, he was charging straight for the now shrinking, and rather white looking man. This time the crowed did not intervene, but split, running to the four point of the compass. And it was not long before the once boasting man was also a small dot in the distance. This left the cafe owner, now safely in his kitchen, the man with the sword and the tourists. Luckily he had no interest in us and got back on his bike and rode off toward the man who would make a great long distance runner.

The crowed started to slowly return and resume their favorite past time of tourist watching.

Well that was as exciting as it got here in the port of Sapa, the boat did arrive at 22.30. and after some more attempts at collecting out tickets, most of which were met with the same laughter, we finally boarded with tickets in hand.

The ferry was split into two class's, the 2nd class had wooden seats and the 1st class had cushioned. We sat in the 1st and had to pay extra for this privilege once we were on board. We just started to settle down in our corner, when the French girl screamed once more, this time it was for a scorpion that was scurrying past our feet. A local guy flew over and jumped on it, then looked at us shaking his head. The boat started to move at close to midnight, it was to be a 8hr crossing to Flores, so i got my head down for some much needed sleep.

I think i slept but could not say for certain as i seem to remember a lot of the crossing.

But we arrived at Labuanbajo at 06.00, this meant i had now been traveling for almost 40hrs. Our next problem was finding some accommodation open at this time of the morning. We walked into the town from the port and with the guide book in hand we started our search. The first was full, the second no one there on the desk, the third was filthy and had only the one room, the English couple opted to take this. The next was also full. We had now tried all that were in the book, and we were on the other side of the town. I see a sign for another hotel that was 1mile from where we was. We started to make the long walk with our packs. This took 30 minuets of walking along a dirt track that run next to the ocean. Finally arriving at the hotelit was clearly much better than the others we had seen, but we knew that the price would match. The man on the desk said that he would have rooms available, but not until 08.00. The French said no, when they found out the price was 15 GBP. So they walked back to town, but i stayed, just happy to get my bag off and sit down, and after all i thought that the price was not to bad given the vast difference in quality. I was sat there for 10 minuets when i had breakfast brought out to me. It was the best i had eaten in the 40 something hours of travel, it was only a egg and toast but it was heaven in my eyes. I got in my room and slept right through to the night. And only then waking to walk to the hotel restaurant for dinner, then i went back to bed.

The next day i caught a motorcycle taxi into town and to a agent to arrange a boat charter to the reason i came here, Komodo national park. This is the only place on earth that you can seethe Komodo dragon, the biggest lizard in the world. I found one agent that could arrange my boat charter, they also had a option to go to a private island near the Komodo park and where i could stay in a hut on the beach. I took this option and started to walk to a bar, when i met the English guy. He was not looking happy, apparently there travels got worse, they had hired a bike out but had a crash. He had deep cuts on his arms and legs and he said the bike was also damaged, he was just returning it now. I wished him luck with that and told him about the boat trip i was doing the next day, telling him he should do the same.

That night i had a couple of drinks in town at a bar run by a English woman and her Indonesian boyfriend. I then made my way back to the hotel on foot past the small hut type shops and stalls. I was constantly asked where i was from and had children following me saying hello mister, this is the normal greeting to a foreigner.

The next day i woke at 06.00 and got a lift from the hotel security guy back into town and to the agents office to meet the captain. The English had taken my advise and were also there waiting for me. We made our way out the back of the office and walked around the back of the adjacent houses, which had goats, chickens and pigs walking freely in the yards. There was asl0o table of fish laid out to dry. We reached our small boat by walking up along a breakwater and over some rubble. The ship was very small and looked a good few years old, but it was floating and appeared to have no holes, so we were happy to board. We left pretty promptly, there was just the English couple, myself, the captain and his crew of one. We motored out of the small harbor area and followed the coast for a few miles then headed out further and towards the island of Rinca. This is a small island within the Komodo national park, it is also one of only two places that the dragons can be spotted, the other being the bigger Komodo island. On the way we passed many tiny fishing boats that looked like they should not even be in a pond let alone the ocean. I see one man on a boat that must have been only 6ft long, he was wearing a full head wet suit and mask as he traveled along he would put his head in the water and must have been looking for the fish or the shellfish on the bottom. Other boats past us full with passengers with bags of goods heading for the main land. We traveled for 2hrs and then came to a small sheltered bay, there was a tiny pier to tie the boats to. There were some dive boats and some other boats much like the one we were on, they were already secured and were empty. We pulled along side them and the captain tied off with another boat. We had to climb through this boat to reach the pier. Once on the land i could see that the island was very parched and baron. Near to the waters edge there was monkeys washing and cooling themselves in the shallows. The captain led us along a path through some mangroves and to the park entrance. Here we had to pay, for the guide, the entrance fee and what seemed a lot more other things that no one could answer what they was. But with this done the guide who was only a young lad of 19, grabbed a large stick and started are tour. We had only walked 10m from the hut when we see our first sighting of the Komodo dragon, it was a small one that was only 1m in length. We carried on walking and headed out into the bushland, it was very hot with very little shelter. The guide took us to the one of only two places left on the island that had water this time of year, which is the dry season. When we got there, there was a buffalo trying to extract some water from what i thought was just a muddy patch of land, with no water that could be drunk. But i could hear the animal sucking up the water from the ground. Just to the left of him was a carcass of was once another buffalo that met it fate whilst drinking from the same hole. He was taken by the dragon, who bite their prey with a septic jaw that poisons them and they are dead within days The dragons can almost double their own weight by eating, they hunt not just buffalo, but dear and also wild pigs. They can grow up to 3m in length and weigh a whopping 100kg. They can live up to 50 years old. The female can lay 30 eggs which she will bury underground, when they hatch, the young will climb a tree and stay there until it is around 5 years old, they will feed on insects and geckos. The male never hangs around after breeding and they all live by themselves, only to occasionally feast on a large kill together. After here we walked up to the top of a hill that gave us a nice 360 view over the unforgiving island. On the way back down we paced another group and their guide, who told us that there was a female further down the path, she was on a nest and was very aggressive, we should be very careful. We walked back into the bush with our guide at the front, we spotted two dears hiding in the bush just yards from us. The guide said he see the mother Komodo just off the path in front. She was sat on a mound of soil that had borrows dug out, she watched us very closely, she was over 1m long, but when she is on a nest she can attack even a male 3m in length. We passed here and left here in piece. Walking back towards the camp now, there was a male in one of the camps water holes, he was huge at 3m in length and very solid looking. He did not pay much attention to us, and was just shading himself from the midday heat. Back at the camp there were plenty more young searching for food and shade. They are known to sometimes go into the huts and steal food, just like the monkeys.

We spent 2hrs on the island and then it was back onto the boat and the captain took us to a small island 1hr away. Here we dropped a ladder and jumped in for some snorkeling on a fringing reef. It was not the best i had seen, with only a few small fish and the colours on the coral were not great either. But it was a welcome cool down after Rinca. From here he took us to another small island, this was to be where we would sleep for the night. This was a private island owned by a company that supply huts on a beach, there was also a small restaurant and bar. The huts were basic but were clean, apart from the spiders that made their way up through the floor and into the mosquito net. The beach was very white and the water was clear, with hundreds of fish. The island is also a very good spot for diving, which is run from the hotel. I stayed here just one night as did the English couple. The next morning i caught a free shuttle boat back to the mainland where i had arranged for a bus to pick me up and take me to my next stop, Ruteng.

Ruteng is a highland market town and home to the mangarai people, they are catholic and still practice some traditional methods. I arrived into town after a pleasant four hour journey. The temperature was cool, i noticed that many of the locals were wearing coats and some even had hats on. I checked into hotel Rima, which is a mock swiss alpine lodge. The room was very basic and not that clean, but i had realized the further away from the normal tourist areas known in Indonesia the less you get for the money. I was talking to the owner who told me of a local festival that was on that day in a small village 3km from there. I asked where it was and grabbed my camera and flagged down a motorcycle outside. I managed to explain where i wanted to go and we got there in good time. The festival was for thanks giving, it had been going on for a five days and today was the last. There was many people watching caci, which is hard to explain, but seemed to be men in traditional clothing, they would walk around and pick a whip from a pile then they would pair off and try to hit the opponent, this was to go on all day and some would be hit very hard. I see that here also they don't get many tourists, i seemed to have more eyes on me than was on the arena. I stayed just long enough to get some pictures then got back on the bike and back to the hotel.

There really is nothing to do in Ruteng, so i only stayed the one night.

The next day i got a bus to Ende, which is a fairly large city for Flores with a population of over 80,000. It is a port town and used also a a market town for the fish that are caught off shore in the local area. The city itself is not one that grabs you with its beauty, but it does have the cones of Gunung Meja and Gunung Iya that loom over the city. As i approached the city along a round that followed the many beach's in the area for miles, i could see these two volcanoes set behind the city. Along the beach's i could see many people working away collecting the blue stones that are washed up around this area. I also see these stones in the front of the houses that lay on the other side of the road. From here the locals make crafts with these, they are also exported to other countries, whole families are involved in this, including some of the very young. I Entered the city and to my right was a old but quite grand cathedral it was painted pure white. After here we climbed a hill above the town. The bus dropped me off at my hotel that i had chosen from my guide book, it was called the hotel safari. This was run by a couple that moved from Jordan years before and now settled in Flores. My room was threadbare but functional and clean. There was now shower though just a scoop bucket.

That night after a walk along through the fish market that is set down on the waterfront, i took the lonely planet up on one of its recommendations, and that was to try the restaurant at the adjacent hotel to mine, this is called the Ikhlas, the guide book had said that here you can find great menu of both indo and western fare. Well they had macaroni cheese, so i guess that counts. They also stated that the service was tip top, well personally i think that they must have been tipped off, when the guide visited. It was certainly not tip top, more like big flop. I sat talking to a couple from Slovenia, who were here on their honey moon. We ordered our food together, which meant that we had to literally walk into the kitchen ourselves, as the girls(waitress) when asked if we could order would laugh and walk away. So here we are standing in the Kitchen, which I'm sure if we had studied long enough would have made us loose our appetite anyway, and we try to order our food, this was met by a few more strange looks and some more laughter, we held the menu in our hands trying to show just what it was we wanted, but that was clearly to hard for the staff to read their own menu, as they then asked us to write down our orders. Now it was our turn to laugh, but we did as was requested and with this done we returned to our seats, awaiting the arrival of the drinks we had also included when writing our requests on a piece of tissue paper. We had sat there for round 30 minutes with still no drinks in sight, let alone the food, finally we walked back to the kitchen and asked for the drinks, we were handed them, so we returned once more to our seats. Another 30 minuets later, still no food, another 30 minuets and after two more beers hand been drunk, a waitress came from the kitchen with a tray of what looked like our orders. She made her way towards us, so we readied the table, and cleared room for the plates, but she walked past us and walked to a empty table that was sat the other side of the restaurant . OK maybe it was not our order after all we thought. So we continued to wait again, by now light headed from all the beers we had drunk whilst waiting. Anyway another 20 minuets past, still no food, I mean i only asked for the macaroni cheese and the other two requested fish and chips, so just how long does that take. So when the girl came out again we asked her when the food might be making a show. She made her normal laugh and then made her way to the table that she had previously left a tray of food on, she picked back up the tray, not with out dropping a fork on the floor mind, then she walked to us and gave us what was on her tray, and yes it was 1x macaroni, 2x fish and chips. Amazing she had actually left the food at a empty table, walking past the customers that had placed the order with her , Oh and the dirty fork was also handed out,(tip top).

The next day i spent mostly on the back of a bike, i was trying to get a flight over to West Timor, and what with the languagebarrier and with some of the offices being closed, this became a job in itself. But after what seemed hours i found a place and managed to book a flight for the very next day.

That evening i was sat at a restaurant, when a earthquake struck, it shock the table and the chair that i was sat on, some glass's fell from the tables next to mine, the locals all left in haste so i did likewise, we moved away from the building and stood in the road, where we stayed for 5 minuets before returning back inside, and continued as normal. It is every day life for the locals here as it is quite a common occurrence, but for me this was my 1st, but i have to say it was a little bit exciting, very strange feeling, it is as though there is a very large tube train running just under the floor boards.

The next day i made my way by motorcycle taxi the short distance to the tiny airport, for my flight to Kapung in west Timor. The airport had two desks and one scan machine. I was the only one in there at the time, apart from two staff that man the two desks. I checked in my luggage and walked through to the gate, which was all of 20m from the desk's . The aircraft arrived, it was a turbo prop, and very small. I watched as the passengers were led off the plain and to through the door i was waiting by, as they passedthey were handed plastic tags which had numbers wrote on them. They were all waiting with me clearly also heading for Timor. Then once the aircraft had been re-fueled, we were allowed to board, climbing up the stairs that fold out from the door of the craft. I was shown to a seat at the very front, next to the door leading to the Flight deck. I could see from here that the luggage was also stored just in between the cockpit and where the main cabin was. We took off and started the short trip that would fly over the Sawu Sea. After just over an hour the plain started a steep decent into Kapung, the landing was very bumpy and i could tell the captain was fighting to control the craft through a cross wind. We were at times banking severely right then left. But we touched down safely and on time.

Kupang airport was small but three times the size of Ende. I collected my bag from the belt just inside the main building, then i made my way outside to the taxi stand. I had to pay at a booth in front of the waiting cars, and was then told which taxi would take me to the city, the cost is a flat rate of 50,000 Rp. I got a hotel just along the waters front, and then made my way to a bar called Lavalon. Here the owner Edwin is a great source of information for the local area, www.lavalontouristinfo.com, he also owns a hostel under the same name just yards from the bar. The bar overlooks the sea and the small harbor in front. There are boats here that are used for fishing, for diving the nearby Alor island and also some even sail to Australia. I had dinner here and a beer then arranged my ticket for a bus to Diliin Timor Leste. To do this i had to make my way over to a company called Timor Tour and Travel, their office is based o the outskirts of the city, so i got ride there and managed to book a seat for the very next day. I walked back from here along the main City highway and past many hotels that front the beach, there were also Warung's which are places that serve a buffet type fair. They have the choice normally of chicken, fish, beef, these are served with a helping of rice and vegetables. In West Timor i noticed in addition to the normal choice of these there was also RW, this is Dog.
I walkedpart of the way back to the hotel by cutting across the beach, here i saw not only the normal wild dogs that you see all over Asia, but there was also wild pigs, that were snuffling in the sand at the water edge.

When i reached my hotel a hour later i had dinner here and the turned in for the night as i had to be up at 05.00 for the bus to Dili.

So to Sum up The Nusa Tenggara.

It has most certainly been the hardest leg of my journey thus far. The transport is busy, unreliable, dangerous. The quality of the service goes down the further you head away from Bali. And the food is very bland and there is often little choice.

But all this was well worth it, for the deserted beach's, the forest covered mountains, the Komodo dragons, the culture and the inquisitiveness of the locals, who just want to find out everything about this stranger thats passing through. I was constantly followed by groups of people, many children that only knew the words hello mister in English, i could see they had genuine excitement about seeing a white person, they would want to shake my hand have me take a picture of them. It felt like i was someone of fame.

So if i was asked would i do it again?

Probably, but with more time on my hands.

Would i advise others to travel through these island?

Absolutely, get off the beaten path.