Ruteng - Wae Rebo

Brazil - Germany World Cup game.
Getting up in the middle of the night became a World Cup ritual for us. Somewhere we could hear the Indonesian supporters of Germany cheering.

Visiting Wae Rebo.
A remote Manggarai village "close to" Ruteng. From Ruteng is was a 4 hour motorcycle ride to Denge where the road ends. We spent the night there, hired a guide and hiked for 3 hours to Wae Rebo the next day. 

A nice place to live. The traditional village exports a lot of coffee and children. At times it seemed like we are in a daycare center. I.e., it was rarely as quiet as on this picture taken in the morning.

The eldest of the village.
We had to pay a small amount of money to show respect to the village and the ancestors, then they started a ceremonial speech ,which - we think - included words such as "German" and "foto". After that we were allowed to walk around in the village and to take pictures. Too bad we speak only very little Bahasa (and unfortunately we couldn't find an English speaking guide). Hence it was hard to communicate with the people and so we silently observed the village life. We stayed the night and returned to Denge the next day in the morning. 

Back to Denge I.

Back to Denge II.

Komodo - Kanawa

Kanawa - a small island just outside the Komodo national park. This was our home for three days. The island features a gorgeous beach and reef for snorkeling and you can walk around it in only 40 minutes. 

There are only a few bungalows and tents available on Kanawa and we chose a tent to stay in. 

The jetty that leads you to the boats which take you out to the many great diving spots.
Close by this jetty it was already possible to observe many kinds of different fish - just as if you were looking into a gigantic aquarium.

For example we could watch juvenile black tip reef sharks from the jetty or directly from the beach.

A view at sunset over the small settlement on the island. The main part of the reef stretches from the left out into the ocean.

Beach on Kanawa. The small hut is the little bar on the island.

At night we met at the campfire and it turned out that many people could play instruments and even brought some. With the guitar, ukulele, melodica, harmonica, band singers and trashcan drums we made music all night long.

DIVING! Yay, Nikola got her license. Both of us went on a few dives and it was just great. The reefs in the Komodo national park were very healthy and swarming with marine life. Among the sea creatures we saw were lion-, parrot-, clown-, cuttle-, trumpet- and pufferfish, barracudas, sharks (black and white tip reef sharks), turtles, dolphins and many more. The large schools of fish almost always present at the reefs were particularly impressive. Even for Flo, who had already dived at the Great Barrier Reef and in Thailand, this was a unique experience. 

We also went to Rinca to visit the Komodo dragons in their natural habitat. Pretty big and scary. (This lazy fellow was almost domestic and enjoying its lunch break close to the rangers station.) 

The guide told us that it would be highly unlikely to see dragons in the wild because we visited the island around noon and the large monitors are usually not very active during the hottest hours of the day. Furthermore, it was mating season at the time of our visit and most dragons move to more remote parts to reproduce. Still, we were lucky. This one we encountered in the woods is easy to find on the picture...

... but can you also spot the dragon here? The picture reminded Flo of the documentaries he had seen as a child: Komodo dragons going for a walk in the savanna. 

Food for the monitors. This poor deer had some kind of worm in his ear and was bleeding a bit. The smell  of blood attracts the Komodo dragons and they can track it for miles. They are not in a hurry and will just linger and wait until the time is right. This deer is dead already. (Here you can find a video about the dragon's hunting techniques.)

A nice view over the island from (almost) the top of Rinca.

Sunset on the way back to the mainland after three wonderful days on Kanawa. 

Bali

Our little Hindu temple homestay.
On Bali the majority of people are Hindu.. We spent only three days in Ubud and the city was crowded with temples. Apparently every (rich?) family has their own temple and so also did the family where we stayed - really fancy....

Sunrise at Mt. Batur I.

Sunrise at Mt. Batur II.

Mt. Batur.

At the coffee planatation. Here, the famous "cat shit coffee" (Kopi Luwak) is produced.

The rice terraces of Ubud.

We enjoyed the view with a tasty and long lunch.

Indonesia for Germany.
Interestingly, many Indonesians supported the German team during the World Cup.

Traditional Balinese dance performance in Ubud.

Florian and Nikola in the monkey forest.

Yogjakarta

New friends, old friends and a wonderful time
In Yogjakarta we had the chance to do couchsurfing with an Indonesian couple and they were simply wonderful.
Also, Nikola had the opportunity to meet two friends with whom she had studied in Finland which was great as well.

Dawn at the top of Borobudur - an ancient Buddhist temple and UNESCO world heritage site

A full view of Borobudur.

Prambanan - an old Hindu temple in Yogjakarta.

The "motorcycle gang" explores the surrounding area of Yogjakarta.

Preparation for some laid back rafting in a cave near Yogja.

First day at/in the ocean. (The water was actually very warm but it would not have been appropriate to just wear a bikini.)

Dinner afterwards at the beach.

Dubai

Dubai Marina. Looks nice in a way, but it was too hot at 8am to spend time outside in order to enjoy the view.

Dubai for us = A big air conditioned tunnel system that connects the main attractions (malls and skyscrapers and more skyscrapers, and constructions sites). 

Women in burka shopping for underwear.
 Holding hands and showing any kind of affection was strictly forbidden. Just as smoking. Also the malls were full of US stores and food places and we sometimes wondered in what country we were. 

And a gigantic aquarium to visit. What a fun shopping day. As we enjoy shopping so much we slept all day on benches in the mall and had some US snacks in between.

And as if it was not enough... a snow adventure park in one of the malls.

Burj Khalifa - yet another phallus symbol of 829,80 m.