My journey begins - Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT)

I was in Melaka 2 weeks ago, managing a company training. As I was going into the function room, my colleague greeted me and say :

Colleague : Excuse me, the function room is locked, can you open it.

(Clearly thinking I am with the hotel)

Me : Oh really! Let me go get the hotel staff.

Colleague : Eh! Lily! I thought you were one of the hotel staff. You look so tanned that I can’t recognize you.

(Obviously! I said to myself)

Well, I guess I am abit very tan after coming back from Flores LOB trip. How in the world I get this tan?

Well, it started with Sham asking me whether would I be keen to join an LOB trip in Flores.

“Naaaak!!!!” Without hesitation. Without even a blink. I'll check my annual leave later I told myself, if need be, I’ll take unpaid leave. I mean, LOB in Flores… only idiot will say no. #Eh (over sangat lah pulak)

#TeamMalaysia

Sham briefed me the detail whereby our trip was made possible by Be Borneo Tour (you can check their Instagram too - @BeBorneoTour), and that I need to push it on my Social Media platform. Kamoooonnnn… a place this amazing with crystal clear water, beautiful sunset view and a dragon, I will freak out if they say I can’t post anything everything on Social Media.

I. Need. To. Show. Off.

Comprende!?!

Before I start my story telling of the dragon, the undercurrent that made our boat swiveled 360 degree, the many whirlpool that we saw, the part that I was stranded alone on the beach of a lonely island… I should first, share with you on what we learnt (took us 1.5 days to master this and yet we still stutter when asked). Here goes….

Together with my 'teachers' from Indonesia

We have been trying to learn, understand and memorise these fun facts during the whole of our trip. Alot of effort and time been put into this and I sincerely hope I got this right :

On Flores / Nusa Tenggara Timur

1. East Nusa Tenggara or Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) is the southernmost province of Indonesia and capital is Kupang.

2. NTT consists of more than 500 islands, the three largest being Flores, Sumba, and the western half of Timor (West Timor). We only visited a few islands near Flores.

3. The name Flores was given by the Portuguese ie Cabo de Flores or Cape of Flowers.

4. Labuan Bajo is the entry point for trips to Komodo Island and Rinca Island; home to the famous Komodo dragons of which am so looking forward too. Even their airport is called Komodo.

5. There are 760 islands out of 1,192 islands in NTT have not been named until now.

Interesting right!

Do you know that there are 17,504 officially listed islands in Indonesia? Giler banyak!!!

The struggle to learn on Flores is real. 

On Labuan Bajo

1. Labuan Bajo is the entry point for trips to Komodo Island and Rinca Island; home to the famous Komodo dragon.

2. Labuan Bajo has 4-6 daily flights arriving from Bali - KUL-DPS-LBJ route (flew with on Air Asia and Wings Airlines)

3. It’ll cost approximately RM450-500 p/pax p/way from KUL-DPS-LBJ and that was 2 weeks before flying date.

4. Komodo Airport is located just 2 km from the town, if larat memang boleh jalan (you can actually walk to the town if you are up to it).

5. Ojeks (motorbike taxi) and bemos (small taxi bus/van) pass every 5 minutes if you get tired of walking and it cost approximately IDR3,000-5,000 p/pax p/way.

6. The town is pretty small, you can literally walk the whole town within half a day.

7. Labuan Bajo sunset is awesome!!

That’s about it for now, stay tune for my next entry. Meanwhile, the below pictures was captured in Labuan Bajo, a day before we embark on our LOB trip.

This trip is in collaboration with Ayuh Pelesiran and Be Borneo Tour. #AyoPelesiranXBeBorneo

Teaser for the next blog entry.