Maumere to Moni
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2006
1
43
228
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Maumere,
East Nusa Tenggara,
Indonesia
Friday, January 26, 2007
We finally arrived in Maumere at 3 AM this morning and disembarked. A bemo into town cost us the outrageous sum of Rp 300,000 which is about $33 US. The driver won't have to work for another week. But with all of our luggage and at this hour we couldn't argue, or we didn't anyway. We just wanted to put the Pelni boat behind us and get into a good hotel. We are staying at the Gardena Hotel which is a good choice. At Rp 60,000 w/o A/C for the rest of this morning and this evening Rp 70,000 for an air conditioned room. [GPS 08 37.412S 123 13.355E]
We are slowly picking up a few words of Indonesian; like the numbers, how to order some food and greet people, say I'm sorry and thank you. The hotel staff is very helpful in giving us information for our trip through the island of Flores. The next natural destination is Moni to see the multi colored volcanic lakes. They lay out our options: we can hire a private car at about Rp500,000; what they call a tour car for Rp100,000/person; or the local bus for next to nothing. We've seen the luggage being carried precariously on the tops of the local buses along with a trussed up pig and we aren't quite ready for that yet. Besides they have no set time of departure. They just keep driving around until they have enough passengers to make the trip profitable. So we opt for the tour car. It's a van with seats for about 10 passengers. We'll leave for Moni tomorrow morning.
