By this third day, all have known where to look for bread, their usual breakfast in the morning. The baked goods was over in a flash xD We went to the last spot to swim after breakfast, The Kanawa Island. At that time, M already decided she won't go for a dip since it's a hassle to take care of wet swimsuit and towel later, so only me and A who went. It was totally not disappointing! Compared to the other spots we have swam in the last two days, that was totally the best one in terms of coral scenery. A took a lot of videos with her underwater cam until the battery runs out since it's the last spot. Even though there's lots of people snorkeling there, the coral and fishes were still quite a lot in number. It seems like there's some fishes (or maybe invisible small jellyfish?) which can stung people because I feel like I was stung several times when I was swimming there. When I asked A, L, and Y, they also feel it. It was not a terrible stung though, it just bothers you a little and it didn't even leave any mark or rashes after. A said she saw someone accidentally smashed the coral with their big fin and she feels angry about it, totally understandable if you're someone who cares about nature. I hope that spot will still hold for a long time and people who came there wouldn't do harm to the ecosystem ;A; Other than swimming, we took group photos with L and Y, the only two foreigners who we interacted most with the whole trip ^^ The place was quite packed, some group of people hog a very big space to record cinematic footages with drones, it was quite disturbing for the people using the bridge. The higher the sun went, the groups stopped doing this and I should say the scenery underwater gets clearer and more vibrant, that's why when we're called to return to the ship, there's still one couple who's still out there swimming (of course they are one of the champion swimmers in Manta point).

While we wait for everyone to gather, me and my friends lounge around in the upper deck again, this time, NZ strikes a conversation with us, it begins in a very interview-like questions since she's curious about Indonesian's level of prosperity. While she asked questions like how affordable an apartment is for an office worker in Indonesia, we get to know that she's younger than us despite her very grown up face. The talk later shifts to this tour we participate in. We asked about how much they paid for the tour, it's a bit cheaper, like the price of the normal room. NZ complained about the room she and her boyfriend get, though, it was a room in the middle of the ship, directly above the machine room so it's suuuper noisy, it's hard to sleep. She said that the room was also hot, the other's room which was located below the front deck was hot too despite having several shared AC, that's why they prefer sleeping on the open deck last night. No other complaints though, that's the main trouble about this tour package. If you notice, their issue were simpler than ours. We almost didn't get picked up for the departure, we didn't even get a room and now I'm worried about the transportation to the airport for later afternoon. They shouldn't have include it in the list of facility and service if the payment was not enough, as simple as that. All of the expectation and trouble wouldn't have happened. We can conduct our own way if needed, but with preparation, impromptu was not very welcomed.

After we had successfully get everyone back on the ship, we started on our way back and had our last lunch. I should say in general the meal on the ship was tasty, it doesn't have any weird flavors, just the standard Indonesian home made foods. The menu has some degree of variety but aside from breakfast, they always have noodles from instant noodle package one.. not that I'm complaining since I'm limited to what I can eat (vegetarian here) thankfully it seems like the cook considers my preference too and didn't make all the dishes spicy from the get go. I'd give a four and half star out of five since there's still some room to improve.

We were dropped in the harbor where we shoot the lighthouse on the first day we arrived. We bid goodbye to everyone. In the end, even after some argument with the guide on the ship, we still have to call another car to take us to the airport, not for free of course They have the nerve to still offer us "someone they know" so it's easier for us to get a car. Oh please.

We still need to buy gifts, so before the flight back, we go on a shopping spree in the tourist store in front of the airport and even inside. The things my mom and my friends bought was snacks and coffee. All of the products was already nicely packaged, branded and use unique local materials so the price was also extra haha, it's fine once in a while. The waiting room was quite packed (maybe because there's only one main big waiting room?) We saw a lot of middle and senior aged people in the waiting room that use red shirts with a certain design on it, A said most likely they're on the pilgrimage tour, considering there's Maria's Cave there. Then the talk went on to another possible trip plan. We chatted for quite some time before flying back home on Garuda.

All in all, the trip itself wasn't bad, the scenery was worth it and spending the night on a ship is a new experience. I just hope the tour services will be more genuine and professional going forward. Learned to be more careful when checking services too, only purchase from the established webs ^^;

We woke up rather early in the morning but even though it's still early and dark, it seems like other travel groups have started hiking in Padar. We can see small lights twinkling up the hill. We started the hike when the sky have just started getting brighter. The boatsmen said that the guide actually woke up late we should have set off earlier to catch sunrise on the hill. Learning from what happened when I hiked with my sandals yesterday, I choose to use my sneakers today although the guide said the hills was not as steep as yesterday. When we enter Padar, each of us was charged 350K Rupiahs. The guide said he charged the other westerners 450K Rupiah each, I don't know if he really did that or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but that was still much better than 3,75M Rupiah each person.

There's already many people going up the hill when we arrived in the starting post. At the start, the hill was installed with stairs, but the further up, the stairs was gone and replaced with stairs shaped from earth and stones. The hike made me realize my age lol. Maybe it was also because I haven't been on a hike or any leisure travel for more than 2 years. I got tired faster and have to go step by step in a slower pace. My dad didn't go too far up but my mom slowly walks to the top, accompanied by one of the kind ship crew =,) My friends stopped where the path starts to be steep and the stepping place was mostly made of stone. The spots at several stopping place near the top was very crowded because everybody went up but most of them didn't come down till the sun was pretty high (everybody was taking turns taking selfies, wefies, and other instagrammable materials, some of the girls even dressed and use heels and make up (◔_◔) ) I slowly walk up to the peak and met Y and L there but not anyone else from our boat, maybe because it was just too crowded to see everyone properly.

When we came down, we took a few photos at the lower hill because we can't stand the queue at the top There's some tourist groups that have just arrived although the sun was already pretty high. Possibly they're from a bigger tour because they have a bigger group overall. The journey back was a little easier. We waited for a bit in the crowded dock before going back to the ship. We had our breakfast while waiting for the guide to bring all the trip participants back. It seems like there's one or two couple who often stayed behind until the guide come to pick them up. I see them taking pictures a lot here and there several times.

Pulling away from Padar, the boatsmen said that we were going to the Pink Beach where the sand was pink and we can do snorkels. It seems like when we arrive nearby the designated beach, the place was a little crowded so we stopped at another beach nearby. The sand was also pink though, so it's all right When we land, I took a good look at the sand, the pinkish color was most prominent around the water line, the pink comes from the red coral washed ashore and mixed with white sand. My dad, me and M have prepared to went on the morning snorkel but A skipped this one. Me and M swim around with life jackets because we want to enjoy the corals to the fullest. The coral there was quite pretty but it's not as good as Kanawa, the one we visit on the last day. This was my first time testing the sunscreen I bought in the water, sunscreen was quite persistent, my skin still look white when I got up xD After spending some time snorkeling, we got back to the boat and had our lunch while moving to our next stop, Komodo Island.

The dock to Komodo Island was made from cements and asphalt, unlike other spots we visited before (all of them use wood pillars, have woody bridges and stairs). The day was quite hot and we were on the last batch using the lifeboat as usual (the bigger ship always use smaller boats to transport passengers to land because they can't stop nearby since the water is shallower. We're almost always on the last trip along with L and Y). When we arrived at the place, everyone was gathering at one spot. Our ranger guide had already finished their opening explanation and was moving into the forest. In Komodo Island, it's prohibited to go in by yourself. There's already some accidents where people was missing and was probably eaten by komodo because some of their belongings were left behind unattended and the person nowhere to be found. We meet a baby komodo nearby the entrance gate, the guide said that the baby was harmless, unlike the adult one. The parents even often spotted killing their babies if they're not separated. The rangers now separate the parents and babies when the baby hatch, that's one of the reason the numbers of the komodo were growing. By this time, my parents were walking very slowly because my dad's feet were kinda hurting. I still follow the main group with my friends while my parents were walking slowly with our main guide walking along with them. When the ranger guide asked if we want to walk the long route or short route to find another komodo dragon in the forest, the participants all agreed on taking the long one. One of them, the lady from New Zealand was being sweet, (I don't know her name so I'll just call her NZ) she was worried about my parents who falls very far behind because we have just heard about the komodo eating human's story. My parents was so far behind that I can't see them even if I try to look far behind, and I can't contact them either since our phone signals weren't good but I said that the guide was walking along with them so it should be OK. In the end we did walk the long route, meeting several people on their way back and they said that they saw some Komodo, too bad we didn't find any (yes, it is a hit and miss situation, unlike going to a zoo where you can certainly meet all the creatures) The ranger said that it was the mating season so most of the komodo were in the jungle, they only move out in the morning to the beach to sunbath for some time. Apparently my parents and the guide didn't follow the route we took, they just head straight to the beach where some other ranger said that there's one resting there. We also head to the beach in the end and see the same one. The komodo was not too big and they were quietly resting there but nobody dares to come too close. People took pictures in turns and they have to creep slowly behind the Komodo to get into position. When it was our turn, I can feel that the komodo were watching us closely as we move behind them Well, that's to be expected, it's like a survival instinct for animals to be careful if there's some other creature behind them. After the photo session finished, we enter some goods and merch store. I bought a belt with a local pattern in red and black there, it was pretty cheap after we bid them, just 30K Rupiahs. The material were a bit thin, we can see some similar products in the gift store across the airport with a thicker material and higher price tag. Nearby the entrance, there's a small komodo just quietly stand under a broken chair, doing nothing, maybe sunbathing? The guy from New Zealand (NZ's bf) playfully tries to bother it with some small stick, that's not a good thing to do so I tell him to stop doing that, thankfully he stopped then ^^;

After Komodo Island, we sail to Manta Point. This was the place all the experienced diver/swimmer after. They will swim in that area to look for Mantas and try to swim along with them. The guide warn us that it's best not to swim there if you're not a seasoned swimmer because they don't plan to give us life jackets at all so me and my friends didn't go down because we're not that confident with our swimming skills against the waves without a life jacket yet (.-.) When we arrived at the spot, it was in the middle of the ocean and there's already other ships and of course there's several teams of people swimming around. Funnily almost all the other people from other ship use bright yellow live jackets. The guide said that if we use that, it defeats the purpose of diving/swimming there because to chase Manta properly you can't use life jackets ミヽ（。＞＜）ノ After the guide has gone with all the westerners (me, my friends and my parents were the only one staying behind with the ship crew), one of the crew said, the guide himself was not a good swimmer so he tried to scare us in order to have less people to watch in case some accident happened ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ L and Y tried to swim but didn't do so for long, they said that the guide was confusing and they were accidentally hit by the boat also, that's why they decide to go back earlier. Most of the other westerners didn't swim for too long either, just two couples swims for sooo long, they even still swimming when we have to depart to the last stop for the day, Taka Makassar island. So the life boat was used to take them to that last place a little bit later than the rest of us They're certainly seasoned divers, they don't even use live jackets when swimming for so long in those ocean waves. I hope I can also swim that greatly someday.

In Taka Makassar there's not much you can do except enjoying the small island with a pretty long and flat beach. Everybody was busy doing selfie and wefie along with sunset, some swims again on the beach for fun. There's an Indonesian flag installed there, maybe just for some aesthetics rather than just having the tiny island with the view of wide sky and sea. My mom, me and my friends take photos too since there's not much else to do there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The view was pretty though, no doubt about that, but it would be better if there's less people around.

On the last night on the ship, we have a karaoke session. They have the karaoke system installed in the bar on the upper deck where we have been sleeping. Apparently we were already on our way back, so the internet signal was decent in that area. Firstly, they ask us, who mainly resides in the upper deck to sing something. L and Y was nowhere to be found, they escaped somewhere and didn't return when they know the crew was setting karaoke session there. Since Asians are usually shy about a show of talent, the guide and ship crew started first. They sing various old nostalgic western as well as local songs. Some of the westerners starts to come when they sing old ballads and those timeless rock songs. Then it become a show where everybody sings a song which were made of their country's language (because literally every couple there came from different countries, it still feels crazy) or just some songs they like. One of the guy actually vigorously sang one of the local song the guide introduces them to. He even say he would wake us up tomorrow with that song xD I already forgot what the title was, but the song was about the wife of the singer which was very attractive in their view. The music itself feels like a poco-poco kind of song, it's easy to dance to and in the original video, several aunties actually dances with a poco-poco-like dance moves. I sang several songs that night, M just stubbornly didn't sing any despite liking karaoke. A has crashed first before the karaoke session finished, she was tired. My dad didn't take part in it, he just hides/sleep in the room for my parents. My mom just listened and retire sometime after A goes away to sleep on the front deck. After the session finished, A come back and sleep like our previous arrangements while L and Y stayed sleeping in the front deck. That night everyone who should have their own rooms sleep on the front deck instead we will know why the day after..

The next morning me and my friends woke up early (cause everybody was feeling cold ) so we take morning walks to try and catch sunrise. Too bad the sun was rising behind the hills so we can't see much of anything other than the sky was gradually getting brighter. We walk to the end of the street we passed the day before and that morning we see people set up sidewalk stalls and sell snacks, cakes and drinks for people who go to work early or students. M and A each bought a cake and A got me one snack too despite me not bringing my wallet with me xD Thank you! It was a deep fried cake but I forgot what the filling was. The taste was just like common traditional market snacks, definitely delicious though We hang out around the docks nearby and I tried touching the sea water since I think we might go for a dip that day. The water was warm that morning, it was a pleasant temperature. We look at the bottom more closely, it was mostly barren nearby the shore in residential area, just as expected, but sometimes we saw one or two small fishes and a group of sea urchins. The water itself was mostly translucent and very blue, just once in a while there's small garbage floating around or sink at the bottom. Glad that there's a diving and cleaning sea project there, it should have helped keep the sea clean a little bit.

When we got back to the lodging, it was time to have breakfast and my parents have gotten up and sit in the dining area, waiting for their free breakfast. We all sit together and chat while waiting for the breakfast to come out, the process was pretty slow since there's already other guest waiting for their share and it seems like there's only one person cooking. By the way, the breakfast was only one piece of banana pancake and it was not thick enough to make me full actually >.>;; but the room rate was quite cheap so I wouldn't complain much. While we chat, it appears that my mom and M was quite disturbed by the live music last night so I was just wondering why there's no other nearby residents complained to the bar uphill for their loudness >.> When we said there's some snack stalls at the end of the road, my mom wanted to see that too but alas, the sun was already high and it feels burning like last afternoon so I accompany my mom for a walk only in the nearby area.

The time we check out was the time when the pick-up should have come.. but more than half an hour later nobody has come yet and the tour staffs haven't inform me of anything either. We try not to be too worried and I tried to contact the person who asked me for identity card photos but to no avail so I contacted the first person who I had made my booking with. They said that the pickup was still picking other participants so just have more patience. Sometime later a driver came with a 7 passenger car and he had a dilemma since there's already two person inside and we all can't fit in because the back seat was already filled with baggage. We suggest that they pick all of our baggages first along with my parents so they will go first and wait for us at the harbor. Then the driver should come back and pick us up again. Looking as there's no other way, the driver just agrees and drive away. In the end, me and my friends waited while chatting. We thought that it shouldn't be that long since we stayed near the harbor anyway so we waited just beside the road. A mentioned her suspicion that this was a scam but gladly it's not because the driver did came. While we waited, several man passing with bike or car ask us if we want a ride somewhere- I guess there's many people here do tourism as their main job, even the man sitting in front of a small store where me and my mom walk by that morning offers us tour programs- I think even if we come there without booking any tour, we can still find one soon after arriving if we want. It's already past 11 AM while we wait so we wonder what took the driver so long, was the harbor far away or did he forgot somehow? Then another unknown number whatsapp-ed me and ask if the driver has pick us up or not >.>;;; This calls for a bad premonition.. we guessed that the driver didn't want to come and pick us up because he's not paid for two trips. It was not our fault though, the driver should have been informed of the number of our group but he already came with two other passangers, that's why we couldn't fit in. After waiting for some 10-15 more minutes, the driver came at last.

We were taken to a harbor not too far from the lighthouse we visited the day before (it was not too far from the hostel) and we were fetched with a small boat to board the ship where we will spend 3 days and 2 nights. The engine of the small boat was troubled in the beginning but thank goodness it started at last. When we finally reached the ship, there's a woman with blue polo shirt talking to the shipmen and ensure we were the ones who were from Sunset Bajo Hostel. She didn't stayed for too long though, she left with the small boat several minutes after we arrive. My parents were already there, with all of our belongings. We were still confused but my mom was half angry while talking to the shipmen, asking where will we sleep while we're in the ship. Later we found out that the ship was overloaded.

The shipmen and ship owner took three of us to the upper deck and said that we will be sleeping there for two nights while explaining the circumstance. The ship was actually meant for a maximum of 12 passengers but now they have 17 on board. They said that Your Flores agent was late in informing the woman in blue polo about their participants (even when we have booked and paid in full a month before!!), there's why there's a miscalculation. The shipmen said they weren't about to accept any more since there's already 12 people from two other trip agencies but seeing as my parents were elders and we had came so far, it'll be too bad if we can't board. My parents was given a small room since they're elders -we bet it was originally a room for the ship crews- while me and my friends have to sleep at the upper deck. Another option, if we insist, was to sleep in the captain's room, directly behind the ship wheel, but even then, there's only 2 beds. My mom were worried that the upper deck would be too windy and while we were discussing/arguing, another two passenger arrived and I was thinking "the tour staff was crazy, this arrangement was so fucked up". The other two girls who just arrived have to sleep on the deck along with us too, so it was a total of 19 passengers in a 12 passengers ship. In the end we put all of our big baggage in my parent's tiny room and settle with sleeping on the upper deck, hoping that it won't be too bad.

After the hullaballoo about overload passed, the guide explained our destinations for three days and then ship started to sail. It looks like we might be able to have a swimming/snorkeling session on the afternoon of that very first day. We tried to make acquaintance of the two girls who arrived last. Let's call them L and Y, they're sisters coming from Germany and surprisingly L can speak Indonesian since she works in Salatiga as a teacher for several years. The forecastle deck were full of westerners from various nations and they were not familiar with each other either but it seems like they get along fast while we often hang around on the upper deck so we were not that well acquainted with the rest of them. L and Y seems mostly like to be away from the crowd so they're often on the upper deck with us.

Our first stop was Kelor Island. There's nothing too extraordinary there, just a pretty steep and sandy hill to climb and some local people setting up tent and sell souvenirs from mother pearls or pearls. Some people tried to take a dip while some other tried climbing the hill. Neither my parents nor my friends want to climb so I went up by myself. The decision of using an old sandal to climb was bad though, as I go up, the sands got into my sandal and made them even more slippery. The hill was quite high and steep so it's very possible for someone to slip spectacularly and fall off it >.>; I tried not to be that someone by climbing slowly. By the time I'm near the peak, L and Y were on their way down so when I reach the top, I quickly pull out my camera and shoot around in all directions and started my journey down. I thought going back down will be easier but nope, my sandals keep slipping and I had difficulty finding a safe footing until at half of the road, the guide climbed up and helped me down since I was taking too long. We saw two deers in the beach when we're walking to the dock, it was such strange sight, I mean we usually see deers in the green forest, right? The guide said that some of the participant didn't really find anything interesting when snorkeling so they wanted to return to the boat earlier and embark to the next destination. Little that I know that I wasn't exactly the last, it seems like there's another people who was still exploring the place so while we wait for the guide to fetch them back, we have our very first lunch on board.

After sailing for some time, in the afternoon we arrived at a spot where the shipmen said it's good to snorkel, it's not a beach but it's nearby some island and there's quite several other boats around too, we can see people swimming from afar. I was not in the mood for a dip that afternoon since my monthly visitor almost finished (don't want it to went back and bleed again if I'm too tired) and I want a bath instead for a relaxing evening later.

All of the participant and A had gone for a snorkel session that afternoon, the rest of my group all stayed behind and take a bath instead, thinking that since there's not many bathroom in the ship, we might be waiting for long if we wait until later and all of them had came back (never thought how wrong it was, haha) The shipmen told us to only take a bath once a day to save water. They use sea water to flush and non salty water for bath, the shower head for non salty water was sometimes turned off too (maybe to save unnecessary usage of it?) but if we ask the shipmen, they would turn it on. All of us had almost finished taking our baths when the group who was going for snorkel came back. Funnily the westerners didn't seem too eager to take a bath after their swimming session, most of them just hang out on the front deck until they're dry! I can't comprehend it that time because taking a bath everyday was like a must, but later when I realized that all of the water we use was going straight out to the sea, I don't really want to bath that much anymore, wondering if our soap and shampoo was environmentally friendly enough or not. I wanted to preserve the nature as it was when I'm visiting them so I even look for a reef friendly sunscreen. I found one made in Bali, the name was Republic of Soap. The product itself was ok, it still sticks even when you had gone for a swim but the white casting was very visible, totally can't use that for face, it would make anyone's face pale xD They had another version for face though, I didn't buy it since I was thinking to use the body sunscreen for my whole body, including face. I share the sunscreen with my friends too because the more people using it, the better!

In the evening, we moved towards Kalong Island to watch the bat spectacle. A big group of them would show up every evening to look for food in the main island and it painted the sky in small dark spots. Some of the bats fly rather low and we saw that it was quite big, maybe around 40 cm wide if counted with the wings wide open. Sadly my dad's vision was so bad, he couldn't see it because the sky was also dark. The sunset sky was very pretty, I got several good shots there.

That night, when the sky grows darker, the wind was rather strong. The boat was quite shaky. M said she's not feeling well and we assume that's because she was not using her jacket earlier after taking a bath so she caught a cold. While she drink Tolak Angin to try and ease her cold and seasickness, the boat was moving toward Padar Island, along with some other travel boats, in order to arrive early for hiking tomorrow morning. Despite what M did, she did throw up a bit to the sea =,)

While waiting for the time to sleep, we chat with the guide and the ship owner about the plans for tomorrow and the happenings around Komodo Island. The guide said that the issue about increase for Komodo Island ticket was still debated and highly disapproved by locals but they didn't use any force or do vandalism when doing demonstration. Back in July, some of the travel related workers demonstrates in Labuan Bajo was caught and jailed because they were deemed as the troublemaker or the head of the group, but actually even without them, everybody was in one disagreeing voice about the whole setup. Once, the police was threatening all the unarmed demonstrates with guns and rifles Although they argue that the ticket's price was for the conservation, the way they divide the earnings of 3,75M Rupiah was very unproportioned with a large portion of it going to a local government company which has private companies backing it up. The guide even said that the 3,75M was just counted per person but actually they want it to be 15M per 4 person, meaning we have to go in a group of 4 or the multiple of 4, otherwise the rest of 1 or 2 or 3 person will have to divide or pay the full 15M for 4 ୧༼ಠ益ಠ༽୨ It's just crazy! I believe there's already a lot of people cancelling their trip already at that time, and even though they do plan to reduce the amount of people going there, there's other ways to do that without burdening every tourist's budget with that scheme. Even the Komodo dragon's condition was not as bad as before, their number was actually increasing and the area which can be accessed by tourist was very small compared to the whole conserved area. The people will still fight to reject the current scheme and the latest news mentioned that time was it will be delayed until next year..

We arrived nearby Padar before we went to sleep that night. The sky was filled with stars and we enjoy them a bit before we prepare to sleep. My parents retired early into their room and we did sleep on the upper deck. Fortunately the spot just in front of the bar was pretty shielded from the wind so it actually feels ok. L and Y have didn't fit in though, they sleep at another end of the deck and I bet it's more windy there. They sleep close to each other and I hope that makes it better.

So.. on August 2022 I went to a very controversial excursion place of the year in Indonesia. Guess where? (maybe read the title? xD) Labuan Bajo it is! And what's so controversial about it? In case you haven't heard, the regional government previously increase the ticket price to enter two of the most popular islands for more than 20x the previous price and it has been greenlit even by the president *faints* The news had been circling around for some time but we thought it won't happen, just like Borobudur's case. I personally had been wanting to visit the place even before pandemic but then it happens so I haven't really been anywhere for 2 whole years. Originally this was a trip plan for me and two of my kind travel mates but upon hearing it, my mom wanted to join lol. In the end my parents join the trip although the open trip we signed up for was not usually elderly friendly The trip was not all that smooth though, so read on for the details :P

It all began with me taking care of the booking for the open trip for the group. After me and my travel mates (M and A) decided on an open trip agency, Your Flores or Sailingkomodo.com. I contacted the agent via whatsapp, asked a few questions and put in a request for vegetarian friendly menu on the trip which they accepted quite easily and then I paid them in full at once because I personally think they're quite trustworthy (which was wrong in the end btw >_>) It's been quite long since our last travel so we continuously remind each other about the stuff we might miss and we hunt for discounts on plane tickets and lodging for one night before the trip starts. We had to come one day before because if we want to embark the exact day of the trip, we have to fly really early and we still have to follow the schedules later in the day.. we might feel too tired to enjoy it then. Near the end of July, the news said that the raise of ticket price for Komodo and Padar Island will be effective starts 1st August 2022! At that time, because of the uncertainty, actually we decided to cancel the trip. Alas, Your Flores said that they couldn't refund if we cancel, they will only accept reschedule TT_TT too bad we decide to order manually, not from a platform so we can't cancel by system (lesson for next time!)

Fast forward to the day we embark, we took a flight with Citilink around 9 AM and arrived in Labuan Bajo without much trouble. Actually the open trip crew offered me a pricelist for transportation from the airport to the lodging upon arrival since it was not included in the package but we decide to look on our own upon arrival. Turns out it's quite easy, the airport has a place where we could request a transportation just like Soekarno Hatta airport and the driver was already ready to go when we requested for one (their price was a little cheaper too compared to booking from the open trip). We booked two rooms in Sunset Bajo Hostel but something funny happened, when I searched for Sunset Bajo in Google to look for the address again, it showed me Sunset Hill Hotel instead and even the airport personnel thinks that we would be staying in Sunset Hill Hotel Bajo which I think looks more luxurious xD Guess it's more popular.

On our way to the lodging, the driver offers his own service of tour package, it ranges from one day to several days tour but first things first, we want to check in, drop our baggage and have lunch! It's already past 1 PM anyway, I think it's kinda late to start a one day tour and the price was not exactly cheap either. Since it's our first time going to Labuan Bajo I think we can have some fun even if we only explore the surrounding area. Upon arriving in front of the hostel, I remembered some of the review which mentioned that the place was full of tall stairs and yes, they're not wrong We have 3 baggage but thankfully the hostel staff helped us carry them. The place itself was pretty, it looks rustic and the building arrangement was interesting, not the same boring neat rows of rooms and halls. The scenery was definitely pretty too, I personally like it a lot, it's just the stairs might make it not too elderly friendly, it will be a pain too if you're carrying a lot of baggage. A kind woman whom we suspect was the owner, dressed like a hippie and they have a golden retriever named Momo. She's as friendly as you'd expect <3 We booked one room for two for my parents and one room for three for me and my friends. My parent's room looks ok, proper, and have a wide bathroom, meanwhile our room was kinda cramped, looks like it was a two person room made into three xD Oh well, we got it for cheap though, so it's fine, we will only be staying for one night anyway. The bathroom was pretty much as wide as my parent's room and we got two bottles of clear water for refreshments. It was a glass bottle, not a standard bottled water. M said the water bottle was basically the one you'll see in IKEA but since I only went to that store once or twice, I don't really know. In the beginning, there's some trouble like the water in the bathroom was not running and we can't turn on the AC but apparently that's just their regular procedure. For the water in closet, the tap have to be opened so the water can get into the tank and for the AC we have to manually start it by pressing on the machine, the remote was useless Some reviews talk badly about the bathroom facilities and water but we have nothing bad to say about it, maybe it's because they're just a small place so they try to keep the water usage in check and maybe sometimes the pipe water was not running so they have shortages or the water have some smell. There's nothing unpleasant when we stayed though. The AC was also very cold if we turn it on for too long, maybe it's designed for a bigger room. The staff later mentioned that AC technician was rare there so they try to keep the AC usage to a minimum and we helped by only turning the AC on when we're in the room ^^b

After we rest for some time, it's time to have lunch. The hostel apparently have a bar/dining area but sadly they said that the cook was sick so the restaurant was not open. Too bad, that means we have to look elsewhere for lunch. Luckily just across the street, beside the sea, there's a traditional market building and we see a single place which sells food so we just went there. The place was simple, they sold common menus like fried fish, eggs, tofu, and some vegetables. The owner was a couple, a native husband with a wife from Medan (a city in North Sumatra, west Indonesia, pretty far from Labuan Bajo which is in east Indonesia) My dad just straight up ordering his share and eat while the rest of us order ours and do the chatting. My dad loves fishing so he loves the sea too, he had been quite energetic checking the surrounding area out when we arrived. I bet he still will be checking out the area after his lunch even when the sun was so hot >.>;; We decide to have lunch in the hostel dining area because the scenery was very pretty there.

Around this time, someone who introduced themselves as the open tour's coordinator whatsapp-ed me to ask for identification numbers or photos of identification card of the tour participants. I tried only submitting numbers and complete names but later they said that they absolutely need the photos Come on, why give options if you're gonna have it in a certain way anyway? After that there's no other follow up messages so I assume that the process was already completed and we only need to wait for the driver to pick us up tomorrow around 10-11. The staffs in Sunset Bajo kept asking us about the boat we will get on though, and we can't answer because we were not given that information at all, just some approximation in the original tour brochure. This gives an unsettling feeling to me and my friends because the tour staffs themselves are not really proactive as they should be in giving us informations. The previous open trip by Piknik Nusantara which we used when going to Sombori Labengki even create a whatsapp group to relay information about the open trip for the participants in the same batch, this one didn't. We haven't join in too many open trips to sense this as a red flag or not so we just try to be chill and see the situation tomorrow.

Meanwhile, after we finished our lunch, it's still very sunny outside so we decided to take a walk in surrounding area, looking for interesting stuff. Our lodging was on the street beside the sea, so we can see dock and harbors along the street. Many kids are playing on the pavements (they have a pretty wide pavements there), whether they're male or female. Most of them play soccer at least that afternoon-evening. We reached the end of the street and see an area with so many sinks that I thought it was a foolish design miscalculation but A and M who had seen a video from a local traveler in Youtube said that there should be a night time marketplace there selling seafoods then it all makes sense. The area was empty that that time though and we decide to check back later. We continue our journey and make some stops at a mini market and then tried our first kompiang, which they categorize as a local food but it was basically a small round bread with a variety of fillings and sesame seeds on top of it. It was tasty-just like how breads should be xD

Continuing on our journey, we saw a lighthouse and decided to go and take a closer look. We arrived on a harbor (which actually will be the harbor where we finish our trip) and because the area was quite open, we can see the surrounding hills, pretty full of homes or lodgings for tourists. They seem to like putting the housing area's name in big letter shapes.. Me and my friends took several photos of the lighthouse from the outside since it was not a free access area and we proceed to check out a road where many western tourists seem to went to. Originally we thought they were going to a tourist location nearby but nah, we were wrong. The road itself spans quite long and along the way there's many pubs, eateries, and diving tour/clubs! Some of these places might even ran by westerners too. One of them was particularly interesting because it offers a diving experience while cleaning the sea off the rubbish. We didn't enter any of the place in that road and we go back where we came from since the sun had started to set and we want to check again if the first marketplace area already got busy or not. Too bad, it didn't seem that anyone would set up a stall that day. My friends look for information again and said that there's another area more into the center of the town that set up night time seafood stalls but we need to call a driver to get there. My mom was pretty spirited when talking about foods or snacks and it seems like she still had a lot of energy left but me and my friends didn't seem eager to check it out so in the end we just buy some corn, coconut water, and apples to eat that evening. We enjoy our very first scenic sunset in Labuan Bajo on our way back to Bajo Sunset Hostel while taking several group photos :D

Back on our rooms, while M was getting the first turn taking a bath, me and A went out to buy more bottled water. We decided to stop at a further minimarket to check on stuff more closely there. The sky that night was beautiful, there's more stars to see than when you're in the city and the sky area was more open too because the buildings were not too close together and there's not that many tall buildings. The minimarket was a bit different from the one we have in Jakarta, aside from the usual snack, drink, and consumer goods they also offer hats, scarves, and local coffee products. Satisfied looking around, we finished our checkout with two different brand of bottled water and it seems that the case where the price on the shelf and the cashier differs also happened here We asked the staff too before we checkout but even the price he mentioned was different than the cashier's price #facepalm So the big 1,5L Aqua and Nestle's bottled water was the same 13000 rupiah there while shelf price tag was cheaper and even different for the two brands.

After I finished taking a bath, M was getting ready to sleep while me and A still hang out on the hostel's dining area, talking, while charging our phones. My parents were still out there too, chatting a bit before going back to their rooms to sleep ahead of us. We read a suggestion online about bringing a mosquito repellent lotion when in Bajo but there's not too many mosquitoes, really. We had some good time hanging out and checking stuff online while listening to the club live music blasting off from the area above the hill nearby our hostel. Me and A think the songs they played were of good selections but wonder if the nearby people wouldn't find them annoying since some people can't sleep with sounds or music playing and they still blast the music 'till more than 10 PM. That night, I sleep and awake several times because the AC was too cold.