We set off from Labuan Bajo towards Ruteng not too early in the morning. We got ourselves ready for this journey in a laidback manner. After a relaxing morning and with good breakfast at the hotel, we loaded the car with our belongings. Our driver, as usual, checked that we have everything, and he always makes sure that we had enough water in the car. Our next stop was Dintor and Wae Rebo. The drive towards Dintor passed through some winding mountain road. It was a fine morning with a clear blue sky, so we felt charged and elated.
We got to Lembor just in time for lunch and decided to have some lunch before continuing our journey to Dintor. I have read a lot about Flores cuisine before, and the Kuah Asam (the fish soup) was highly recommended in many publications, so this dish became my favourite dish during our trip to Flores, it was really delicious and healthy. Try it next time you are in Flores.
Our journey passing villages towards Dintor was very special. We met so many lovely people. People are so friendly here, and the children are very curious about new people around them. Every village we passed was very interesting and we felt that we had to stop to chat with the people there and take some photos. The children loved to be photographed. When I pointed the camera at them, they were all posing away, as if they knew I would be publishing these photos. We spotted these children (below) on their way to a church party, they look beautiful with their Flores ikat sarong and shoulder cloths.
I couldn’t resist the photo session with these lovely children in their Flores costumes, a great memory of this journey. Just look at their poses, they were so natural. Meeting them, really made my day and added great memories of my Flores adventure.
The journey up the hills of Lembor was very panoramic, with beautiful thick forests just behind the villages. There were so many beautiful villages in the valleys below, and some houses look very elegant and grand. I was told that the people of Flores, particularly the returnees (people who have left the island in search of better economy elsewhere and have come back), love to show off their success by building large brick houses to show their achievements and to mark their social statuses. We often found enormous houses int he middle of nowhere, such contrasts to some ordinary traditional huts nearby these grand houses.
Flores is famous for their coffee beans, and the coffee processing here is still done traditionally, just using the system which has left by their ancestors from decades ago. The semi-wet system is practised in many parts of Indonesia, including here in Flores. Apparently Flores coffee is very aromatic and flavoursome, as they are grown in the hilly part of this region. During the harvest season, you are sure to see some coffee beans being dried under the scorching sun. Usually, if they don’t have any spacial yards to dry these beans, they would just erect the mats on the side of the road, and road users like us would have to take responsibility not to go over these coffee beans. This system is used for generations, and it doesn’t look like they will change this culture anytime soon.
This pleasant journey continued all the way until we get to Dintor. Just before we reach Dintor, it started to rain, but we didn’t mind that, as Dintor was our final destination for the evening and stayed here before our hike to Wae Rebo the next morning.
Our next stop is Dintor & Wae Rebo. If you have any questions related to this blog, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for your visit today. Please view some more images below from this journey.
