Long ferry journey

14 – 16 May 2010

The earliest I could get a plane from Sumba was 21 May so I decided to take the ferry, so after 6 hours on a bus I arrived at the ferry terminal at 20:00. The first one to leave went to Aimere on Flores. I used my contacts from VSO to check if there was a flight from Ende within a couple of days of the ferry’s arrival. There was not so I decided to stay on the ferry as far as Kupang; a 36 hour journey; as there are several flights a day from Kupang to Bali.

As there had been no ferries for over a week this one was rather full and I was lucky to find enough floor space to put down the sleep mat I hired for the two nights. People were lying anywhere and everywhere – how they managed to get to some of the places I have no idea but I know it would not be allowed in the UK! Despite the discomfort and the high level of smoke pollution I had a great time on the trip.