Ndao – an Island Paradise?

4 - 6 September 2009

Well normally when I write my blog I can easily select a reasonable number of photographs that sum up the subject; this has not been the case with my weekend in Ndao. I know that words alone (and there are a lot of them) are not going to give you a real feel for the magic of the experience, the beauty of the island and the shear calm – even all the photographs I have selected fail to capture all I want to share with you all. I had the privilege to be invited to join a doctor when she went to visit a colleague on Ndao.

The day before our trip we went shopping for vegetables and other perishable goods. The boat ride to the island was amazing. It was a small open decked fishing type boat. It took a long time to load on the beach as everyone seemed to have even more luggage than us, which the crew had to carry out and find somewhere to stow it – this included a generator and a wardrobe. We were then taken out in a very small and unstable dug out canoe. It was then a case of finding somewhere to sit or lye on the bare wooden floor. We stayed very close to the shore so had an excellent view of Rote as we went along. We passed other boats fishing and saw large flocks of birds fishing as well. At one point we saw a small school of dolphins breaking the water and also saw a flying fish. The water was deep blue and bright turquoise, it was so clear and quite shallow, we could often see the coral. We passed by two other islands off the tip of Rote before reaching Ndao just over 4 hours after leaving Baa. No luxury of a canoe to ferry us to the shore this time just jump in and wade ashore.

Ndao is a small island lying of the west tip of Rote and has only 600 residents, one pickup truck and 10 motorbikes on the island. No electricity although a few people have generators; where you can pay to get mobile phones etc recharged. So there are no street lights and just a hurricane lamp in the house. There are only two places where you can get phone signal and this is of a worse standard than in Nembrala; as this is where it is being transmitted from. There are two kiosk style shops. Water is a bit of a problem as the well water is brackish so it is hard to get any form of lather for washing anything and salt residue is left in clothes, hair etc. Access to vegetables is also an issue – either you grow them yourself or go without. On the plus side at this time of year the variety of fish was amazing. Ndao has quite a large fishing fleet and men fish with rod and line from the pier whilst others go out swimming amongst the coral with spears. Part of the pier was washed away a few years ago and has not been repaired. There is now a ladder which is a little challenging to climb to get up to negotiate with the fisherman for their catch. One time we agreed a price for 12 with the guy with the most fish beside him and then his younger brother went round negotiating to borrow another 4 to fulfil our order! We had a BBQed fish on the beach each night using drift wood and coconut husks – the doctors were impressed by my fire making skills. There was a full moon which reflected off the sea but meant we did not get a good view of the stars – sad as there was absolutely no artificial light pollution.

Justine and I walked most of the way round the island on the beach taking about 4 hours. For 3.5 hours we did not see another person. Apart from one small rocky outcrop the beach ran all round the island – white sane and turquoise sea. On three sides of the island there were excellent surf breaks the fourth side was where the fishing fleet anchor and the sea was very calm here. The island does get occasional visitors on day trips from Nembrala but there is no where for them to stop on the island so I caused a lot of interest when I was seen evening, night and morning.

The trip back to Rote was much shorter as we went into Nembrala – under 2 hours. This was probably a good thing as the sea was quite a bit rougher and I had trouble sitting up and kept toppling onto other passengers. We were travelling into the early morning sun and again the journey was very special. This weekend was a really special privilege and I am grateful to Justine for inviting me and Octo for letting me sleep on his floor – yes even the discomfort of that did not distract from an amazing time. I will be back when I need refreshing again but am pleased that I have a little more in the way of facilities for my 2 years out here.

Cooking

When I first arrived on Rote I had two pieces of equipment I could use to cook. A rice cooker and a kompor. The disadvantage of the rice cooker is it requires electricity – not a problem in the evening as the hospital uses its generator if the electricity supply fails after 18:00 but as I tend to cook at lunch time and go out in an evening it can be very frustrating when the rice, noodles or vegetables are not ready when the sauce is! I have found that I can cook a wide range of dishes in the rice cooker.

The kompor is a single, kerosene powered, cooking ring. There is a real art to adjusting the flame to give the right amount of heat as there is a significant time lag between turning the wick and the heat altering – this is a skill I still have to perfect. It is a very portable cooking devise and when people are preparing for a party extra kompors are just borrowed from neighbours to allow the range of dishes required to be prepared.

In March I acquired an electric oven from another volunteer who had finished placement. It is only small but has allowed so much more adventurous cooking. I now bake my own bread – I tend to do this on a Friday as I finish work early and can put the bread to rise in the sunshine on my porch. It took a few attempts to get a reasonable loaf as the flour here does not absorb water in the same way and I can only get an all purpose flour. Sonya was slightly scathing about the bread but it is so much nicer than the slightly sweet breads we can buy here. I have made pizza and cakes and can toast my bread – if I have long enough to wait for breakfast!

Long Legs – Big Problems

19 – 25 August 2009

Sonya and Chris traveled back to Rote with me. Chris at around 6’ 3” caused even more turned heads that most Westerners. The length of his legs gave him really big problems with public transport. On the plane he could not put his tray down for his food as his knees got in the way. We were fortunate that the ferry was not very busy and I was able to book a front row seat, which for once was not obstructed with luggage. Then we used a bemo – these are much shorter than those in Bali and once he had folded himself up to get inside he had the problem of low ceiling and a hand rail preventing him bending too far forward. Not the most comfortable way to travel. I then put him onto an ojek – only about 100cc and quite short so his knees were up under the riders armpits and the bike was struggling up with hill out of Baa. The final problem Chris had was he was not really the right size for my house, the sink was too low and he had big problems with the squat toilets – his legs were to long to allow him to squat properly as his knees hit the wall. When Sonya and Chris were together the stares were even greater because of the difference in their heights.

Family Life

14-18 August 2009

Steve and I flew to Bali to spend a few days with Sonya and Chris before Steve flew home. It was really nice to experience family life again and to show them around places I am now so familiar with. This was a particular pleasure with Chris who was on his first visit to a developing country. It was wonderful to hear his reactions and watch his face as he experienced all the new sights, sounds, tastes and smells. We were fortunate that the Sanur festival was on the week they arrived and they saw kite flying, fruit and ice carving, local races and lots more. We also hired a car and toured a lot of the east of the island including the largest Hindu temple and a ‘traditional’ village. Whist in Ubud we went to a shadow puppet performance – an experience that I will not bother to repeat but pleased I can say I have done it; particularly as the one we had used a real oil lamp rather than electric light to give a less harsh silhouette. The traditional plays last many hours but this was thankfully only an hour. The play is accompanied by music, the puppeteer knocking on the puppet box and him narrating the story. The story was also not totally traditional as it included references to usual local interactions with tourists eg ‘Transport’, ‘Maybe tomorrow’, ‘No problem’.

On the evening of my birthday we met up with Dorothea and went to a very good Italian restaurant as a special treat. I was horrified that we spent nearly 600,000 Rp for the five of us this equate to a weeks allowance for me but was less that £40 so for Steve was nothing. My adaptation to the different value of money was further illustration when helping Sonya and Chris to plan the rest of their trip after leaving Rote. To take a car rather than the bus to Moni from Maumere would only cost them an extra 50,000 Rp each a difference of £3,30. I see the car as expensive luxury they see it as a cheap necessity.

DIY Continues

10 – 12 August 2009

Having finished the painting Steve turned his had to woodwork. However before he could do that I had to borrow tools and help him to source the wood. The tools were easy as one of the nurses in UGD (the A&E department where I am based at present) does a lot of DIY and was happy to let Steve borrow all the tools he required; he also told us which wood yard to go to. Trying to get the message across there that we wanted to buy the wood and Steve would make it rather than us trying to commission them to make a shelving unit. We did eventually chose the wood and they cut all the pieces to length. Once home Steve set to work to plane the timber and build me a shelving unit to store my food. It is made to measure and fits between a wall and the fridge. Having everything on it does make the back room so much tidier and I can find things. It has been a very productive few days and the house looks so much better as a result. Shame he did not have time to make me a table as well.

Painting

4 – 7 August 2009

Steve has come to stay – as a surprise I went to Kupang to meet him at the airport and travel back to Rote with him. Once we had taken his luggage to the house we went down town to buy a large tub of paint. I was after a cream, beige of light yellow but my first four choices were habis – finished – so I had to settle for a rather bright yellow. It is actually quite a pleasant colour; it just not go with the pink curtains which I have in all the rooms.

The rooms in the house are all quite tall and even standing on a chair Steve could not paint all the way up the walls. I therefore asked to borrow a step ladder from work. When it arrived we discovered that the side restraints were missing and it was only held together by wire cable. Steve sensibly decided to wait until I was back before climbing the steps. Unfortunately they were definitely designed for people of his weight and started to buckle so I had to paint the top of all the rooms. The one large tub of paint just lasted to finish all the internal rooms.

Public Transport

I have been writing a lot about motorbikes and thought it was probably time to cover transport links in general. Indonesia is a huge archipelago. There are between 17,508 and 18.000 islands – although not all these are inhabited.

Plane

There are a lot of different operators flying to the islands, some airports accept international flights and others like Rote only have two flights a week and very basic facilities. Planes range in size and quality of service.

Boat

These come in all sizes from small charter boats to the more remote islands, via passenger ferries to larger cargo boats that will take passengers.

Train

There are only trains on Java. Daddy was intrepid enough to agree to travel between Jogjakarta and Solo by train and despite the experience agreed to used it on the return journey as well. Actually not as crowded as the tube in London. The big problem was that at the stations we wanted to get off at there was no platform near our doors so it was a long jump down. The level of safety at the stations was poor – you needed to walk across the tracks to get to the train.

Taxi

In the main cities there are conventional taxis which are salon cars with details of the taxi firm on them, these are generally metered although the driver may try to negotiate a flat fare. In smaller towns they are unmarked 4x4s, sometimes with set fares to specific areas of town but certainly not metered. It is quite normal to have the phone number of the individual driver and send a text requesting him to collect you.

Bus

Buses travel between major towns on the island and advertise their destination on the windscreen. They take passengers and copious amounts of luggage. They have a flat fare for the route irrespective of how much of it you travel. If you want to catch a bus – other than at the terminal you leave some luggage beside the road and then go and sit in some shade until the bus stops. As you approach your stop you call out to the driver and then pass your fare forward as you get off.

Lorry

Lorries travel to more remote areas that the buses but are also used if you have excessive amounts of luggage. If very lucky you get a seat up front with the driver but generally you just climb into the open back along with your luggage. I have yet to work out how you know where the lorries are going but when I used one in Sumba a local organised it for me so I did not have to worry.

Bemo

These are small minibuses with bench seats at the back. In Bali the route is denoted by the colour of the bemo. In Kupang all the routes are numbered and on Rote the destination is displayed in the stickers on the front of the bemo. The bemos in Bali are plan inside and out and just have a driver who collects the fares as the passengers alight. In Kupang and on Rote the bemos are all individually decorated with various stickers obliterating the drivers vision on all sides. They also have lots of internal decoration and the addition of sound systems with the speakers taking up all the space under the seats. You can hear these bemos approaching by the loud thumping music emanating from them but in case you should miss that they have very distinctive horns that they sound at the sight of anybody within close proximity to the road. The also have conductors who ride the running board and jump off to try to persuade people to ride in their bemo. It appears there is always room for one more passenger however over full you already think the vehicle is.

Ojek

These are motorbike taxis. In Bali they are obviously regulated and all wear tabards else where it would appear that anyone with a motorbike and a spare crash helmet can pick up passengers. The are useful for short distances when the destination is not on a bemo route. You either go to areas where ojek drivers congregate or as in Kupang I have the number of a couple of drivers and just send them a text when I want to go anywhere.

Becak

These are found in Java and are bicycle driven transport where the passenger sits at the front and is exposed to what ever is approaching you – a bit hairy as the becak drivers do not worry about one way streets so you are often being propelled towards on coming vehicles. It is necessary to negotiate the price for the trip – interestingly when I came out of the station, shops or even a basic hotel I could negotiate a very reasonable rate however when we emerged from a more expensive hotel where we had been to eat I had to pay far more than I felt was reasonable.

Dokar

These are horse drawn carriages – I have yet to try on of these as they feel a little too decadent.