Valiquet*
  • Intro
  • Manual workers
    • Ayung River divers. Bali
    • Boat lifters. Jimbaran.Bali
    • Volcanic stone breakers of mount Batur. Bali
    • Dock laborers
    • Onion fields_Sumabawa Island
    • Salt flats_Sumbawa Island
    • Transporting fish from ship to shore
    • Women workers
  • Photo series
    • Cockfighting in Bali
    • Impressions at a batik workshop
    • Pelni ship passengers
    • Pelni ship porters
    • Solitary bechak drivers of Solo
    • Sulfur Carriers of Ijen volcano
    • Sumba Island >
      • Merapu Priests_Sumba
      • Beach fight
      • Pasola_Sumba
      • People & Scenes_Sumba
    • Young Cuban Boxers
    • Wedding in Bali
  • Countries
    • Armenia
    • Algeria
    • Cameroon
    • Cuba
    • Havana cars / Pinhole
    • India
    • Indonesia >
      • Bali >
        • Portraits
        • Religious Ceremonies
        • Seaweed cultivation
        • Sights & Scenes
        • Temple Statues
      • Banda Archipelago >
        • Banda Neira
        • Run & Ai Islands
        • Seascapes
    • Lebanon >
      • Beirut. 1995. Post war.
      • Lebanese stories
    • United States of America >
      • Arizona
      • Coney Island
      • Manhattan
      • New York / ColorSplash Lomo
      • New Orleans
  • Adieu mes Aïeux
  • Seven year itch
    • The Biker and his bike
    • And We are off...
    • Lost in Java
    • Three different worlds
    • Romantic ferry travels
    • Sumba-Of horses and men
    • Flores on my mind
  • Java by train
  • Blog
  • Prints for sale
    • Bali-Indonesia Page 1
    • Bali-Indonesia Page 2
    • Banda Neira-Indonesia
    • Batik
    • Bechak drivers in Java
    • Bromo Volcano-Indonesia
    • Cockfighting-Bali
    • Ferries-Indonesia
    • Ijen Sulphur Volcano
    • Pasola-Sumba-Page 1
    • Pasola-Sumba-Page 2
    • Portraits- Indonésie- P 1
    • Portraits- Indonésie- P 2
    • Seaweed cultivation - Nusa Lembongan
    • Single Images- P 01
    • Single Images- P 02
  • Short stories
    • Short stories- Page 1
    • Short stories- Page 2
    • Short stories- Page 3
    • Short stories- Page 4
    • Short stories- Page 5
    • Short stories- Page 6
    • Short stories- Page 7
    • Short stories - Page 8
    • Short stories - Page 9

​Flores  on  my  mind

​The final destination of this voyage was initially the Island of Sumba.
After touring East Sumba for a week, I crossed over to the island who's name means FLOWER
The Island of FLORES* has a  « je ne sais quoi »  that touched me profoundly.
* Flores:  Flowery, Soft.  Flores coffee is tasty, not sour. Roads for race drivers who love to change gears constantly.  
Its people, shy. Religion, mostly Protestant and Catholic.


Picture
Flores curves and beautiful scenery. What more does a rider wish for.
Picture
Riding a motorbike brings a smile to my face

​Here’s what Lonely planet says about Flores : «


You’ll even see plenty of steeples, as away from the port towns most people are nominally Catholic. And many more people are part of cultures and groups that date back centuries, and live in traditional villages seemingly unchanged in millennia. 
​
Picture
Churches, a great place to meditate and rest
Picture
Posing in front of traditional church

Day 27 (from my travel notes) 
Resting at Lucas lodge in Bajawa & visit to Bena village.  Headache and jaw ache for five days now. Working on the new chapter of site. Had a great visit at a traditional village named BENA.  Yes at every house they sell sarongs and the owners try to get money from the tourist selling their wares,  but the village is so beautiful. I am so happy to have stayed  one more  day to visit this traditional village.

Picture
Carl and Frisky, the son of the owner of Lucas Lodge.

Picture
Entrance of traditional house
​ The Flores I wanted to see

Bena
​traditional village

Picture
Ominous bird

After Returning From Bena Village I Stopped At A Flores Burial Ground That Reminded Me So Much Of Portuguese Cemeteries;
​with its Catholic images inlaid in the headstones. There I cried
:  Why do we hurt one another? We all end up eating the flowers by their roots.

Day 29       /      Slowly making my way back to Java

The 140km road from Ruteng to Labuan Bajo was one of the most challenging roads I rode on during this trip.
Picture
Ruteng to Labuan Bajo. 140 km. 6 hours.
Lonely Planet: «The 670km serpentine, yet rapidly improving, Trans-Flores Hwy skirts knife-edge ridges that sheer into spectacular river canyons, brushes by dozens of traditional villages, and always seems to have a perfectly conical volcano in view. Roads of varying quality branch off into areas few tourists have explored.»
​​
 Many bends, sharp curves going down or up, hairpin turns. One thing I noticed was that  the gravitational force plays a lot of importance in the curves that go down hill.
A few times the weight of the bike almost brought me off the road. ​

​

Days 31 and 32  
Hanging around Labuan Bajo before heading West to Java.  
​Working on the web site and chilling out at 
Bajo Bakery.

About Flores and Sumba


Both Flores and Sumba are my "dessert"  Islands. 
SWEET AS .....
Both Islands brought me solace and peace.
I often wondered if the mixture of animism and Cristian religion creates an aura of well being for the travellor.



On photography

During this voyage, I took many photographs and practised the art of being aware. The words of John Ruskin come to mind. He who wrote this about art :

... the twin purposes of art is to make sense of pain and to fathom the sources of beauty.


more to come...

​I plan to return to Sumba in February 2018 for the ceremony of Pasola; where two teams of men on horses throw wooded spears at each other.
At Easter 2018, I plan to go to Larantuka, East Flores where the people re-enact the crucifixion of Christ.

THE NEVER ENDING ADVENTURE  OF THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH TRAVEL LOG. 
​
I am still itching to see what is on the other side of that curve or hill or river or mountain or ....

Picture
Seven year itch Voyage STATISTICS
PicturePhoto of Carl by Prem Byron

​
​RETURN TO THE BEGINNING ​OF
​TRAVEL LOG.

  • Intro
  • Manual workers
    • Ayung River divers. Bali
    • Boat lifters. Jimbaran.Bali
    • Volcanic stone breakers of mount Batur. Bali
    • Dock laborers
    • Onion fields_Sumabawa Island
    • Salt flats_Sumbawa Island
    • Transporting fish from ship to shore
    • Women workers
  • Photo series
    • Cockfighting in Bali
    • Impressions at a batik workshop
    • Pelni ship passengers
    • Pelni ship porters
    • Solitary bechak drivers of Solo
    • Sulfur Carriers of Ijen volcano
    • Sumba Island >
      • Merapu Priests_Sumba
      • Beach fight
      • Pasola_Sumba
      • People & Scenes_Sumba
    • Young Cuban Boxers
    • Wedding in Bali
  • Countries
    • Armenia
    • Algeria
    • Cameroon
    • Cuba
    • Havana cars / Pinhole
    • India
    • Indonesia >
      • Bali >
        • Portraits
        • Religious Ceremonies
        • Seaweed cultivation
        • Sights & Scenes
        • Temple Statues
      • Banda Archipelago >
        • Banda Neira
        • Run & Ai Islands
        • Seascapes
    • Lebanon >
      • Beirut. 1995. Post war.
      • Lebanese stories
    • United States of America >
      • Arizona
      • Coney Island
      • Manhattan
      • New York / ColorSplash Lomo
      • New Orleans
  • Adieu mes Aïeux
  • Seven year itch
    • The Biker and his bike
    • And We are off...
    • Lost in Java
    • Three different worlds
    • Romantic ferry travels
    • Sumba-Of horses and men
    • Flores on my mind
  • Java by train
  • Blog
  • Prints for sale
    • Bali-Indonesia Page 1
    • Bali-Indonesia Page 2
    • Banda Neira-Indonesia
    • Batik
    • Bechak drivers in Java
    • Bromo Volcano-Indonesia
    • Cockfighting-Bali
    • Ferries-Indonesia
    • Ijen Sulphur Volcano
    • Pasola-Sumba-Page 1
    • Pasola-Sumba-Page 2
    • Portraits- Indonésie- P 1
    • Portraits- Indonésie- P 2
    • Seaweed cultivation - Nusa Lembongan
    • Single Images- P 01
    • Single Images- P 02
  • Short stories
    • Short stories- Page 1
    • Short stories- Page 2
    • Short stories- Page 3
    • Short stories- Page 4
    • Short stories- Page 5
    • Short stories- Page 6
    • Short stories- Page 7
    • Short stories - Page 8
    • Short stories - Page 9