Kekai visited us from June 20-July 10. A visit that went way to fast and happened at a time when we had several other trips right before and right after. So, I'm blaming the lateness of this post on all the other travel. And the fact that I used three different cameras while he was here (cell phone, SLR and GoPro) and since dropping my laptop two days after he left, have been utterly unable to figure out how to manage photos (haven't had access to Adobe Lightroom since the laptop fiasco and ran out of space on Google Photos at the same time. The digital world leaves a lot to be desired, even as it makes some things easier). At the time of posting this (16 Sept) I have not yet downloaded the SLR or completely downloaded the GoPro. So I may come back and add more photos. AND I have not had time to get underwater video footage put into something viewable. So all that may be added later.
About a week after I bought Kekai's Oregon-Bali tickets, Fulbright asked if I could come be a resource and presenter at the Pre-Departure Orientation for Indonesian Fulbrighters going to the US for Master's and PhD study. Of course the answer was yes, but the dates were terrible (starting the day after Kekai arrived) and they didn't yet know where it would be. Tim and I decided that if it were anywhere other than Jakarta, we'd all fly out and he and Kekai would sightsee while I was at the PDO. Over a month later, they announced it would be in Jakarta, a place that is really not so great if you only have a few weeks in Indonesia. So Tim decided to go to Balian with Kekai and maybe have a little surf-safari while I went to the capital. Kekai landed at 2pm and I flew out at 4pm, so we only had a few minutes together before I had to head to the Domestic Terminal and fly away. It was pretty sad.
I got back from Jakarta before he and Tim returned from Balian. Then, on our first day together, we were invited to Wayan's house, post-harvest, and Kekai got to eat Larvae Lawar!
Kekai's trip overlapped with the Idul Fitri holiday and we took advantage of the days off (Fulbright has a limit on weekday non-holiday travel) to travel to Flores (Nusa Tengara Timur) and spend some beach time (I let each kid pick a national park to visit and Kekai chose Komodo, so that's what got us headed to Flores). It was a great, relaxed way to spend time with Kekai (who still lives up to his name in terms of where he's happiest). And, I must say, the ocean just gets nicer and nicer the further east you travel. The number of soft corals and biodiversity off Labuan Bajo is mind-blowing (yes, I will work on getting those GoPro photos sorted, but I've grabbed a couple good ones for now). Plus, Flores is just a beautiful island. I thought it might be too dry and dusty but it was amazing.
I chose a hotel that was quite a bit north of the center of town which was peaceful, but they also thought themselves a resort so food was pretty expensive. And we let them talk us into an 8-sites-in-one-boatide tourist trip that took us to Komodo Island instead of Rinca where we'd planned to go (been told by more than one person that Komodo was not the greatest experience). So, on our first morning, we got up early, got picked up by a van and traveled to the harbor where we got on a very crowded boat filled with tourists (no, we could not figure out where the lifejackets were kept but I figured there are so many little islands around that as long as none of the other tourists grabbed hold of us, we'd be able to swim to safety if the boat went under). The tour was pretty much what you would expect from a tour, not enough time to really see any of the places. Komodo itself was a zoo. Our boat was 40 people, I think and we were back-to-back with another load the same size ahead of us and another behind. Every time a dragon was spotted, the crowd rushed forward and I never saw anything other than a blur moving quickly into the bushes. We did, however, see a fairly large dragon under the pier when we first arrived and then, I spooked one that was behind the toilets -- that was my best sighting. However, even with all the tour-bus style amenities and co-passengers, the waters were amazing and the day was not so bad. We saw some amazing things.
After our tour boat day we wised up and found ourselves a local fisherman. We offered to pay him for a day in his boat and he thought that was great. We met in the late morning (he'd gone to mosque in the early morning for Idul Fitri) and putt-putted off to an island to the west. We planned to go to two or three spots with him, but on the way to the second spot -- uh-oh, the motor cut out. No problem, he got it running again. Twice. On the third time he was not so lucky. He had plenty of gas but a hole in the tank meant it wasn't feeding in. We stopped in some shallow water while he tried to repair it. We could tell he was embarrassed so we said we'd just snorkel there while he tried to repair the fuel tank. As late afternoon arrived, it got dark enough that we were no longer seeing the same colors (and the menpachi were starting to appear!) we went back to the boat. He decided he better call his son and so we waited (an hour maybe?) while his son came out in a rescue boat (not much bigger than his boat) with a rope and a friend. Then we had a peaceful tow back to Flores, watching the sun set and night fall. It was actually a really great experience, even if not what we'd planned on :-)
Our last couple days on Flores we cruised our scooters up into the hills and looked at some traditional weaving, then splurged and went on a dive trip -- my first time to dive with Kekai since his certification. Again, the water and creatures off Flores are 100% amazing. No underwater photos though because my GoPro only can handle 10m depth (until I buy a housing, which I guess I probably should)
Way too fast it was time to leave Flores and return to Bali.
Lots of flight delays on the way home so we decided to stop for our first U.S. Chain Restaurant on the drive home. We'd been told by two groups (one Australian and one Indonesian) how amazingly delicious Kentucky Fried Chicken in Indonesia is. So when we saw an open restaurant on the way home we stopped. It was OK but doesn't hold a candle to JFC (our favorite Indonesian fried chicken chain). But the app advertised on the door sure got our attention:
When we rounded the corner we could see the "K" before the FCKU, but had a moment of utter befuddlement for awhile.