~there's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town; take a whole pail of water just to cool him down~

I am currently a nauseous hostage on this jalopy minibus as it slithers through steep Javanese jungle grades toward Mt. Ijen. Sol has completed her descent behind the clouded mountain skyline and it looks like we're rounding out ours pretty soon to find a little village at the mountain's base. Jeanette and I are on our fourth destination since I last wrote. Let's start at the beggining.

Singapore: the Ritz Carton of Southeast Asia. It was a very different feel from the roach infested outhouses and littered streets that marked many of my other destinations.  In fact, littering is punishable with lashes in these parts and drug smuggling carries a mandatory death sentence! We spent three nights (and a bonus night I'll get to later) meandering through museums and gardens. We started at the Orchid Garden for a pleasant stroll

and wound our way to the Asian History museum. There we learned about how Singapore was settled and caught up the cultures of all the east asian countries. We capped the busy day off with a one of a kind light and water show that blew my mind.  I loved it so much that I dragged Jeanette back the next day.

Of note, Singapore is a cultural melting pot with 4 official languages: Malay (native to the region), English (remnants of British colonialism), Chinese and Tamil (from the many migrant workers that flooded in since the 18th century). In fact, for a small island, I was pleasantly surprised to find a Little India and Arab Quarter in addition to the ubiquitous Chinatown. Naturally we ate at all three and loved it.

We also explored the national museum to learn more about Singapores heritage, its history as a British colony, and its quick sessesion from the young, independent malayan state in '65. We found time to scope out the island's widely renown zoo before heading to the airport. Jonas, my travel buddy from Laos, happened to be in S'pore (the designated abbreviation here) at the same time so we all hung out.

Once at the airport, we ran into our first oopsy moment. After checking our tickets the night before, we arrived in time for a 5:30 departure to Bali. We forgot that they sent us an email a couple months prior renegotiating our departure to 3:20... dun dun dun... and so after angry conversations with lionair management, an extra 125 a piece, a crappy nights sleep outside Singapores award winning airport (with yummy food squeezed in there of course) we arrived in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia the following afternoon.

Labuan Bajo: a small town on the central Indonesian island of Flores. Home base for Komodo dragon watching and a little haven for diving and snorkelling. After getting settled into the beautiful Waecicu Beach Inn on a secluded beach we climbed a hill to catch the sunset over some beers.

The next day we planned a busy boat trip to Rinca island where we marvelled at the Komodos slithering around the huts at base camp.

For those of you unfamiliar with these beasts, they are the worlds largest lizards at over 2 meters sometimes. They only eat twice a month or so but generally eat nearlh half their bodyweight at a time. In fact, they have been known to eat nearly 90%! They digest every part of their prey, including the bone which leaves big white calcium puddles around their droppings. Dragons also have over 50 strains of bacteria in their saliva that mixes with an anticoagulate mild venom released from their fangs. The deadly combination: their larger victims who are not devoured instantly get weaker and weaker till they collapse. We saw monkeys, deer, and buffalo roaming, too. The boat stopped by a couple snorkelling sites on the way back where we saw a surprisingly diverse array of fish and coral. Jeanette befriended an Indonesian family on the little boat and I fought, and eventually succumbed to, the urge to nap.

The night was spent at a ridiculously cheap and crappy hostel where we slept on mattresses on the floor. But we did assemble a motley crew of Americans and an Indonesian for some great fun hitting the small town bar scene complete with live reggae! Deliciously grilled fresh fish fueled us up for the night. The next day, Jeanetted excused me to explore some of the best diving I've yet to encounter!  I swam with a few white tip sharks, giant sturgeons, tuna and turtles among an array of brilliant small fishes. I even saw a itsy bitsy sea horse scurrying about some feather coral. The current was so strong that we had to hook ourselved on to the coral to keep from getting swept away. We did miss the main attraction, giant manta rays, but you can't win them all... again I missed my underwater camera but I befriended a cool Franco-English kid who promised to share his go pro footage with me. We might even meet up in Jogjakarta. I think I'll end this post here and hammer out a new one. For the next couple adventures. Sunsets, nature, beaches, boats and napping. I think I'll miss Flores!