Thoughts About Indonesia

After returning from Sabah, Borneo, we wandered through the Sunday market in Kota Kinabalu, and started talking to a couple from England.  Frank and Eleanor had just arrived so we helped them get organized, and later met them for supper.  Over an Italian supper, we visited and exchanged information before we left for Bali.
What strikes us is how much the price of oil affects everything we do. Oil and its derivative,  gasoline, is very inexpensive in Indonesia.  Here a litre of gas is 55 cents Canadian. This leads to inexpensive food and travel. Domestic air travel is common in South east Asia, and when compared to Canadian domestic flights, it is an inexpensive and efficient mode of travel. Meals are inexpensive as long as you are willing to eat what and where the locals eat. Western meals tend to be considerably more expensive, and are usually available in the better restaurants. Usually breakfast is included in the room cost. Accommodation has been inexpensive as well, however it is best to look around to get the best bang for your money.  We have stayed in some very basic places in some areas that cost the same as a nice place in another area.  The loss in value of our dollar to the US dollar has not affected us because their rupiah has dropped in value as well. A 20 km ride in a bemo (a small public transport vehicle) has cost us 150000 Rp ($15.00 Cdn).  A driver and car rented by the day came to 750000 RP a day or  $75.00 Cdn a day for us.   Sharing with other people going your way is a way of  cutting the cost of the vehicle and driver.
Once we arrived in Denpassar, Bali, Indonesia, we spent a day touring.  We attended an Indonesian Opera with traditional music and singing and dancing.  We drove through the city into the countryside coming upon  rice paddies straddling a steep valley.   We have wine tasting at wineries in Canada.  They have coffee tasting on the coffee plantations in Bali.  Temples were visited and explored with the wearing of a sarong to comply to local custom.
While waiting for our flight to Maumere on Flores Island, we met an English couple traveling in the same direction with roughly the same itinerary--Jan and Patrick.  We decided to share a taxi to  coastal cottages east of Maumere.  Lena 1 was full so we decided to stay at their other cottages--Lena 2.  In order to get to the restaurant or back to our cottages during high tide, we had to take an outrigger canoe.  During high tide, water came right up to the sea bank and backfilled the two creeks that you could otherwise cross when the tide was out.  Early next morning,  I noticed flying fish jumping and flying across great stretches of water, and schools of smaller fish jumping out of the water as they were being chased by some predator beneath. It was like watching birds flying in unison; only in this case, it was schools of smaller fish jumping out of the sea together in large jumps. We found people from Australia, USA, Germany, and Canada staying at Lena 1.