Kadidiri

Kadidiri 25th March, 2011

Oh life is good. We had to wait a few hours in the docks of Wakai for the Lestari boat to take us to their cottages in Kadidiri. The harbormaster joined us with some of his friends, and soon we were in deep conversation about the life in paradise. Most of it I didn’t quite understand, for we discussed in Indonesian, and I’m still better at asking questions than understanding the responses. Nevertheless life here sounded good, as people seemed to be far enough from the commanding hand of either government or church. As always laugher had a big role in our conversation, and when finally departing for Kadidiri we felt relaxed and light hearted.

View from the terrace

Reserving a spot with my sarong

Restaurant

My house

Lestari shares a beautiful beach with two other tourist complexes. A cottage costs 85 000 rupiahs including all meals, free snorkeling and fishing trips and good company. The family who owns the place is cheerful and some of the members speak surprisingly fluent English. There’s not too much to do here, I’ve now read three books in two days, played a lot of cards and learned the basics of chess.

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Kadidiri 31st March, 2011

Time flies really fast here. The daily routine consists of waking up early, a wait for breakfast accompanied with too many cups of tea and coffee, socializing/reading/playing cards or chess, lunch, socializing/reading/cards/chess, dinner, s/r/c/c and sleep. Kadidiri is breathtakingly beautiful, and it's really easy to get stuck here. I was supposed to leave today, but the idea of leaving just doesn't seem right, so I'll stick around for a couple more days.

I went diving today. The dive cost 24 euros with all equipment included. We went to see a small canyon that was covered with coral. The visibility was great - from 27 meters one was able to see the sun through the surface. Fishes were plenty and the coral indeed showed the full spectrum of color. I think I spent most of my oxygen just gasping for air when encountering another thing of marvel.

Later this week we'll hopefully go for island hopping. The sea has been quite rough, which is not normal at this time of year, and the local canoe-shaped boats aren't safe when surrounded by big waves.

That's about it. I'm happy and relaxed. More when we get back from our island hopping

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Island hopping was interesting to say the least. Our captain wasn't actually the one you can see in the picture below, for Tomi decided to stay behind and take care of the guesthouse. Instead the trip was organized by Pudin, a 23 year old dude with a big heart and a lot of energy, but zero organizing skills what so ever. I was only able to join the hoppers only for two nights, and due to the weather we got stuck on the abandoned resort for the whole time.

El Capitan Tomi

The resort was built by the government of Indonesia approximately half a year ago, but for some unknown reason it was abandoned right after it was finished. The huts are beautiful and spacious, and it is obvious that someone really put up an effort to make the place as cozy as possible. If there was electricity, the huts would have commodities like lights, running water and satellite TV. We slept at the restaurant on mattresses and hammocks and washed ourselves in the sea. Pudin was a great cook and food was plenty. After sunset we built a bonfire on the beach and kept a look out for shooting stars. Someone had brought a guitar, another a flute and I had my harmonica.

Island activities

Random beach

Sunset at random beach

Sunrise at abandoned resort

Local kids and farewells

Island activities pt II

Abandoned resort at sunrise

I'm now in Tana Toraja experiencing the interesting culture of the torajans - everything here resolves around death, and the most important thing one can do here is to die. But more about that in the next post. Farewell!

/ me


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