MONI, FLORES, INDONESIA

After stopping by the Merpati office and unsuccessfully trying to change our flight back to Bali (we wanted to give ourselves an extra day in Flores to see some more sights), we were forced to revert to our original four-day plan. No biggie.

So at 9:30 am we left Maumere (which frankly is kind of a hellhole, but I'll give it some slack since most of it was leveled by a 20-meter tsunami in 1992), and headed west along the Trans-Flores Highway, which winds its way through the mountains toward Labuan Bajo, on the west coast.

Well, "highway" may be a little optimistic, as it's really a two-lane road with quite a few potholes. As we passed through numerous local villages, we saw rice, cacao beans, and coconuts laid out on the roadside to dry, as we attempted to dodge the usual island road obstacles: cows, chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, and the occasional water buffalo. Oh, and pedestrians.

We arrived in the tiny mountain "town" of Moni (really a handful of rickety buildings in a rice field) by around 2pm, and settled in at our hotel, run by a ridiculously talkative but nice Dutch expat.

Having no plans for the rest of the afternoon, Chris got the crazy idea to rent a motorcycle (if you've ever seen Indonesian roads and drivers, you'll know why I call this "crazy"), which I wanted no part of, so while he rode around the area and went to a local wedding reception (don't ask), I walked the entire length of the town, which took about 10 minutes, came back to the hotel, and took a nap.

Things I don't think I've ever seen on the road before today:

• A dozen cabbages strapped to the front bumper of a bus
• Three dogs sleeping on top of a moving minivan
• A five-foot tuna fish tied to a motorcycle