Part1: From Gili to Labuan Bajo
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...The next day I left Gili Air.
The cheapest way to get to Komodo is by public transport. Crossing Lombok over land, then the Alas Sea to Sumbawa on a Ferry, followed by a long journey trough Sumbawa, finally taking the Ferry to Flores.
A small boat will take you from Gili to Bangsal on Lombok. I bought my tickets the day before departure. The official price from Gili to Labuan Bajo was 400.000 IDR. I managed to get it for 350.000 IDR. There are other ways to reach Komodo. I will mention them in an other Post. The fastest and easiest but most expensive way is to take the plane. Take this option if you are on a tight schedule. Otherwise I can really recommend the public way over land.
A warning at this point: At the harbor in Bangsal there will be drivers waiting for you to take you to the place where you'll be picked up. Don't go with them as they will charge you lots of money for practically nothing. The Pickup points are all close to the harbor, so that I was only transported about 100 meters and had to pay 30.000 IDR for that. The guy who sold me my ticket told me that all vehicles till Labuan Bajo were Included, so I did not think much as I went with the guy, a big mistake. When you got your ticket don't pay anything extra as everything is included (except food and water). I'll come to that point later again!
Another thing you should keep in mind. NEVER loose grip of your ticket! Always keep that ticket or ask for a written document that proofs that you bought tickets till Labuan Bajo! At some points of your journey there will be stops where you'll get the next ticket. Show the ticket you bought at the beginning and get the one for the vehicle, ferry you will be travelling on next. Don't pay any extra money! Everything should be included till Labuan Bajo, assuming that you have bought a ticket to Labuan Bajo. For security reasons get the number of the place you bought your tickets at.
At the place in Bangsal I was picked up by a bemo. I was the only passenger. My driver was in a real hurry as he drove quite fast along the coast of western Lombok to Mataram. The journey from Bangsal to Mataram by car takes about 2 hours. When I first saw the bemo I feared that I had to sit in this kind of uncomfortable car for my entire journey. Fortunately, times have changed and now there are modern coaches driving along the islands. In Mataram a Guy with a motorbike picked me up. Now being skeptical I asked him to prove that he's from the company, which sold me my tickets. He turned out to be the first half-way honest and helpful guy I've met here. He explained to me what I have to take care of and where I should be careful, as there are many scammers. He invited me to a local warung where I could get a nice meal for only 5.000 IDR. He also drove me around town as I needed to take care of some things. As I had to wait 3 hours before my bus departed I could make good use of the time. Mataram itself is a big and ugly city. Not much need to spend your time here. If you need to exchange some money you should do it here as the exchange rates will be lower in Flores, which I can confirm.
I was positively surprised at the bus station when I saw the bus. It was a modern couch, which looked on the inside even better than from the outside. The seats were very spacious and I had lots of legroom, more than I'm used to from the buses in Germany.
Another positive aspect which attracted my attention was that I was barely asked to buy anything. I was practically the only foreigner at the whole central bus station. There are not many travelers coming to this place. Therefore none of the merchants have specialized on selling stuff to tourists. Of course people try to sell stuff, it is a central bus station after all. But not because you are a tourist but because you are a potential customer like anybody else. Meaning I was treated like everyone else and I really liked that. For the first time in Indonesia I met descent hard working average people. Still, be careful.
Before you hop on the bus you should buy some water. You won't get it cheaper later. Here you should only pay 5.000 IDR for a bottle. It's way more expensive once you are on the ferry. To get something to eat isn't wrong either.
The Bus will take you to Labuhan Lombok where you will get onto the ferry which leaves to Sumbawa, the next big island. The Bus will drive onto the Ferry, that means you will still journey on the same bus on the next part of your journey. It took more than 1 hour before the Ferry arrived. They will ask you to exit the bus in order to enter the ferry. Here I met the first foreigners since Bangsal, a couple from Holland I think, also taking the long way to Comodo. As the sun set and the sky turned dark blue the ferry was ready and we could finally go on board.
I decided to go up on the roof and enjoy the evening breeze. I had one of my best times of my journey on that ship as I was soon approached by some Indonesians. Average people, like you and me. They showed quite some interest and obviously found it funny as most of them could not speak proper English. And to be fair I couldn't say a single word in Indonesian. There was a group of Kids who went to Lombok to play a soccer game from which they were now returning home to Sumbawa. Trying to make some use of the phrases they had learned in their school lessons we had some good fun together. Here I've seen the difference to Bali. There it is almost impossible to get in contact with locals and to have a friendly conversation with them as it all comes down to the money at the end. But here far away from the tourism, you can find nice and honest people, still uncorrupted. In the touristic places they might speak your language but they also let the money talk. Here on the other hand, even though they don't speak your language, you can get the feeling that you are a part of them. We might have different skin colors, but we are all the same, we are humans and we are all equal.
Once we arrived we sad farewell and departed. I entered the bus again. Until Bima I did not see much of Sumbawa as we journeyed at night. The couch only drives till Bima. There you'll have to change vehicles. Again a mini-Bus. This one was more comfortable than the last Bemo. It became morning as the mini bus departed, so at least I got to see eastern Sumbawa. It is really beautiful and definitely worth being there. The streets are in a surprisingly good condition as they appeared to be new, partly in a better condition than most streets in Germany. I'm sorry that I did not have the time to explore this place, I only passed by. But I'm sure that one day I'll return.
The mini-bus takes you to Sape. There you find the port where the ferry to Labuan Bajo leaves. The Ferry was already there when I arrived. Still it took 4 hours past scheduled time before we departed. They told us that they were still waiting for some transporters. Flores gets most of it's goods on this way. It was unbearably hot on the ferry, and there were not many seats. I met a few more travelers on that ferry. Two girls from Denmark, I guess, 2 Germans and a Spanish guy with whom I spent some time in Flores. An extraordinary guy, who adventured from Bali to Flores on a bicycle. He told me about his positive experiences in Sumbawa and how nice the people there have welcomed and helped him on his journey. Check out his website: tonithewildbike
We went upstairs on the deck. As the ferry started to move there was a nice breeze which made it bearable to stay on the ferry and a and the great view of the sea and the bypassing islands was worth the trip.
After 7 hours we finally arrived in Labuan Bajo.
Here I want to tell you that there is only one Ferry from Estern Lombok to Labuan Bajo and it departs in Sape. And the Ferry only departs a few times a day. Not like in Padang Bai. There are no Fast boats. There is only this one Ferry and it takes 7 hours to get to Labuan Bajo. There is no faster way (Except you have your own boat or plane). There are people who trick travellers into thinking that there is a faster connection to Labuan Bajo and ask them to pay extra money. So don't believe anyone who is telling you this. You will end up on the same boat.
In total the journey from Gili to Labuan Bajo takes 22 hours. Mine took 26 hours as I had spent a solid 4 hours for the Ferry to depart. Thus I lost a day in Labuan Bajo. You have to keep that in mind when you travel in Indonesia. Schedules are barely met.
Next: Comodo Nationalpark
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