Photos from Labuan Bajo, Rinca and Komodo
I spent the first week of my winter break traveling with two friends around Flores, one of the smaller islands east of Bali and Lombok.

This is the sunset taken from my hotel balcony my first night in Labuan Bajo. The airport had decided not to put my luggage on the plane, and I was waiting on friends to show up the next day, but this view and a lukewarm beer made me feel a lot better about things.

The next day a new friend took me on a motorbike tour of the island. We drove past a library he built out of recycled bottles and talked about the local environmental movement. 

Went caving.

Saw a bat. Our guide pointed this baby bat out to us and said "use your flash, make sure you take a good picture"

Hiked out to a waterfall. See the rain clouds lurking in the distance? About 15 minutes into our hike, the heavens let loose and we were immediately soaked through. But we kept on, slipping and sliding down a jungley slope, grateful for having remembered to put the cameras in the drysack.

The waterfall. We had to ford (swim) the river to get even this close to the big falls, our guide said we couldn't go further, because the water was rising fast.

So we played around in this baby waterfall.

Sailing out to Manta Point to go scuba diving with manta rays.

Snorkeling. I saw a cuddlefish!

Komodo Dragons!

In Komodo National Park. Sacrifice to some god of Komodo Dragons? Or just to keep things interesting for the tourists?

This is the bud of rafflesia arnodii, the biggest flowers in the whole world. The bud was 10" high. The books say it might also be the stinkiest flower in the world, it smells like rotting death.

That log-like thing in the background? Yep. That's a komodo dragon. They can run up to 18km/hr, have very sharp claws, dirty mouths, and are capable of bringing down a water buffalo. But luckily, this one isn't feeling very hungry.

One of my weekend hobbies here in Samarinda is weddings. Weddings are great. I haven't been to an actual ceremony, but its the reception the day after that is the main attraction. Weddings are a huge event, you invite everybody you know and hundreds if not thousands of people show up, sign in, get a small present like a fan or a tissue paper cover*, drop some money off as a gift, greet the bride and groom, pose for a picture, eat some food and then skedaddle for the next wedding. As a wedding guest, you can be in and out the door in ten minutes, five, if you're in a hurry.

However, for my sixth wedding here, I was not just a wedding guest, I was part of it! Yesterday was the wedding of the daughter of one of my Ibus at school. She invited me to come be a part of the wedding party as one of the official hand shaker people who greets guests as they come in the door. The job of the hand-shaker person, might not be as important as that of the guest-book guard, the present passer-outer, or the food server, but it was exactly right for me. 

I got to get dressed up in traditional kebaya. The skirt was of a long, patterned red and gold fabric, woven with sparkly golden fibers, and the top part is a lacy and bejeweled tunic top. In the picture below you seem me after getting dressed that morning. Kebaya Barbie is drinking lots of coffee, and obviously (and unsurprisingly) has not been doing much housekeeping this week.

We got to the wedding around 10:00 and took some pictures with the bride and groom before the guests arrived. I also had a chance to eat a quick bowl of chicken soup and some beef curry (not an abnormal breakfast option).

As guests began to show up, we took our places at the entrance of the big reception room. I stood with some of the Ibus who are teachers at my school, and some who I hadn't met before, all of us dressed in the the same outfit, and for the next four or five hours, I touched hands with every single woman that walked into that room, and probably about half the men. Now, this wasn't exactly a handshake, Indonesians don't like the firm grip, American-syle handshake, instead you keep your hands in a prayer-shape and lightly shake them around the other person's hand and then touch your chest, maybe with a little head bow thrown in. I did that a thousand times, and one of the best parts was watching people do a double-take realizing there was a bule in the receiving line.

Bu Nur and me

After a few hours, my feet were hurting and the rest of me was sweating; I took a few breaks, but I think I managed to put up a good show as an official member of the greeting party.  It was a really good experience to feel part of a community. There were lots of smiles, photos, babies, and food, so it had everything a good wedding party needs (except the dance floor and the open bar, but I wasn't expecting that). I had fun meeting new people, practicing my bahasa, and watching all the guests decked out in colorful, sparkling wedding clothes.

When Bu Nur picked me up that morning, I tried to figure out the appropriate way to say congratulations. I tried "Selamat Perkawinan" which would mean basically just be wishing "good wedding," but instead found out it is better to say "Selamat mulai hidup baru" which is more like "congratulations on beginning your new life." I like that. 

These Ibus are helping to serve delicious wedding food, soto ayam (chicken soup) and sate (satay...duh)

Bride, groom, and assorted relatives. Those are some excellently sparkly clothes!

Some of the wedding party ibus with the bride and groom

*Fun Fact. I now own three, dark red, lacy tissue box covers. If I can keep this up, I know what everybody back home will be getting as presents from Indonesia