End of our Indonesia trip

Not a very good photo I know (and its the wrong way round) but Jackie being served her starter in our business class seats on our Turkish Air flight from Jakarta to Istanbul

It was a long journey, the whole day at the hotel, to the airport at 18.00 flight at 21.00 for 11 hours. Two hours in Istanbul, Four hour flight arriving at 09.10. Bus at 11.00-14.50 train at 15.15 and quick trip to Sainsbury's!

The house is fine, the car had a pond in it, we appear to have a leak somewhere round the windscreen on the driver's side. Hmmm.

Wednesday we tried Christmas shopping and did a proper food shop and visited the dentist.

Thursday we went climbing and popped into the Birmingham German market which has been there for years, but seemed smaller than I remember. Nice day out though.

Friday a trip to Go Outdoors. His outdoor shoes are exactly the same as his old ones, so he's happy, but I'm sitting here wearing new rock shoes trying to convince myself they are going to be ok. They might have to go back! The afternoon has been spent decorating our first Christmas tree for 13 years. A new slender tree with old decorations of ours and mum's. Lovely. The only thing I couldn't find was tree top teddy who I think must have been tied to the top of the old tree that we've taken to the charity shop. I hope his new family look after him. I have however found tree top teddy that mum and dad bought before I even existed so that's OK.

Back in dear old England and a band plays carols in Birmingham City Centre

So, what did I think of Indonesia?

The people were lovely, though perhaps their English wasn't as good as they thought it was. The food was good, very spicy, and I'm a bit fed up with white rice. A meal without rice isn't a meal apparently. There was a lot of fried food too, from rice, to chicken, to fish which is great but not particularly healthy. As I mentioned before all meals are the same, breakfast, lunch and dinner which was a bit wearing after a while too.

There is a lot of litter, everywhere which is horrible, from our beach at Krakatau to snorkelling through it at Raja Ampat. The scenery could be beautiful as could The snorkelling, though I think we were unlucky with the tropical storm near to Australia that affected us and reduced the underwater visibility. The temperature was a bit much for me and the humidity was high which makes it worse. We were lucky I suppose though in that we didn't get too much rain, only getting really wet once.

Our actual trip started off a bit 'rough' but Brian signed up for that, it did get more civilised, though even that wasn't quite right as they had done what Brian asked and booked good hotels, but they were nearly all big, corporate, impersonal hotels that have all blurred into one.

The 11 internal flights actually went better than expected. Five of them were changed before we left the UK but after that there were no more changes. It was however much less stressful having only cabin baggage. We had been meticulous in our weight and dimensions and could easily have pushed it a bit more as we were still carrying smaller than most and were never even looked at. This is definitely something to try again. Particularly as the most delayed flight was a connecting one which we had to run for.

Two Christmas puddings walk by!

Brian's thoughts on Indonesia:

Going on a pre booked, fully organised trip has its advantages, but with the disadvantage that no last minute tweaks can be made to account for such things as bad weather, unexpected encounters or recommendations on the way.

The big advantage was the lack of worry and ease. At every airport arrival we were met by someone carrying a piece of paper with our name on it, to be whisked away to our next destination in a private car or taxi, and dropped off at the next airport for onward travel. Quite often we found ourselves waiting at arrivals as, only carrying hand luggage, we were always out not long after the plane landed, not having to wait at the baggage conveyors, but these were soon sorted. English speaking guides were always on hand to give us lots of useful information and help us along the way. We felt very cosseted!

We had a varied trip from camping in a small two man tent on the beach at Krakatau, fairly basic homestays on Borneo, a lovely ex colonial house converted to a hotel on Banda Neira, some quite luxury hotels and bland airport business hotels. Our trips too were varied and we've seen rural, quite poor Indonesia, historical cities, the spice islands, shaping world history, several volcanoes, excellent snorkelling sites, Komodo dragons and bustling cities. We packed a lot into our 37 days and that's the advantage of booking everything in advance, but we were certainly on the go.

The German Market in Birmingham City Centre, a regular annual feature here for many years. Its the largest authentic German market outside Germany or Austria

The approximately 17500 islands that comprise Indonesia have a very important place in history, originally being the only place in the world where the nutmeg tree grew. The location of the centre of this trade was Banda Neira, a remote group of islands and it was kept a closely guarded secret as, in those days, nutmeg value was greater than gold. Today Indonesia is home to over 280 million people and is the fourth most populated country. 85% of its population are Muslims and there are mosques seemingly on every corner. The call to prayer occurs 5 times every day, the first being about 4:30am. Loudspeakers on every mosque chant out the prayers for all to hear, which can be quite melodic and pleasant, but once other nearby mosques join in the sounds meld together in a cacophony of competing voices. It forms the backdrop of the country wherever you go and reminds you you are on an adventure and in a different, exciting place. A bit like church bells ringing on a Sunday morning in the UK must be to foreigners here I should think.

Traffic in the cities can be very heavy, particularly in morning and evening rush hours. Jakarta is particularly bad as the old city of Batavia from Dutch colonial times sits in the centre and cannot easily be changed for modern traffic flows. The gridlocked or slow moving cars are overtaken by the many motorbikes that weave in and out in an almost reckless fashion. We didn't see any accidents but we were told they are frequent with many injuries and deaths, often from motorcyclists not wearing crash helmets. 

As with many Eastern countries, crossing busy roads as a pedestrian is a challenge. There are pedestrian crossings, but we don't really know the advantage of using one as vehicles pay no regard to them and don't stop, even if you're walking across one. We asked several locals the advantage of using one as opposed to crossing just anywhere and they weren't able to answer. The way to do it is wait until there is a small gap in traffic then slowly but deliberately walk across the road, looking at oncoming cars and holding your hand up signalling them to stop. They don't stop but will alter their position to pass either in front or behind. The worst thing to do is to hesitate and stop as this will confuse motorists and could cause an accident. No one gets upset, no one hoots their horn in anger, it all just happens and, hopefully, you end up on the other side of the road. Attempting to cross at a traffic light controlled junction when the signal is on red is no easier, it seems the red light is for guidance only and often drivers ignore it. I never quite worked out the rules for driving on a dual carriageway. They drive on the left, as we do in the UK and we would expect vehicles to stay in the left lane except when overtaking, but not so. Vehicles seem to deliberately move to the outside lane, even when there's nothing in the inside lane and, when encountering a slower vehicle, pass it on the inside lane, with a toot of the horn, then move back out again, quite odd.

We decided on a Bratwurst (hot dog) for lunch. They serve an improbable 0.5m long version. We had one between us which was ample but many people had a whole one

We found all people very friendly and helpful and were asked on a number of occasions if they could pose with us for a photo. We didn't encounter people sleeping rough, except on rare occasions and were rarely approched by someone with an outstretched hand asking for money. We felt people were generally trustworthy and didn't feel vulnerable or threatened, even when on our own but, then again we were on an organised trip so perhaps we weren't taken to those sort of places.

We understand there is a large amount of corruption in government and elections seem far from free, several people remarked how they were coerced into voting for a particular candidate. There is a new capital city being built in East Kalimantan on Borneo and is called Nusantara. It apparently has wide avenues and huge government buildings and, although its operating on some level, housing isn't yet built so its not functioning as a capital yet, that remains in Jakarta. It apparently was built by cutting down a vast area of virgin jungle and no-one knows who made the money from the sale of the trees within. The general public are not allowed to visit Nustantara, its sealed off, so we couldn't visit, despite being nearby when in Balikpapan.

As Jackie has said, rubbish is a problem and they seem to be where we were in the UK in the 1970's, people just don't think about littering, it needs a cultural shift. Several of the hotels we stayed in had water containers on each floor of a hotel for filling your own water bottle, but most provided bottled water in small plastic bottles which just adds to landfil. We saw vast quantities of packs of small water bottles being offloaded from a ship on remote Banda Neira for supply to the hotels there. How many empty plastic bottles leave the islands is anyones guess, not very many!

So overall, Indonesia has its fair share of problems as many countries, but it seemed relatively safe, we didn't encounter any problems, its relativelty cheap, except for alcohol which is priced at least the same as in the UK up to a maximum of £8 a pint, which is expensive. Stay off the alcohol and its a fairly cheap country. You can get a good hotel room for about £45 for two people, £90 will get you a top class hotel room.

Even in 37 days we barely scratched the surface of what Indonesia has to offer, its very varied and offers excellent hiking, great nature spotting, plenty of historical sights, plenty of volcanoes, some amazing scenery, some of the best diving and snorkelling in the world and, of course, the only place in the world you can have a very good chance to see a real live dragon on Komodo island. It's definitely worth putting Indonesia on your travel list, but it's vast, covering two time zones and requiring many internal flights or ferries. The flights are fairly cheap, a little over £100 for two people, similar to the ferry prices, which are much longer. It's well served by a number of airlines offering several flights a day and you can choose from the national carrier, Garuda, offering an inflight meal, down to the budget, no frills Lion Air. Just be prepared for flight changes and be flexible!

There's ours. Can you imagine that whole?

We washed it down with two little tankards of hot wine -  very nice!

Well, that's the end of another trip and we're well and truly back into life back in the UK. Happy Christmas!

Indonesia days 33 to 38 - Komodo Dragons

Its mainly a blog about Komodo dragons so it seemed right to start with a photo. They are quite big and fearsome

Day 33

Was.... another travel day. A more civilised 12.00 pick up, for a 15.15 flight, which was late, and we'd done so well with the reliability of our flights. Lost an hour, on arrival in Labuan Bajo, again, no wonder I'm confused, nobody to collect us, but a nice taxi driver called the hotel and he was on his way.

The unmistakable shape of Komodo island from the airplane cockpit window as we neared Labuan Bajo. There be dragons!

A small beach resort, called Luwansa, seems ok, but it's dark, so we'll go and get a light dinner, Brian has to eat something, after nothing last night and a very small breakfast, and a milkshake and cookie at the airport, healthy living or what?

Luwansa beach resort in Labuan Bajo. A place to relax, eat and drink - and we did!

It's December, the carols are playing and the staff are all wearing festive 'deely boppers' it's going to be a long December for them!

Nice sunset picture on the beach

Day 34

We went and lay on some sun loungers, in the shade. Though I obviously wasn't as in the shade as I thought and have some slight red patches, but nothing too bad.

We read, did puzzles and talked to the little black cat from next door. Went in the pool, not like us at all! 

Our home for 3 days, the Yumana. It takes 16 passengers in 8 air conditioned ensuite cabins, plus lots of crew and guides

We did however leave the resort for dinner, the beer had been very expensive, and there seems to be a good little coffee shop/bar just over the road. We had a nice couple of beers and some food, though we were the only ones there, and we did have to keep interrupting the staff from washing their mopeds!

First day dinner is served on deck

Day 35 

Our last booked trip, and our only shared one, which could be good, or could be bad. Will they be old, young, English speaking? We were finally collected about an hour after we'd started waiting, though fortunately we were in the lobby of the hotel, not in the sun like some, or like Elena and Jaime, brother and sister from Spain, though she is now Australian and currently lives in Jakarta with her husband and 5 year old son, who were collected on-time, from their hotel 2 minutes walk away from the harbour to do the full tour of Labuan Bajo collecting 7 other people, including us, finally getting to the harbour an hour later. 

Looking back from the bow of the ship. The dining area of two long tables is below the canopy, our room (and two others) is on that level just behind the bar on the right. There's more rooms below that the young Irish group had, more rooms on the first floor with a couple of loungers out front and a top deck completely in the sun which we only ever went to after sunset

The harbour terminal was mayhem, if we all end up on the correct boat it'll be a miracle. We didn't end up with all from the bus, but did end up with Elena (41) and Jaime (31), David and his wife, (late 20's) both Indonesian and from Jakarta, and two Chinese girls (mid 20's). From another bus we were then joined by a couple of guys from Malaysia (25 and 41) and six 25 year olds from Ireland who have been backpacking since September. 

5 of the 6 young Irish group watch sunset. We were on the sun loungers on the first level with a beer and snakes watching the sunset while doing the cryptic crossword

We were the oldest, but at least everyone spoke English to some extent. Along with Jeffrey the main guide, a photographer, Tarsi our driver a trainee guide and at least half a dozen boat crew there were a lot of us in a relatively small space. All our cabins were ensuite though and had AC so we were ok. Not so sure about the guides and crew they had one bathroom and the outdoor shower and appeared to sleep all over the boat.

Getting ready for our first snorkel at the rear of the ship

The first afternoon was all about snorkeling, I think we did three, after a fab lunch. It has all blurred into one though, and as they tweaked the itinerary to try and make the best of disturbed water after the storm that came through, I can't even work out where we should have gone! 

On the tender boat heading to our first snorkel 

Snorkelling experience ranged from not really being able to swim, never having snorkelled and full on divers, so the first one was really an assessment I think. The swimwear choices were also interesting, Brian, me, the two Malaysians, completely covered up, the Spaniards and Indonesians in shorts and t shirt, and the Irish and Chinese in the smallest bikinis imaginable! 

A manta ray gliding by a few meters below us. He's about 3m across, huge! This was part of a lovely video I took (I'll try and include it below) which I showed to Jeffrey, our guide. He was unimpressed and showed me one he'd taken some weeks before from below in crystal clear waters. It was as good as you'd see on the best nature programmes. However, just to be in the presence of these majestic animals was an amazing experience 

We enjoyed it, though the visibility wasn't great. I have to say I think the guides did a good job, there were at least two guests wearing lifejackets who had one to one support. The next snorkel was the one I wanted though. Maybe Manta Rays, I so want that. "They go against the current, and you will have no choice but to go with it" we were told, and OMG they were right. The boat pottered along with spotters on the front, now they said, so I did, first in and straight away there was a ray, no, two, no four. I had to remember to breathe. And then they were gone, or rather we were, there was no fighting that current, we all managed to stay together until we were picked up by the boat a really long way from where we started. When they said we were going again I was so happy. 

A turtle coming up for air

Back into the boat to the start of the drift, again I was first in, but nothing to see this time, till coming out of the gloom, the eerie shape of a manta ray, they are big, about 3m across and entirely unbothered by us. I called Brian who came with the camera, and that's when my recollection gets a bit vague. I know I was with three manta rays, for a really long time, swimming yes, but not having to overly exert, and they were just staying there, below me. I was aware of David, from Jakarta, one of the poor swimmers calling to me, that "ma'am, I think we should go", looked up, and it was just he and I, and the three rays, with everyone else having been taken a long way off with the current. We must have just hit a dead spot in the water, but how lucky were we? Brian said he tried to come back to us but couldn't manage it, so no pictures, but I have memories. It also meant we could buy a manta fridge magnet, we can only buy if we see is our rule, just got to get him home without breaking his tail!

On the pink sand bar

I'm sure there was a third, but it was completely forgettable. Last stop was a sandbank in the middle of the ocean, but not just us, lots of other boats too, and we've already done it, but it is a weird experience.

Parked up for the night under a full moon with a number of other boats ready for our dawn hike tomorrow. This was actually very remote, it's just that all other ships follow the same itinerary 

Back to the boat, beer and snacks, which from now on will be referred to as snakes as we were all sure that's what we were being told was on the bar. I think we were all a bit disappointed to only find fried banana! Lovely dinner and early night. We were going to be up at 04.00 for sunrise!

Beach landing next morning ready for the hike. We were not alone!

Day 36

A good night sleep, surprisingly, as I'd spent some time on every evening visit to the cabin killing the cockroaches that ran about when you moved anything. Never saw one on the bed, so chose not to think about it. 

We we're on top with all the others for our sunrise photo

Fast asleep when the alarm went off, quick cup of coffee and piece of toast before going ashore to do a little hike to the top of Padar Island to watch sunrise. It did rise, we took pictures, and identified the view from the 50,000 IDR note, and checked in, from the summit having got WiFi for our flight back to Jakarta. No two seats together, but I'm sure we'll survive.

A fabulous view from the top

Breakfast and move to pink beach, which had the same pink tinge as the sandbank had had, before moving on to, for most people, the point of the trip, Komodo Island to look for dragons. We landed after the cruise ship, but fortunately our guide whisked us round two groups so we arrived at the watering hole alone. It felt a bit contrived, but there were 5 Komodo dragons waiting to be photographed. We had all had our photos done before the other two groups turned up, hurrah!

Then Jackie noticed the view from the back of a 50,000 Rupiah note. You might have to zoom in on the note to see it, but we think it's the exact same view 

We ambled through the 'jungle' and did manage to catch another 4 dragons of various sizes which was fabulous.

Next stop, pink beach. It is sort of pink

Lunch and then an afternoon to relax while the boat moved. We got to our destination in time for those that wanted to to jump off the top deck of the boat, before going out for a snorkel. I had no wish to jump from the top, but when Jeffrey called me Mama, for the umpteenth time and dared me to jump from the lower deck I did. I know I am old enough to be mama, but being called Mama by everyone except the European's is all a bit depressing! The visibility on the snorkel left a lot to be desired, so silly video was taken instead. I just hope we do get another chance, so this isn't the last one!

The reason is the red and white coral like these

The reason for mooring where we were, along with all the other boats, was the departure, at dusk , from the mangroves of the flying foxes. It was a great sight, not one you get every day with the crossword, beer and snakes (spring rolls today)

The main event (for me anyway, Jackie's already had hers with the manta rays) Komodo Island. Will we see any? We'd heard of some people not seeing any. It's a big island and we're only allowed on a tiny part of it

We moved to our sleeping spot before dinner, which again was a great meal, culminating in cake. It transpired it was David's 30th birthday, so singing, dancing and lots of well wishes. The singing and dancing looked set to continue long after we and the Spaniards had gone to bed, so we were quite surprised when it went quiet just before 22.00. It transpired that the 'young' people, including David, but not his wife, had been taken ashore to the beach with half the crew, and the loud speaker! They'd come back after midnight, but the Irish had then continued, on the top deck, till 04.00 ISH apparently. Does that mean they were up for 24 hours?

But as we approached a watering hole there were no less than five wallowing about

Day 37

It may have been them all going to bed at 04.30, or it may just be normal waking time, but I was dozing till about 05.30 when I sat bolt upright in bed having realised that when we'd left the house I wanted the car keys moving from their usual place, on the shelf, in plain sight, and I had absolutely no idea where they were. There seemed little point lying in bed worrying about this, but there was no point in staying in bed, I was awake, so I went out on deck. A cup of coffee sitting on the bowsprit looking at the islands in the peace and quiet, was a lovely start to the day. Brian came and joined me a short while later, and we were ready for our trip to the island for a short hike, and snorkelling with the baby sharks at 07.00. Or was it 07.30? Or was it 08.00? We were unaware of the late bedtime of the Irish and Chinese, and obviously some of the guides, but just after 8.00 the rest of us got a bit ansty and said we wanted to go ashore. So off we went to the beach, not realising that the others had been there the night before. I do think they disturbed the peace and tranquility of the local cat though who couldn't even open its eyes till about 10.30

These guys look very docile but apparently they can run at 18-20kph, fast enough to catch most things, including humans. Their bite is fatal for us, killing withing 30 minutes. There is an antidote at the small nearby Komodo village, but you'd have to move fast. They bite their prey then follow it, waiting for it to die and then consume everything, bones and all. This male is about 2.5m long, but some of them are up to 3.5m. There are about 3000 animals in the wild, of which 1600 live on Komodo island. The others are on 5 other surrounding islands. The guides are all locals, born and bred on Komodo island, so know them intimately. The guides are armed only with a forked pole about 1.5m long and we were under strict instructions to do exactly as they say, quite understandably. Don't forget to look behind you, they can approach without you realising!

The hike was short, but steep, but the view was pretty. Wait a bit for the tide, then snorkel off the beach looking for baby sharks. Bearing in mind the number of people and the shallowness of the water it was a better finish than the last one yesterday, though we didn't see any sharks, not until we were coming out and there was one little one swimming around, minding its own business in the lagoon.

Quite fearsome looking creatures

Back to the boat, should have been 10.00, but the Indonesians were out snorkelling and struggling to get back, nobody's told them it would be quicker and easier to swim in the very shallow water, they tried walking over the coral, not good for anyone! Time shouldn't matter, except we had been promised docking at 11.00 as we and the Spanish had flights at 13.50. I was getting a little bit twitchy.

We were fortunate to get to the five of them first, but a cruise ship was there too and they all appeared wanting their photos with them (as ours at the start of this post). The dragons were starting to get agitated, emitting a prehistoric sounding noise. Our guide led us away

We arrived at the harbour at 11.30 after a final great meal, showered and wet clothes shoved into our bags. It's a real shame, disembarkation, as well as initial collection were a complete shambles. The rest of the trip had been so good. We'd had good company from the Spaniards, we can't work out what Elena does. She is now Australian, and married to an Australian. She works at the embassy which is huge apparently, they do a lot with Indonesia. Her posting is only 3 to 3.5 years, but if this, the first 10 months were spent with intensive Indonesian lessons. 4 hours tutoring in the morning and 4 hours self study in the afternoon. That's a huge investment for a relatively short posting. 

We did find another one though, our sixth. This female was lounging on her own. All our group posed for photos again with her. We didn't, one is enough

The Irish guys had all been great fun, and a pleasure to be around. I'd spent a long time talking to Donal, the chief organiser. They are a bunch of school friends who had been saving for this trip since COVID, and were loving it. No cross words and lots of great experiences. 

This was at the watering hole. The forked tongue is used to sense prey and they apparently can sense prey from 5km away

All in all a good trip to end on.

Our flight was half an hour late which was surprising, this was Garuda, more expensive, and in theory more reliable. The Batik one leaving at the same time had been on time but it didn't matter, and we'd even arrived at the airport in time to get them to change our seats so we could be next to each other.

Number seven, hiding amongst some trees. They are very well camouflaged, it would be easy to stumble upon one, who would then bite you in self defense. It's how the last person who died after being bitten met his death

Last beer at the hotel, just as well, £8 a pint, but as Brian had found 500,000 IDR in his bag when he'd looked for the ticket for the luggage we'd left here, that just about covered it!

Number eight. This one is a youngster. The female only takes care of the egg once it's laid. After it's hatched it's on its own and would be eaten by its mother of any other dragon, so its instinct is to climb a tree and stay there living off birds and insects until it's this sort of size

Day 38

We are checked in, we've used the pool, packed as much as we can, before having a last shower before our 18.00 transfer to the airport.

Number nine. This one was chilling out under a pier on the beach. All our group wanted photos with it (we didn't bother) and, afterwards other groups queued up too for a photo. We have to ask why! Why stress the poor thing!

We tried to make the most of our last breakfast, though it is still odd to us that breakfast foods are the same as every other foods. Today I had some fruit, some beef soup, some fried noodles with chicken, some spaghetti with chilli and garlic, and some bread and butter pudding! Porridge is going to be such a let down when we get home!

Second night at sea, waiting for the flying foxes to appear from that mangrove covered island on the right

We've also been very thorough, unpacking completely so we could shake out our bags to ensure no cockroaches from the boat, before photographing and listing everything we brought and how much we wore it. Brian took an awful lot of persuasion to even contemplate travelling with only cabin baggage, but is an absolute convert. It really has made things easy.

Couldn't get a good photo. Jackie took the best ones, but it doesn't really show the spectacle

Next blog, on the other side with our impressions of Indonesia.

A beautiful morning. It was 5:30am and we were awake so went on deck and sat at the bow in the relative cool of the morning with a coffee each and a slice of toast. Little did we know but the youngsters had gone ashore last night to the beach on that island to party. They returned at 12:30am and then went up top to continue until after 4:00am. We were up just over an hour later! No sign of them all morning and, when they got up, they looked decidedly under the weather and were very quiet. Our activity was to go to the island, walk to the top and then snorkel around it looking for baby sharks. We were supposed to be leaving at 7:00am but, as Jeffery our guide was out with the youngsters he wasn't up so we didn't leave until 8:00am

We eventually got to the island in the increasing heat of the morning sun and made our way up

There we are on top for a nice view

Thats Jeffrey our guide on the summit with us. He's a comedian to the end and looks surprisingly sprightly considering he's only had about 3 hours sleep. It's his young 29 years that allows him to do that, it'll catch up with him eventually!

I think that might be our ship down there

Making our way back down

Back down we went for a snorkel in the shallows around the island

I quite liked this box fish looking at me

We were looking for baby sharks, but didn't see one on our snorkel. One did, however, swim into that little inlet after the tide had come in a little more. Unfortunately everyone on the beach wanted a photo with it and crowded into the water around it, probably stressing the poor thing. I didn't have my proper camera with me so couldn't zoom in from a distance and we refused to crowd in with the others, so no photo. He was a cute young thing though, just a pity people weren't more respectful

 We're now in Jakarta having flown in last night and at the Swiss Belhotel near the airport. Here's a nice Christmas scene in the lobby, accompanied by continual Christmas music

Did try out the swimming pool though just along from our room, very pleasant on a hot afternoon, but that sun can fry you without you realising in the cool of the pool

We have repacked too, laying everything we have on the bed as a reference for future trips. We each had a lightweight 40L rucksack each and a smaller cycling or running type rucksack which we could carry. Total weight just over 7kg for each of us so we had no hold luggage on any of the 11 flights, just carry on. It's been a game changer and I definitely want to travel like that again. Yes, we have to wash regularly, but we've done that when we shower and, with room air conditioning, everything dries overnight as we had quick drying everything. We even carried a fleece and lightweight duvet jacket each all the way, just for the Mount Bromo volcano sunrise hike. People who saw our luggage couldn't believe that's all we had for a 37 day trip. The two Chinese girls on the Komodo trip had two huge suitcases each for a two week trip, but they did have about three different outfits per day!