Rice fields sunrise, Spiderweb rice fields, 40+ hrs to get home

Our morning began with a sunrise trek through the rice fields. The owner of our homestay, Jeff, was excited to share with us the beauty of the rice fields, especially at sunrise. The trek turned into a bit of a photo shoot which may have maxed out Dan because Jeff wanted to keep taking photos of us.

During my research for our trip, there was not much information about Ruteng and the area around it, so we were surprised to see just how beautiful the area is. It is also at about 3500', so the temperature was cooler than on the coast which came as a relief. The sunrise colors were just beginning to start when we started our trek. It began at the top of the rice fields and worked its way down through them as the sun came up. 

Dan trekking in the rice fields

The sun starting to peek over the horizon

Selfie with Jeff, the owner of the Sun Rice homestay

There were many buffaloes along our trek. Most people still plow their fields using them.

Jeff said that he named his homestay "Sun Rice" because of the reflection of the sun on the rice fields when the sun is rising 

This buffalo has a 2 day old calf curled up next to her - look closely

I love the shape of these terraced rice fields

Kids walking to school at 7:30am

When we returned from the sunrise trek, breakfast was ready for us. It included fruit, eggs, and fried rice and was served family style. After breakfast, we packed up our stuff and began our long journey home from the middle of Flores, Indonesia. It would take over 40 hours, so we braced ourselves for the long haul.

Breakfast was served Indonesian family style

A veggie store on wheels

Indonesians in typical traditional clothes

Our last outing in Indonesia was along our route to Labuan Bajo to see the spiderweb rice fields called Lingko. These rice fields are a legacy of the Manggarai culture that goes back thousands of years. Lingko was a way of allocating village owned lands among individual family groups or clans. The young man who accompanied us on the walk to the viewpoint told us about the fields. Tradition dictates that the cultivable valleys are divided more or less equally among the family clans in relation to the irrigation of the land. The land is therefore "cut up" as one would cut up a pie, starting from a center that corresponds roughly to the most irrigated point. Each slice is then divided into several parcels. He said each family farms one section of the lingko and within each family, it will get divided up among the sons. It is a system that ensures each family is allotted an equal amount of land. I can't imagine that this system would fly in the our capitalist culture.

Some school children "chatted" (Google translate) with us before we headed out to see the lingkos

A view of the spiderweb rice fields from eye level - you can't even tell that they are in the shape of a spiderweb 

A "Japanese" buffalo (as Jeff called it)

So many Indonesians haul wood this way

Another mobile veggie store

Oranges arranged artistically at a roadside stand

Cloves and coffee beans drying

Arak (alcohol) being sold along the road - we only saw this in Flores which is more Catholic compared to Lombok and Central Java which are more Muslim

We arrived at the Komodo Airport with plenty of time, so we stopped at a place outside of the airport to get some gifts. Then we settled in and waited for our plane that would take us to Jakarta. It was about 2:15 hours late, but no one really seemed phased by it.

A place to buy gifts outside of the airport

Clearly, we have really immersed ourselves in the culture as this (instant noodle soup) is what we had for lunch in the airport.

Our plane to Jakarta

Flying over Mt Rinjani - it was cool to think we had been on the summit

Dan's a happy camper eating KFC and Krispy Kreme in the Jakarta Airport

Our big bird from Jakarta to Doha

The sun at the Doha Airport - it was HOT!

Inside the Doha Airport - to remind you of your childhood

And after over 40 hours in transit, we arrived at home sweet home. Unfortunately, the floors were not finished, so we hunkered down in the basement and talked about how lucky we are and what a great trip we had. I would be remiss to not mention how awesome it was to travel with Dan. He is the best travel partner one could ever have - hands down, he is the trip's MVP 💕

Checking out the garden with Luca and James

Luca lost his mind with happiness when we came home

James might have been happy we were home, but it was hard to tell

Jet lag hit in the wee hours of the morning, so Luca and I ended up hiking up the Ledges to catch the sunrise. This just reinforced that there is truly no place like home.

Less than 10 hrs home, I snagged this sunrise from the Ledges with Luca

There's no place like home