30th In the morning the Ojak driver due to pick me up at 9 does not show so I find another and head into town in search of a bank, unsuccessfully. then I buy a saraong to use as a towel and other purposes. On getting to the port it turns out that the boats form Togeans arrive today but dont leave till Saturday, 3 days later. Fulda (tourist info person) gives me a ride to another port and manages to get me on a boat, no seats, full of people, cargo, motorbikes. The floor is wooden and not very comfortable to sit or lie on. Floorboards are numbered and can be easily removed to give access to the hull of the boat and the engine.

It is an awkward walk up and down the plank onto the boat, I pick up a takeaway rice meal from a kiosk in a plastic bag and tuck in as soon as I sit down, this is my breakfast. I stick bits of tissue in my ears for some protection from the very loud engine and sort of sleep about an hour. The locals look bemused and unconcerned about the noise level. I visit the deck to see the offloading routines which is interesting and get chatting to ES (sounds and means same as Ice). As we go past the next island Poia Lisa where I am suppose to be staying I realise the place is very small and decide to stay on Bomba itself but no guest houses here. Luckily Es offers to give me homestay including food which is helpful, 50000 a day. after a chat and some tea I take a mandi and a long walk on the island to the next village of Mogulao where I have some biscuits and drink of water. It is a hot day, it has been a quiet walk with occasional motor bikes. I am in my flipflops and at times walk barefoot to fit in with the locals!! On the way back I accept a ride from a biker into Bomba. I spend a little time chatting and briefly helping couple of guys mending a boat and then sit and watch few good games of Trruac, played by two teams of 3 man using a ball of wooden rush and kicked/headed over a net about the height of a badminton net. These guys tend to be very fit and flexible able to scissor or drop kick the ball over the net.

Dinner of Grilled fish and rice follows accompanied by large winged flies around the lightbulb, some caught by Es in a bowl of water and some by the resident gekkoswho tend to be on the walls or near the lightbulb feeding on the landing insects.

Es is proposing a boat trip and village visits with a friend of his, Hassan, which should be a good day out.

Last few days I have been feeling restless, I am quite happy with the personal/spiritual aspect of what I have been doing but I am getting bored and in need of a change of pace. This could actually have something to do with the meditations and awareness that I have had. One option is to take another bike and tour Indonesia which could be great.

During the night I hear a cupboard door open and some rustling sounds, I investigate with my torch and am looking Mr Mickey Mouse eye to eye inside the wardrobe. all night long I can hear them running overhead, above the nyylon rice-sacks which form the ceiling.

1st July

on the Village visits we also take along meals (the usual fish and rice and a little veg or noodles and chili sauce ofcourse -sambal) this gets pretty monotonous but people eat this everyday, some times more than once.
 
I mess around on a Table tennis game with some guys occasionally using my umbrella or flipflop as the bat. I decline the offer of singing as I walked through a ceremony. It is so lovely in Asia as lots of kids are playing/practing guitar and karaoke without being self-conscious.

Later I get myself into a mess-around game of football with some younget kids and get some exercise and have a bit of fun.
Ice cream in the villages consists of ice lollies formed inside plastic bags. Plastic bags are used very heavily in Asia for serving food. We have a couple as a way of trying to cool down.

On the way back we stop at a beach were Es is in the process of building 7 bungalows for tourists (when he gets the money). one lad climbs the coconut tree and throws down some which are cut open with a parang (in most of Indonesian suburbs lots of people carry parang/machete for work, some times as bare bladw and sometimes in their wooden sheath and maybe worn like a sword). These are fresh coconuts and the mild or the flesh (jelly consistency, scooped out with a spoon cut out of the coconut shell) are not particularly tasty. Locals dont eat the coconut when it turns hard, it is used for coconut oil or grated for cooking in sauce. the boys move away from under a coconut tree and within a few seconds one comes hurling down from about 8-12 meters high, it is not a good place to rest under a coconut tree.

I have a wonder around and get involved with a fisherman digging for bait. He locates these little holes, scoops out some sand from the surface of the beach and the hole becomes a little large, may be 1 cm across, then sticks a stick down it and if it gets grabbed then he digs out more sand to pull out this white worm which has the stick stuck in it. then the other end of the worm is cut-off with the parang and innards pushed out with the stick.

Feet - these guys have amazing feet, the fishermans feet were practically triangular, with the front of the feet being almost as wide as the lenght of the foot! I wonder if this is evolutionary, lots of stability on the boats, swimming, carrying large loads etc.

lots of people seem to be living in the house and the main living area doubles up as a communal sleeping area too. This was also the dining room for the Friday evening meal with no special floor cover being used for dinner. Lots of men with traditional headgear turned up, ate and left without really spending a lot of time. I think this was provided by Es' father-in-law Papa as I call him.


2nd July
I had planned on having an easy day but when I got up around 10 there was a Canoe with stabilisers waiting for me which I rowed to a beach I had seen the previous day and stayed there for some hours, a little swimming, sleep etc. my coconut hunt was unseccessful as the ones that fall off tend to have gone bad or insect infested by the time they are discovered.
They would also be a bit difficult without the use of parang.

There are lots of small shell-fish wondering around the beach.
Had problems with water currents when returning to Bomba, being carried off course a few times and choppy waters. It would be difficult to get back into these dug-out canoes if you get off so I dont swin in the middle of the lake.

I witness the chicken slaughter, when the chicken is held with its side down it tends to become docile. One guy held the chicken, the other held the head, plucked some feathers from the neck then cut it holding a knife blade as if it was a pencil. then the chicken was dropped into this enclosure to trash about while it bled out.

Es shows me this Guy walking along with two large crabs, coconut-crabs, dark brown and chunky. They are tied around the middle with a piece of rush and the next day I find them hanging on the veranda, cant get a clear explanation as what this is about. Probably to keep them alive until they are to be eaten.

There is Football game late tonight/early morning but I prefer my sleep. It is noisy cross the alleyway.

I am called Mr Bean by the kids as I mess around so much. there seems to be little fun interaction between grown ups and kids here.