Moni Moni Moni

After our Komodo tour, we rode for 15 hours in a spectacularly uncomfortable bus to go see 3 multi-colored lakes high up in the mountains. After much grumbling about how these stupid lakes better be worth it, we finally got to Moni. It turned out to be my favorite place in Indonesia (and also led to us singing "Money, money, money! Must be funny! In a rich man's world!" during most of our time here.)

Moni is a tiny village of 500 people. It's so rural, that they actually have a village chief! It is probably one of the poorest places we've seen on this trip, but undoubtedly also the friendliest. Every time we walked down the street (just one street), children and adults shouted greetings to us and waved. And whoever taught them these greetings must've been very polite - the most common phrase we heard was "Hello mister! Hello miss!" and it wasn't even followed by "You buy sarong?" which was amazing.

Moni was also one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. The village was nestled between beautiful, tree-covered mountains and rice paddies. Couldn't decide which direction to look first because everywhere you looked was just stunning.

Our first night, we were walking around town trying to find a place to eat, and we were approached by a man who wanted to talk to us. Because this is a place that hasn't figured out the concept of hawkers yet, we weren't immediately suspicious like we usually are, and we went over to talk to him. He invited us to his new restaurant which he just finished building himself, and the menu that he described to us sounded so amazing, we were instantly hooked. And even when he asked for advance payment of $5 to confirm that we would be there, and we knew we were probably going to get scammed, we still took the chance and agreed to meet him back there at 7pm. Scammers, take note: all you have to do is mention spices, coconut sauce, and curry, and we are so giving you money.

Amazingly, it was not a scam! His restaurant was very simple - just 2 tables in a tiny little shack - but we liked it. It was just us and one other couple. The food was really delicious, and Evan, the man who approached us, sat with us during the whole meal chain-smoking and telling us about Moni. Two of his kids were the waiters and the rest of his family was cooking for us in the kitchen. 

Suddenly, in the middle of our conversation, the woman from the other couple fell to the floor in her chair. It was a very slow-motion topple to the ground that had us all quite confused and trying not to giggle. I'm still not entirely sure what happened there. Shortly thereafter, the other couple left, and we were left alone with Evan. We told him that we were going to get up at sunrise to go check out the lakes the next morning, so he asked if we had a few extra minutes, and offered to draw us a map of the area. Since we were planning on getting a ride up to the lakes and then hike on our way back down, we appreciated that gesture.

Evan started concentrating very intently on drawing our map. He drew and drew and drew. Ross and I waited and waited. 10 minutes had passed and he was still very focused, adding more and more details to this map. After a while it started getting a bit funny. It was just so cute, how hard he was trying. Ross and I kept glancing at each other trying to hold back laughter. Finally, I just completely lost it, and burst out in uncontrollable laughter. It was so embarrassing, but I couldn't stop. He handled it well. He just smiled and gave me a look that was like, "Yeah, I know, I'm a nerd."

But when I saw the map, I had to admit that it was truly a piece of art. He'd labelled everything and given the approximate distances of all the landmarks. It even had a legend! Of course, the entire thing was practically illegible because he'd had to draw it on Ross's tiny little notepad, but still, what a thing to behold. 

In the end I was really glad that we took the chance on this guy. That dinner was infinitely more interesting than going to another random restaurant for another forgettable meal.

The next day, we woke up before dawn and were driven up a mountain on scooters in the dark. The man from the other couple at the restaurant also showed up, but the woman wasn't there. That was probably for the best - wouldn't have wanted her to inexplicably topple off of the mountain somehow. A few hawkers arrived, selling tea and pot noodles, so of course we bought both. Finally, a hawker who actually understands what we want. Well done, sir.

The lakes were okay - they allegedly turn red and yellow sometimes, but when we were there, they just looked lake-y.



After sunrise we walked back down the mountain to Moni, passing through several farms and even poorer villages on our way. Again we were astounded by the views, so we decided to rent a scooter and go ride around the mountains for the day. And again, we were shocked by everyone's friendliness. Even as we buzzed by people on our scooter, they shouted greetings to us. I felt like a celebrity. I wish the whole world was like this. Ahh, Moni. <3

After Moni it was time to get a ride to Maumere, from which we were flying out to Singapore. The car we ended up chartering was driven by a teenager, with 2 other guys in the car. Very soon, it became obvious that this guy was literally the worst driver I've ever been in a car with. Just as an example of one of the myriad things he was doing wrong: he would signal every time he turned the wheel left or right. Not when he was turning left or right, just when the road wound to the left or right and he had to turn the wheel to follow the direction of the road. I'm pretty sure there's no one in the world who would've taught him to do that, leading me to believe that he'd just taught himself how to drive a few days ago from watching a cartoon or something.

He was also driving faster than any sane person should drive on a dark, windy mountain road where everyone has the tendency to drive on the opposite side of the road just for kicks. Every single time he sped around a corner, I kept picturing a giant truck coming towards us and him being unable to stop in time. I was convinced that we weren't going to make it to Maumere alive.

Just then, he turned into a tiny alley and stopped in front of a house. It was almost completely dark. Suddenly, there were 10 guys surrounding the car and talking. This is it, I thought. This is the part where they rob us and kill us. Ross got out his pocket knife and I just sat there mumbling about how we were going to die.

But we didn't die. (Yay!) They just dropped off one of the guys, chatted for way too long, and then we were back on the road, continuing to speed around blind turns and nearly colliding with everything in the road. After what seemed like several years, we finally arrived in Maumere. I got out of the car and just burst out in tears.

That drive taught us several good lessons, the most important one being: if you are in a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable, GET THE FUCK OUT, no matter how much money you lose. We should've gotten out of the car the moment it became clear what a horrendous driver he was. We would've lost 13 dollars, but we would've also arrived without having taken years off of our lives.

Now we're in Singapore, and it's lovely. Everyone speaks in a posh English accent, the food is really delicious, and the city is very well-designed. It's not terribly exciting, but we're enjoying hanging out here until our new Kindle arrives. I'm so happy for the new Kindle. Book exchanges are not very useful when usually there are only like 4 books on the shelf that are in English.

One more happy memory of Moni: