RIDE FROM HELL - JUNGLE BACKTRACK FROM ENDE TO MONI

It turned out to be the ride from hell really, nearly 4 hours of being jolted around on the back of a bike with all our luggage.  It was really slow going and my driver was not very good, I almost told him to get on the back and let me ride, but I don’t think he would have handled having my huge backpack on. 

There were a few really nasty hill sections where we actually had to get off the bikes and walk up the shitty, steep track with our bags in scorching heat, dodging trucks and bikes with gritted teeth and just wishing it to be over.  Without all the nasty sections in the road and without luggage, it would have been an amazing ride, but not today!

The closer we got to Moni the better the scenery got but by this stage my whole body ached and we were too far over this bike ride to really enjoy it, we just wanted to get off these things and put our bags down! 

Finally we arrived in town after the gruelling ride and found a place to stay, Maria Inn, at 125k a night it was not bad, I can definitely recommend it, though didn’t really check out other options in town. 

After a much needed rest to let our bones go back into place I hired a scooter from the guesthouse and it turned out to be the biggest piece of crap I have ridden on my entire trip!  When I had seen it before it looked ok, but I was obviously too rattled from the big ride to notice how bad it really was.  

Normally I would just swap it and get another one but I guess all the mishaps lately had weakened me and we kept it for a couple of days!

Moni is a great little hillside town with it’s own unique charm about it, I could definitely have stayed longer.  The area get’s quite a lot of tourists judging by the facilities available around town, still very basic but they are obviously used to dealing with the many foreign visitors that come to see Mt Kelimutu and the 3 coloured crater lakes at the top. 

 A couple of snaps from the 'ride from hell'   only the scenery saved it!