It was raining and raining… But the weather did not hinder us; we were in a good mood and completely motivated to perform interesting interviews about boat tours in Labuan Bajo. We met a Spanish owner of a Dive shop and he explained us how he thought about life in Labuan Bajo.  He was really into the topic of waste management in this area. With the trips he offers he tries to improve the situation; he puts effort into reducing the production of plastic & waste, and during trips he and his clients sleep in tents instead of staying in a hotel.

After the interviews we decided to go for dinner at the skybar which provides cheap and very delicious cocktails and smoothies, but also a nice rooftop terrace with a beautiful sunset view across the harbour of Labuan Bajo.

Quite tired after a long and informative day, we went back to the hotel to change clothes and to immerse ourselves in the nightlife of Flores. There’s no real nightlife in Labuan Bajo with clubs as we know it our home countries, however that evening there was a beach and pool party in the so-called Atlantis beach bar. When we arrived at this secluded location, we had to pay an entry fee of 50.000 Indonesian Rupias (approximately 5 Euros). But for us it was worth it as we could use the 6 meter long pool, enjoy snacks & cocktails while listening to great house music and getting to know expats living in Labuan Bajo.

Due to the rain during daytime the bar was really empty and almost no local people were joining the party. Nevertheless we really enjoyed the evening… untill 02.00 o’clock when the bar closed. Unfortunately we could not find a taxi to go back to the hotel, so we decided to walk until a motorcycle passed us by…It was the Spanish interviewee from the Dive shop who also had been to the party. Finally some of his friends came with a car so that they could take us to the hotel.

During the ride we joked about having a stop. We entered the house and enjoyed the rest of the evening with some foreigners living in Labuan Bajo; an Italian, a Korean, a Spaniard, a Singaporean and the five of us. We drank tequila, listened to crazy house music, danced around every single room of the house and had a lot of fun!

At around 04.00 o’clock we finally decided to go home to get some sleep, but we still had to find our way back to the hotel….So we made a night walk through Labuan Bajo’s “forest”….

Written by: Vivienne Leidenfrost