On our way to Flores and Komodo!

We are tired from our 2 day hike up and down Gunung Rinjani, but we're ready for our next adventure to the island of Flores, and liveaboard to Komodo! 

In case we don't have reliable wifi, here's our itinerary for the next few days:

Friday, July 31

Arrive Flores @ 15:55pm

Stay at Luwansa Beach Resort

Saturday, August 1-2

Sail to Komodo on liveaboard

Spend night of Aug 1st on liveaboard 

Sunday, August 2

Sail back go Flores 

Stay at Luwansa Beach Resort 

Monday, August 3

Stay at Luwansa Beach Resort 

Tuesday, August 4

Depart Flores @ 4:30pm (flight GA 7027, GA 415)

Arrive Jakarta @ 7:55pm

Stay at FM7 Resort Hotel 

Snorkeling in Lombok

Just got back from a full day of snorkeling around Gili Island. Amazing critters everywhere from coral to mantis shrimp to a huge (maybe 100 yr old?) green turtle! Now just enjoying the sunset at the Holiday Resort. Life is good.

Tomorrow we take on Gunung Rinjani. We will camp at the rim of the crater so it will be a 2 day trek. 

Everyone safe and sound in Indonesia!

Everyone is now safely in Indonesia in the care of an instructor. We will all rendezvous tomorrow on the beautiful island of Lombok.  Its currently 2am here so time for some sleep!! Selamat malam ("goodnight"). 

On to Indonesia!

I'm sitting at Narita Airport with Meredith and a Pikachu mascot awaiting our flight to Jakarta in a few hours. We will stay at an airport hotel and rendezvous with Dr. Rasmussen, Alex, Ryan, and David tomorrow before all flying out to Lombok island (we'll be staying at the Holiday Resort Lombok). This was part of the original itinerary so we'll be back on track!

Gabe and the rest of the group have now started their flight (Tokyo->Manila->Bali) where they will  stay the night in Bali and then meet up with the rest of us on Lombok in the morning. Just in time for some lectures, academic work, and snorkeling!

Asakusa and Fireworks Festival

Thanks to the amazing kindness of the American Airlines staff at Narita, we were able to get to see a bit of Tokyo this afternoon. We didn't have much time so we went to Asakusa. Here's everyone outside the famous Kaminarimon gate. There was a fireworks festival going on so the students got to experience a truly urban and culturally Japanese event. Lots of fun stuff to see, eat, and hear! 

Tomorrow we all leave for Indonesia! 

Konichiwa from Japan!

Well it wouldn't be an adventure without a little travel drama. Our flight from O'Hare was delayed significantly so although we were able to make it to Tokyo (Narita Airport) we were unable to make our connection to Jakarta. American Airlines put us up in a nice hotel and provided meal vouchers. The Office of Study Abroad and STA Travel were able to work miracles and now we will be leaving on the 26th for Indonesia (we will arrive around 1:00AM on the 27th). This will allow us to meet up with the rest of the Wild Borneo crew and continue our itinerary (starting with Lombok island!).

We got funds from OSA to explore Tokyo so we will be sightseeing around Ueno Park and Asakusa. Everyone is in great morale and excited to explore :-)

Ready, set, Borneo!

Hi all! I'm Nora Lewin, and I'll be the Assistant Instructor for this year's Wild Borneo course. We have quite the adventure lined up, but I'll be posting as frequently as possible with photos (internet permitting) so you can see where we are and what we're doing!