Giant spider webs

We are getting ready for the last leg of our journey across Flores. It is only a few hours’ drive from Ruteng to our final destination Labuanbajo. It is another journey through the small mountains with their lush vegetation on them. The island certainly is very fertile.

After a bit of a drive we get to what is the main tourist destination along this section of the road. Up on a hill is a splendid view of the area. And unlike virtually every other place we stopped along the road there is a pretty big collection of tourist standing on the top of the hill. It seems several people from Jakarta have made it out here to enjoy the western part of Flores for a few days.

The reason to stop here is some rice fields below. There are many rice fields on the island but here they have shared the rice paddies in a very special way. The different families have gotten one or more section of the land – and the different village has cut up their land in a wheel based way starting from a center and then spiraling outwards. This creates the appearance of a giant spider web. The rice fields are different from any other rice field I have seen anywhere so it is worth to stop for a picture of this special way to distribute the available land.

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We enjoy the view for a while and then we head back down to finish our journey across Flores. We make it to Labuanbajo and get to our hotel in time for a late lunch. Around sunset there is a nice sunset from down at the beach in front of the hotel to keep us entertained.

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