(Writes Alison)

We have come to the end of our Winter Asian adventure. No massages, no pedicure, no tattoo, no cocktails. No souvenirs but plenty of photos and memories.

Sailing the length of Flores on a traditional cargo boat, a pinisi, was a very interesting way to see this area, to experience "sailing" and living on a boat, and to immerse myself in water based activities. Never again! I have used up a lifetime's worth of bravery snorkeling, often multiple times a day, swimming with whale sharks and manta rays and turtles. I have drifted over magnificent coral gardens and swum through huge shoals of fish, sometimes even huge shoals of huge fish. Anyone who knows me knows that water is not my element. I am proud that I have done it, aware of how privileged I am to have had the chance to do this and also quite content to only watch it on TV from here on.

We survived rough seas, multiple doses of anti-seasickness pills, "washing machine" sailing (our guide's term for sailing around in big circles attempting to make headway against huge seas and big winds and then retreating back to a sheltered cove. One night, the main boom broke off the mast necessitating a whole morning watching crew climb the ladders, construct a swing contraption and disentangle all the ropes and sails before lowering the boom to the deck.

There were a few shore excursions - to see the Komodo dragons, to visit a ship building yard and a sea gypsy village, a crater lake and the obligatory "cultural village experience." I really can't skoll shots of arak before 10 am in the morning.

The last two nights we were in Labuan Bajo in a real bed, with metres of space above our heads, and a floor that didn't move. I really appreciate having a shower without bracing myself against a wall to avoid falling. I loved not hearing the anchor chain being wound up or down during the night. And especially, no more rock and roll.

Labuan Bajo is the Indonesian town which services all these sorts of activities and experiences. As expected there are tourist touts and booking offices everywhere in the main part of town and on the harbour there are literally hundreds of boats, many of them pinisi.Between the tours desks are restaurants or hotels or homestays and one row back lots and lots of typical Indonesian buildings. Convents, Mosques schools government offices, flags and bunting to celebrate Independence Day and houses. These can be two room shacks or two story colonnnaded and tiled modern mansions. Downtown reminded me of Cairns, the rest looks like many Indonesian towns,

Rather than spoiling the end of the holiday with an overnight flight, we decided to spend a night in Denpasar and catch a daytime flight. I had forgotten how different Bali is to the rest of Moslem Indonesia. It is over 30 years since we were in Bali. and Kuta is a new experience for us, It may be busy and touristy but the locals still smile a lot and seem happy, the greenery and gardens, temples and statues everywhere seem the same. And it beats a night flight hands down.

(Simon writes)

I am much happier in the water than Alison is, but I'm not doing this again, either. Eight days living on a boat is too long for me, and we both felt the lack of being able to go for a walk. While there was no problem with the other people in either of the tours, we didn't really "connect" with any of them, and we miss the social life we have at home as well.

(Perhaps because of this we were called "The honeymoon couple". After being together only 36+ years!)

But having said that - we have sent a month in warmth, having to put on sunscreen every day; we've seen a lot of interesting places, and swum close to manta rays and whale sharks (which we were advised we had to stay three metres away from - but when you look down and see the back of a huge shark swimming a metre below you.....)