Yulianus Irwan

February 11, 2021, the city of Ruteng was hit by heavy rain from early morning until the next morning. The sun was invisible, covered in dark clouds which made the atmosphere even more difficult. News about Corona has become commonplace but this time it felt very tense when this outbreak resulted in the closure of several tourist attractions in Flores. Places like Wae Rebo traditional village, Todo traditional village, Bena village, even Kelimutu National Park was also closed. sunset at Mausui (courtesy: Pak Andri ) Ruteng became a stopover on the third day of the 5-day tour in Flores. Some tourism objects around Ruteng were still open to tourists, such as; Cancar spider web rice field, Liang Bua cave and Wulang Pari Kopi, but the rain that did not stop made the comfort of traveling to feel different. Pak Andri, our guest who has been from far away from Jakarta had been surrender to the situation, from the start of planning a trip, he already knew what facts to face when vi

Wakos village never stops presenting me with new stories, knowledge and experiences of Manggarai-Flores traditions, rituals and culture in every journey I go through. A recent visit led me to a big family that seems to be united in various occasions and who have become very special to me. They gave me my first opportunity to learn and participate in the traditional "tapa kolo" way of cooking rice unique to the region, and of course I leapt at the chance to follow it through step by step and learn of its history. Fresh leaves from the palm tree ("leka" in the Manggarai language), fragrant Pandan leaves, bamboo stems, and of course rice are the main materials used in preparing tapa kolo. The bamboo that was cut has to be very selectively chosen, of a certain age and size. According to Bapa Risa "if it is too old, the water content is less and when it is baked it will burn easily and if it is too young the water content is too much so that it will take a lo

From Ende town it only took us 40 minutes to travel the 15km to Nuabosi village. In truth, it should only have taken us half the time, but we couldn't help pausing to enjoy the spectacular scenery on the way, the natural panoramas, the mountains trailing their verdant feet down to the sea, where jewel like small islands glistened in the warm sun, encapsulating the enchanting beauty of Flores.  Despite January being in the rainy season, the weather in the coastal town of Ende was so scorchingly hot as as we left, we felt we were living close to the sun, but this didn't last too long as we approached Nuabosi, some 800m above sea level. The village, to the north of Ende sits in a cauldron surrounded by hills and is much more temperate. Nuabosi itself encompasses four village administrative areas, Ntetundora I,II and III, and Randotonda. I was visiting with my sister in law Kaka An and on our arrival we were escorted to her Uncle's home where we found him helping in construct

I’ve been working as a tour guide in Flores for around five years now. Working as a hotel receptionist, teaching in secondary school, and even as a hotel manager in Labuan Bajo were all part of my life experience, but just a build-up to finding the vocation I’m really passionate about, my current job. Working as a tourist guide is something that has given me so many great lessons. Meeting many new people, learning many new things and travelling around are so very exciting. It was very hard to get established and known as a tour guide, but once I got started I was lucky enough to get some great guests who were kind enough to recommend and publicize me, and through word of mouth and social media I have become known and widely recommended, for which I’m immensely grateful.  I can truly say, my relationship with clients is not just of customer and servant, but relationships frequently building deep friendships which have endured over years. Indeed, several of my clients have come back to F

Right at the beginning of 2021, I started my travel stories by visiting my hometown, the village where my parents came from. The names are Wakos and Ntangis. Wakos is the village where my father is from and Ntangis is the village where my mother came from. These two villages are located in East Manggarai Regency, in a valley surrounded by a row of hills north of the city of Borong, the capital of East Manggarai regency. These two villages are close to each other, about 4 km away and only bordered by a fairly well-known river, Wae Bobo, which empties into the South Sea of Flores, namely the Sawu Sea. With a distance of about 50 km from the city of Ruteng and a travel time of about 2 hours, I rode a motorcycle that has accompanied my journey for years. This trip was not an ordinary trip, but more than that, a trip with the aim of praying at the funeral of our ancestors which we often call in Manggarai " tutung Lilin"  or lighting a candle at a funeral. For me and my famil

Celebrating Christmas For the first time in 3 years, I could spend Christmas with my family in Ruteng. The last 3 years, I spent Christmas away from home for works, to guide people around Flores. Since covid-19 hit, tourism activities are not busy anymore that made me having lots of time to stay at home to spend Christmas with family. Christmas for me and family refer to dried cakes, tart, and pork. This part has always been a tradition since I was kid. The talks over the cakes making was about sharing memory about our childhood during Christmas. My mom and I while pressing the batter reminisced about I and my brother who were always frustrated when my mom used to ask us to go to the neighbor to borrow some cooking stuffs to make cakes like baking oven, mixer, and cake maker. This was always been the frustrating part for us. Every time we went to borrow their belongings, we faced the fact that the neighbors were also busy in making their own cakes, we had to wait till we were a