Lembeh island

Bastianos Lembeh was the resort we stayed during the dive trip. It was well organized and their staff were friendly. They had nice rooms high on the hill with air-condition. After living in cold Finland for a while, I have changed from air-con addicted to "no more". A room with a fan wasn't bad at all.  It rained most of the nights, so we didn't need to sleep in the tropical heat as we were afraid of! One of the benefits was that these rooms were right in front of the beach (the building in the middle of the picture).  

On the last day of the dive trip, we had half a day to roam around. Many of us were just relaxed at the resort, but we took a short hike to a small village near by. People at the village were friendly, especially the kids. They ran in front of our cameras when they saw we were shooting. Many of the the kids were still too shy to come close to us, not even with snacks we were giving, especially the girls. Why boys are more daring in general??? 

Here, we gave some sweets. I wished we had more! In anywhere in this world, you can always find the most daring one. The boy in the orange shirt never stopped following us. He kept taking more sweets (pretending he finished them).  I think, he got more than anybody else at the end. 

I think I was more daring when I was young ;)

It seemed like the most important thing in the house was a TV. In many of the houses we walked by, either they were watching TV or listening to very loud music. Karaoke seemed to be popular as well. One house (a public building?) was basically a huge ghetto blaster, acting as a "village radio" with no option to switch off.

 

Animals were running around. 

This pig came to greet us instead of its owner ;)

Children were playing happily with whatever they had. No Barbie, no Lego, no Duplo....  You don't need them if you don't know about them. Don't you think so?

Playing in this "full of rubbish" stream? It may not be a dream place for many, but it was such a fun place for them. I could see it in their eyes. They got mountains, sandy beach, sea, clean air and smiles on their faces. 

I was in envy...

I thanked them for sharing their precious time with me!