Ende sits on the south coast of Flores, a long, volcanic island in eastern Indonesia, and it is a place where history has left a small, quiet mark. In 1934 the Dutch colonial government exiled the nationalist leader Sukarno here, and he lived in a modest house for four years, writing, staging plays and thinking. According to local tradition, he came to the idea of the Pancasila, the five principles that became the foundation of the Indonesian state, while sitting under a breadfruit tree on the seafront, and the spot is now a small memorial park.
The town has some 77,000 people, a busy port and a market, and behind it rises Mount Iya, a volcano whose slopes shape the weather. The coast is rugged, with black sand beaches and a harbour full of wooden boats. Fuel is easy to find in Ende, and it is the last big town before the road east climbs toward the villages of the highlands. About fifty kilometres along lies Moni, the base for visiting Kelimutu, where three crater lakes change colour from turquoise to red to black, depending on the volcanic gases and minerals in the water.
The Trans-Flores Highway, one of the great rides in Indonesia, connects the towns along the island's spine. It is mostly a narrow, twisting road, with endless bends, steep gradients and sudden views of terraced rice fields, coffee plantations and green mountains. The surface is patched and rough in places, with potholes and landslides in the wet season, from December to March, and the pace is slow. A day's progress is often measured in a few dozen kilometres.
Expect to share the road with trucks, buses, motorbikes, chickens and goats. Take it patiently, and stop often to stretch, drink coffee and talk to people, who are friendly and curious. Local food is simple and good: rice with fish, vegetables and chilli sambal. The evenings are warm, the stars are bright, and the air carries the smell of clove smoke and the sea.