- Alright, guys, we're going to the Bajo Village right now.
I'm gonna be your tour guide today.
(laughs)
I'm gonna be your tour guide
wearing the traditional Bajo Village goggles.
(laughs)
("Birds and Binary" by Hale)
Good morning world, 22nd of July 2018.
We are at Hoga Island at the moment,
we're just waiting for our boat to come
pick us up and take us over to the Bajo Village.
It's the village people that live
in stilted houses,
and they're also known as the gipsies of the sea.
So, we're here now, we're waiting,
and so what we'll do, we'll take you across.
You'll follow the journey, we'll give you the price rundown,
we'll bring you into the culture as much as possible.
And yeah, we'll have a good time.
It's actually raining, at least it was raining.
And I want to try and take the drone up
when I'm over there,
but we'll have to definitely use the dry bag
in this case to put the drone into.
But I'll do the best I can.
Come along, it's gonna be a fun journey.
("Birds and Binary" by Hale)
We're doing this in the rain.
Oh, this is today's catch, and one more.
(engine roaring)
Alright so we're off now, about 10:30 in the morning
and you can really hear the chug of the engine.
We're just pulling up now in the boat.
And this is surreal; this is surreal.
Check out this: all the houses are on stilts
and we're just floating through here.
We're gonna pull up very soon.
Look at this.
We're stepping foot now, the Bajo Village.
Hello!
- [Woman] Hello.
- How are you?
Welcome to the Bajo Village.
- Thanks!
- [Brad] Hello!
Hello. (laughs)
Boom, and again, and again, boom!
(laughs)
- Look at you! (laughs)
Look how funny you are!
Look!
(shouts in a foreign language)
- Yeah, that's you!
Peace guys!
- Yay!
- [Brad] Have a look, have a look!
- Let's have a look, guys!
- [Brad] He's a boxer.
He's a Bajo boxer, a Bajo boxer.
(feel-good guitar music)
Wow, this is surreal, man.
Look at this place.
Oh, boom!
(mumbles)
(laughs)
And again, and again, and again, and again!
And again!
There is accommodation here for people travelling through,
you can stay at the Bajo Village.
And we're about to be given a tour
into one of the places that we can stay in right there,
at the little blue house on stilts.
And (laughs) I'd love to stay here for one night.
Actually, what I'll do--
I'll find out what the price is,
I think it's 300,000 a night, isn't it?
I think it's 300k or 200k, so 20 or 30
Australian dollars per night to stay here.
And I think--
- [Robyn] We could stay tomorrow.
- I think we should.
- [Robyn] Should we stay here tomorrow? (mumbles)
- I reckon we should.
- [Robyn] Okay?
- This would be a great experience.
- [Robyn] Yeah, I'll do it.
- Yeah?
We just decided we're staying here for one night.
(laughs) Are you sure? Is it a deal?
- Yeah!
- [Brad] Done! (laughs)
We haven't even looked inside yet.
Okay, we're going in.
Ready?
This is our house.
Oh, look at it, it's cool.
Mattress on the floor, mosquito net,
it does shake, the whole thing shakes.
- It's big! It's really big!
- [Brad] This is huge.
- I can have my own room! (laughs)
That's nice!
- [Brad] Is there a hair dryer and a hair straightener?
Oh look, there's another mattress.
- Look.
- [Brad] Get outta here. - [Robyn] It's like a drop--
- [Brad] It's a drop toilet!
It drops straight into the ocean. (laughs)
- [Robyn] Wow, and then there's the bucket.
- [Brad] Straight through there. (laughs)
That's raw, isn't it?
That's raw.
So this is our bedroom.
- It feels strange, walking on this.
Doesn't it?
- [Brad] Yes.
- [Robyn] Look outside!
- [Brad] Are they our views? (laughs)
It's so cool, wow.
- [Robyn] Isn't it?
It's so cool.
- [Brad] That is so cool.
That is so cool.
So what do you think, you happy? You wanna buy it?
You wanna buy this as an investment property?
- Buy it? (laughs)
- [Man] Breakfast, lunch--
- [Brad] Included?
- [Man] Yeah. - [Brad] Really?
- [Man] Yeah.
- [Brad] So 250,000 - [Man] Yeah.
- [Brad] For each person? - [Man] Yeah.
(children playing)
- [Brad] The left.
Alright so we're just exploring now,
we're just walking on these boardwalks.
Sorry about the wind, we'll be just super quick.
What do you think so far?
- It's absolutely incredible.
This little village on stilts!
People are super friendly, happy,
yeah, it's just amazing to feel the energy.
- [Brad] It's just so cool, so surreal,
but all these stilted houses seem to be connected
with these planked boardwalks, and all of--
you've just gotta be super careful
when you walk on them, we're told to walk down the centre,
otherwise you run the risk of falling through,
(laughs) and that wouldn't be cool.
But you can see below that the water's relatively shallow.
And all the toilets here are drop toilets
straight into the water below.
Yeah, it's rough, it's raw,
but the people are super friendly,
the kids are super friendly,
there seems to be electricity around here.
See the electrical wires connecting up
between the houses?
- (speaking in a foreign language)
- Are they the traditional goggles?
Show me.
That is so cool!
So these are the traditional goggles
that the Bajo men wear when they're
spending five minutes underwater
spear fishing from the sea floor.
How cool is that?
Just simple, wooden goggles joined together
with some fishing line.
You see the fishing line?
And then a little bit of rubber from a shoe or something.
How cool is that Robsy?
I wanna wear it, can you wear it?
- You buy them. - [Brad] How much are they?
- 100 each. - [Brad] Are they?
(laughs)
Alright guys, we're going to the Bajo Village right now.
I'm gonna be your tour guide today.
I'm gonna be your tour guide (laughs)
wearing the traditional Bajo Village goggles.
- That's how you look, Brad Newton.
- [Brad] (laughs) You look amazing.
- Do I?
- [Brad] I reckon we should-- - I feel ready.
- We just got back from the Bajo Village.
We're wearing the traditional Bajo fisherman,
fisherwoman goggles, and it's really digging into my skin,
actually it's really not--
- It's that big head of yours.
- Yeah, okay. Is there anything else you want to say?
(laughs)
You finished, can we get on with this?
Alright, I'm gonna take them off.
It's really painful. Anyway.
So if you actually come here, you can actually
buy these goggles as a novelty
for 100,000 Rupiah per set.
So, 10 Australian dollars per pair.
It's very uncomfortable, so don't think
about using them anytime soon for snorkling.
We're gonna try taking them snorkling later on.
- Yeah, we are.
- Anyway, so we just got back from the Bajo Village,
we're now back on Hoga Island,
and it cost 200,000 Rupiah return
for the little boat over there
to take us to the Bajo Village and back to Hoga.
Is that right, 200,000?
- Yes. - So twenty--
- So 100 each, 50 each, by the way, which is right.
- Yeah, that's right.
So that's how much it is,
and a good experience, highly recommend it.
How'd you feel, did you feel like as a lady
with blonde hair, blue eyes--
- I felt completely safe there, I really did.
- Yeah?
- In fact, I felt like I was invited to come in.
It was like a warm invitation to go and explore
their homes.
Like that guy just invited us into his home for a coffee.
- [Brad] Yeah.
- [Robyn] We didn't even know him.
- [Brad] Literally, random guy.
- [Robyn] You know what I mean? And then
the little children--
- [Brad] Yeah, the kids.
- [Robyn] Wanting photos, but not only that,
they cuddle you, they love you.
And that's just the most amazing experience for me.
- Very affectionate.
- To see that, to feel that, to feel that.
Not just to see it, but to feel it.
It's amazing.
- Yeah, and you didn't feel intimidated?
- No, I felt completely safe.
And I wasn't sure because I went out there in shorts,
- Yeah.
- And this t-shirt, I wasn't sure
because I've been in these Muslim communities
where I've been covering up,
and I've really felt people look at me,
I guess 'cause I'm blonde and I have blue eyes.
But there, I felt absolutely fine.
- By the way, if you're a lady watching this
wanting to travel out here on your own,
in particular, it is okay culturally to wear shorts.
We did inquire about this.
- Yeah.
- With Via, who runs the resort here.
She said it's completely okay to wear shorts
as a female through the village.
And it's not disrespectful for the people.
So, alright.
- Just spend time in the island.
- Hope you enjoyed the video,
we'll throw the details up on the screen
if you decide to come out, take notes.
And yeah, let me know if you have any questions.
Have an awesome day.
(feel-good guitar music)