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Labuan Bajo and the Gold Coast...different worlds...

(View from Bintang Flores Hotel) A mere three weeks ago I was on the remote eastern Indonesian island of Flores, staying in a comfortable 4-star hotel in Labuan Bajo, the Bintang Flores, which overlooked a “squatters” camp which had no fresh water or electricity but which shared the view over the sea. The children played happily. Today I am a world away on the glitzy and glamorous Gold Coast of Australia visiting friends. And while I enjoy a view over a scenic canal bordered by luxurious mansions my mind returns to beautiful Flores and a world filled with gentle people who need little in life but their families, their health and a few rupiah to buy rice for their bowls. It is difficult not to be cynical when I compare these two very diverse worlds. But I actually feel more lucky because I am content in both. When I first arrived at Labuan Bajo I found the poverty confronting. The streets, where they were paved, were dirty and filled with rubbish which nestled in amongst drying fish,...