It feels like absolutely ages since I last wrote on my blog and, unfortunately for my little typing fingers, so much has happened since my last post. This is mainly down to my beautiful and pro-active travel companion Jessica, who I know from university and who I am travelling with for my month in wonderful Indonesia.
I flew from Manila to Jakarta and took a very expensive taxi before arriving at 1am at the hostel in the centre of Jakarta and as I approached the glass fronted building I saw, to my delight, my red-headed friend beaming at me from the foyer. We hugged and after going to buy a train ticket for the next morning with the really nice guy at reception, retired to our amazingly comfortable double bunkbed and talked late into the night (probably annoying everyone else in the dorm room).
That night we got very little sleep (something that would become a bit of a running theme during our trip) and got up for a loooooong early morning train journey through the beautiful Java countryside to a town called Yogyakarta. The town seemed to be bustling and, as most towns do, had one area dedicated to tourists, full of hotels, hostels, travel agents and restaurants. We walked around for a while looking at a few different accomadation options and finally found one that wasn't too bad. After settling in we went to a travel agents and booked a trip to see the local ancient temples then had a salad for dinner before bed. That night we were kept up by the people who worked at the hotel having, what seemed like a full blown party outside our room, wonderful.
We had to get up really early for the temple tour the next day, and by really early I mean 03:30am early. We got a coach to Borobudah and watched the most unimpressive sunrise in the history of the world before being able to explore the 9th century Buddhist temple itself, which was really beautiful and unusual.
We were driven back to our hotel, feeling like zombies and managed an hour long nap before going to get some lunch and then being driven to the next temple, Prabanam, which was a huge 10th century Buddhist/Hindu temple. We spent a long time walking around the impressive construction marvelling at the effort it must have taken. We found a good spot on the grounds and watched the sunset behind the towers to finish off the day.
Most of the many tourists who were there chose to do a 4X4 tour which took them to another mountain to watch the sunrise and then to Mt.Bromo itself but boy were we glad we didn't do that! We woke up at 3:20am and started our hike ten minutes later, feeling surprisingly cherpy. We walked in the cold and dark away from the town and onto a large sandy expanse which lead to the mountain. We had no idea which route to take as, the same as in many parts of south east Asia, there were absolutely no signs, but we soon met a old Indonesian guy on a horse who assured us that we should travel in his direction. We saw hundreds of 4X4 headlights driving towards the other mountain and were so pleased to be doing it by ourselves. After walking a long time we reached the base of the mountain and began our ascent which ended with a long stairway to the top. The climb was pretty easy and we reached the top way before sunrise. When we got there I heard a sound that I assumed to be a train passing by below but soon realised that it was the sound of the volcanic crater bubbling, boiling and letting off a lot of steam and smoke. We walked around the ridge to an area that we had completely to ourselves! We watched as the sun rose over the sandy trail we had just walked across and turned everything a beautiful golden orange colour. As it got brighter, our surroundings were revealed to us and we could finally see how beautiful it really was. It looked like something from another planet or from way way back in time when dinosaurs wandered the earth.
We walked further around the ridge and I couldnt believe that I was on top of a live volcano!
We were given gas masks to wear near the toxic sulphuric smoke that erupts from the crater but most of the miners had nothing. The man whose job it was to chip away at the sulphur working completely surrounded by the smoke had a mask but would still come out coughing and spluttering after succeeding in removing one piece of sulphur.
We were down in the crater for about 20minutes and began to feel ill so I could only imagine the effect it was having on the people working down there. We saw the famed blue flames coming from the crater, which, after witnessing such a feat of human ability, were actually pretty unimpressive. Our walk back up the crater was tinged with the fact that we only had to do this once and with nothing but a small bag on our shoulders, the miners were truely incredible. We walked along the ridge of the crater for a while until we gasped at the sight of the sun beginning to rise above the clouds, which formed a cotton-like blanket below us. The view was absolutely breathtaking, possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen! The sky was the most incredible colours and the surrounding were just so surreal. (Of course, the photo does not do it justice)
On one side of us there was this utopian sunrise and on the other we could see down into the massive crater, which was so much bigger than we had thought when we were down there ourselves. As well as the sulphur mine it also housed a ginormous cloudy turquoise sulphuric lake. Naturally, Jess and I had another photo shoot!
We spent a long time up on the ridge taking in our surroundings, it was other-worldly. It was definitely one of those occasions when you realise how incredible travelling and seeing the world is and it made me feel very thankful. After being torn away from this wonderland by our guide we made the long steep decent back down the mountain. We actually ended up jogging down the slope as it, surprisely, made us slip less. We got back into the minivan with a sense of excitment and awe (and extreme tiredness) and travelled to the ferry port for our ferry to the next Indonesia island, Bali.
Our first destination in Bali was the astonishing town of Ubud. A effortlessly cool and beautiful place which oozed Indonesian style. The streets were lined with many interesting shops and tempting restaurants as well as many buddhist temples and the floor was covered with ceremonial flower offerings which gave good luck to the establishment who offered them.
I was intrigued to see so much Buddhist influence in a town in the large Muslim country in the world, but as it is in much of Asia, religion and spirtuality seem to cover every surface and live in every corner. I can't explain what made this town so instantly likable but if you ever visit it you will understand too. It was busy when we arrived and we began to worry we would never find a room until a guy approached Jess and asked if she was looking for somewhere. Once again, being unprepared paid off big time! The room we ended up with was just stunning. It was a large exotic room in a small but beautifully kept guesthouse called Bella House which was run by a very friendly local family and mirrored the style and charm of the rest of the town.
We were absolutely chuffed, and just for £5 each per night! We went out to find some dinner which was quite the struggle when there were so many places to chose from, and decided on a restaurant which offered cooking courses during the day, so they had to be good. We weren't mistaken. I had a huge delicious tuna steak with steamed and roasted vegetables and a cocktail for about £6 (and that is splashing out)!
The following day we spent the morning slightly more stressed than I would have liked, trying to find and international phone which I could use to ring HSBC who had annoyingly blocked my card. We came up empty handed and decided to take my mind off it by buying ballet tickets for that evening and wandering around the many gorgeous shops in the winding streets of the market.
After much deliberation Jess bought a huge green Buddha painting, a decision I fully stand behind because the painting was stunning and well worth the money. I bought another sarong and some jewellery, managed to finally get through to HSBC and, to finish our day of indulgence, we watched the incredible traditional ballet which told the story of Rama and Sita. The story itself is an ancient Indian Hindu story about two lovers who are torn apart by a jealous king and the journey Rama takes to save Sita from the kings clutches. In the version we watched Sita and Rama live happily ever after but in the programme we learnt that the original story ends with Rama ordering Sita to walk through fire to prove she is still loyal to him, after which Sita decides that Rama maybe isn't the guy for her and runs off with Mother Nature instead, a brilliant ending I think! The dance itself was brilliant, so many small details from the twitching of the dancers fingers when they strike a pose to the movements of their pupils when they make their eyes impossibly wide. The costumes and music were so impressive, instruments I had never seen before making the most unusual but beautiful noises. To top it off it was performed in front of the grand palace, perfect!
We went for dinner and drinks with a live band afterwards and ended up meeting an ex porn star from Essex called Donna Richardson (I am sure you have never heard of her 😉 ) who told us all about her life and was a really funny and interesting woman, with a young Indonesian boyfriend by her side.
There was time for more nosing around (and shopping) the following day before we caught a bus to Kuta Beach in the south of the island said a sad goodbye to Ubud.
(^one of the many beautiful little things in Ubud)
The next day we decided to venture to the beach, the first beach of our trip! It was a huge beach with impressive waves and we sat and enjoyed soaking up the sun and relaxing after our extreme journey through Java. We met a German girl who was sunbathing next to us called Freida and spent the afternoon chatting with her. Over the loud speaker we heard that 200 baby sea turtles were being released into the sea that evening and that we could release them ourselves! We went to the conservation centre and were given a tiny little baby turtle in a plastic box to carry down to the sea. We all got into a line and tipped the babies onto the sand then watched them as their instinct took over and they slowly started waddling towards the ocean. It was adorable. Well, until we were told that only 1 in 1000 with survive until adulthood. Then I felt kind of mean for sending them all to their death, well, circle of life I guess.
That evening we met Andy and Patrick, a Swiss and a German, at our hostel and decided to go out for some dinner and drinks and meet Frieda. After dinner we found a bar that offered unlimited drinks for 50,000 rupiah (about £2.50) and played beer pong. We also met two German girls called Coco and Friede and an American guy called Jason. After we had exhausted the free drinks we went to a huge bar called Skygarden and danced like crazy for a few hours, Jason had especially incredible dance moves! As we left the bar I noticed that my bum bag was open and my purse had been taken. I was extremely upset not just for the loss of money or annoyance of having to cancel and get new cards, but mainly for the fact that I bloody loved that purse. I had bought it in Australia, why people steal from others is absolutely beyond me. We got back to the hostel and Jess once again proved what a great friend she is by ringing HSBC and cancelling my card... I fell asleep during the call :S it was a very late night.
The next day we trapsed around in the heat trying to find the tourist police. At one point a police officer gave us directions and after walking for at least 30 minutes without seeing anything we turned back and saw that the station was directly behind the police officer who had directed us in the opposite direction! The police report ended up costing more money than it was worth so we walked to the beach and bumped into the German girls from the night before. We decided to meet with the girls and Patrick and Andy at Skygarden again and have the 100,000rupiah (£5) all you can eat BBQ buffet and all you can drink from the bar there. It was a great evening and we all stuffed ourselves with the really nice food and got merry on the generous drinks.
We had a farewell breakfast with Andy and Patrick in the morning and then I spent the rest of the first half of the day filing out my Indian Visa application (exciting!). That afternoon we met with Frieda and Judith and went to Tanah Lot temple, a temple which had been built on a small rock in the sea. When we got there it was so busy! The tide was out so we could walk near the rock but it was a bit too much of a tourist attraction (you had to pay to be blessed) so we walked along the rockpools to somewhere we could sit and watch the sunset behind the temple away from the crowds. We travelled back to Kuta and had the most delicious Indian dinner! If you are ever in Kuta make sure you eat at Gateway Of India! Yum! I was looking for photos to include in this part of the blog but the fact that I have no photos really of Kuta reflects how uninspiring a place it was, however I did have a lot of fun there and we met some really great people.
I think that is enough information for now, I will continue to write about my Indonesian adventures in the next post, which I will hopefully finish very soon :)
Thanks for reading!
Emma x
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