Java luxury bus tours

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Untitled Java, not quite the luxurious package tour that I firmly had in mind. I've been using the crazy Indonesian Bus system (and one ferry (that made NZ's crappy inter-islander look like a cruise liner). This island is so packed- there are so many people- 100 million infact, so with it come buses, trucks, scooters and plenty of pollution to go round- I've had my fair share.

I took a gamble again as I never learn. My Bus from Denpassar Bali arrived in a Javanese town- called Probolinggo at 3am (not ideal). Everything was shut (except the local mosque) and here I was ready for the Probolinggo "how the hell do I get out of here challenge". Anyway things always work out for me just beautifully. I found a lovely mattress to sleep on in a run down tourist office, but luckily there were ants and things climbing on the walls to keep me company. As I tried to sleep all I could here was the mosque with its very odd 'singing' and all I could think about was the ants and what the hell I was doing here at 3 in the morning.

Anyway, rise and shine 6am: motorbikes, buses, people, trucks: Welcome to Java. I managed to find a local 'bus' which wound its way up the mountain region (with people, more people, more people, food, and all sorts of crap on board- even a goat at one stage!). They'd strapped by pack on the roof which stayed on for the 2hr bumpy ordeal. My destination was Gunung Bromo, and was well worth it as it's arguably the most amazing landscape I'd ever seen- see the photos. I spent about a day here and finally met some other Westerners.

The next day was more crazy bus rides. Honk Honk Honk!!! as the bus driver weaved and sped along the road passing everything in front of him. Buses clearly rule the roads here. Cars, trucks and scooters are constantly cut off and simply have to give way to the tyrant. In addition to the driving excitement, sellers and buskers would jump on the bus every time it stopped. I heard appleappleappleapple...apapap (do you want to buy apples?) nasi nasi nasi nasi nasi nasi (I sell fried rice) and my favourite: aqua aqua aqua aqua quack quack quack (clearly, I sell water). With the Indonesian top 40 cracking, trying to speak to the Indonesians around me, and honk honk honk in between, and 10hrs later, we were in Yogyakarta (and it was pouring with rain). Along the way we'd also crossed over some extensive flooding mixed with sewage and I thought the bus was inevitably going to plunge off bridges and cars would be run off the road. But it all ended up well.

Anyway, 'Jogja'- a great place, there's plenty going on- but also unfortunately it's the place that got majorly hit by the earthquake last year. All day long it's HEY MISTER (from all the school children), HEY BOSS, Where are you from? You need transport? blah blah blah x1000. The first day I met some activist students who showed me around the university and their NGO office and we went out for a traditional Indonesian meal where I tried to be cultural and eat with my hands- clearly a disaster. Day 2 I checked out the city's historical and cultural sites. Day 3 I went to the famous Borobudur monument. So it's all been pretty good and I've been meeting plenty of fellow travelers.

Tomorrow I'm going to brave the Indonesian airlines and fly to Medan (N Sumatra) with good old Lion Air. Lonely Planet's Medan description reads as follows: "tranquility, peace, clean air: these words aren't commonly associated with Medan, Indonesia's third largest city .... the city is a polluted noisy tangle of traffic-chocked streets and shopping malls, with few highlights for tourists." THAT SOUNDS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!! so see how we go.

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Photos

gunung bromo region (Mt Semeru 3,676m)
at sunrise

Indonesian meal
ill-fated eating with hands

Comments

[chris the neutral swiss boss]

luxury
Hey Kees, nederlandse jongen. While you are in luxurious java - soon in even more luxurious sumatra, I am in crappy Switzerland. People are quite poor here - begging at every corner. And they try to sell you bank accounts on every corner just like it Indonesians want to sell you rice;) On my way to Europe, I stayed over at a ridiculously dirty and, old and crappy 5-star hotel in Incheon/Korea. I really did not enjoy that. :p Otherwise seems that you are enjoying!!! And I am happy for you, must be awesome. Keep enjoying and posting. Chris

[Matt Pilott]

Thriving Capitalism
Medan sounds great, I hope you can find a mall that rivals the mighty ruggerton mall of the south! Sounds like you are having an interesting time, and I can explain why the locals all hassle you - you're a giant over there. You're clearly taller than that horse you're on in the photo. Nice shots BTW (that's 'By The Way' in txt/blog lingo), have you taken a decent camera over with you?

[rich - holding it all together back at the fort]

Meanwhile.....
Hey Keizer. Good to see you're maintaining a balanced diet of scooters and donkeys, and those lil' wee indonesian tables obviously were not made for strapping young Dutch lads like yourself, so don't be too hard on yourself....

[Brititi]

I love the horse photo! We will have to get you a tee shirt that says "I love horses". Woo hoo. Sounds like you are having fun dude! Glad to see you are still alive and you seem to have met some females! Excellent. Did you get food down your shirt when you were eating with your hands? Chch is cool, just the same, nothing has changed. zzzzzzzzz

[Genie]

"Horse"
That poor, poor horse... I can only assume that your fetish for all things "tiger" has now waned and your affections have instead focused on wildlife of the equus genus...

[DestinationAlgeria]

respond to the business anaylst
"If you get offensive comments - please delete them - and if there is a name against the comment please send it using the Contact Us option in the footer of any page." - I'm a bit offended about the shorts comment.

[Yoonsby]

sir gawain on horseback
Good to see you're getting some culture in you. And your photos look amazing- you should become a photographer!