2 amazing weeks in Java...

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Hello there. So since I last did a blog we came over to Java from Bali and have spent 2 weeks here in Java. It has been incredible and met some amazing people along the way.

On Bali, the bus journey to the ferry port was great, so much room and evan had air conditioning. We were amazed for the price we paid! The ferry only took about an hour and we were on Java. The bus took us to a town called Situobundo. We were told from there we had to get a van to take us to Bondowoso. So we got out the bus and all these guys ran towards us speaking Indonesian, we had no idea what any of them were going on about, great! Finally we found someone with enough English to get us onto a van to Bondowoso. A couple hours later we were there. The reason we came to Bondowoso is because near is a Volcano that we wanted to see but we stayed in Bondowoso that night. There wasn't too much there but the people were great and really funny. It wasn't a place that most travellers stay overnight I don't think so the locals were so happy to see us. One cylco guy asked where we were from, we said England, he got all giddy, it was so funny. So later we were walking down a road to kill some time, while everyone was saying hello, these two girls waved us in their house. Why not? we said. One got all embarassed and scuttered off but the other told us she was a singer and after chatting for a while and exchanging numbers and emails she sang for us and made us tea. She sang some Indonesian hits and also banged out Celion Dion's titanic song, it was great. Her name was Marinda Karisma, great name!! It was a really surreal thing but another example of just how amazingly friendly the Indonesians are.

So next morning we went to the bus station and found the bus to Sempol which was near enough to the volcano. We went without it being full which we though was weird as ussually those kid of buses, which are really vans don't leave untill full. Soon we found out why. We stopped loads to pick up a whole variety of things, rice, fish, plants, sweets etc. It just kept getting packed it, not to mention picking up people on the way. At one point we were pretty much full but somehow they packed a bunch more school girls in, was crazy. I think earlier on in my trip that kind of journey may have annoyed me but this time I really enojoyed it and just laughed.

We finally got to Sempol and there we planned to get on the back of a bike to get the the volcano base camp but it was rainy and we couldn't find any so we stayed a night there and aranged a van to take us there at 4am and then back to Bondowoso. The we woke up super early, had some food and some amazing coffee and off we went. The coffee was amazing because we were on a coffee plantation of Arabica coffee, it was great. We got to the base of the volcano, signed in and off we went up the path. It was only sopose to be 3-4 km from bottom to top but it was freakin' hard because of how steep the path was at some points. Were were discussing about how we saw this old couple at our hotel the night before and how there was no way they could climb this thing...few minutes later we see them infornt of us, I don't know when they started but fairplay for them even trying, amazing! Had to absolutely eat our words! Towards the top the weather started getting pretty bad, it was hammering it down and the wind was pretty heavy, my umbrella actually got smashed up and I just let it fly down the volcano. Once at the top we could see barely anything...not quite like the pictures, but I'm going to try to find a pic of what its sopose to look like and put it on here. So a bit off a dissapointment, we stayed for a bit ut we were soaked and cold so we started down and had a cup of tea and noodles at a nice house on the way down, it was sooooo nice. On our way up and down we saw a lot of workers lugging down huge peices of sulphur from the volcano. We has heard about these guys before but it was crazy to see them doing it, I tried to lift one and couldn't, these guys carry them up and down a volcano everyday, amazing.When we got to the bottom and changed our clothes, off we went back to Bondowoso where we stayed the night again. Again we met some great people, we enjoyed all the attention I guess ha!

In the morning we caught the bus to Surabaya, that bus was pretty horrible, hot and crowded but it was cheap! Buskers would come on the bus at stops and sing a song and play a tune which was nice sometimes and really goddamn annoying some times when you were trying to sleep. It took about 6 hours. As soon as we got there we got a taxi to the train station and got on a train to Yogyakarta. It was our first train and ofcourse we booked the cheapest car of the train. It was fine though, there were constantly people selling food and drinks so you were never hungry or thirsty but it was very long and by the time we got to Yogya (which is what that locals call it) it was been 14 hours long travelling. We got there and saw a McDonalds, we were saved!

We had heard that although a city, Yogya was the cultural centre of Javanese culture. Constantly there were people asking 'come to my gallery, its free and only open today'. But other that that slight annoyance the people were cool and there were some great things to do. I say the people were cool, there was a guy with a Osama bin Laden t-shirt which freaked me out a tad. The first day we went the the local market which was huge and got totally lost in a few times. Most of the locals were keen to have their picture taken and I was more than willing. The smells of the market were amazing and the different products on offer were pretty incredible too. After this market we went to the bird market. We went in and ut started off with some people selling their birds that were maybe cruely caged a bit but not too bad. We started going further in and it started getting worse and worse. It was like a balck market for animals. There were dogs, cats, monkeys, bats, lizards, you name it, in cages there. I jusy tried not breathing in but it was hard as my natural respose was to walk around with my mouth wide open as it was pretty shocking! One guy apologised as there was sopose to be a cock fight but the police came earlier! Anyway, after that we stumbled across the old water temple which has been battered by lava and earthquakes and isnt much more but there were some interesting bits like the underground tunnels. A guy wanted to show us around for free, he said we wanted to brush up on his english...but his english was great so we just went along with it sceptically. He was really good and has loads of info, at the end though he took us to a bunch of batik art galleries but it was cool because we got a free guided tour. The art was actually really amazing and relatively cheap, I probably would have bought some if it were my last stop.

Another day we went to the Kraton where the sultan of Yogya lives along with museams of the town and alo the famous shodow puppet shows which sometimes go on for 9 hours! To get here we got a cyclo guy who was great. This guy was 68 and loved to chat. He told us all the scams of the 'tourist mafia' and took us for really cheap. We were waiting for his scam there wasn't one, I think he was just a really nice old man who did his job to keep fit and chat with tourists. Anyway, we got a guide for the Kraton and really enjoyed the tour and the puppet show. Another night we went out on a night out, I met a beautiful Indonesian girl but we just couldn't communicate, we tried to hard but it just wouldn't work...oh what could have been I wonder? ha! It was hard with all the loud music and language barrier but she did get 'facebook' ha!

The last dat we got a bus to Borobudur. It is an ancient Buddhist creation which is kind of like Indonesia's Angkor Wat. Again we got a guide and she took us around explaing the interesting stories of the carvings and why the place was laid out like it was. It was very impressive. It was funny here too how sooo many people asked to have their photo taken with us, they loved it. At one point a group of kids ran over and asked for pics, there must have been 10 camera's going off. They loved when I spoke some Indonesian I had learnt. Again all the attention was quite a novelty and we were happy to play along. After all that, the tour went on and as you went higher the views got more and more amazing. I also goto to reach inside one of the stupas and touch Buddha's hand to make a wish, ofcouse my massive western arm made it so lets see if it comes true. After, we got the us back to Yogya for the last night.

In the morning we caught the train to Banjar. We met a cool Indonesian guy at the staion who we sat with all the way. This train was soooo crowded and we were almost hanging on the side before we found aplace to stand and then a guy kindly offered hus bag of rice to sit on. After an hour though we got a seat, thank god. I started talking to these other guys, more friends for life. We had loads of banter about football and other things, great guys. Omar did some sort of Muslim studies at a Islam school and I dont know what I would have expected of someone that did that before my trip but he was just a normal down to earth guy who loved footy. The first guy we met at the station, Nicalaus, kept doing stuff for us, buying us local fruit, moving our bags, he even bought me lunch even though I protested. We weren't going to where we lived but he offered us a place to stay too if we ever did. This guy was a saint, amazing! When we got to Banjar we jumped on a bus to Parandaran. It broke down in the middle of the jungle in pitch black darkness, great! But luckily we were good to go pretty quickly. We got there and found a nice place to stay. In Parandaran we didn't do too much, it was easy to relax. Two of the nights I was waking up to watch Champions league at 3am (once with a couple sleeping secirty guards at a hotel) so slept in a lot. One day I went off and explored the national park which had some cool caves, a beach and some many monkeys. I really didnt like these monkeys, one I thought was going to attack me, I always had a rock in my hand as that was what I was taught to do in India but still pretty freaky. I was on the end of a little cliff over the sea and it came at me so I raise the rock and it stopped and went on hind legs, opened its mouth and hissed! Oh shit! So I slowly edged away with the rock in my hand, what asn asshole that monkey was. On the last day we did the green canyon tour. It was great. First we went to a small village that used coconuts for just about everything, also they made brown sugar and showed us how. This little village was pretty cool. Also there was this guy whoe carves, paints ,sells and acts in the puppet shows, the puppet master! He showed us how he makes them, and also a little taste of the movements and voices. Next we went off to a beach where we got some surf boards and went out for a bit before lunch. After that we went to the green canyon. We got in the boat with some other peeps and off we went down the river through the jungle, caves, waterfalls etc. At one point towards to end we saw a massive river snake in the river, freaky. Where the boat could go no further the guide asked if anyone wanted to swim further down the river to more caves, waterfalls and some cliff jumping...I though he was joking after we saw the snake but he was serious so me and Jay just went for it trying not to think about it too much. I guy, I like to call Mowgli because of his resemblance the Jungle book kid, went out with us rock to rock. It was incredible and I definately conquered a fear of water that I cant see into, especially after seeing that snake! The caves and waterfalls were incredible and the cliff jump was amazing too, got freaked out a few times telling myself how stupid this was after seeing the freakin' snake but got over that and enjoyed it, so glad we did it!

The next morning we got up bright and early at 5.30am for the bus to Jakarta. It took about 9 hours and dropped us off at a major bus station south of the city where we needed to get another bus, whuch was a real task when noone spoke good english. We finally found the bus and after waiting for about an hour in the opressive heat and coming in contact with a guy wearing a Sadaam Hussien T-shirt (I didnt even know ANYONE liked him) we got going and eventually found our stop and a hostel to stay at. We had heard Jakarta was a big, horrible city and it definately has lived up to that. In the area we're in there are countless prostitutes usually with foriegn guys or bothering me, its really hot and polluted and there nothing to do. Jakarta is the first city that gives me the creeps sometimes, not really feeling all that safe and stuff. Although today we did go to the zoo which was alright and saw a couple Komodo dragons and orangatangs, two animals that live in Indonesia but we didnt manage to see in the wild. It was pretty good actually, but other that that, I can't wait to leave Jakarta tomorrow and fly back to Bangkok.

I'm so glad we decided to come to Indonesia and spend two weeks on Java. I keep saying it but it's just so amazing how friendly the people are here, by far the friendliest country I've been to. And this is a country many goverments and guidebooks advise against coming to, because of the extremest muslims here. I can understand they need to cover their backs after the bombings and stuff but this place is just an amazing experience and I totally recomend it to everyone. Also, the language here I have learnt the most because you kind of have to in some places. I was quite proud of myself when I had a mini conversation with a lady on the train selling Nasi Goreng Ayam (Chicken fried rice). I guess it's ignorant but when your in places like Thailand I havn't bothered to learn much because everyone knows Englush really. Anyway, I have absolutely loved Indonesia and hope to come back one day, maybe the island of Sumatra and maybe Papua, we'll see. So we fly to Bagkok tomorrow for our last 4 weeks in Thailnd before we come home. Speak soon x

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