Java - island of Volcanoes and Temples

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Ijen Volcano - The Devils Miners (9th Oct 2013 to 11th Oct 2013)

The bus trip from Bali took around 4 hours plus a bit more for the short ferry trip. Java and Bali are so close together that it seems like it would be possible to swim across, although strong currents can be seen. I was planning on getting a scooter taxi to the base of the Ijen volcano but was unable to find two for Lisane (a Dutch girl who I met on the bus) and myself, and then the first couple of hotels we tried where full.That's when we met Pe Pe a travel agent who took us to an inexpensive hotel and offered a guide for the Ijen volcano at a great price including transport. We where picked up at 1am in a jeep which took us to the start of the hike.
The path is wide and easy to follow so it only took about 1 hour to reach the top of the crater. We made our way down to the sulphur deposit and the lake, the path down gets steep and is narrow, so no longer as easy. The sulphur burns constantly emitting blue flames (blue fire). Miners here also load their baskets with sulphur and then haul up their load out of the crater. The baskets with the sulphur weight 50kg or more - I had trouble even lifting one end of the ground! The miners only receive around $US 5 per basket depending on weight, and at best are only able to make two trips per day. On top of that they do not wear gas masks to protect them from the sulphur fumes - we where provided with masks for our trip. After sunrise we made our way back up out of the crater and then down the volcano, passing some of the miners carrying their heavy loads.

Mount Bromo and Semeru (12th Oct 2013 to 15th Oct 2013)

Pe Pe arranged a shuttle for us to Bromo, it was just the two of us so lots of room in the mini-van. We where passed by a convoy of over 20 police cars all with their flashing lights on, speeding past everyone. Apparently they have received a new batch of cars and where just showing them off. Had to change mini-vans for the final part up the mountain. Found some basic accommodation at Cemoro Lawang and met a bunch of accounting students from Indonesia who where also staying there. They invited us to go sight seeing with them the following day as they had hired a jeep.
So at 3am we headed off together through a traffic jam of jeeps down to the sand sea, then back up to the lookout. Lots of people already at the lookout so view blocked by front row of people, so I hooped over the fence for a much better view and only a few other photographers around. The view was amazing as light illuminated Bromo and the other volcano around it. Back at the viewing platform some of the locals wanted their photo taken with me.
We made our way back down to the sand sea and to the base of Mt Bromo. The walk to the top of the crater rim is fairly short but dusty, and the final section has a set of concrete stairs. Lots of other visitors around here. We made our way in the jeep to a further spot on the crater floor which had some striking grassy hills, before going back to the home stay. I played with some of the local kids, they enjoyed my tablet.
The following day I decided to do another hike to the higher Mt Semeru, Lisane decided to head for the beach so we said our goodbyes and I set off at around 10am bound for the village of Ranu Pani. I made my way along the sand sea on the crater floor where we had passed the previous day by jeep. Gusts of sand would occasionally sweep past me and there where lots of motorbikes and jeeps going past, the views are amazing. After walking for about an hour and a half I reached a stone road which made its way up the crater wall and eventually switched back to follow along the top of the crater. Lots of motorbikes along here and everyone offered rides for money but I wanted to walk. Ended up walking around 19km that day in about 4 hours. The only home stay in town was full, but I managed to arrange accommodation at a guides house who is building a guesthouse so had a brand new mattress. He asked how much I wanted to pay and after I told him his response was that it was too much, so I also got breakfast for the price. I also signed in at the National Parks Office and they where fine with me going alone which was a first in Indonesia!
Early wake up at 6am, and back to the other guesthouse to get some food packages for the next two days - which consisted of bundles of rice, vegetables and eggs mixed together in each bundle. I finally set off at around 8am, initially along a road but this soon turned off to a dirt track. I briefly took the wrong path and a lady a hundred meters away in the fields started yelling "No No No" and doing star jumps to get my attention. So I was quickly on the right path! The path made its way through jungle with views of rocky outcrops along the way and Semeru from time to time peered over the hills in the distance. Eventually I reached a lake, lots of students where camped along here as it was a holiday for university students. I had lunch and a long break. Continued up a hill and then an open grass plain before rejoining a forest but much thinner here. Eventually I reached a large campground with lots of students and their tents once again. I continued on to Arcopoyo campsite, the track became steep for the first time with lots of fine powder dust, so frequent breaks. Made it to the campsite just below where the lava field starts by around 4pm, and setup my tent. Ate one more food package and was already cold so had an early night at 6pm.
My alarm was set to 12:30am, but some other hikers woke me up as they went past my tent just before that time. So packed up my valuables and set off, leaving my tent and some extra water bottles behind. Very slow going as there is a lot of loose volcanic sand, so each step slides back down a little. The trick is to make slow movements, some of the others where trying to move too quickly and where using up all their energy so I ended up passing most of the Indonesians. I tried to pace myself to try to climb 100m vertically every 30 minutes but was difficult towards the end, with each rest I could see a line of torches below making their way up. About an hour before the summit clouds rolled in... and unfortunately they would stay there for the rest of my time on Semeru. I reached the summit around 30 minutes before sunrise, it had already started to become light, it turned out I was the first to reach the top passing two huddled Indonesian's just below the summit. Visibility was poor, so the active crater I was excited to see was nowhere to be seen, after waiting 45 minutes I decided to head back down.
The climb to the summit took 3.5 hours on the way up, but going down it was only 1 hour. So I was back at my tent fairly quickly, ate the last food parcel and packed up the tent and continued on. Once back at the lake I was able to buy some more water and watermelon. I also met a large group of students who invited me to hike back with them. They had a good sense of humor - one was darker so they said he was from Zimbabwe, another was more Asian looking so they said he was the son of Kim Jong-il from North Korea. They where very generous offered me water, fruit and porridge along the way. Ended up breaking away with the quickest one (who is also a guide), he tested me out but I kept up. After reaching the village, I bid the students fair well and got a motorbike down to the main crater floor. The plan was to climb the grass hills and camp one more night, for hopefully great views of Mt Bromo.
Unfortunately the sun was setting and the trail disappeared into tall grass (my height in places), with spikes from time to time. When I reached the crest of the hill it turned out there was another hill blocking the view. So I decided to take the direct route down the hill instead of back tracking the way I had come up. This turned out to be a bad idea as I slid down into a gully which head steep sides on three sides and very thick vegetation with spikes on the other side. I managed to pull myself up one of the side walls which were covered with grass, before making my way down again. I had cuts all over my hands and arms from the spikes and ripped my trouser pocket. I stumbled onto a trail and the rest of the way to the crater bottom was easy. I continued on to my original home stay and reached it by around 9pm... looked very dirty from all the dust, I had dust coming out of my ears and blowing it out of my nose. Hands where still dirty after 4 washes!

Yogyakarta - searching for Einstain

In the morning as I was packing I noticed a boys shadow just outside my room. He was there for quite some time eventually his head slowly peered round the open door, I thought he was just playing around, and gave him my tablet to play on. Eventually I noticed my towel bag was missing which was on a chair just outside the room. It turned out he had placed it in his pocket, so I gave him a bit of a yell and wagged my finger, he looked a bit frightened and eventually ran away. The Bemo / Bus to Yogyakarta was a long trip of over 11 hours...
My first sight seeing destination after a rest day was the royal palace known as the Kruton. I had a guide show me around, a lot of people are very fond of their royals as they call them. The palace has some impressive rooms. Next I had a look at the puppet maker at work, the puppets have very fine details and are made out of buffalo hide. Next I had a look at the older water palace, and the "happy ending" room where the king did his business. After lunch at the local market, a lady showed me around the water castle (which isn't in the guide book I'm using). I like all the narrow lanes around the castle, the houses are going to be removed eventually to make way for a restored palace.
From there I got a Becak to the Bird market. I ended up riding it myself and the driver set in the passenger seat. He laughed all the way and we got a lot of waves and encouragement along the way! Apart from birds the bird market also has snakes, rabbits, and lizards. In the afternoon I had a look at the two Bunya trees which young people try to walk between with their eyes covered, the Grand Mosque, and the Dutch Fort. I also had a look at the wide collection of graffiti around town, many are very artistic and one looks like a Banksy! There is one which is very life like of Einstain which I found on the internet, unfortunately I was not able to find it despite searching all sorts of doggy lanes.

Prambanan Temple (19th Oct 2013)

I arranged the transport to the temple through a travel agent, and when I turned up for my ride they told me that there wasn't enough people. I was very annoyed and the owner jumped in and took me to the temple by scooter. The temple complex consists of about 6 temples. Each has carved scenes on the outside walls, and an interior area upstairs which contains a large statue in some of the temples and is empty in the others. My favorite statue was of a bull. After watching the sunset the guards whistled me out as it was after 6pm, they where quite abrupt I guess they wanted to go home. I had a buffet dinner and then watched the ballet which was very colourful but was interrupted by fairly light rain a couple of times. I had to leave the ballet slightly early to get back in time to do the Mt Merapi climb.

Mt Merapi - (20th Oct 2013)

I got picked up at 10pm in a mini-van and we where taken to the base of the volcano which took a couple of hours drive. The hike up is fairly steep and we had breaks every few hundred meters gained in vertical height. Not as much dust / volcanic powder as on most of the other Indonesian Volcanoes. Reached the summit at around 4:30am, early enough to watch the sunrise. There was also a little red lava down below in the crater, visible when the clouds and smoke would clear enough to be able to see into the crater. Finally I had climbed an Indonesian Volcano with a bit of lava. The way down as always was a lot quicker. The shuttle dropped me off at Borobudur, I ended up arguing with the driver because he wanted more money for dropping me off then would have cost for a shuttle from Yogyakarta.

Borobudur - (21st Oct 2013)

Early wake up for the sunrise at Borobudur temple, we where let in at 4:30am. Quite a large number of people considering the early time. Unfortunately there were lots of clouds so it wasn't a great sunrise. The bell like structures on top of the temple are quite spectacular, most have a Buddha statue inside, and most of the Buddha statues are missing their head! Next I did loops around the temple to see the carvings on the walls, level by level making my way down. Some spectacular scenes carved of elephants, musicians, ships, horse carages and archers. Quick look at a couple of museums, one has a replica ship based on the carved image on the temple, it sailed from Africa to Indonesia. In the afternoon I hired a bike and explored Pawom and the larger Mendut temple which had a spectacular statue inside.

Krakatau - Living up to reputation (22nd Oct 2013 to 24th Oct 2013)

I got the train to Jakarta, which was fairly full but comfortable. Then a bus followed by a scooter to the village of Caritia. Arrived fairly late so it was almost straight to sleep. The next day I searched for more backpackers to try to share a boat with them to Krakatau. Unfortunately there was none to be found. I met a man who sold souvenirs who told me he had once been fishing near Krakatau when there was an explosion and his boat ended up sinking, he managed to swim to the island and was ok. So it turned out to be a wasted day more or less. The following day, as there was still no one around I decided to settle for a fishing boat which was about half the price of the quicker tourist boats. We ended up agreeing on $US120 for the return trip.
We set off at around 9am, the sea was gentle, the boat engine was very load. The boat was a large wooden boat with an open deck, no shelter. The crew consisted of two fisherman and there was also an English speaking guide and me. After a few hours of sailing, we could finally see Krakatau in the distance, it was erupting! By the time we landed on the beach of the island it had quietened down. The guide and I made our way along the trail through the small forest and then up a hill towards the summit. Smoke and / or steam was still coming out from the crater, but the bigger eruption was over. We stopped on the top of a hill well short of the summit, the guide said it was too dangerous to go to the summit. When I went towards the crater he kept on saying "Danger Danger Danger". We made our way down from the hill and back on the boat. We did a loop around the volcano - one side has vegetation the rest is just old lava flows. On the way back we made a brief stop on the beach of the older Krakatau which was blown apart in the big eruption in 1883.
Although the sky was mostly clear, it was a lot windier now and the waves picked up. We where getting swamped by the waves from time to time. There was a colourful sunset behind us, but because of the waves I couldn't take my camera out. A pair of dolphins jumped from the water in the distance. As it got dark I could see stars in the sky above, plankton glow in the water, and occasional sparks from the engine would fly across. This was interrupted by a cold bath of sea water from time to time! As we finally spotted the mainland the moon rose from behind the hills. We finally made it back to land at 11pm, it had taken 7 hours and I was all wet and glad to be on the mainland. The boat didn't have any sort of navigation, so they said that they use the stars at night and the sun by day time. I wonder what they would have done if it was cloudy on the way back.

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Photos

Our Guide and his father
Our guide on Ijen Volcano also worked as a miner for a short period but is now able to make a living guiding tourists. He told me how once his father broke his leg while carrying the Sulphur. An Australian tourist helped carry him out of the crater and paid for his medical treatment.