Irresistable Indonesia

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Hello world, hope your all OK and ready for the latest thrilling (?) installment of the blog! To be fair the titles are probably the highlight these days! Irresistable, sigh!

WARNING: We have done quite a lot (and more milage) this last 2 weeks so this is one loooong blog! So if your only after a quick visit ckeck out the pictures and videos, otherwise get yourself a healthy beverage (I reccomend carrot or tomato juice!) and get comfortable!

We set off from Sabah pretty late as when we got to the airport the woman on the desk said oh that flight doesn't leave for like six hours, it was rescheduled months ago, you should have been informed. Yes we should have been informed love! Anyway, everything had been going so well with our cheap Air Asia flights I suppose it was about time we had a hitch! Though Kinabalu airport is tiny we managed to amuse ourselves until the flight, with me only getting on Sars nerves slightly with my endless singing of cheesy 90s dance songs to wind her up! I have indeed got the key....!

After another nice 3 hour flight with a super smooth landing and very little turbulence, we arrived in Indonesia. We decided to get a 'taksi' as they spell it over here straight from the airport to the town of Ubud inland as it was late. Before we get started properly, it would be worthwhile mentioning a rather foolhardy decision we made during our many hours at the airport. The Lonely Planet Indonesia is one hell of a big book. I mean really massive, with that comes the price tag, a whopping 30 quid at the airport!!! Now being extremely tight on money late on in the travels that represents 2 or 3 days of our budget. So we elected to ditch the guidebooks altogether, and see if we could in two weeks wing it around Bali and all the way across eastern Java to Bandung, until our exit flight. We're proper old backpackers now (we thought it will be easy), everyone speaks English after all, how hard can it be!!!

So yes that optimism faded as we had no accommodation booked in Ubud and to be honest had no idea which area of town to start looking for some. We got our taxi to drop us off at the end of one of the main roads and we worked our way down. "Sorry, full"... "we are fully booked" etc. After a while we caved in and asked some of the ever present taxi/hotel touts lurking along the road (it being 10 or 11 at night by now!) his reply was "sorry everywhere full, one of busiest days for Bali, peak season!" oh dear oh dear. A bit of perserverance though and one tout took us down the road and woke up one of his mates who had a room at their bungalow style mini-resort. And what a gem! A princely 7 quid a night brought us a nice Balineese style room with a huge bamboo bed and tastefull wood decor, and even a free breakfast of fresh fruits and tasty cheese and tomato toasties. We certainly fell on our feet! The name of the place was quite amusing though as we were staying at the 'Bella'!! Anyone who loves Only Fools will remember this name as the place they stayed on their jolly. Luckily it is a whole lot better then where Del Boy and Rodney stayed!

On our first day it soon became clear that Bali and indeed Ubud are great holiday destinations. We would love to come back here on holiday in the future with more money and more time. Still being in a holiday type place was great because everyone is on their once a year trip and all are smiling. It is also great going into restaurants and cafes where people can understand western things like 'no sugar please' and 'can I have the dressing separate' which sometimes takes about an hour and a flip-chart to explain elsewhere. This was especially after Borneo, which was a bit limited health food wise as they seem to fry everything or cover it in gloopy Chinese style MSG sauce. There are also so many wonderful activities to do here for not that much money, but at the moment we are skint and cant stretch our travel budget to tours and trips around the island! Sar wishes we could have done the horse riding afternoon on the beach and volcano! That and the submarine trip and..........

Ubud is a wonderful place to kill a couple of days, such a charming and pretty place full of arty shops, nice places to go for a drink and lovely cafes. On our first night we went to a local Indonesian dance performance to up the culture quota a bit. We didn't expect much (as these kind of tourist traps rarely deliver) and balked slightly at the 4 quid a person price tag. Still we paid it and had our 9 year old ticket tour sort us out front row seats. The performance was absolutely mesmerizing, and for one time I am probably not exaggerating. It really was bizzare, a mix of the Indian theyyam we saw in Kerala and more African style drumming and dancing. The performance is totally instrumental with psychedelic music is played by a mini orchestra throughout. The story is told mainly through odd facial expressions and hand gestures as the dancers twirl around the stage. You will have to look at the pictures and videos as it is impossible to describe. But we were highly impressed.

We had a good nose around Ubud over the next couple of days and found there were also a LOT of things we wanted to buy, surely that alone is another reason to come back here to stock up on more goodies. There are so many fantastic little shops and markets everywhere you look. Sar also adds it's another shoppers paradise for Dena & Irina! We ended up buying some MORE souvenirs, mainly nice wooden things for one day when we can maybe afford a house. Sar bought a lovely Balinese engraved dark wooden box for a fiver. The woman said the sale would bring her good luck and went around touching all the things with the money she gave her, they are VERY superstitious here. We had to try and stop ourselves from buying too much wooden stuff, there is so much of it our here - all incredibly finely carved. If only we could send more stuff home! Still by the end our time we had filled our rucksacks beyond capacity (and our 15kg flight weight limit)!! Out of all the places we have been to so far this is the place for Clare and Si, you would both absolutely love it here. Especially critiquing some of the dodgy street art and unwinding at the relaxing spas!

Everyone is so friendly in Indonesia its incredible. Big smiles are to be found everywhere and there is a very good vibe to the whole place. To be frank it comes joint top with Laos as THE most people friendly place we have ever visited, with India a highly controversial second!

In fact the India similarities don't stop there! The two places share much more than names, there is a general ramshackle way of things that is very reminiscent of our time there. The bus to Sanur on the south coast was a fine example. A decrepid contraption that looked as though it would never make it, but of course did in glorious puffs of black smoke!

Sanur was a far more commercial affair. Bigger hotels, more touts and generally more aimed towards mainstream package style beach holidays, with not a dreadlock in sight. Still we entered the spirit and hired a couple of sun loungers and a big white parasol at a 'luxury' hotel stretch of the beach and spent a pleasantly relaxed and civilized day lazing around and eating some of the finest grilled white tuna we have ever eaten. Might even beat the Seer tuna of Sri Lanka!

But to be fair we had come here for one reason and one reason only. For Sar to swim with dolphins at Serengan Island Dolphin Lodge! We had to hire a beat up old green minivan for the afternoon to take us out and back for a fiver, which was entertaining, as the doors didn't close - and why would they!?!

I won't detail a long and drawn out story (read argument) when we got there but I wasn't originally going to go, just watch. But they wanted me to pay 60 dollars to do so, so I opted to join the dolphin action too even though I had no swim wear or contact lenses! The dolphins are housed in a floating platform about the size of two tennis courts at the mouth of the bay, about 5 minutes off shore by boat. Now I am a little bit uncomfortable with captive animals anyway and the enclosure in my eyes was a bit too small. But to be honest the dolphins were healthy and 'happy' in a way only they can be! Sar was understandably an excitable wreck by this point as she had been waiting to swim with dolphins since she was a kid. This was helped by the fact that as soon as we docked the dolphins began leaping out the water and cackling away. Even as a non-dolphin-lover it was difficult not to be exited!

In the enclosures at one end is an underwater platform about 3 feet under so that you can stand in chest deep water to interact with the dolphins. It wasn't that busy and the only other people in at the same time were a group of 4 Japanese tourists, who were nearly as amusing, can you say CAMERAS! So yer me and Sar had a young 2 year old dolphin called Pita to play around with, which was quite fun as it was really lively! Getting to touch them was quite funny as they were really soft, Sar was into all out wow and squeal mode by then! I cant remember how many 'this is amazing' s I heard, needless to say it was a few! After getting to know it a bit more we spent the rest of our time there having a great laugh doing various tricks and games. The most incredible, especially considering it was a young dolphin, was when we played fetch. We took it in turns to hurl this tiny white pebble to the far end of the enclosure and the dolphin raced after it underwater and somehow manged to balance it on its nose before it hit the bottom and speed right back to you with it. We both had a go with a snorkel mask to see it done underwater and it really was an incredible display of skill. Believe me (being a bloke) I tried to outwit it and win but failed. A tad sharper than the Holly dog! We also played games with hoops and balls (see videos).

Predictably it all came to an end all to soon and Sar was like 'I want to stay here forever and play with dolphins!' thankfully for the budget it was the last session of the day! There are countless photos and videos that a woman who worked there was kind enough to take for us. Have added a fair old selection on here, I think they will probably be on Sars desk when we get home!! A quick boat ride back to the center to meet our driver and we were back in town sitting in a cafe smiling about having such a great time. Recommended by Sar to all girls everywhere!!

From Sanur we needed to make one LONG journey. We needed to get from Bali's southeast coast across the island to the ferry terminal at Gilimanuk and get a boat over to Java and then continue to wherever we could from there. The journey is easy if you hire a driver but we simply couldn't afford it and failed to find any coach companies to get us there so we had to go on the advice of this local woman to just wait at this roundabout at 7am and a bus passes and you flag it down. Well after getting up at 6 and then standing there for a while and several people saying we were nuts we ended up hitching a lift into Denpasars Ubung bus terminal with yet another rickety old minivan/bemo. There was this miniature old bus there going all the way to the ferry and after some protracted negotiation and bag payments we were off for a total of 3 quid. It took us a cramped 5 hours to get to Gilimanuk, the journey was great though. Half of it was along the coast and it was great to see these huge Indonesian waves barreling and crashing onto reefs all the way along the coast which was largely deserted. Each wave just looked like a snapshot from a surf movie, turquoise and perfectly formed, Marc and Nathan would be in heaven (or hell if you wiped out!!!). Being on a local bus (watching the air con tourist coaches fly by) was nice as the locals were really friendly as I helped some women out with their daft amounts of shopping etc, the bus driver even dropped us off outside the ferry terminal with a broad smile... good bye Mr as they say everywhere out here!

The ferry was possibly one of the best we've had so far. It almost looked like a normal small ferry. No Lao Mekong logs lashed together this time. Plus the fare was only 80p each, bargain! The most amusing thing was the water quality in the harbour. Anyone whose been to Dover or any other port will vouch for the fact that the water is normally like some grey green sludge with the odd beer can floating in it. The water under the ferry was a brilliant tropical azure blue and teeming with fish. Tried to get a picture but it didn't do it justice, you just wanted to dive in! On the boat the safety briefing by a guy with a microphone just turned into one long Delboy sales pitch. He was flogging everything from back scratchers to puppets and toy cars! We arrived at the opposing terminal in Java after a couple of hours and decided that as it was late afternoon we should carry on to the nearest town and then stop over there. The town was called Banyuwangi and was a pleasant surprise. We had come here hoping to visit the Kwah Ijen crater lake and sulphur mines but the only way to reach them again was by hiring a 4x4 and driver. Note travellers you cannot visit them on the cheap, minimum half a million rupiahs i.e. 50 quid! So we spent the day wandering the town and it was incredibly un-touristy, really relaxed and charmingly quiet. The streets were filled with gawking playfull kids, and while trying to eat we spent most of the afternoon playing with one restaurant owners kid. They were absolutely hilarious, turbo charged maniacs! Speaking of which earlier in the day a crazy homeless type woman ran up to us screaming and waving her arms and looked as though she was about to get violent so we dove into a shop and the shopkeepers held the doors closed as she hammered on the glass screaming jibberish and eye balling us. Very unsettling though the shopkeeper offered us comfort 'dont worry boss, she very stressed lately' somehow I think it was more than her work-life balance that was wrong. Comedy aside it was quite upsetting especially for Sar as she took a particular dislike to her, there are A LOT of homeless/handicapped people on the streets here. Again second only to India, a jolt to the system after more sanitized mainland SE Asia. We decided to press on the next morning on the 6am train as we couldn't see the lake.

After waiting 20min at 5am for our booked taxi to show we gave up and got another, for half the price! Winner! The station was a true back country affair a small office and two platforms that make Carmarthen look like central London!! Again though the atmosphere and the people were so great as we waited. Just as the sun was rising the tracks were bathed in a bright orange morning glow and out of nowhere a guitar, some drums etc appear and there was a group of young Indonesians playing some ear pleasing acoustic stuff. The kids on the platform danced and span around until they were dizzy and we both just sat by the tracks eating out peanuts and water breakfast lost in the moment. It was one of those cliche travel moments where everything is just right and you think 'this is what its all about!' this all largely down to the friendliness of the Indonesian people. Coupled with a great scenic backdrop!

The train was starting from here so it began empty and then slowly filled up over the 8 hour or so journey. The train ride was made more entertaining by some over enthusiastic local lads we shared our seats with. Endless conversations about Ryan Giggs and Indonesian food ensued. Being a sad/geeky fan of rail travel I was happy any way as we clattered along through stunning scenery but the highlight was the half way stop in a town called Sempol I think. One of the carriages behind us broke down so a man set about it with a sledge hammer and the train shunted in and out of the station over the course of an hour as it was removed from the train. On the last shunt as we reversed into the station to collect the other carriages the driver waaaaay over shot the mark and just as I was saying to Sar 'If hes not careful we will c...' CRASH!!! We rammed into the other carriages at about 10 miles an hour sending everyone flying and Sar nearly into my lap! Few more clanks of the sledge hammer and we set off without anyone even batting an eyelid! Hilarious!

We arrived into Probolingo mid afternoon and again having no guidebook had no idea where to go! Instead we spotted a family getting off the train and asked our cycle rickshaw driver to just take us wherever they were going as they looked like they knew! We landed ourselves at a nice if a tad run-down hotel who sorted us out a package we needed for the next day to go out into the mountains to see the Gunnung Bromo volcano and also onward transport into central Java at Yogyakarta!

The Gunnung Bromo trip was another early start! 2AM this time! We set off in another rickety van, this one a bit bigger though, with a Dutch couple. Being night time and with the altitude it was freezing! So we were lucky to still have all our gear from the Kinabalu trip to wrap up in. As we neared the volcanic area in land the dust and sulphur clouds began to flood in through the windows and it became genuinely uncomfortable to breathe, and thats before you account for Sars athsma! Still we pressed on in low visibility with anything available being used as masks and we went down smaller and smaller roads until we reached the end of the road in a forest. The driver told us to get out and walk the remainder in the dark up to the sunrise view point. Somewhat apprehensive we did so and about half an hour of scrambling in the dark up an old abandoned road we came to a deserted view point (we expected it to be absolutely rammed!).

Its difficult to describe the view from here. The photos give at least some idea. It was the most surreal view I have ever seen from any mountain. There was a motionless see of mist filling the grey basin valley known as the sea of sand, and then from this several volcanoes rose including Bromo and behind was Semeru the highest peak, and most active volcano. The sunrise was dramatically beautiful and with almost minute perfect timing Semeru erupted in the distance. A huge cloud of ash exploded from it top and hung there in the moring air and slowly drifted off accross the mountains. Amazing, now I can say we have seen a volcano erupt!

After a much easier walk back down to the van in the light. We woke our drivers and set off for Bromo! Now we were meant to be dropped at the base of Bromo along with the throngs of other tourists but our driver adamantly set us down at a quiet path miles from Bromo. Trying to save himself the entry fees, the cheek. However being the only ones on the trip and enjoying a walk we weren't that bothered so we set off. The walk was bizzare, we trudged along in ankle deep grey dusty ash across the sea of sand with visibility of around 50ft totally alone. It was a truly other worldly experience as the ash was frozen beneath us and you could see your breath as it was sub zero in the shadows! See pics! After a kilometer or two Bromo emerged from the mist along with all the other tourists who had got a better package and been dropped in the right place. We headed up the crater rim, choking on the horrible sulphur and dust clouds that had covered the roads earlier and were rewarded with clearer air and a dramatic view down into the core at the top. Being a science geek it was great to see a semi active volcano belching out super heated steam. We didn't stop long as we had a long return journey to the van, still we made good time and did the 5 kilometer round trip in a little over 2 hours. Maybe were not so unfit after all!

We collected some English surfer dude type lads and headed back to Probolingo cover in a fine sprinkling of grey dust looking like we antiques that had been sat in a garage for 50years! Once back in town we grabbed some breakfast and changed vehicles into out 'super luxury' mini van for Yogyakarata! Now it wasn't the height of luxury but there was leg room and the seats reclined. Good job we had forked out the extra cash as it is a ten hour drive to Yogya! Thats 10 hours of near death swerving, undertaking, emergency stops and general terror! One of those journeys where it was best to just close your eyes and think happy thoughts (as we tailgated about 6 to 8 inches from lorrys at 80mph!!). Sar was sat on the front seat!

Still the journey passed better than you would think a 10 drive would, and by 9 at night we were checked into a nice guest house down a side street off Sosrowibaijan in the heart of Yogya. We took a much needed lie in the next day!!!

Yogya is really a far more charming town than we expected. Well to be fair our little area was. The main drag is crowded and there seems to be as many touts and tourists, it is really one of those eyes forward and ignore everyone type of places! But our hotel was set around the more relaxed backpackery street of Sosrowibaijan. Off this street countless winding alleyways led to homestays, mini hotels and guest houses. These little streets are in our opinion the highlight of being here. The main Kraton Palace is, to be fair a bit of a let down and so we have spent most of our days here lazing around in alleyway cafes drinking fruit juices and cheap local beer. On our second night we went out for a drink to a local bar and they had a brilliant Blues band playing. They were really good, no REALLY very good. Dressed in skinny jeans and 70s shirts the rather stoned entourage payed homage to greats such as Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, they even played an old Free song that I love. Stuart would have been away, bring on the dodgy dad dances!!!! The 90p 2litre beers helped things along and to be fair we ended up drinking a little too much, including a glass of THE WORST sweet white wine I have ever tried. When I was leaning on the bar rattling on about the quality of the wine to the owner it was clearly time for bed!!!

A hangover day ensued and we spent the day doing little other than getting ourselves super-duper executive business class seats on the train for the next day to Bandung, our final stop in Indonesia. What can I say, it was only 7 quid each and we felt like spoiling ourselves! There's only so many local buses and dusty old trains that those bums and backs can take!

The train wasn't as luxurious as the name might suggest, more like standard class at home, but with reclining seats and legroom. We were chuffed and the journey flew by with a constant rolling backdrop of banana plantations, rice terraces and open plains at the window. We arrived into Bandung late and in the rain so after the most hilarious con taxi ride ever (we were only about 200m from where we needed to be, but with no guidebook weren't to know!). Bandung is where we are now awaiting our flight to Kuala Lumpur with AirAsia again tomorrow. Its a real odd one to sum up. It is essentially a dive, there are no sights affordable for us and the place is pretty shabby. But there lies its charm. As you tip toe down the sewage covered alleys looking for your next nasi goreng (fried rice) you don't feel like you are on the tourist trail and we have found the people to be genuinely hilarious and have some of the most amusing mannerisms and best pigeon English. The town is even more Islamic than the towns of Bali and East Java and on par with Yogya as the best place we have been in Asia to hear the Muslim call to prayer (one of the most enigmatic sounds there is, full stop). Anyone who is not familiar, get easy jet to whisk you over to Morroco for 40 quid and hear it for yourself! About five times a day a call to prayer that translates roughly as 'god is great, there is no other god etc' is blared out in Arabic from PA systems atop of all the mosques in town. Its that wailing sound you get on films like Babel etc!! A real travel gem, even the morning call that wakes everyone including us at 4am everyday.

On a less cultural note its like one being illegal factory outlet here. It's jean central, the poor bags! I bought myself a couple of pairs of Levis for 15 quid (and yes they were genuine too!) Aside from this we've mainly browsed and tried to squeeze in our last few Indonesian meals including one random beef and bean soup I had last night, odd but lovely!

I'm sure it will sadden you all to know that Malaysia is now our LAST country! I know it seems like India was only yesterday! We have 5 weeks there (and a few days in Singapore) before flying home. So these blog days are numbered. Incidentally we are having it printed as a nice book when we get back, though the company says it will be over 200 pages long in total with photos, eek!

So yes look after yourselves and we will blog it up once more when we have done some memorable things in Kuala Lumpur.

Take care,
Dean and Sar.
x

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