Indonesia

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Poor old Indonesia - we didn't give it a fair chance really. Our loss, no doubt. By the time we landed in Bali mid-December we were already mentally checked out of South East Asia and ready for some hitherto unplanned Australia action (we were going to stop in Sydney over NYE only, but couldn't get a connecting flight to South America until mid-January, hence we were stuck there for 3 weeks - harsh!), so there's no way that we got the most out of the place. However, we did still manage to see a few stunning sights, mostly volcano related!

Also, we're too tired after 2 weeks of driving around New South Wales and a day of us generally getting our arses in gear for South America to write it up with any sort of justice. So anyone reading this to get an insight / tips on travelling through Indonesia should definitely stop reading now, there are more informative blogs out there for sure!

So.. the highlights:-

Bali - Kuta
Graham caught a flu/dengue-like illness on the flight over so we spent a few days resting in Kuta.

Ok, ok, ok I KNOW Kuta isn't the real Bali and it's all tourist glitz etc etc and we should've checked out the rest of the island but, to be honest, we couldn't be bothered. Spent a few days around the pool and on the beach shamelessly going with the flow with the hordes of package holiday makers and kids out on the town just looking for a good time.

The thing that initially struck us and consequently put our noses out of joint (as this was a running theme throughout Indonesia) was the cost - accomodation, food and transport costs were really expensive vs. the rest of SE Asia.

As soon as Graham was feeling up to it we bailed on Bali (with the intention of coming back later) because we were really looking forward to getting to......


The Gilli Islands - Gilli Trawangan
Took a bus and a fast boat from Kuta to Gilli T (the "party" island of the three Gillis). Found that this was just as expensive as Kuta and although admittedly very, very pretty and probably a great holiday destination, it could've been anywhere - it could've been an island off the Costa del Sol or Greece or any where else summer holiday like. It was also depressingly quiet for a party island (although we subsequently found out that we were there one of the weekly quiet days). Basically, there was no culture, just tourism and so for us it offered nothing of what we were looking for with our traveller hats on.

We also found that we'd made a particularly bad hotel choice - one with a loudspeaker pumping prayers from the local mosque into our room at 5am (and other times). So, tired and disappointed we left the next day. We'd had a bit of a swim the first afternoon so felt we'd did all we needed to. To be fair to Gili T it did have one of the most amazing views we've seen yet - late afternoon / dusk from Gilli T looking across the water to Lombok.

Could've island hopped across the Gillis but we were more interested in getting to Lombok so off we popped.

In summary: We would recommend it as an amazing chilled out holiday destination, when you can afford to pay western prices and want western conveniences for your cash.

Lombok - Senaru - Mount Rinjani
Took a local boat from Gilli T to Lombok and then hired a samthaw to take us to Senaru, a village at the foot of Mount Rinjani on the north of the island. We stayed in a basic guest house with the best view in the region: in the morning we could open the room door and watch the sunrise over the mountain whilst still lying in bed (can't remember the name of the guest house, it was the first place on the eastern side of the road as you enter Senaru itself, just before "John's" I think).

Graham was too tired from recent illness for us to attempt the two day treck up Mount Rinjani (& we didn't have supplies) but we did do a half day "treck" (was actually very easy) around the local forest, which included stopping off to swim in a couple of cool waterfalls (see pics).

Lombok - Sengiggi
No samthaw ran from Senaru down the mountain so we ended up paying a couple of guys who worked in the guest house to take us down the mountain to the nearest transport crossroads on their mopeds (see pics). Then we took a local mini-bus to Sengiggi, which took a couple of hours, was very slow (about 20mph for long periods as the driver kept an eagle eye out for locals flagging down the bus), extremely sweaty but took in some varied and spectacular scenery. We had the best seats - up front with the driver - so didn't mind too much.

Sengiggi - tourist town, quiet beach, western food, loud neighbours (locals who worked in the bars in the evenings and didn't get back until 3am). Stayed a few nights for a (still) fatigued Graham to get his strength up (by this point Kerry had realised that it might not be "man-flu" this time) and then moved on to Java.


Java - Cemoro/Mount Bromo
Took a flight from Mataram airport to Surabaya on Java. Saved a (small) heap of money by turning up at the airport and buying the ticket 1 hour before departure rather than booking online. Then took a cuople of buses up to Ceramo, a village that looks out across Mount Bromo. It was actually pretty cold up there (in the evening it even got freezing) - a welcome relief from the heat of the beaches! Stayed in a wooden lodge so it was a bit like being in a Swiss mountain resort.

Got up early (4.45am) the morning after arriving to take a jeep up a nearby mountain and watch the sunrise over Mount Bromo, an active volcano. Easily the best thing we did in Indonesia, despite the hoards of tourists (maybe 200, mostly Indonesians) that we shared the experience with. Then took the jeep to the foot of the active volcano and climbed up to the crater rim, where we sat and looked down into the smoking volcano itself - amazing!!!


Java - Solo
We jumped in a hired mini-bus and were going to head straight to Yogyakarta, the Javanese "cultural and intellectual" centre, but were convinced by a fellow passenger (actually the only other passenger on the bus) that Solo would be better and was definitely worth a look since we were passing through anyway. We´d been told similar things by another couple (hard core NZ-ers travelling extremely light, carrying only 7kgs of baggage each for the trip) so decided on impulse to jump out at Solo.

Got there late in the evening and eventually happened upon the Paradiso Guesthouse in the heart of town - clean, cheap, very quiet, friendly staff and architecturally very interesting. Stayed here for a few days. The rooms we set in open air corridos walled off from the street so at prayer time you could sit outside your room and listen to the singing / praying frmo various surrounding mosques. It was very eerie but also very beautiful.

Our stay happened to coincide with an annual celebration/festival where icons from the local palaces were paraded around the city, so we got to witness Solo at it´s most chaotic (see pics).

Graham also got to try a local delicacies - "rice and bits". As far as we can make out the "bits" are the leftovers that other foodstalls and butchers have not used at the end of a day´s trading. So the flavour and content of your "rice and bits" will change on a daily basis. Graham´s included a giant chicken claw and a strange, slightly sticky, slightly slimey brown substance that may or may not have been meat. Interesting.

Visited the local Kratan, saw some batik (printed material) but didn't buy any and also visited a bird market, a tight knit rabbit warren of a market everything from parrots to owls to bats to snakes to crows (used in black magic apparently) to puppies to kittens were being sold from cages. The conditions in which the animals were kept ranged from questionable to appalling.

Java - Jogjakarta
Spent a week over the Xmas period in Jogja in a room next to a swimming pool. It was tough. Tried to track down a Xmas dinner but, being 90%!m(MISSING)uslim, Indonesia isn't exactly overloaded with Xmas celebration options (althugh one tuk-tuk driver did offer to take us to "Xmas prayers" on Xmas Eve). I think Xmas dinner was a beef curry and a bottle of wine but can't remember for sure. We'll have to eat twice as much next year 😊

Managed to drag our lazy asses out of bed to visit Borobudur, a huge Buddhist temple about an hour's drive outside of the city in one direction and Prambanban, a Hindu temple complex about 30 mins drive outside of the city in the other direction. Borobudur was interesting, Prambanan less so although it did include a bizarre meeting with Sponge Bob square pants (see pics - no idea what SBS was doing here, toatally out of context) and we got to watch a local dance troop flail around as if possessed by the devil in a nearby field, accompanied by what sounded like Indonesian dancehall. Strange.


Java - Jakarta (or more accurately, Jakarta airport
Flew from Jogja to Jakarta but weren't really intested in visiting The Big Durian itself so booked into hotel 2km from the airport called FM7. Was way cheaper than the airport hotel and had good facilities (and a massive room), although the place was a bit smokey and the restaurant a little pricey.

Spent 24hrs sleeping, swimming in their excellent pool and genrally chilling out before catching the plane to Australia.


And so ended our SE Asia adventures. Laos was fun, Cambodia fascinating, Indonesia beautiful and Thailand a traveller's dream (Bangkok is like our second home now 😊 ), but our usual fickle nature meant that we were itching to be on our way so we were VERY excited to board our plane to Australia........

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Photos

Lombok trekking
Graham & our Guide

Bromo
sitting on the lip