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Published: March 31st 2008
Indonesia is a fascinating country. More than 17,000 Islands, and a population around 250 Million. Amazingly, more than half of the population lives on the country's biggest island - Java. We were also surprised to hear that it is the fourth most populous country behind China, India, and the United States.
Bali
Our time in Kuta, Bali was very different from the rest of our trip. We were staying at a beautiful resort (definitely above our normal budget), not doing too much sightseeing but just enjoying hanging out by the pool with a group of new friends all connected through one person - Barny. About 20 people gathered in Kuta for a pre-wedding celebration for our friend Barny and his soon-to-be wife Sari. It was a great time to relax and meet some new people who were a lot of fun to hang out with.
We met up with Barny and Sari on Friday morning and then we (John, Travis and Michelle) went to check out the town. Kuta is the main beach on the island of Bali - it is the place people usually go when they say they are going to Bali. It is a very
busy place and extremely touristy. It has also, unfortunately, been affected by the amount of people visiting here as the water and beach were not very clean. It was still very beautiful and we were lucky to have a nice pool to swim in instead! We started meeting Barny's friends - who came from England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (his home country), and of course Indonesia - who were all very nice and easy to get along with. We met Barny through our friends Adam, John and Geoff who met him on a Contiki trip in Europe in 1998. He has since been to Canada many times and Travis stayed with him while he was in London, England. We took the day to relax and have some drinks by the pool. The group of us went out for dinner in town that night and got to know each other a little better.
On Saturday we relaxed by the pool again but also took advantage of some of the resort activities. The three of us did yoga by the pool and then learned how to do Indonesian wood carving! The boys had planned a stag for Barny that night (we
Bali - Kuta Beach
Barny (Robbie) and Sari - the bride and groomdon't need to go into details!!!) so the girls went to the spa and had a nice dinner.
After the big night on Saturday, things were a little slow-moving for everyone on Sunday. We walked around town and did a bit of shopping and then met up with the group in the afternoon. We all went for a delicious seafood dinner on the beach that night. Everything we tried was so fresh and tasted amazing.
Ubud
We ended up getting along with everyone really well and had a great time, but we wanted to see a few more places before we went up to Jakarta for the wedding. On Monday morning the three of us left Kuta and took a bus to a small town called Ubud on Bali. The setting for the town is stunning as it is surrounded with bright green rice fields and moutains in the distance. It is known as the centre of art and culture on the island and had some great shops, markets and art galleries. We arrived, settled in at our guest house and then tried to arrange some travel plans. It really didn't go as smoothly as we planned,
Bali - Ubud
Mother and twins but we eventually got it worked out. Suddenly rain came teeming down (an almost daily occurence), but we had already booked a tour and had to run back to our hotel to get picked up. This just added to the frustrating morning that we had but eventually we just had to laugh at the situation. The tour took us to a rice terrace, the Royal Public Temple, a monkey park and the famous Tanah Lot temple. The terrace was really beautiful, so lush and green. It was also interesting to see how the Indonesian temples differed from the temples we've seen in other parts of Asia. The style is very different and unique - we really like the way they look. Again, the monkeys were crazy (as they have been at every monkey park we've been too...for some reason they always include something like this on the organized tours!). We did see some really big bats too, so that was cool! The main reason we did the tour was to see the sunset at
Tanah Lot however, due to the rain, we were pretty sure there wasn't going to be too much of a sunset! The temple was great to see
- it is perched on a rock right on the coast. There are several smaller temples along the coast as well. Back in Ubud we found a great place for dinner that served Indonesian tapas - it was a great way to sample many Indonesian foods and flavours. We also tried some Balinesian wine, which wasn't too bad at all!
The next morning we travelled to see another rice terrace which was incredible - it was definitely a sight to see! The grass was so green and lush, we all loved it. Back in town Travis went to try and finish up our last blog (internet has been really slow on Bali) and John and Michelle went shopping. Travis was thrilled to avoid shopping with Michelle (not his favourite pastime), however John was thrilled to join her screaming "GIRLS DAY OUT!". They ended up buying quite a few things including some Balinese art. We had lunch and then went to the airport. Due to a misunderstanding with our hostel manager over our checkout time, he drove us all the way to the airport (about 1 hour) and didn't turn on the air conditioning - even though we asked him
Java - Gunung Bromo - Volcano Summit
We set the camera for a 30 second timer and ran like the wind to make the shot. Luckily no animals stole the camera! to!? It was above 35 degrees and we were dripping with sweat...as soon as he dropped us off he shut all the windows and cranked the A/C for his comfortable drive home! Even he had to suffer in the heat just to prove his point! Say what? At least the airport was air conditioned and we eventually returned to normal body temperatures! We flew from Denpasar, Bali to Surabaya on the island of Java.
Gunung Bromo
We had a crazy journey from Surabaya - first a shuttle bus to the bus station, then a local bus to Probolinggo (arrived at 11:00pm), then a taxi to Bromo - arriving just after midnight. All along the crazy journey we had lots of people in our faces trying to offer us taxis and other deals. It was a bit hectic, but worked out well in the end. The best time to see
Gunung Bromo (means "mountain" in Indonesian) is at sunrise, so we were only going to get 3 hours sleep!!! It felt like we had slept for about 10 minutes when they knocked on the door to wake us up. We had to hire a jeep to head to a different
mountain which would give us a view of Mt. Bromo at sunrise. It took us about an hour to get to the lookout and we arrived a little early so we had time for a coffee before the sun started to rise.
After all the travel and lack of sleep, we were rewarded with an incredible view and sunrise. We were lucky too as the last 5 days had been too cloudy to see anything. We stayed for about an hour. We were blown away as we have never seen anything like it. After we drove down closer to Bromo's crater and climbed to the top. By this time it was getting a lot warmer. Again, stunning views from the top and into the steaming crater. You can pay to take a horse part of the way or walk...we opted to walk. We were back at our hotel by 8am, having already done so much! We had breakfast and went back to bed. Next thing we know the hotel staff were knocking on our door saying the local bus back to Probolinggo leaves at 10am and it was 9:50am. We scrambled out of bed, finished packing up and got
Java - Gunung Bromo - Volcano Summit
Some people find the air a little thin so they opt to take a horse to the base of the volcano. on the bus. The bus down was a fun and unique experience. The whole way down the mountain locals were getting on and off bringing lots of different things with them like baskets of cabbages, bags of rice, buckets of fish - things to sell at a market in a different town. At times it was so full the guy who collected the money held onto the side of the car and rode on the outside! It takes about twice as long as the private bus, but is much cheaper and much more interesting!!! We then did the same trip we did the day before but in reverse - back to the Surabaya airport.
Jogjakarta
You've probably noticed we're doing a lot more flying now that we're in Indonesia. The country is huge and there is so much distance to cover. We flew from Surabaya to Jogjakarta (the locals call it Jogja) which is in central Java. We found a place to stay (with air conditioning - it was so hot!) and went to bed...it was a long day!!! We had one of our best sleeps after wearing ourselves out the day before. We were able to sleep
in a bit (9am) and then arrange our day. Our hostel manager took us to his Batik art school, where we were shown how batik is made (very interesting) and then looked around the gallery. The paintings were amazing. We weren't pressured to buy anything but we all loved them. John bought a really cool painting in a completely new batik style. We bought an abstract style painting. After we booked our train ticket for that night and had some lunch. We came to Jogja to visit
Borobudor Temple, a temple built in the 800s - reminiscient of the Angkor temples. The preservation work was really well done and the temple looks almost complete. We hired a guide to show us around which was helpful and tried to gain enlightenment by walking around the top of the temple 3 times! We also all touched the lucky Buddha's ring finger. Again, we had perfect weather and were able to see a great sunset on our way back from the temple.
We boarded our overnight train at 10:30pm. Unfortunately no sleeping cabins, only reclining chairs. It wasn't the most comfortable or solid sleep, but we managed to get a few hours in!
Java - Jakarta
A few beers by the pool between the ceremony and the reception! From left to right: Rich (England), Rich(NZ), Grant (NZ), Nick (England), Graham (NZ), John (Estonia), Travis (Canada) Jakarta
We arrived in Jakarta at about 7:45am and took a taxi to the Borobudor Hotel, which was a beautiful five-star hotel...guess which three unshowered/dirty backpackers looked like they didn't belong on the marbled floors!!! We left our bags and went to the closest shopping mall to kill some time. John and Travis were able to pick up some $8 dress shoes for the wedding and Travis got a $4 haircut and beard trim! We worked our way back to the hotel and luckily they gave us the early check-in at 11am. We were dying for a shower and a rest - night trains are never the best for quality sleeps. We met up with the rest of the gang poolside in the afternoon, it was nice to reunite after our few days apart. Barny was feeling pretty good, but maybe a bit anxious about the next 24 hours! We went to dinner in town with everyone and had a quiet night so we would be refreshed for the wedding day.
Barny & Sari's Wedding
The wedding ceremony was at 11am in one of the hotel ballrooms. It was attended by all of Barny's out-of-town
Java - Jakarta
The bride and groom take a few photos by the pool before the reception friends and family and just a few of Sari's family and friends. Traditionally, only immediate family members attend the ceremony in Indonesia. It was a beautiful ceremony with lots of singing and the guests were asked to sing along! It was very similar to a western wedding with wedding vows, exchanging rings and signing the register. The only other thing they did that we had not seen was a special thanksgiving to their parents. They knelt in front of each set of parents and presented them with flowers. We had the afternoon to relax by the pool before going to the reception at 6:30pm. The reception was attended by 400 people! Barny's side was about 75 so there were a lot of Sari's friends, family and colleagues in attendance. The wedding party entered the room on a red carpet and there were a lot of photographers there, so it looked like a Hollywood entrance! One of Barny's friends yelled "What's your next movie?" We all laughed pretty hard. We've attached some pictures so you can see what it was like - we ate dinner, had some drinks and had a few dances. It was a lot of fun!
Our
Java - Jakarta
One of the 1,000 pics poor Barny and Sari had to pose for on their wedding day flight left Jakarta for Kota Kinabalu (Malyasian Borneo) at 4:30pm on Sunday. We said our good-byes and headed out. We really enjoyed meeting all of Barny's friends and family - they were all fantastic and easy to get along with. It was a nice break in our trip and allowed us to relax a bit - in style - without feeling guilty!
Indonesia was definitely one of our favourite countries so far - it has so much to offer and we saw such a small part of it. We would definitely lilke to come back one day. The diving was a highlight for us, such an amazing experience, the wedding was a unique event, and we won't forget the volcano at sunrise and the bright green rice fields! The people were really friendly and the food was tasty. We hope to head back here one day.
Travelling with John, or as we call him "Dupree" has been fantastic. He is such an easygoing guy and we all enjoy doing the same things. We've had a lot of laughs and great experiences in our short time together. We'll be sad to see him go!
We've got less than
Java - Jakarta
The hostess (we think her name is Milky-Moon) wanted us to do a silly pose?!
Van, Michelle, Milky-Moon, John, Travis. Milky-Moon is a local radio DJ with an outrageous sense of humour! Wacky! 2 months to go and still 3 countries to see, still a lot to look forward to.
Hopefully the long winter we've been hearing about in Canada is starting to let up!
Love Michelle & Travis
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Kevin
non-member comment
Sweet
Wow. I would be really scared climbing up the volcano....I hope it was inactive. tee-hee. I also can;t believe you guys made that wood carving! Yeah boy! I showed my teacher (Mr.Neate) your last blog, and he first looked at it after i told him you guys were my brother and sister and hes like "And they're drinking!?!" Funny, funny. Im going to be on a 3 night field trip when you guys get back :( Love you both so much, Kevin