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Published: July 31st 2011
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We made it to Bali!!!
On our last day in Penang (and Malaysia for the time being...) we visited the Kek Lok Si Temple - the most renowned in Malaysia for it's HUMONGOUS statue of Kuan Yin, and just the sheer size of the Temple itself. It was incredible. Probably the best we've seen so far. Snake Temple on the other hand... not so great. It was on the way to the airport so we popped in, carrying all our things with us. We expected it to be slithering with snakes all over. We were disappointed to see just a couple of pythons and what seemed to be a lot of fake plastic snakes. We even laughed at the signs which read "All snakes are live snakes but visitors are requested not to prod or harm the snakes as they may be injured" - very dubious we felt, and I had considered testing this claim. It wasn't until another couple paid for a photo with the snakes, and not only had the pythons on them but also one of the 'plastic' snakes put on their head, which preceded to move! Apparently a type of viper that stays perfectly still, not
even blinking. Lucky we didn't check after all (especially since another sign said they were poisonous).
A 3 hour flight later and we arrived in Surabaya, Indonesia, 11pm. (Due to time and money issues we decided not to go with our original plan of crossing over to Medan and working our way down through Sumatra to Java.) After waking up the landlady of the homestay we had booked, we spent the night. After adding a few bites to our collection, a hot shower! (first since KL) and some breakfast we began our journey to Gunung Bromo - a near 3000m high peak with a fuming volcano nearby - and what a journey it was.
We were thrown from our taxi onto a moving bus at the Surabaya bus station (bags first, we followed) which was full to the brim with a lot of leering locals. We soon realized that this hop on, hop off while the bus is moving is the norm over here, with a man at the front and back to "help" people on and off and shout 'Go!' to the driver as soon as they have a foot on or off respectively. Buskers hop on
and off to play you a song or two and ask for some cash, as well as people selling food and drink. This bus then broke down so everyone was ushered off onto the street to wait for the next passing one that had room. While all of the men leered, the women proved to be more helpful and we managed to find out where we were, which bus to get on and how far we had to go.
From the sweaty, packed buses of Surabaya we caught a minibus the last couple of hours up into the dizzying heights of Bromo. We started noticing locals wrapped up in shawls before the coldness and thinness of the air hit us like a wall. Spending a whole day traveling we ate some grub then hit the hay fully clothed and wrapped up warm. Having booked a jeep to the bottom of Gunung Bromo leaving at 4am so we could hike up to catch sunrise, we needed all the sleep we could get in the below zero temperatures of the night. The guy who we bought the bus ride/room from had warned us that it would be "bladdy nippay" up there,
and it was indeed.
The short hike proved to be incredibly tough in the early hours with the air being so incredibly thin and freezing. we also forgot our torch...oops. We chose to hike up a little further than the viewpoint where most people stop so we could guarantee a good view and take in the surroundings in peace and quiet.
Wow. It was absolutely amazing. Firstly the amount of stars you could see in the night sky was incredible. It was so clear. Not just the thousands of stars though, satellites and shooting stars too. The sunrise blew us away. Words can't really describe, but hopefully some photos may do it justice. In true Emily Drummond fashion a bout of altitude sickness made the romantic scene just that little more special!
Following this we were driven to the fuming crater nearby. The landscape was like a desert and the amount of locals flogging horse rides made it feel a bit like the wild west. At 8am we had breakfast before catching our 9:30 minibus back down the mountain to Probolinggo to wait for our bus ride all the way to Denpasar in Bali. We were told
the bus would come at 12 and that we would arrive by 7pm. We knew by now that this would not be the case but our thoughts were more based around what kind of bus we would be on. Only an hour late a lovely air conditioned bus full of tourists turned up. We were happy knowing that we would be able to rest our eyes a bit, not worrying for our possessions. A short choppy ferry ride with some bazaar entertainment took us from Java to Bali. This entertainment consisted of first: Strange karaoke set in London about a man cheating on his wife - English lyrics sung by an Indonesian man, then a very bizarre video of 2 guys with microphones and a monkey with a chain around its neck putting on various masks and acting like a human, including being dragged around on a tiny motorbike with a helmet on, much to the amusement of the locals but many shocked faces from everyone else.
Bali!
Arriving at 1am with no place to stay, we shared a cab with a couple who had already booked a place in Kuta (where we wanted to go) and luckily there
was a room available - even if it was a little more pricey than we'd hoped. After the 23 hour day though we didn't complain and enjoyed the hot shower and comfy bed.
Today we have had some (much needed!) Free & Easy time wandering the streets of Kuta and relaxing on the beach. We even caught an U14 surf competition. Seeing 5 year olds tearing it up so easily made us slightly apprehensive of our attempts tomorrow.
Just off to grab some dinner and a Bintang. Ta-ra for now!!
xx
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another day in blighty
woke this morning walked 22 steps downdtairs approx descent of 10ft walked to kitchen 6 steps. Drank coffe and walked 9 steps to car. arrived at work 40 mins later climbed 3 steps to office door and walked 12 steps to my desk....boy do i need another coffee. Hoping to sit at my desk all day and maybe once or twice take time to look out of the window... good view of next door's fire exit. I know where I would rather be. look forward to next blog . love to both xx