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It all started out with Patil whatsapping us that we should go for the Mount Bromo trek. Previous year after our amazing Singapore trip, we had decided to try and organize one International trip every year. So when Patil heard from his friend about Mount Bromo, he was quick to jump on it. This time convincing people was not very difficult after our successful and fun filled Singapore trip. Even KP (who previously needed at least 5 people confirmed to even think about a trip) agreed almost immediately. So the final list of people included me, Arvind, GP (Suhas), Harsh, KP, Patil, Pramod and Preejit. We first had a few Google hangout sessions to decide the places to visit. Once that was decided, we met during a weekend to book the flights and hotels. The hotel booking was done through booking.com which proved to be pretty good. Traveloka was where we did our flight bookings. It provided cheap intra-Indonesia flights. The flights proved to be the main expense as we had to travel between some cities in Indonesia through flights. With all the planning done, it was time to wait for the execution.
With the usual customary check-in
on FB at the airport, we started our trip with high expectations. First up was Denpasar, Bali (there was a lay over at Changi Airport in Singapore). Even before the flight landed the scenic beauty of the islands in between the ocean got us excited. Then came the unique flight runway which was a strip surrounded by water. This was something we had never witnessed and that kept us glued to the windows. We just landed at the time of sunset which also added to the beauty. Our stay was a
Villa Mandi Ubud which was pretty far from the airport. We boarded two cabs and reached our hotel by 9 pm in the night. The hotel was well away from the hubbub of the city. The rooms were comfortable and the gardens attractive and well maintained. We quickly had dinner which was a delight for the non-vegetarians with them devouring all Gorengs available. The scenario was not so great for the 3 vegetarians with only salads or one or two other dishes being the only options. This was to be the case in most of Indonesia as it was pretty much a very veg-unfriendly place. After dinner, we played
some music in our rooms and called it a night as we had to get up early for the
eco cycling tour the next day.
Being primed for IST we got a bit late getting ready and made the pickup van wait for us. Also what made it worse was that we decided to have breakfast at hotel though it was arranged by the eco tour folks too. We could not resist the breakfast at the hotel which included pancakes with fruit juice (thankfully chickens aren't that great for breakfast) . There were the standard egg dishes (omelette, scrambled egg etc..) too which were pretty good. We then boarded the pickup van and were dropped to the
Lakeview Hotel at Penolokan. A breakfast buffet was arranged there too. But more than the spread of the breakfast, everyone was stunned by the splendid view of
Mount Batur with its caldera lake from the hotel. We could also see the black cooled lava from the previous eruption of the
active volcano. It last erupted in 1968. After we were done with our 2nd breakfast, we were driven to our first stop, a
Coffee plantation. The plantation was huge and
they cultivated coffee, vanilla, cocoa, some fruits there. We got a tour of the place with details of how coffee and chocolate are prepared. The interesting part was when we got to know how one of the most expensive coffee in the world is prepared. It is called
Luwak coffee and guess what, it literally comes from the excreta of an animal called civet cat (locally called Luwak). The civet cat eats the coffee beans and the digested beans which are defecated with the rest of excreta is collected and used to produce the coffee powder. At the end of the tour we also got the taste a variety of tea and coffee including
Bali coffee, Lemon Grass tea, Ginger tea, Coconut coffee and so on. The dessert of coffees was the Luwak coffee which was prepared in a traditional method using a stylish coffee filter. All of our physics and chemistry lessons ages ago came flooding back to us seeing the coffee filter slowly bubble the hot water into the coffee powder. I'm not a coffee guy and so not really the guy to judge the Luwak coffee for its worth but it did taste good.
It was then time to start cycling. It had been a long time since I had ridden one and was delighted to roam around Bali in it. Most of us were proficient in riding a bicycle but Patil had not ridden it much and was lacking in confidence. Owing to that and him applying front break while moving down a steep slope, he had a fall. Though the injuries were not that serious, there were a few cuts and he was feeling a bit dizzy. So Pramod and GP decided to take him to the nearest hospital while the rest of us continued on the bicycle tour. First up was an Indonesian house. In Indonesia, they have the tradition that a house should be divided into 3 portions - house of ancestors, house of the deity and the upper world. Upper world is where the present inhabitants live with their whole family. House of ancestors is where the old folk of the house live. House of the deity is the temple of the house where the gods or goddesses lie. That basically meant that every house had a temple there. It was an interesting concept and we got to learn
about the tradition of the people there.
From there we cycled on and reached some paddy fields. The whole route along the way was pretty beautiful and it was great to ride on roads which did not have vehicles trying to mow you down or have traffic signal stops every 5 mins. We rode on to a huge banyan tree which again was not something great but the ride towards that was fun owing to Arvind, Harsh, me and Preejit fighting all the way to stay in front. The last part of our ride was to a small water body. Pramod and GP joined us there and we were given a choice as to whether we want to do some hardcore cycling on a hilly track with us riding against the slope. We decided to have the cardio workout and jumped onto our bikes again with full enthusiasm. KP was ready to leave all of us behind and ride on without any stops. After riding for a while he realized that it was easier said than done. The weather was also pretty warm and the ascent was pretty tough. We were drenched by sweat by the end
of it and had gulped down 2-3 bottles of water as it was extremely hot. Thankfully food was arranged at the last stop which we were more than happy to have, being famished after the bike ride. Patil joined us there and was looking much better. The food was pretty good with decent veg and non-veg options, vegetarian options including tofu, salads, peanuts, noodles and a few more items. We even got a few mocktails which was very refreshing.
After our lunch, we asked the organizer to drop us at
Goa Gajah. It is an archaeological site with beautiful garden, rock carvings and fountains. It consisted of a lot of huts and a few caves with one of the cave's entrance carved to look like the mouth of a demon. We roamed around the place for another half hour or more enjoying the gardens which were very well maintained. From there we moved on to the Ubud market where we planned to do some shopping.
Shopping, we had assumed would be a mundane affair where we would see and buy some items which we thought were good as souvenirs. Boy, were we wrong about it. As
Orangutan
Throwing the coconut waste into the dustbinin a lot of parts in India, it turned out that bargaining there was a lot of fun. Preejit was in such a fine form that he would have bargained an ant for an elephant. For all the souvenirs and gifts we wanted we kept bargaining and bargaining and then some more and finally decided to head back to our hotel once satisfied with the deals.
Next day's plan was to check out of the hotel, and first go to the Bali Safari and Marine Park. The park was huge and pretty expensive. But the cost was completely worth it for the variety of animals it housed. After getting the map of the place, we first decided to visit the
Hanoman Court where an entertainment show was supposed to start. The show had a host who introduced a variety of animals and birds which performed numerous tricks. There was a majestic While-Bellied Sea Eagle, Reticulated Python, Orangutan cleanly peeling the coconut shell and eating the insides of it, Parakeets and a lot more exciting animals which we generally do not see. We enjoyed the show and I was delighted to click a few photographs of the animals.
Just outside the court, was a place where you could find a lot of parrots which included
Blue and Yellow Macaw, White Cockatoo and Red and Green Macaw. We were also allowed to take photographs with the Blue and Yellow Macaw sitting on our shoulders or hands which was very exciting. There was also a reptile cage nearby where we got to see the huge
Komodo Dragon lazing out in the sun. Beside that was also a
white tiger enclosure. Also along the way was a chance to take a picture with a pangolin like animal. Arvind and Harsh decided to go for it as the animal was very cute. Harsh got a harsh reminder of the fact that cute doesn't mean safe when it almost gave him a low blow. It was time for the safari by then.
Safari was not the usual conventional one where the animals roamed around freely in forest like areas or grasslands. The animals were kept in fenced open areas and we were taken in a mini van with a guide giving us details of the animals
. The animals and birds were categorized into the continents and they included Nilgai, elephant, mountain goat, tiger,
lion, ostrich etc. There was also a hotel there which has the window directly to where the lions sit. We decided to skip that as it was pretty expensive. Along with all these, there were also a few rides which we tried out and enjoyed. There were a few
water slides and rides on water which were pretty refreshing. We roamed around the place a bit more and then went to the aquarium to watch the
Piranha feeding session. That was something scary as as soon as the chicken meat dropped it just got ripped apart. One thing was for sure, never try to mess with piranhas.
From the safari
, we rode to
Kuta which was our next destination. Kuta has a beach and is a very congested area with narrow streets and lots of shops and hotels packed together. The hotel where we had our booking was
Asana Agung Putra Bali. The driver dropped us at a supposed main road which was pretty narrow and told us he could not take us till the hotel as it was located in the interior. We did wonder on how further interior it could be as we could only
see extremely narrow gullies where only 2-3 people would fit in. To our surprise, on such roads, bikes were buzzing around. We had to walk for about half a km or more and we finally reached our hotel which looked great and spacious and was filled with foreigners. We were welcomed with welcome drinks and then quickly moved to our rooms. We rested a little and then headed out to the beach which was within a km from our hotel. This place too was filled with tourists with a large share from Australia and New Zealand. The beach was pretty crowded with people laying comfortably with beer bottles in their hands. We spent some time at the beach enjoying the waves and cool breeze. I practiced some long exposure shots there as it was evening time (golden hour for photography)
. I had my gorillapod there which came in pretty handy and enabled me to take a few beautiful seascapes. Preejit started digging a tunnel in the sand and then immersed Harsh thigh deep into it and covered it. Then we decided to check out the nightlife there and went into a mall there. We tried to find a good place
to eat there but didn't get anything much there. Patil had broken his spectacles at the eco ride and had to get it replaced. He found a shop there and bought a new pair. From there we went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. There was supposed to be a live performance that day and we decided to check it out. But they took their own sweet time to start by which time we were almost done with our dinner. But the ambience was pretty good and we spent some time there discussing random stuff. We then decided to call it a day and were heading back when we saw a lot of dealers and brokers asking people around openly on the roads (Though all of us had seen a lot of tv series, this was a first time experience seeing people ask so openly).
Breakfast was very good the next morning at the hotel. They had orange juice, boiled eggs, omlette, scrambled eggs, toast, quite a few non-veg items and more. All of us ate ravenously with KP almost eating the egg shells too (He's the kind of guy who when asked "What came first ?
Chicken or the egg" says I don't care, both are delicious and proteinaceous). Then we hired a taxi from near our hotel itself. The plan for the day was to go to
Pura Taman Ayun and
Tanah Lot during the day and then to
Ayana resort at night. Harsh decided to skip our morning excursion citing weariness. Initially the driver was pretty talkative and seemed pretty helpful. He took us to the Pura Taman Ayun and told us he would guide us for free. First he took us to a shop with Idols of all the gods and demons of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The shop incidentally had an entrance fee which was the same as the entrance fee for the temple. We still decided to check it out as the idols were pretty well carved and we were curious to see how they had depicted our gods and demons. We took a few photos there and got some background on the differences of the epic tales from our mythology. Just a few minutes from the shop was the Pura Taman Ayun. It can be called a
temple garden as it has a breathtakingly beautiful garden. The temple also boasts of
pagoda like shrines called
Meru and has a few other shrines. We explored the whole place and spent some time in the gardens. Then it was onto Tanah Lot. On the way we picked up some Bali tea and chocolates as we were not sure if we would get it later during the trip. I was pretty excited to go there as the temple was located at a beach with water covering the land. The land on which the temple was located was just kissing the beach so that one could walk to it through water which came up to one's knees. When we reached there, the sun was at its peak but the strong breeze made it easier. Unfortunately, the path to the top of the template was closed. So we had to be content with climbing a few steps up to the barricade. We then went back to the mainland for lunch and chose a restaurant which had a beautiful view of the temple. Most of the restaurants were at a height so that customers could get a beautiful view of the temple with the vast sea of water behind it.
From Tanah lot, the
plan was to go to Uluwatu which again housed a Balinese template but was also supposed to have a picturesque sunset. There would also be an enactment of a traditional Balinese dance there. But after consulting our driver who said that we would not be able to reach the place in time, we decided to skip that and go to Ayana Resort. Our driver also suggested that he would take us to the
Kechak dance. As it was supposed to be a very popular traditional dance, we decided to check it out. It was an enactment of the Ramayan in a dance form. Suffice to say that it did not suit our taste and we badly wanted to get out of the place. Then we asked our guide to take us to Ayana. But the driver had other plans and suggested that we have dinner at another restaurant where he had some connections and would probably get some commission. Harsh joined us here. On further inquiry on what he had done the whole day, we were told that he had had a massage near the hotel and had lazed around the rest of the day. We still have only his
word for it and not the actual reason as to why he decided to skip our company in the morning and what he really did the whole day.
After a while at the restaurant, we realized it wasen't worth spending time there and asked our guide to take us to Ayana. The restaurant guys were pissed off at this and tried to convince the driver to force us have dinner there. We didn't relent and so he sulkily drove us to Ayana complaining all the way. As soon as we reached the restaurant, we were awestruck. It was very posh (not to mention expensive) and we looked way out of place with our attire. The location, lighting and decorations all upped its grandeur. We were led to a place near with a stunning view of the sea and the Bali airport through a cable car. We enjoyed the scenery and the food and took our time much to the dismay of our driver who kept reminding us that it is getting late. The variety for vegetarians was almost non-existent and we had to adjust for a few items while there was some variety among the non-veg dishes
and drinks. But we still felt the place was worth it just because of the ambience itself. Finally it was time to leave the place and head back. We could not after all miss the flight next morning to Lombok.
We landed at Lombok and bargained a taxi to take us all in one car to the
harbour there. The taxi driver initially seemed happy and drove us to a beach with a boat service. He started telling us that the service there is the best and cheapest and that it would take us to Gilli islands within no time. We were skeptical as the price was a bit high. After double checking the location of the harbour and that the prices for public ferries to Gilli islands are way cheaper, we asked him to drop to us to harbour as discussed. We even put up a charade as if we were speaking on mobile to someone who was telling us that the
public ferries were cheaper than the price here. He still complained a lot and even tried to convince us that the place we were in itself was the harbour. When nothing worked, he grudgingly
drove us further. But guess what, he again stopped at a random private harbour and tried to convince us that it was the public harbour. When we realized his hoax and told him to drive us to the correct location, even his friends at the harbour started laughing at how he had made a fool of himself. He did not try any more ticks and we reached the correct harbour finally. There we walked a bit to the ticket counter and got into a public ferry which was luckily almost full and about to leave. We quickly reached
Gili Trawangan (one of the 3 Gilli islands which is very popular).
From our drop point, we had to cover quite a bit of distance to reach our hotel,
Ombak sunset. We initially did not know that it was the best hotel in the place. So once we mentioned we had to go there, there was no way of bargaining with the horse carts (though we later realized that it was standard rate throughout the island). To get some exercise and save money, we walked to our hotel in the scorching sun. We reached the back entrance of the
place and saw a few dorm rooms with Ombak sunset written. We were shocked seeing those and thinking they were actually our rooms. Only on reaching the front did we realize that we were grossly mistaken and the hotel was even better than we had imagined. The place was very stylish with a swimming pool right at the front. Only a road and a few steps were what separated it from the beach. The beach itself was glistening from the sun rays and was of perfect aquatic blue colour. We quickly checked in and came to the beach for lunch. They had a
beach-side restaurant where we ravenously ate lunch thanks to the long tiring walk. Then we loitered around the place waiting for the sunset. We laid down comfortably on the chairs at the beach enjoying the evening sun. There was also a swing in the water where a lot of couples were taking photos. The sunset was a very unique picturesque experience. As the sun set, you could see the mountains appear slowly over the horizon. The mountains were initially not visible due to the sun's brightness but with it fading, it started take shape with stunning red
borderlines. It was easily one of the
most beautiful sunsets I have seen. After a while we also walked near the swing and took a few photos with everyone trying out different poses. Then we decided to go cycling around the place as it was supposed to be an enjoyable experience. Few of us rented cycles at the hotel and few others decided to stay behind. The ride took longer than we expected but was well worth the time. We were able to explore the whole of the place and were also able to get an idea on plans for the next day. Most of us were mainly interested in
scuba diving and we were able to inquire about the same on the way. When we returned back, a few of us wanted to get a massage from the spa but were told that there were only two vacancies. While everyone met to decide who would go for the massage, Harsh ran off and got the massage done leaving only one spot. Obvious choice was Patil as he had missed our cycle ride. We then had a late dinner and retired to bed hoping to scuba dive the next day.
The next day morning was a scramble with us trying to decide if scuba diving would be possible considering the time frames by which we had to leave Gilli. Fortunately we were able to squeeze it in. We reached the scuba center high in anticipation and oh boy, we were not disappointed. Gp unfortunately could not do this due to a heart condition but the rest of us geared up and were trained in a swimming pool for about an hour. I have never been comfortable under water and struggled a bit to acclimatize myself within water. Pramod was swimming like a fish in water and was totally in control during the training. Somehow I managed to be satisfactory and all of us were taken to the shore for the actual underwater experience. We boarded a ferry which would drop us near a
coral reef ideal for a dive. That day the current was supposedly a bit more strong. Our guides dropped the ropes into the water (we would take its support inside) and we did a
backflip dive into the water. It was imperative that one does not breathe in too much oxygen from the cylinders
and quickly complete the air as as soon as one of us had finished our air, we would be heading up. We slowly descended by releasing the air within. I was initially facing top (was pretty psyched as to how I would fare inside water) and seeing only the surface of water. As soon as I turned down and saw the coral reef with the fishes (intentionally used for multiple species), I was mesmerized. It was a view I had seen only in movies such as Finding Nemo. For a while I just forgot all my worries and marveled at the beauty of underwater life. Each of us were asked to leave the rope and taken in a circle to view the coral freely. By the time we were about three-fourths through our cylinders, KP decided he could no longer stay under water due to a head ache and so, all of us were asked to get back to the ferry. We had actually drifted a bit far and thus, had to swim across with a heavy current. Once back on the mainland, the owner of the scuba service met us with a
baby python on his hand. Though initially
we were scared to handle the snake, slowly all of us gained courage and played with it, GP being the exception (He was just not ready to touch it). Thanking him for such an amazing experience, we took leave and headed back to the hotel. After checking out of the hotel, we reached the main land through the public ferry and drove to
Sunset House Lombok, where out night stay was arranged. The place was pretty good again as all hotels had proved to be till now. After a heavy dinner (scuba diving takes a lot out of you), we went to bed as we had a flight to
Surabaya to catch the next morning.
We reached Surabaya airport and immediately got the city like feel as the airport itself was more posh and the streets also gave the city vibe. From there we drove to the
paragliding spot. The view from there was pretty good and all of us were excited to be trying out paragliding (was a first time for me though some others had done it before). Each person was accompanied by a guide throughout the experience after taking off from a hill, we
would go in a spiral and end up at a field below. As each of us jumped off, Patil started getting psyched more and more and was telling me that he would not jump if he goes last. So, he went before me and I was the last among us to jump off the hill for the thrilling experience. The whole experience was very enthralling with the wind doing most of the work and us enjoying the view passing by. By the time I landed, I had decided that one day I would take up the paragliding course so that I could have the same experience without the guide. We were then taken back to our taxi in a bike (the guy rode the bike as if he was in a dirt race). We reached the place with our whole bodies intact. It was then on to the stay near
Mount Bromo, the whole reason our trip's plan was made. It was a pretty long drive and we stopped in the middle for a late lunch. By the time we reach our hotel, it was night time and the temperature had reduced drastically. It was
pretty cold and all of
us had to take out our jackets to stop shivering. There was nothing much available for dinner as it was pretty late, and we settled for some heated corn. The panoramic view of the area near Mount Bromo was surreal. There was the moon shining on top with the stars and the mountains bordering the skies. But the land below was not visible because of the vast layer of clouds which looked like a white body of water from which the mountains arose. Though my hands were shivering, I managed to get a few good clicks of the view. We headed back to our rooms happy to confine ourselves within the warmth of the thick blankets.
Early morning, we found that the water was freezing and were unable to do anything other than brush our teeth. This was about 3 am as we had to head to
Penanjakan viewpoint to view the sunrise. We reached the point early and had a hot cup of tea which we happily used to warm our hands. Then we climbed up till the top most point and waited for the sun to welcome us. Slowly, the sun started to rise and
with that the colour of the scenery started changing from dark blue/black to a pink/purple to orange. The transition was beautiful and the
cotton like clouds formed a layer surrounding the mountains giving a heavenly feel. We took numerous photos there and then drove back to the base of the Mount Bromo. The place was extremely dusty and we had to walk on that dust road for about 500 m and then up to the top of Mount Bromo. We just had to walk up the steps which was not that tough but the scorching sun wanted to make our climb as difficult as possible. At the top, we could see the crater below with greenish deposits at the sides (sulphur deposits) and could see and smell the fumes of
Hydrogen Sulphide emanating from it (rotten egg smell - remember the chemistry class ?). A few seconds of that smell and our throats started to burn (The gases also contained slight traces of sulphuric acid mostly). The view certainly was less exciting than the sound of going near an
active volcano (Yes, it is an active volcano which erupted last in 2011) but it was still a very unique experience.
Also, due to its popularity it was very heavily crowded which just makes it just another tourist spot. Our final activity done, we climbed down and went back to our hotel to have breakfast. After breakfast, when we saw the same panoramic view which we had seen last night, we could see a barren sandy land with the mountains (The whole dusty land with the mountains is popularly called
Sandsea). Once we were ready and had bought a few souvenirs from the place, we headed to
Grand Darmo Suite (A business class restaurant) where our last stay at Indonesia was supposed to be before we caught the flight to Singapore. As we had had a pretty busy week, it was time for us to chill and take it easy on the last day. I, Patil and Pramod had to roamed around the place trying to find a good vegetarian place but to no avail. We used google maps but that ended with us reaching a residential house instead of a place to eat. So, we decided to get some groceries from a store and have a simple lunch consisting of chocos, bread and a few other items. For the evening,
everyone except me and Harsh decided to get a massage. Patil was so excited about that, that he sent everyone out of the room for a special experience. Arvind and Pramod got their massages in one room while KP and GP in the other. Preejit waited until an excited Patil finished his and then being the very shy guy he is, asked Patil to stay with him during the massage. We also heard from the others that they had had a pretty enlightening experience. The next day, we headed back to the airport and were off to Singapore and then back to India with memories to cherish. And thus, our exciting trip was brought to a close, a happy ending.
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RENanDREW
Ren & Andrew
An amazing trip...
I used to be a vegetarian and funnily, it was while travelling in Indonesia that I realised it was going to be hard work travelling with a restricted diet in some parts of the world. How lucky you are that you have a ready made group of good mates to travel with :)