mount bromo

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so: since my last entry:

after returning from kalimantan to java, dean (the australian) and aurelian (the french guy) and i said goodbye to andrej and vlado (the slovakian guys) and took a train from semarang to surabaya. ramadan had just started, and on the comfortable train they played endless animated videos for 3 hours of a children's program of muslim children learning right from wrong, whilst intermittently joining together for some ramadan songs. complete with karaoke-style words on the screen that turn blue as they are sung. the songs were sweet and catchy, which i think is a better method of converting than the kumai idea of converting (kumai was the sleepy dirt-road town in kalimantan) which was to drive a car around town while shouting through a loudspeaker.

once we were in surabaya, we took a minibus to probolingo, and another one right up to mount bromo, which is i think the biggest or at least the most famous mountain/volcano on java. we rented a little room which was basically a piece of a hut, with a gorgeous view of some of the smoking craters within the massive cauldera of mt. bromo. our guesthouse was actually INSIDE of the cauldera.

while it may have been horrendously HOT in jakarta and pretty much everywhere, up here near the summit, it was FREEZING. well, almost. it was so cold that it was hard to sleep at night. we woke up the first morning at 3:30 in time to hike up to the summit of a smoking crater for sunrise. but at the last minute we cheated and opted for horses. it seemed like a pretty cool idea: take horses up to the edge of a crater for sunrise in indonesia, right? well, the horses were really ponies, and it was so steep that i think it was harder to ride than walk. also, we didnt get to ride them ourselves; the people in the village here make money by owning and renting "horses"(ponies) and they walk alongside, holding the reins. so all that happened was that we sat on little ponies, almost falling off the whole time, in the pitch black, with indonesian men walking alongside, feeling somehow a bit too lazy and privelaged.

sunrise was indeed beautiful. it was cold. we had rented warm jackets and we had gotten convinced to buy a hat and scarf from a vendor. my fishermen pants were pathetically not warm, but it was ok. the sunrise was nice and clear, with a low mist hanging in the cauldera, which got burned off by the sun. we were some of the only people up there for sunrise, so it was not crowded.

we walked back, which was pretty hard since we had no idea where to go since we'd come in the pitch black. lots of people with horses offering a ride back, but we prevailed.

the shower in the room is, like everywhere else here, without hot water. which is ok when its warm out, but not when its warm jacket weather. it was the coldest shower i have ever taken, and there is no heat anywhere. just huts in the cold.

that afternoon we went for a walk in the village. it was largely just relaxing albeit cold, and uneventful. the next morning we were supposed to wake at 2 to hike a bigger hill, but when the alarm rang, we just hit it and went back to sleep. we walked around town some more the next day. met a friendly old lady. everyone in this town wears blankets all the time. they farm cabbages and onions, i suppose the only things that will grow up here. by noon each day the whole place is covered in dreary thick volcanic fog.

we left that evening on a minibus from probolingo and we are in prambanan today, planning to see a big hindu temple before going to yogyakarta tomorrow. i love the religious variety here. mostly muslim, but also hindu, buddhist, protestant, catholic, and the smaller villages often still have the animist religions.

i really really enjoy this country. they tend to be very open people. there have been some people trying to rip us off and such, but in general, i've had a fantastic experience. i want to find a phrasebook. i have learned all the bahasa indonesia in the rough guide and lonely planet. i am picking up this language faster than any before. it just seems so obvious and innate to me. it is so easy!

of course, not everyone here speaks bahasa indonesia, but it is the most widely known. every island has at least one language, and several dialects. it is amazing to conceive of the idea that these vastly varied islands are considered part of one country. on the occasion that i meet someone with good english skills, i have asked them: do all the people get along? is there tension between different religions? so far people have expressed that there is a general air of tolerance. a predominantly muslim country, with the prayers blaring from the loudspeakers of mosques starting at 5am, and as late as 10:30pm, but they have this massive hindu temple, and a few hours away is borobudu, which i believe is the largest buddhist temple in the world. there is incredible variety.

and everytime people ask where i am from and i say "america", they burst out into a big smile and almost shout, "OBAMA!" they do the same in thailand (i am pretty sure the whole world loves obama) but even more so in indonesia.

well, i am off for now. hindu temples await.

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