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Published: March 11th 2010
Angsoka hotel pool in Lovina
Where we spent most of our 3 days in the town :-)Hello from a little side street off Jl Sosrowijayan in Yogyakarta on Java!
So it's been a week since the last update and there is a bit to fill you in on. First of all - giving ourselves a mere 2 weeks in Indonesia was nowhere near long enough, we have under-estimated just how much there is to see between the islands and when factoring in the length of Indonesia and the long travel between them, we certainly feel we are rushing through. Oh well, you live and learn!
An added complication is the fact that unfortunately both Adam and I have had the dreaded travellers stomache bug over the last couple of days - which has made some of the travel even more uncomfortable. Unfortunately it also means that we have wasted some exploring time - as today we just spent it in the hotel room after finally arriving here at 9pm last night (after leaving Cemero Lawang at 9.30am!). I am feeling better enough to venture out on my own to find an internet cafe to update this blog - hopefully Adam will come right soon as well.
We will stay here in Yogyakarta until we
are due to fly out to Singapore from Jakarta on Sunday. We are planning to get an internal flight from here to Jakarta on Sunday as the thought of another 12 hour bus ride right now is not a nice one - and it means we can have more time here so that we can explore the Buddhist temple Borobudur (about 42km northwest of Yogya) which apparantly ranks with Bagan and Angkor Wat as one of the great Southeast Asian monuments.
Anyway - here is an update of what we have been up to over the last few days...
We left the lovely town of Ubud and got a Bemo to Lovina - a small town on the north of Bali. An interesting drive similar to that of the Lewis Pass - stepp and windy. The only difference being we had a driver who would overtake trucks on corners in the torential rain! The stuinniong scenery was a nice distraction though :-) We arrived in Lovina safe and sound and checked into a nice hotel recommended by Lonely Planet 'Angsoka' for 110,000Rp a night (approx US$11). The beach was nothing special and no waves in the water so
we pretty much spent most of our 3 days there beside the peaceful swimming pool. We did hire a scooter one day and headed off to find a nearby waterfall about an hours drive away. Well we didnt find the waterfall but we explored some great back-country streets. The scooter we had was a bit old and a couple of times up the hill I had to get off so we could get up a really steep part! It was worth it though as we had an amazing view back over Lovina once we got high enough. I even got to ride the scooter myself with Adm on the back for a while (until we hit the main road again anyway). We even found a cafe owned by an Aussie expat who showed the Crusaders vs Blues rugby game on Saturday live! Adam was well pleased to say the least - especially with the result :-)
On Monday we embarked on what was to become a very long and interesting day spent just travelling from Lovina to Probolinggo in Java. To summarise - ot cost us a total of 180,000Rp (US$18), took just under 10 hours, and involved a
Overlooking Mount Bromo
(doing our best to not show how ill we were feeling) public Bemo, scooter, ferry, Bemo, Bus and then Bemo!
Hmmmm....just got to stop here quickly as apparantly a small earthquake just hit - I didn't fell it but everyone else in this cafe seemed to. Hope there isn't a bigger one on its way! Ok - so back to the travel. We got ripped off a couple of times, and it was long and hot travelling all that way with no aircon, but to travel with the locals (we were the only westerners up until the bus where a young couple of dutch boys were with us) was great fun!
The first public Bemo took us to Gilimanuk in Bali - where the ferry goes from to Java. It took a bit longer as we had several stops to let locals on and off - and our bags were chucked in on top of baskets of market food (and I swear some Marijuana), but at least having the door open meant we got a nice breeze. When we got to Gilimanuk we were shepparded onto the backl of a scooter each and taken to the ferry. Once we found our way onto the ferry (by following some locals
Climbing Mount Bromo
Killer steps at the end of a big walk over black volcanic ash/sand through the back loading bridge) we were bombarded with hawkers carrying boards of sunglasses - once we refused each of the half-dozen of them individually though - they didnt try again!
When we arrived in Bangyuwangi in Java - the difference between Java and Bali was immediately evident. First of all we were going from Bali where 90% of the people are Hindu to Java where the majority of people are muslim (in fact it is the most populous muslim country in the world!). The locals hardly speak any english and don't see westerners very often as the staring was crazy.
We then got a bemo to the local bus station and beagn a long 6 hour bus ride to Probolinggo (the stopping point in Java to go to Mount Bromo). Again, this time it was a public bus - although this time it was an actual bus not a mini-van, so we had alot of stops and starts. At each stop locals would get on selling all kinds of weird and wonderful snacks, of which Adam and I bought some dried Banana snack thing (which may have been what made us sick as only common thing we had eaten?).
Inside Mount Bromo
This is what the inside of a live volcano looks like Buskers would also get on and play a couple of 'tunes' on the guitar and then ask for money. Sometimes beggars wopuld get on too. The most interesting though was the young kid who got on and did a sales spiel for a large knife, which included a demostration lopping the top off a carrot. He then went through the bus and handed a knife to everyone on the bus except for us 4 westerners! I was sitting by the window in the seat in front of Adam as most of the time the bus was empty so we could spread oput, however when the knives were being distributed - we had juyst stopped outside the power station and all the workers got on - 2 of which squished in beside me. When they got the knives they tried to offer one to me, which I refused - then the guy beside me stuffed both of their knives up inside the headcover of the seat infront. To say I was extrteamly uncomfortable with this would be an understatement. I was relieved when the kid came back around to collect either the knife or money for one, the guy besdie me made some sort of 'where have they gone' joke, toying with the kid, before getting them from his hiding place and handing them back (much to my relief!).
When we finally got to Probolinggo bus station, we got one last Bemo with the 2 dutch boys to the only Lonely Planet recommended hotel in Probolinggo - Hotel Bromo Permai. They only had basic rooms available which meant a squat toilet and no shower. We were so tired by then we just took the room (only US$6.50 for the night) and crashed until morning.
When we checked into the hotel - a friendly local who spoke excellent english, sold us a package for 375,000Rp(approx US$40 for both of us) including the following...
Bemo to hotel in Cemoro Lawang (at base of Mount Bromo), nights accomodation with private bathroom and hot shower, 3am wake up call and transport up to the viewpoint known as Gunung Penanjakan to watch the sunrise over Bromo, Tengger ansd Semeru volcanoes, national park entrance fee, drive to Mount Bromo itself and then transport to Yogyakarta. It sounded reasonable and at least made everything easy for us, which in hindsight was great considering how ill we were.
The hotel was cute, comfortable and incredibly peaceful - but certainly nothing to do in the town except the tour. It was considerably colder up by Mount Bromo and we had to dress for 3 degrees for the sunrise tour! So at 3am we all piled into a jepp and joined a jeep convey up to the viewpoint. It was definately worth the early start (and extra gastrostop) to see - it was quite spectacular. We then went tot he base of Mount Bromo itself (the only one actually smoking) and walked up to the crater rim. In hindsight we shouldv'e taken one of the ponies up to the top for a measly $2 (we still wouldve had to walk up the hundreds of stairs though), again - it was well worth it, it is quite something to stare into the inside of a live volcano. We quickly went back down after an awful large inhalation of gas though.
So then we braced ourselves for the 9 hour journey ahead to get to Yogyakarta (which turned out to be 12 hours), whilst both feeling really sick. I managed to sleep most of the time - but poor Adam couldn't and I think it rated as one of the worst experiences for him ever.
Anyway - so that's what we have been up to. Till the next update...
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gareth
non-member comment
Deadly!
Sounds like there's not much left to see that wont be a duplicate..... You'd better come back now.....You could probably power a jet with your collective gas.