Hazelsmum

I've just arrived in Surabaya, Java's second largest city, which has a very organised bus station, I'm impressed. After some lunch it's time to take my next bus. I enter the wall of bus touts asking me if I want to go to Probbolingo (I've just come from there), Bali, Jogja, Jakarta, Malang..... they are running out of options and starting to sound confused. I shake my head, smile and say Madura. There is shocked silence then they point me on. I am laughing as I board my bus for Sumenep. A young man asks if I will sit with him as he wishes to practice his English. This is the first of many encounters with the locals who have got to be the most friendly people I've met anywhere. In fact they can be so ... read more

My arrival in Malang was not pretty. This was my first crowded bus and I wanted to get out. But the bus driver won't just stop along the road to let you off so I have to wait till we reach some preappointed spot before I can alight. Next I must jump on a microlet to make the journey back down the same road I have just travelled. Perhaps I have not had enough sugar today because I am fuming!! We sit in the microlet whilst the driver packs it to the rafters, plus a couple more, before we head off. I am travelling blind with little idea where we are going and at some point decide it's time for some fresh air and escape! Now I am beside the road in a busy city, no ... read more

Candi Sukuh and Candi Ceto are two Hindu temples on the slopes of Mt Lawu near Solo. They are the product of the last remaining group of Hindu worshippers who were being driven out of Java by the encroaching Islamic kingdoms. And they are completely different to anything that preceded them.Candi Sukuh in particular is built more in the style of an Egyptian pyramid, with terraced sloping stone walls rather than the usual block stone walls. There also seems to be a return to more animistic motifs, and both temples play considerable homage to fertility rites. The stone lingga at Ceto leaves nothing to the imagination!!Dicky has taken me to these temples on the motorbike, which stalled a number of times trying to get heavy old me and my backpack up steep inclines, meaning a few ... read more

Funny place Indonesia. Unlike anywhere I've been so far, this country continues to defy my expectations. Yogyakarta is well and truly on the tourist map, so I expected it to be trashy and full of insistent batik salesmen etc and basically a real pain in the arse. Admittedly I'd been advised to stay in the Prawirotawan area rather than in the main backpacker area near the train station, and I didn't venture north of the Kraton to where the bulk of the hard sell occurs, but aside from the usual becak drivers wanting fares I found Yogya hassle free. Prawirotawan is quiet, and has a great local market at the corner of Jl Parangritis. There's a high speed internet cafe nearby, and a surplus of good local food outlets, as well as some higher class ... read more

Dieng Plateau is smack in the middle of Java, a boggy volcanic caldera where almost every patch of dirt is cultivated for the growing of vegetables. It's also quite cool and rains alot, so mornings are the best time to appreciate the beautiful scenery before the clouds close in.This is volcano territory, with a number of lakes coloured green and blue by sulphuric hot springs, and a few bubbling craters of hot mud. I was particularly taken with Kawah Sikidang, with its waves of boiling mud and sulphurous steam emanating from a hole in the middle of a lunarscape. Nearby is a geothermal power station giving off an even larger amount of steam. But still we have blackouts...Dieng is also home to the oldest Hindu temples in Java. I have a little go at some ... read more