Indonesian Adventures

I love Indonesia.

I'm not ready to leave. I don't even feel like I've explored the islands of Java and Bali properly, and there's still thousands for me to explore (literally).

I got very settled into Yogyakarta and was able to rest up and get over my stomach flu. I took a 2 day course in batik while I was recouperating and was able to make my very own small square of batik cloth (Batik = South East Asian method of creating artwork on cloth by putting wax on the cloth and dying it different colors). Naturally I made a design with a fairy and a tree, sun, moon, and swirlies =) And only burned myself once! Good god that stuff is hard to do. And soooo time consuming. Although my instructor told me I had "batik talent". =) I think I will never be able to bargain for it again now that I know how much work goes into it. I'm going to have to try to do some more when I have more time stateside.

I also got to see some of the most amazing runes.

I took a day trip to Borobudur, only a few hours away and one of the great South East Asian monuments. I think its also the biggest temple in Indonesia. I got there in the early afternoon and hiked around it until sunset. Truely unreal. Literally thousands of carved stone reliefs and hundreds of buddas--mostly hidden inside of hundreds of stone chambers. And what a view from the top! I will post pictures when I find a place and time to upload them.

I also spent an afternoon and sunset in Prambanan--a HUGE Hindu temple complex that once consisted of over 50 temples. Unfortunately an earthquake in 2006 reduced a great many of them to rubble and many that are still standing are badly damaged and covered in scaffolding. But still larger than life. And set to the background of an amazing sunset (It was a little cloudy in Borobudur, but clear and stunning in Prambanan). It was so beautiful and I was so awestruck that I thought I was going to start floating on air.

Yesterday I sadly left my headquarters in Yogyakarta (or "Jogja" as it is nicknamed) and bused out to Cemoro Lawang. It was an 11 hour bus ride! We got in around 8pm. Due to an unfortunate chain of events (long story that involves misinformation, places closing when they weren't supposed to, and several people lying to me...I hope unintentionally), I was unable to get money exchanged or go to an ATM before heading to Bromo, and there wasn't any banks nearby. I only had $28,000 Indonesian Rupiah (about $3 US dollars!). So I ended up skipping dinner. Which wasn't so bad. I ate whatever I had in my pack: Oreos, a Kitkat, some crasains. I saved the power bar for the hike. I had a cup of noodles, but no hot water. I tried eating it raw. Yuck. I've eaten Ramen noodle packets raw before, and they're pretty good (don't knock it till you've tried it). But Cup of Noodles, not the same. I think they were pre-seasoned. Ick.

And then I tried to sleep at 10pm or so, but some annoying European kids were hanging out in the hallway being as loud as hell. I was sooo annoyed. Damn kids! I felt like such a cranky old woman. Complaining about people (honestly probably not much yonuger than me) having a few beers at 10pm. In my defense however, I DID have to get up at 3am!! I was in Cemoro to see Bromo--a big, active volcano which looked much more like it belonged on the moon than on Java. And everyone said the best time to see it was at sunrise, so sunrise it was. And Bromo was still an hour's Jeep ride away. And then a 12 km hike.

I finally got some sleep and got up a few hours later and faced the challenge of dressing. I had brought one light jacket with me from the states. However, after never using it in 2 months, AND after confirming that no place that I would be going would ever be lower than 70 degrees, I left it (along with my laptop and some of my other belongings) in Singapore (I'm going to pick them up before I fly out). However, I had failed to look up the temperature at the TOP of the volcano. Bromo was supposed to be 4 C that morning (around 39 degrees F). Damn it. I basically ended up wearing everything that I had in my pack -- two pairs of socks, zipoff cargo pants over jeans, over underwear. A tank top, a tee shirt, another tank top, arm warmers, my one, light long sleeved shirt, a bandana, and my sarong rolled up around my neck like a scarf. =p. While I was not toasty warm, the get-up worked surprisingly well. I didn't freeze at all (the hike helped).

First I went to a look out spot for views of the sunrise over the mountains. Then I returned to the base to hike to the top of the crator. The views, sunrise, hike and the volcano were all spectatular, if a bit too crowded for my taste. But it was packed for good reason. Bromo is one of the most unreal things I have ever seen. If I blocked out the other backpackers, I could just about imagine dinosaurs roaming around the mountains, hills and volcanos of Gunung Bromo.

Covered in about 12 layers of dirt and dust and smelling like surphur, I got back to my hotel, showered and headed out to Surabaya. Or at least I tried to. Although I booked an onward bus to Surabaya that was supposed to drop me off at my next hostel, it seems there was some confusion, and/or they forgot about me and/or they ripped me off again (all of which happens when you're a little girl traveling solo and there's lots of groups of tourists clamoring much louder than me). Anyway, I ended up waiting for an hour for a bus that didn't come, and when I complained they put me on a public bus. Which was well and good except for it dropped me off at the public bus station 10 km from Surabaya with no ATMs or banks or money exchangers and I still had no money for a taxi (and hadn't had a proper meal in over a day). I was just about to get up the gumption to start walking into town, when one of the security guards took pity on me and came over and (after some explanation) helped me find the public buses to downtown. But even then, I didn't have enough money to go on the nicer bus (which cost $4000 Rupiah..or about 50 cents). However, after going through my pockets, purse, and pack, I was able to come up with $2500 Rupiah of coins--enough to get me onto the cheap bus. A rusty clunking thing that looked like it might have made an ok school bus about 30 years ago. But it worked and I had no choice.

In fact, once I was settled in, I had a great time. There was no AC, but it wasn't as hot today as it's been some other days. And yes it took over an hour to go the 10km but it was an interesting ride -- people playing music for money, and selling things. And I got to meet some of the locals who were quite entertained that I ended up on their bus. And if I still had to walk 4 or 5 blocks to find a hostel, at least I found one. And at least they had an empty room.

I have since checked in (promising to pay them tomorrow), FINALLY got to a money exchanger, FINALLY ate food (ok, it was KFC, but it was the closest thing, and I was ravenous). Am now pretending to be a guest at the Sharaton in order to use their internet (couldn't find a cafe).

All and all, I think my trip to Java was a huge success. Especially considering some close calls.

Tomorrow, Malaysia!