Category: Indonesia

Day 82: Tangkahan & Medan

We had an early 6AM pick-up from our hotel, as we had an 8AM date to give some elephants a bath at the Tangkahan conservation center on the other side of Gunung Lesuer National Park. It was a long drive on a poor road covered in pot-holes (our driver humorously referred to it as the “jungle massage route”). We arrived a bit early, so we had time for breakfast at a restaurant in the park, during which time our driver insisted that we try Indonesia’s favorite fruit: durian. We had seen durian fruits throughout our trip, but due to their notorious reputation as “the world’s stinkiest fruit” we had carefully avoided them. Now, we were stuck – we had half an hour before our activity started, and a very friendly local buying a durian just for us, saying, “You never know, if you never try!”

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of smelling durian, let me tell you that once you have experienced the smell, you will never forget it: it’s like rotten garbage and sweaty socks. In fact, most of the nice hotels in Southeast Asia (including the Marriott in Surabuya) have signs prohibiting guests from bringing durian into the building due to the offensive odor. As far as the taste goes, people either love it or hate it.

 

Lindsay’s first taste of durian fruit

OK, neither of us *loved* it, but the taste is much better than the smell – kinda like a cross between an over-ripe mango and over-ripe avocado, with a tiny aftertaste of puke. Honestly, I could learn to like it, if I ate it often enough.

After breakfast, the elephant handlers opened the elephant enclosure and led a small parade of about a dozen elephants (including three babies!) down to the river where they were prepped for their morning bath. Bath prep includes – and I am not kidding – the park ranger STICKING THEIR ARMS UP THE ELEPHANTS ASSESS TO PULL OUT INDIVIDUAL CHUNKS OF SHIT. When we asked why the rangers do this, they told us it’s because the elephants can get constipated from all the fruit the tourists feed them. I suspect they want to give the elephants enemas because they don’t want them to crap all over the tourists while they are washing them in the river. Whatever, glad that *duty* was not part of our tour activity. Instead, we were handed some scrubber brushes, and all we had to do was help wipe the mud off the elephants’ backs as they lay in the river for us.

 

A parade of dirty elephants heading down to the river for bath time

 

Park ranger pulling poops out of an elephant’s ass. And you thought *your* job was ad? Dirty baby elephant is still really cute, tho.

 

The elephants lay down in the river so Igor can scrub their backs

 

Igor is having so much fun cleaning the elephants!

 

After the tourists are done washing the elephants, the elephants get their turn to wash us, too!

 

Look how clean she is!

 

Rubbing some “good luck stones” on the elephant to get a little of her luck to go with us, giving them some snacks in return – bananas & sugar cane sticks!

 

Lindsay feeding a beautiful bull elephant

 

Igor gets a kiss in exchange for his treats!

 

Clean-elephant salute!

After the washing and feeding, we opted for an additional elephant ride through the jungle. The jungle paths were muddy and steep – Lindsay had to close her eyes a few times as it was like riding a really slow roller coaster. Our guides took us across the river and into a meadow were the elephants got to forage for a “second breakfast”, before returning to the park entrance for lunch.

 

Taking an elephant ride through the Gunung Leuser National Park

 

Heading across the river, via elephant-back

 

Walking through the bush with our guides leading the way

 

Our elephant steed stopping for a snack – such a good girl!

Feeding our girl a little snack of leaves

 

After watching the elephants chow down, we got a little peckish ourselves! Fried noodles and cucumber juice – delish!

It was long and bumpy road back to Medan – we were very happy to check into the JW Marriott and unwind. But our day wasn’t over yet – we had one last task before leaving Indonesia: to get Lindsay some hiking boots! We still have a lot of trekking coming up in the next few months, so the sooner we find a couple of boots for her, the more time she has to break them in!

The mall, unfortunately, did not have any camping stores, so we did a Google search and found a store called “Cosina” which sells trekking gear – according to Google it as only a 20min walk from the Marriott, so we headed out on foot (despite the Concierge ‘s advice that we take a cab). It was NOT a 20min walk – it took us at least an hour walking along a very busy road in the humidity, doubling checking our directions on very weak cell data and asking direction from local street food stalls, before we finally found it. Turns out Cosina is an Indonesian trekking brand – boots, backpacks, clothing, camping gear – everything! Lindsay tried on two pairs, and picked a new couple of boots that cost a bargain price of 900K IDR (USD$70.00).

 

The sales team at Cosina – thanks for the new boots!

Day 81: Jungle Trek – Day 3

Our final day in the jungle actually didn’t include any trekking, as we would be returning to the village of Bukit Lawang by tubing down the river. We had a very leisurely morning, during which time Leli and Chandra decided to give all the tourists jungle-makeovers. After a short walk to a waterfall for some swimming, we had our final jungle lunch and headed back to town, singing our favorite jungle song:

Jungle Trek (set to the tune of “Jingle Bells”)

Jungle trek, jungle trek, in Bukit Lawang!

See the monkeys, see the birds, see orangutan, hey!

Jungle trek, jungle trek, in Bukit Lawang!

See the monkeys, see the Mina – everybody run!

Our final campground – a much larger set-up, complete with a jungle toilet up a small hill. Igor and I couldn’t figure out if it was supposed to be a sit-down or squat, and we didn’t want to ask, because we had already used it. Let me put it this way, Lindsay didn’t sit on that thing – good thing she has good balance.

 

All our cloths hung out to dry from our sweaty, sweaty hike the day before

 

It’s a great morning when you get crepes for breakfast!

 

Leli and Chandra decide to play dress-up with Patrick, and turn him into a “jungle boy”

 

Leli getting very creative with the body paint

 

Lindsay is Leli’s next makeover project – he turns her into a cat!

 

Swimming in the waterfall, where Igor is crowned King of the Jungle!

 

Our final jungle lunch – with lots of FRUITS!

 

We saw several monitor lizards swimming across the river throughout the day

 

This isn’t us, but when it was our turn to head back, we packed up our stuff into waterproof garbage bags, strapped them on to a raft of inner tubes, hopped on board and headed downstream. It was about an hour long ride, hitting a few rapids along the way – definitely a great way to travel in the jungle

 

Final views of Gunung Leuser National Park

While our tube-ride back to Bukit Lawang was pleasantly sunny, a gentle rain started to come down as we headed back to our hotel. Just like the day before, it turned into a full-on downpour by dinnertime, this time preventing us from meeting up with Patrick & Jan for a farewell beer in the village. Instead, we had a quiet dinner at the Orangutan Hotel, and washed our dirty, dirty clothes in our room.

Desperately trying to dry our laundry using our ceiling fan in the jungle humidity

Day 80: Jungle Trek – Day 2

Lindsay and Igor turned out to be the early-birds of our group – while we woke up naturally around 7AM (it was already light out, and Lindsay needed to use the “jungle toilet”), the Germans and our guides were still snoozing until around 9AM. No matter – a pack of curious macaques across the river started eyeing our camp and watching them slowly make their way over to our side to steal some leftover rice from last night’s dinner was a very amusing way to spend the morning.

 

Igor enjoying the sights of the jungle with a morning cuppa

 

Lindsay waiting patiently for the monkeys to cross the river

 

Thieving macaques!

 

Breakfast in the jungle

The first part of our hike led us through the shallow waters of the river – thanks to our stop at the shopping mall in Medan, Igor and Lindsay had good river shoes. Our German friends had both brought flip-flops, which quickly ripped on the slippery rocks, sending both guys into the river.

When we reached the uphill section of the trail, we had a small traffic jam with another trekking group. Since the trail was incredibly steep (70-degree angle – no joke!!!), we waited at the bottom to give the other group a good 45min head start so we wouldn’t bottleneck in a bad location. To pass the time, Chandra hacked up some stray bamboo walking sticks to make “jungle trumpets”! For the next two days, our group was the annoying bunch tooting loud blasts as we tramped through the trees.

 

Jungle arts & crafts – making bamboo horns!

 

Finally reached the top! Seriously – it was like scaling a cliff-face! Thankfully the trail is covered with sturdy tree branches to hoist yourself up

 

Rewarded with lunch at the top of the hill

 

Admiring the flora – a parasitic fig tree whose roots are strangling it’s host tree

 

Thick fig roots – we each had to take a turn climbing the tree

So, we’d had a very good day up until this point, but we hadn’t seen any orangutans yet. While we were sure to see some by the end of the day, could anything really top yesterday? I mean, seven orangutans, including Juney who just milked it for the camera? How could it get better?

Meet Jackie:

 

Jackie – Bukit Lawang’s friendliest orangutan

Jackie is a semi-wild orangutan who – unlike the aggressive Mina – has a reputation for being a bit too friendly. We were warned that she may try to hold our hands – as if that would be a bad thing! Sure enough, after posing for a few pictures Jackie came thundering down from the trees with her little baby in tow and made a beeline for Lindsay’s arm!

 

Taking a picture with Jackie

 

Jackie’s older daughter, who was born in the wild and therefore doesn’t have a name. She’s probably around 7-8 years old. She’s curious about tourists, but keeps her distance

 

Jackie coming down for some one-on-one time

 

JACKIE IS HOLDING LINDSAY’S HAND, OMG THIS IS SO MAGICAL!!!!!

 

OK, it’s been a few minutes – I’d kinda like my hand back now…

 

Guys. She won’t let me go. And she keeps trying to put my hands in her mouth – oh shit, she’s going to bite me – give her some fruit, NOW!

So Jackie is a very clever ape – she has discovered that she can hold tourists hostage (we are so easy to catch, because even when pre-warned, we all secretly want to hold hands with her!) in exchange for fruit and sugar cane sticks by threatening to bite their hands. Chandra and Leli assured us that she never actually bites anyone, but when your fingers are in her mouth, you still get nervous!

 

Chandra and Leli did eventually bribe Jackie to let me go, but not without first getting a group photo

 

Jackie’s newest baby – SO CUTE!!!

 

Jackie had a fierce grip! And she desperately needs a manicure – her nails left a mark on my arm! As soon as she let go of me, she picked her next victim from a new group of tourists

As we continued down the trail toward our campsite, we had one more orangutan encounter – this time with Sooka. Our guides didn’t tell us much about her, they just told us to not make eye contact and walk past her as quickly as possible.

 

Sooka – a surly orangutan – not a favorite of the local guides

Our final camp was not as secluded as the first – this is the main camp that almost all the trekking groups visit (especially 1-night treks). This would be our jumping off point for the river tubing the next day. There were 3 other groups on our side of the river, and another 3-4 on the other bank, so we had a fair amount of company as we jumped in the river for a cool swim.

Unfortunately, the sky opened up and it started to pour right around dinnertime, so we had to forgo a bonfire that night. Our group made the best of it, especially since Leli and Chandra had placed a beer order for the tourists and we each had a double deuce bottle of Bintang! The jungle boys pulled out a deck of cards and proceeded to dazzle us with various magic tricks – “Jungle Magic!”

 

Campground by the river – we were by far and away the rowdiest group, thanks to our jungle trumpets!

Day 79: Jungle Trek – Day 1

After a hearty breakfast, we dropped off our bags at the Oraguntan Hotel and headed across the river to meet up with our guides – Chandra & Leli – as well as our two new German travel companions – Patrick & Jan – before heading into the JUNGLE.

Igor trying out the machete

Before we reached the park entrance, we had a short hike through a rubber tree plantation – it’s kinda sad as rubber tree and palm tree plantations are the #1 cause of deforestation and habitat loss for the orangutans. Plus, the trees absolutely reek – they smell like dirty port-a-potties.

 

To harvest the rubber, the farmers cut open a slice of bark on the tree and set a coconut shell underneath where the latex sap drips out. They collect the shells once a week (Fridays on this plantation) to carry down to the market to sell to the processing factories for a mere 6,000 IDR per kilo (about USD $0.25 per lb.)

Luckily for us, tourism to the national park is proving to be a very lucrative industry to the Bukit Lawang area, and the wildlife in Gunung Leuser is thriving right up to the borders. We were barely at the entrance when we met our first monkey – a Thomas Leaf Monkey.

 

In addition to bilingual wildlife guidelines for tourists, signs at the park entrance implore locals to stop illegal logging to protect the rainforest for future generations.

Greeted by a Thomas’s langur (AKA Thomas Leaf Monkey) at the park entrance

 

Well, Hello Thomas!

During our trek, Chandra and Leli (AKA – “Jungle Boy” and “Mowgli” – their nicknames, not ours!) showed off their extensive knowledge of the jungle, pointing out Giant Forest Ants (only the males would bite Leli when provoked) and termite nests in trees (through they eat wood, they wisely don’t eat the tree that supports their home). Yeah, yeah, very nice…WHERE ARE THE ORANGUTANS?!?!?

 

Bugs.

Gunung Leuser National Park is home to both wild and semi-wild orangutans (beneficiaries of the former rehabilitation and release program, now closed). While we read online that there is a feeding platform where tourists can see orangutans being fed by park rangers (only meant to be a supplement to their forest diet), we were informed that the platform was shut down over a year ago, as the semi-wild population is self-sufficient and no longer needs the extra food. While we didn’t visit the platform, we didn’t need to as we saw a total of 7 orangutans! Some were wild, which meant we only saw them high in the trees (including a 30+ yo male), and some were semi-wild, like “Juney”, pictured below, who got her name because she was supposedly born in the month of June.

 

A curious orangutan named Juney and her baby came over to our group as we were finishing our lunch

We waited around for a while to see if Leuser’s most notorious orangutan, Mina, would show up, but gave up after seeing Juney. Mina is known for being particularly aggressive (she was captive when she was a baby, and was rescued from an abusive owner), and has apparently bitten over half of the guides currently working in the park. After such a pleasant interaction with Juney, the four tourists were happy to call it a day.

 

Juney showing off for the camera – someone wants to be on the cover of National Geographic!

After a very rigorous hike, we reached our campsite for the night – a nice secluded area next to a jungle stream where all the tourists took a much needed dip to cool off (and clean up! We were all smelling pretty ripe). After that, we relaxed until sunset when our fabulous jungle chef, Alan, served us a multi-course Indonesian feast! Including our new favorite: Chicken Rendang!

 

Loving our riverside campsite

 

A cool swimming spot in the jungle

 

Leli getting some tea started in the bush kitchen, next door to our platform tents

 

Eating well in the jungle! Lunch on the hilltop (a fried egg & rice wrapped in banana leaves – eaten too quickly for a picture), followed by a huge dinner spread! Selamat makan!

Day 78: Bukit Lawang

We left Surabaya early in the morning for our flight to Medan, via Jakarta. We were picked up from the airport by a taxi, arranged by our tour provider, Bukit Lawang Jungle Trekking. While the drive to Bukit Lawang was supposed to take an estimated 3 hours from Medan, we weren’t in a huge hurry, and we wanted to see if we could find Igor some quick-drying shoes for the jungle trek (boots are actually not recommended as they are heavy and once they get wet, they stay wet) – so our driver took us to the mall. There were no camping/outdoor stores, but there were plenty of shoe stores, and we found Igor a pair of Adidas trainers. With all our trekking supplies in order, we headed toward the jungle.

Flying over rice paddies on our way to Medan

 

Travelling makes Lindsay very sleepy. Trying to open a cup of water without splashing herself (oops!)

When we arrived in Bukit Lawang, our tour organizer, Dodi, met us at our hotel to welcome us and give us instructions for where to meet our guide the next morning. After paying Dodi the balance of our fee and repacking our bags (we planned to leave our big backpacks at the hotel for two days, and only take the essentials in our two day-bags for the trek), we had the rest of the afternoon free to explore the village.

 

The largest note in Indonesia is the 100,000-rupiah bill – which is only worth about USD $7.50 – so when you need to pay someone USD$400, it ends up looking like you just landed on Boardwalk with three hotels.

 

The Orangutan Room at the Orangutan Hotel – you can see we all have one thing on our minds

 

Macaque monkeys living in our hotel

 

Exploring the streets of Bukit Lawang

 

Crossing the river to the other side of the village

 

A porter taking inner-tubes (AKA “Jungle Taxis”) to the river for the next day’s return trekkers

 

While shopping for water for the next day’s trek, we were followed by three young girls for a couple of blocks before one of the them came up to Lindsay and asked to get a picture with her. After each of the three girls got a pic with the “bule” (Bahasa version of “gringo”), Lindsay insisted on getting a group picture in return

Day 76: Bromo

We were shocked the next morning when there was a knock at our door at 4AM informing us that our Land Cruiser was waiting for us out front! The scammer actually came through! We were sure things would get hairy once we pulled up to the park entrance – the driver started demanding payment for the park entrance fee from a mystery third couple in the car (250K IDR pp for the guy and his mum), Even though this guy had two receipts, one which clearly said, “Bromo fee,” but the driver wasn’t having it and told the guy and his mum to get out of the car. We exchanged looks with the German couple, positive our feeble receipts (neither of which were legible) would also be called into question, but when the driver asked us if we paid already, he simply took our, “Yes!” at face value.

 

Our British companion arguing fruitlessly with the driver and park employees, insisting that his receipt was proof that he paid his entrance fee. Again, no idea how the scribble on our paper was accepted. We continued up the mountain without him, with an army of Land Cruisers riding our tail the whole way

Our party of four continued in the darkness up the mountain to the Terima Kasih Viewpoint platform, where we waited with at least 200 other tourists for the sun to rise. Unlike Mt. Batur in Bali, there was no stadium-style seating – we had to fight for a spot along the railing and defend if with our life if we wanted a clear shot of the sunrise. Luckily for us, most of the tourists were too obsessed with photographing the sun coming up in the East, they all forgot that the Bromo crater was off to the South. We were able to claim a 2-person-sized section of railing, which we shared with Heike and Johannes.

 

All the tourists, obsessively taking pictures of the impending sunrise

 

Igor puts his Russian training to work and stakes his claim to a spot on the railing, facing the Bromo crater, which he shared with our German friends

 

#BromoSunrise #SoManySelfieSticks

 

Getting a killer view of the Bromo crater from our vantage point

 

Bromo Crater at Sunrise

Bromo Panorama

Locals selling souvenirs at the viewpoint

 

Heading back to our Land Cruiser

 

Another photo op on the way down the mountain where we saw a very dedicated bride & groom who must have gotten up before dawn, did hair and make-up, got dressed, and hauled ass up the mountain for their wedding pics

5

Another Bromo Panorama

Our second stop for the morning was the actual Bromo crater. An active volcano, Bromo was spewing lots of sulfuric steam during our visit. According to a sign at the park entrance, visitors are prohibited from going within 1KM of the crater, but just like the sign as the Ijen crater, no one stops you from going further “at your own risk”. All the Land Cruiser dutifully parked 1KM from the crater, and told us we could continue on foot, or ride a horse for 150K IDR. As we were in no hurry, our foursome decided to walk toward the deadly fumes.

 

Following the letter of the law – the cars did not take us closer than 1KM of the crater – but no one was there to stop us from going further on foot (or horseback, if we were so inclined)

 

Climbing the final steps to the crater edge

 

Really strong sulfur fumes at the edge – since we had no gas masks this time, we knew we couldn’t stay long. I snapped a picture of this sign, assuming it said, “Danger,” or some warning about safety. Nope – Bahasa translation says, “Please do not throw rubbish into the crater unless they are religious offerings.” Apparently local Hindus still throw in sacrifices during their holy ceremonies every year. Luckily for me, Igor did not understand Bahasa, and didn’t throw me in.

 

Walking along the rim of the Bromo Crater – ’cause we’re young, foolish, and childless

 

Snapping more pics of this poisonous beauty

Inside the Bromo Crater

 

Heading back down to the safe-zone – past the Hindu Temple (not open to visitors – not sure if that’s because of its religious significance, or it’s because the temple is within the 1KM no-go zone)

 

We were feeling a bit peckish, as we hadn’t had breakfast yet, so we bought a bunch of bananas from a local peddler on the mountain top, who insisted we take a photo with him

 

Our car – one of many Land Cruisiers (boo – all Toyotas – no American Jeeps!) – ours read 376K+ KM on the odometer, and our driver told us it had rolled over the 1M KM mark already!

We returned to the hotel for a full breakfast at the Café Lava Restaurant, before catching our (packed) minibus back to Probolinggo. We got to the train station 2 hours early, but it’s better to be too early than too late, right? Besides, there was a mama and baby goat playing on the tracks to entertain us.

 

Breakfast buffet and balcony view from the Café Lava Restaurant

 

Our driver wrapped all our luggage in tarp and tied it onto the roof of the minibus, as it was a full-house inside. Luckily for us, there was no rain!

 

Tickets in hand, waiting for the train to Surabaya, watching a baby goat prance gleefully around it’s mama

Our “Eksekutif” car was full of sickies this time. Busting out the surgical masks ’cause we don’t got time to get sick!

When we got to Surabaya, we checked-in to the JW Marriott (after passing through security which included a bomb-sniffing dog and metal detector), and allowed the woman at the check-in desk to upsell us to an Executive Suite with lounge access. Hey – sometimes you just gotta #TreatYoSelf!

EXECUTIVE SUITE, BITCHES!

 

Enjoying a “dinner” of hors d’oeuvres, and open bar in the Executive Lounge at the JW Marriot in Surabaya. I didn’t even care that the sparkling was Moscato – THERE WAS WINE – so I was happy

Day 75: Journey to Bromo

Another travel day! We finally said a reluctant farewell to the Bangsring Breeze (we tried to calculate what it would cost us to spend the rest of the trip there – while still cheaper than living in Manhattan, it just didn’t make sense), and got in the hotel car for the train station.

Despite our ticket-buying issues, we found the rest of the train experience to be incredibly simple: we exchanged our receipt from the Indomart kiosk at the train station ticket counter for our actual tickets without a problem, and boarded our “Eksekutif” class car headed for Probolinggo – a 3 hour ride away.

 

Our first train ride in Java!

 

Very impressed with the Executive Class – two chargers at every seat, plus a TV with cartoons for kids. Can’t say American trains are any better. (Granted, we were in third most expensive car – not sure what “Ekonomi” would have been like…

 

Enjoying the view, as we wiz through the county side

The real challenge came when we arrived in Probolinggo: we had to get ourselves from the train station, across town to the public bus station to get on a bus to Cemoro Lawang (the town at the entrance to Mt. Bromo). Igor had done his research, and was aware of the many scammers that target tourists trying to get to Bromo: they will do just about anything to prevent you from boarding and paying for only the public bus.

While there were several dozen Western tourists who got off the train at Probolinggo with us, by the time we stopped to buy our ticket to Surabuya for the next day, they had all dispersed, leaving us by ourselves outside the train station. For once, there was not a single taxi driver in sight. As we started to wander off into the street, a rickshaw driver tried to get us as a fare – we told him, “No thank you – we are going to the bus station,” so he lead us over to a nearby bemo. We asked MULTIPLE TIMES to verify, “You are taking us to the public bus?” Igor even pulled the bus station up on his phone and pointed to it – “Bus Station?” “Yes, yes, public bus,” we were told. As we sat down, a local stuck his head in the window and told Igor, “Hey brother, they’re going to rip you off.”

Sure enough, the bemo des NOT take us to the public bus terminal, but to a tour agency instead. At first, Igor refused to get out of the bemo, insisting that the driver take us to where we wanted to go, pointing at his phone to prove we were not in the correct spot. First, the travel agent tried to convince us that the public bus would make a second stop here – yeah right. When he told Igor that he would only charge 50K IDR to go to Bromo (the public bus cost USD$1.50 less), we figured arguing with them would not be worth the trouble. We let the travel agent sell us a package that included return transfer to Cemoro Lawang, a pre-dawn pick-up in a Jeep to visit the sunrise viewing platform and black sand crater at Bromo, plus park admission for 400K IDR pp (around USD$65 total). Since the park entrance fee is a fixed 250K IDR pp fee, we calculated that the package was not a bad deal…if this guy actually follows through on his promise!

 

Igor is very suspicious of this bemo driver…and with good reason! This is NOT the bus station – but sometimes you just have to relax and accept that you are going to get a little ripped off in Indonesia. Is it worth your time and energy to get upset over USD$10-20? No.

 

This travel agent is giving us a decent package…if we trust that the chicken scratch on this piece of paper means anything…

As we were finishing up our transaction, another bemo dropped off a German couple – the next victims! Heike and Johannes fell victim to the same scam – misery loves company! We became travel companions for the rest of the trip to Bromo, and honestly – a couple new friends makes the whole experience of getting ripped off much easier to bare.

The four of us got into our private transfer and headed up toward Bromo. It was an estimated 2hr drive up the mountain. About halfway up, the sky opened up and POURED. This was the worst downpour we have seen during our trip: the streets were suddenly turned into rivers – not exactly what you want to happened when you are careening up the mountain in a minivan without seatbelts. Since the minivan was not air-conditioned, the windshield soon started to fog up – the driver constantly had one hand on the wheel, while the other was trying to wipe away a small view space. That, plus the leaky roof and windows dripping water on us and our bags, made us start to regret we spent our buffer day for weather at the resort in Banyuwangi.

 

Can you see out this windshield? ‘Cause we couldn’t! Don’t know how the driver made it up there in one piece.

 

The German couple had already booked a room at the Café Lava Hostel through the travel agent, so the minivan dropped us all off there. We had intended to shop around the various hotels when we arrived in Cemoro Lawang, but due to the downpour we decided the hostel was good enough for one night.

 

We hid in our room for the rest of the afternoon, trying to dry off and stay warm until the rain stopped. We finally had a bit of a break after sunset, so we met up with our German friends at the Café Lava Restaurant for dinner and more than a few beers.

Days 73 & 74: Ijen & Downtime at the Bangsring Breeze

For our sunrise hike at the Ijen Volcano we had to leave our hotel just after midnight, so we really only had a few hours’ nap, rather than a “night’s sleep”. We were joined by Charlotte & Steven – a Belgian couple who were also staying at the Bangsring Breeze on their honeymoon – met up with our guide, and hopped into a Jeep for the 2hr drive to the Ijen trailhead.

Once we got to the volcano, we had another hour hike up the trail to the crater edge. About ¾ of the way up, we started to smell the strong odor of sulfur. Soon, it was overpowering, and all the Westerners had to put on the gas masks provided by our guide. Unfortunately, Lindsay’s mask wasn’t working, so she had to rent one from a local miner who brought extra masks to make some extra revenue from the tourists for 50K IDR.

When we got to the edge of the crater, there was a huge “DANGER – TOXIC GAS” sign. Our guide told us it was not recommended to go further, and if we do so, it would be at our own risk. The Belgian couple apparently had a lot to live for, and they decided to remain at the crater edge. But Lindsay and Igor had come all this way to see the blue flames – if the only place to see them was inside the crater, then down we would go! Besides, there were at least another 50+ tourists and guides already inside the crater, plus the miners themselves – how dangerous could it really be? (Note: very dangerous – we heard later that a French tourist died from the fumes a few days later)

 

Descending into the toxic fumes of the Ijen Crater – we are not so bright sometimes

It was an incredibly steep descent (45-degree angle at times!), and we had to keep an eye out for miners coming up the trail – given they were precariously balancing between 150-200lbs of sulfur chunks on two wicker baskets across their shoulders, they clearly deserved the right of way. Once we were at the bottom, we could see actual mining at work: the liquid sulfur pours out of fissures in the crater, while pipes of water help cool it down quickly. The miners then break the new blocks of sulfur into chunks that will fit in their baskets. The blue flames are the result of the released sulfuric gas reacting with the oxygen in the air. The steam created by the mining water pipes kept the flames mostly obscured, but every now and then, the wind shifted a bit and we got a clearer view.

 

Miners working to collect the newly solidified sulfur

 

And handful of miners used plastic molds to create sulfur trinkets to sell to tourists for supplemental income. Otherwise, they are dependent on lugging wicker baskets filled with sulfur up the crater’s edge, plus another 2km down the trail until the path is wide enough to use a wheelbarrow. Each worker makes about USD$15/day, making two trips per night on average.

 

The blue flames of Mt. Ijen – looks like Harry Potter’s Goblet of Fire!

Our photos of the blue fire weren’t quite as close-up and clear as what we had seen online – our guide asked us if we would like to climb further into the crater to get a better look. We agreed and started to head over, when all of a sudden the wind shifted to the other direction and surrounded us in a cloud of sulfuric steam. It was awful – even with the gas masks, our throats were burning, our eyes were stinging and we started coughing uncontrollably. We quickly turned back and clambered back out of the crater as quickly as possible. When we reached the edge, we reunited with the Belgian couple (healthy and safe right where we left them) and started heading back down the trail as the sky brightened around us.

 

Dawn at the Ijen crater – while there is a good sunrise viewing area, it required another 30min ascent, and our group was too tired after our escape from the sulfur cloud

The lunar-like atmosphere at the top of Ijen

 

The volcano’s fumes are visibility apparent in the morning light – time to leave this death-trap!

 

As we walked down, we were passed by a miner heading down the mountain with a load of sulfur for sale

 

Some of the miners also make extra income by carrying tourists down the trail in their wheelbarrows for 150K, which is the equivalent of a day’s wages. Belgian Steven had a bad knee that hurt when going downhill, so he hired a lift to the bottom, basically earning his “taxi” a day off

We had another 2hr drive back to the hotel, but still arrived in time for a delicious breakfast. The rest of the day was free for relaxing poolside and riding the hotel’s bicycles down to the beach. We were enjoying ourselves so much we didn’t want to leave…so we decided not to. We had built in an extra day for our next location just in case we got bad weather. We looked at the weather forecast and decided another day in paradise was worth the risk of rain.

 

A breakfast that is happy to see us!

 

Checking out the beach in Banyuwangi – apparently there is pretty good snorkeling at an island offshore (you can hire a water taxi at the beach), but truth be told we were too lazy to make the trip. Another couple we met mentioned there are tons of small sharks in the water too – little bummed we missed that

 

The hotel was far from town, but we thought the remote location was a plus – we were surrounded by fields of corn & sugarcane

 

Heading back to the hotel we passed farmers carrying their harvest on ojeks. Once we hit the mosque, we realized we had gone too far – not only was it visually striking, it was also very LOUD. In fact, there were at least 3 mosques within earshot of the Bangsring Breeze, and all three were broadcasting competing messages from dawn until late at night

 

After some helpful locals pointed us in the right direction (as the only Westerners in town, and the only people on bicycles rather than ojeks, we stood out), we got back to the hotel just in time for sunset

The only thing we had to do our second day at the Bangsring Breeze was drive into town to buy our train tickets to Probolinggo for the next morning. The hotel staff were super helpful – looking up the timetables for us, driving us into town (free of charge!), and waiting very patiently as we tried to navigate the ticket kiosk at the local Indomart (no joke – it took us four attempts to finally purchase the tickets). The rest of the day was spent in complete leisure – enjoying our beautiful room, eating a delicious dinner, and playing a round of pool.

Igor trying to buy train tickets from the mini-mart kiosk. While it was in English, our submissions kept getting rejected: Lindsay’s full name was too long; two people can’t have the same phone number; wrong seating class selected, etc. Unfortunately, there are no error messages or back buttons – you have to completely fill out the form each time before you find out if it will go through or not. If it doesn’t go through you have to start all over again

 

Because we opted to stay an extra night, the hotel had to switch our room as new guests had requested our original room. The new room had a killer view, so we had no complaints!

 

The new room also had a private *outdoor* bathroom – great for doing laundry!

 

Beautiful room and fast Wifi – travelers don’t need much more to be happy

 

Evening at the Bangsring Breeze

 

LOVED the food here – we tried a new dish every night and were never disappointed.

 

Let the record show that Igor has redeemed himself by soundly whooping Lindsay’s ass at pool. Well done, honeybunny.

Day 72: Journey to Java

Today was a pure travel day – we had to get to the Gilimanuk Ferry at the Western-most tip of Bali by evening, at which point our next hotel would send a shuttle to pick us up in Banyuwangi. Our taxi driver quoted us 700K IDR for the trip, but we decided we were not in a hurry and we’d try taking the public bus instead. The Pan Pacific offers a free shuttle bus to the mall in Kuta, but unfortunately guests are not allowed to use it the day they check out (I guess they want to prevent people from using it as a cheap ride to the airport – like us!), so we got a metered taxi to take us to the Ubung Bus Terminal, just outside Kuta.

Once the taxi dropped us off, we realized we needed to find an ATM, as we needed cash to pay for the next hotel and an excursion planned for the next day. Of course, the one time we need an ATM, is the one time there is no ATM in sight! We used Igor’s cell to try and locate a bank, and ended up wandering around the Ubung area in the mid-day heat with all our bags, without success – each ATM we found was either out of order, or just spit out our debit card without explanation.

On top of that, we were once again surrounded by dozens of taxi drivers, all hanging around the bus terminal to hustle for fares. Every single step we took, someone was in our face asking, “Where are you going?” “Mister, where are you going?” “Miss, where are you going?” Igor was trying too hard to be polite, and kept responding, “No thank you, we don’t need a taxi,” while Lindsay kept telling him to channel his Inner New Yorker and just ignore them. She finally got so frustrated, she shook her fists and yelled, “I’M GOING ACROSS THE STREET!” to a hapless taxi driver. Whatever – they backed off after that.

We got on the bus to Gilimanuk (100K IDR) for our 4-hour drive up the Bali coast. The ride was very similar to our experience in Flores – a bus attendant hanging out the open door throughout the trip, calling out, “Gilimanuk!” Every now and then a local would hop on or off, squeezing into the seats between Lindsay & Igor – it got a little cozy at times, but Igor was having a blast, hanging out the back door and snapping photos of the rice fields we passed along the way. We were the only tourists on the bus, and all the local seemed to find us strange – laughing when we kept taking pictures of the scenery.

 

Taking the public bus from Ubung to Gilimanuk

 

Lindsay kept falling asleep during the 4-hour ride

 

Igor enjoying his open-door access

 

“Gilimanuk! Gilimanuk!”

 

Water-filled rice fields along the road to Gilimanuk

 

Not sure why these rice fields are wet when Tegalalong & Jatiluwih fields are dry – but they sure are pretty!

We arrived at the ferry just in time for sunset. We bought our tickets (6K IDR), walked on board, and enjoyed the hour-long ride from the top deck of the boat. While the crossing only took about 15min, for some reason there was a traffic jam of other ferries from Gilimanuk all trying to dock at the same time. We couldn’t figure out the sequence of which ferry was next in line – organized chaos at work once again. When we got out of the ferry terminal in Banyuwangi, we quickly found our driver…and an ATM! Flush with cash, we headed to our hotel – the Bangsring Breeze. Just when we thought we had left the nicest hotel of our trip, the bar just got raised a LOT higher. Instead of being just another guest in a massive cruise ship-sized resort, we were one of three at a really high-end boutique hotel (maximum occupancy is five rooms). Our palatial room felt like a honeymoon suite!

 

View of sunset over the island of Java – our next destination after Bali

Boarding the ferry to Banyuwangi

 

Watching our slow progress from the top deck

 

Bye, Bali! Hello, Java!

 

Our room at the Bangsring Breeze