Mmm. we have just been for a gorgeous meal. We went for a glorious five course meal at a restaurant overlooking the beach, well one of them anyway. It was simply divine. Rather than write down a blow by blow description, the degustation menu can be viewed here:
http://www.watermarkrestaurant.com.au/
So now I am sitting on the couch nursing my full stomach and pretending I have a burning need to update my blog. I am sure that our shopping session this morning means that I can get away with eating that much. I decided I had a burning need to get more small tops as my wardrobe is fairly heavy on technical fabrics and I don't think I will be doing that much hiking. So now I have some pretty small dresses and a lovely pair of shorts that would have been deemed indecent in muslim countries. Hopefully I can get them all in my rucksack. Maybe I should make sure Duncan has some space in his luggage for all my crap...
Tomorrow I am being entrusted with Alice as Liz had some extra work lined up. I am planning a visit to the zoo to try and wear her out by the power of animals. As the zoo is on a rather steep hill I may just wear myself out pushing her buggy up and down. I suspect I may need an afternoon nap more than she does. Apart from that our plans involve more eating and bit more running around after a toddler. I head off on Sunday morning and get to Rarotonga a day before I take off. I love time differences.
I made it out for a few days this week and hired a car and headed off to the Blue Mountains. After an initial battle with the hire car and some help from a passer by (well, I have never driven an automatic before) I managed to get out of Sydney reasonably easily and had a two hour drive. First of all I stopped off in Katoomba, which has the main sites. The blue mountains are a massive national park with miles and miles of rainforest and red stone escarpments. I set off from the main viewpoint and had a short wander to the Three Sisters which are massive fingers of rock jutting out into the valley. There were some steps beside them marked "for strong walkers only" and I set off down. After 40 minutes I got to the bottom of the stairs and my thighs felt like they may give way. Luckily it was a lovely flat walk after that through the forest to the cable car to take you back off. I was just glad not to have to face the stairs again. There was also a walk through the rainforest on a raised board path which was nice if busy.
I set off after this for Megalong Hertage Park where I was booked in to a B&B and a 2 hour horse ride the next morning.
http://www.megalongcc.com/
It is a huge ranch in a valley surrounded by the mountains. It was really beautiful but I was a bit nervous when the woman checking me in announced that it was only me that would be there that night and "she would not want to stay out there all alone". I suddenly felt like perhaps I was in the opening scenes of a horror movie and the freaky inbred locals would be coming to torture me forthwith. Luckily I was fine and am obviously still alive although I did have a few moments watching tv in the giant lounge with the door that would not close, never mind lock.
The next day was brilliantly suny and all thoughts of horror films were suitably banished from my mind. Instead I got on a lovely horse called Paula and headed out with Lisa, the girl from the farm. We were riding on horses traditionally used in trotting races. This largely meant that most of their movement at speed was straight up and down ie damn bouncy. It was a really lovely ride though and the horses were great. Afterwards my legs were screaming as I am totally out of condition and I couldn't face a long walk. Instead I headed to a spot on the map marked as "Edinburgh Castle Rock". Nothing like the original but very pretty.
So I finally headed back to Sydney and even managed to get back to Liz and Craigs without getting lost or causing an accident.
Rabu, 26 September 2007
Sabtu, 22 September 2007
Lovely lovely week in Australia
Well first of all we had a day like the old days (ie when we all stayed up far too late and shared hangover days). Basically Alice had been very sick in the night and Liz and Craig had managed about three hours sleep each. On top of this Craig was recovering from some sort of vileness (probably the same as the baby). So we all spent a very pleasant and relaxing day chilling and waiting for bedtime.
It was really quite amazing getting used to mod cons. I haven't seen a big fluffy towel for a very long time, and it was great to have a proper hot shower again, never mind a lovely comfy bed with a great big warm duvet (or doona as they are called here). It is also great to see Liz and Craig again and have a proper catch up.
We have been having a great time and done all the proper tourist sites: Opera House, the bridge, and had a great day visiting the Hunter Valley to visit all the lovely vineyards. It really makes a difference when you get to try lots of really good quality wine in one day. Obviously I had a to buy a couple.
Today I tried to go diving. I failed to get onto one of the cruises to the Whitsundays but the ones that went to the great diving sites were sadly full so instead I went on a trip a bit nearer to Sydney. It was advertised as a seal trip to go and play with wild seals south of Sydney. Sadly the seas were huge so we could not make it to the seal location. Instead we stopped at a site with rather large swell. I had been coping fine with the sea on the journey but as soon as we stopped to get our gear together I came over all peculair and was quickly throwing up over the side. Graceful as ever. Luckily I managed not to hit anyone as the wind blew it all back over the boat. Charming as well.
We jumped into the sea and I nearly went in to shock over the cold. Its not quite the same as the 27 degree waters of Indonesia. After five minutes of hyperventilation we went down. There was about 22 people on the trip in four groups and it quickly got quite confused. It turns out I actually lost my dive partner after five minues but I didn't realise properly until I came up. the problem was that we all had matching dive gear so it was a bit tricky to keep my eyes on her. Lovely dive though and lots of interesting fish, wobegon and port jackson sharks. The second dive was much better and we managed to stay together but was incredibly thankful to get back to the surface as I was shaking like a leaf in 15 degree water. In fact I was fairly thankful to get back to the shore generally without any more sea sickness.
It was really quite amazing getting used to mod cons. I haven't seen a big fluffy towel for a very long time, and it was great to have a proper hot shower again, never mind a lovely comfy bed with a great big warm duvet (or doona as they are called here). It is also great to see Liz and Craig again and have a proper catch up.
We have been having a great time and done all the proper tourist sites: Opera House, the bridge, and had a great day visiting the Hunter Valley to visit all the lovely vineyards. It really makes a difference when you get to try lots of really good quality wine in one day. Obviously I had a to buy a couple.
Today I tried to go diving. I failed to get onto one of the cruises to the Whitsundays but the ones that went to the great diving sites were sadly full so instead I went on a trip a bit nearer to Sydney. It was advertised as a seal trip to go and play with wild seals south of Sydney. Sadly the seas were huge so we could not make it to the seal location. Instead we stopped at a site with rather large swell. I had been coping fine with the sea on the journey but as soon as we stopped to get our gear together I came over all peculair and was quickly throwing up over the side. Graceful as ever. Luckily I managed not to hit anyone as the wind blew it all back over the boat. Charming as well.
We jumped into the sea and I nearly went in to shock over the cold. Its not quite the same as the 27 degree waters of Indonesia. After five minutes of hyperventilation we went down. There was about 22 people on the trip in four groups and it quickly got quite confused. It turns out I actually lost my dive partner after five minues but I didn't realise properly until I came up. the problem was that we all had matching dive gear so it was a bit tricky to keep my eyes on her. Lovely dive though and lots of interesting fish, wobegon and port jackson sharks. The second dive was much better and we managed to stay together but was incredibly thankful to get back to the surface as I was shaking like a leaf in 15 degree water. In fact I was fairly thankful to get back to the shore generally without any more sea sickness.
Selasa, 18 September 2007
Numpty times part two
Thank heavens Liz and Craig are good friends. I managed to tell Liz the correct date that my flight took off. Sadly I didn't work out I would land the day later. So when they turned up at 6.00am on Sunday they were somewhat discombobulated when I did not arrive. And then worried when I had not turned up two hours later. I was having a lovely time packing up in Jakarta and so did not have my phone switched on to get the messages. Ooops.
Luckily a kind airline person broke the laws of data protection and checked when I was meant to get there. Cue me feeling REALLY guilty when I checked my emails when I got to Singapore. I think they have forgiven me. At least they didn't wind me up for hours about it which I probably would have deserved. Meanwhile I had a nice relaxing time in Jakarta, mainly relaxing in the hotel as there was not really anything I fancied doing.
Yesterday we were all knackered as Craig had been unwell and Alice Rose (their daughter) had been puking in the night and keeping Liz awake. I only had about three hours sleep so was perfectly happy to relax nd chill out. Today we have done the big tourist sites, the opera house, the botanic gardens and a walk around the sites of the centre. Its really nice to spend some time not doing much and not having to make lots of decisions any more.
Luckily a kind airline person broke the laws of data protection and checked when I was meant to get there. Cue me feeling REALLY guilty when I checked my emails when I got to Singapore. I think they have forgiven me. At least they didn't wind me up for hours about it which I probably would have deserved. Meanwhile I had a nice relaxing time in Jakarta, mainly relaxing in the hotel as there was not really anything I fancied doing.
Yesterday we were all knackered as Craig had been unwell and Alice Rose (their daughter) had been puking in the night and keeping Liz awake. I only had about three hours sleep so was perfectly happy to relax nd chill out. Today we have done the big tourist sites, the opera house, the botanic gardens and a walk around the sites of the centre. Its really nice to spend some time not doing much and not having to make lots of decisions any more.
Sabtu, 15 September 2007
Numpty times quick update
OK, managed to stay awake and not get drunk. ead an awful lot of David Copperfield though. I don't think Yogya has awoken to the joys of cafe culture as the waiters were really confused by my request for three cups of tea (in 3 hours - is she mad!).
So.. .got to the station and was told by multiple people who asked where I was going that the Jakarta train went from platform 3. It was easily found so I hung around and at10.15 (my train was 10.30) a big train pulled in. An official type girl checked my ticket and waved me onto a carriage (I blame her for what follows). I walked in to a full carriage full of very sleeping people. So full in fact that my seat appeard to be occupied. Once I had worked out which one was 7d (cos arranging the seats in the order b, a, aisle, d, c makes loads of sense) I had woken up two people. Suspecting they were lying to me I checked tickets and right enough we both had carriage 4 seat 7d. I had a minor panic attack and managed to attract a train official.
By this time there were four of us in the cramped aisle and people trying to get past. I swung round to let someone past just as the train moved off and fell over with my rucksack, right into another sleeping persons lap. My, did he not look happy to see me! I thought I may be chased off the train by a baying crown beating me with their complimentary pillows by this point.
The official looked thankfully quite avuncular and waved me up the train and away from the mess I had created. It turned out that this was ANOTHER train to Jakarta and as we had set off they took me to a nice quiet carriage and told me to settle down for the night. Ahhh. What a relief. I probably would have had a quieter night if the train security guard had not taken a shine to me (short man with a gun so not as rejecting as I may have otherwise been). He kept standing over me smiling and when I awoke and jumped at the sight of him at about three in the morning he tickled me under the chin. Grrrrr. Thankfully that was as far as it went and he came to make sure I knew what station to get off at so I can't be completely unpleasant about him.
Today I have "chilled" out in Jakarta as far as I am able. So far this has invovled drinking coffee at various locations and watching a movie in my hotel room. Hurrah!
So.. .got to the station and was told by multiple people who asked where I was going that the Jakarta train went from platform 3. It was easily found so I hung around and at10.15 (my train was 10.30) a big train pulled in. An official type girl checked my ticket and waved me onto a carriage (I blame her for what follows). I walked in to a full carriage full of very sleeping people. So full in fact that my seat appeard to be occupied. Once I had worked out which one was 7d (cos arranging the seats in the order b, a, aisle, d, c makes loads of sense) I had woken up two people. Suspecting they were lying to me I checked tickets and right enough we both had carriage 4 seat 7d. I had a minor panic attack and managed to attract a train official.
By this time there were four of us in the cramped aisle and people trying to get past. I swung round to let someone past just as the train moved off and fell over with my rucksack, right into another sleeping persons lap. My, did he not look happy to see me! I thought I may be chased off the train by a baying crown beating me with their complimentary pillows by this point.
The official looked thankfully quite avuncular and waved me up the train and away from the mess I had created. It turned out that this was ANOTHER train to Jakarta and as we had set off they took me to a nice quiet carriage and told me to settle down for the night. Ahhh. What a relief. I probably would have had a quieter night if the train security guard had not taken a shine to me (short man with a gun so not as rejecting as I may have otherwise been). He kept standing over me smiling and when I awoke and jumped at the sight of him at about three in the morning he tickled me under the chin. Grrrrr. Thankfully that was as far as it went and he came to make sure I knew what station to get off at so I can't be completely unpleasant about him.
Today I have "chilled" out in Jakarta as far as I am able. So far this has invovled drinking coffee at various locations and watching a movie in my hotel room. Hurrah!
Jumat, 14 September 2007
Yogya (again)
Well, after posting, I met a girl who had done the Merapi trek and decided it was really not for me. Basically you set off at 10pm, and start walking at 01.00am. It takes five hours to get to the top and it is constant uphill in the dark. She lost her guides for a while and was rather worried she may never find them. Also it was largely scrambling up volcanic scree which gets increasingly hot as you get to the top. I wound up going out for dinner with her and it was really good to have some company for an evening.
The next day I set of for Borobodur adamant I would try to stick to public transport and not the chartered bus services for tourists. First I got a becak (small seat on the front of a bike) and asked to go0 to the bus station. He stopped by the side of the road as it was the stop for the bus. Bus stops appear to not exist in Indonesia, you just wave at the bus and it stops for a fraction of a second to haul you in and then speeds off. If you don't have far to go the approach seems to be to hang on to the outside. This took me to the bus station and there I jumped on a slightly bigger bus. It took about three hours in total to get there and cost me the princely sum of 1.20 GBP.
I decided not to stay at Manohara, which is a posh hotel inside the grounds of Borobodur but went for the budget option. Initially I decided to hire a bike to take a look around. Sadly the bike was designed for the little people so I stopped when my knees started to scream and decided to explore on foot. Borobodur is in huge grounds and it is a lovely wander. I found out later that there was a huge disagreement a few years ago as all the locals were ordered off of their land and were only given alternative living arrangements after going on hunger strike. I had a nice time walking around the temple though which takes some time to view all the carvings on the five levels. At the top it suddenly spaces out and there are beautiful views out to the surrounding mountains and the volcano to the south. I was a mystery hit with other visitors and was asked to pose for lots of photos, especially by around sixty girls on a school trip all in matching orange dresses and white headscarves. It was tiring being a celebrity so I headed back to the guest house for a beer. Over dinner I had a lovely chat with Ronny and Johnny. Ronny is a politics and English student who was happy to practice his english and Johnny seems to do a lot including owning a shop, teaching English, and being a tour guide.
I agreed to go out with Johnny the next day and had one of the best tours I have ever had. He told me all about the agriculture of the area and then we went to a tofu making village, pottery making village, buddhist monastery, some temples associated with Borobodur, his house and shop for a sign-a-long, the local market, pigeon races and Taoist temple for a fortune reading. The next day I got the bus back to Yogya with a German guy I met over dinner the night before and today I have mainly been making a mess with batik. As I could not find a cookery course I decided to try something else and as there seems to be a lot of batik around I have tried my hand at that. My poor teacher has been very patient and had to remove countless unwanted drips of wax from my bit of fabric. Even with his help my attempt does look very "my first picture", similar to if three year olds tried batik. hey ho.
Right now I am trying to kill time till my train leaves at ten thirty for Jakarta. As I have been going to bed at nine thirty most nights it may take some concentration. The only other option is sitting in a cafe for five hours and there is only so much juice you can drink. I could start on the beer but that way I may never get to the station.
Just a note on the earthquake. Thankfully not felt a whisper here although I believe it was felt in Jakarta which is a huge distance away. The papers here are reporting that there were only two deaths although lots of damage was caused on Sumatra.
So just one more day of Indonesia and then I fly off to see lovely Liz and Craig in Australia. I have had a lovely time here but I am also looking forward to a bit of relative normality and staying in one place for a while. And it will be great to see L&C again obviously.
The next day I set of for Borobodur adamant I would try to stick to public transport and not the chartered bus services for tourists. First I got a becak (small seat on the front of a bike) and asked to go0 to the bus station. He stopped by the side of the road as it was the stop for the bus. Bus stops appear to not exist in Indonesia, you just wave at the bus and it stops for a fraction of a second to haul you in and then speeds off. If you don't have far to go the approach seems to be to hang on to the outside. This took me to the bus station and there I jumped on a slightly bigger bus. It took about three hours in total to get there and cost me the princely sum of 1.20 GBP.
I decided not to stay at Manohara, which is a posh hotel inside the grounds of Borobodur but went for the budget option. Initially I decided to hire a bike to take a look around. Sadly the bike was designed for the little people so I stopped when my knees started to scream and decided to explore on foot. Borobodur is in huge grounds and it is a lovely wander. I found out later that there was a huge disagreement a few years ago as all the locals were ordered off of their land and were only given alternative living arrangements after going on hunger strike. I had a nice time walking around the temple though which takes some time to view all the carvings on the five levels. At the top it suddenly spaces out and there are beautiful views out to the surrounding mountains and the volcano to the south. I was a mystery hit with other visitors and was asked to pose for lots of photos, especially by around sixty girls on a school trip all in matching orange dresses and white headscarves. It was tiring being a celebrity so I headed back to the guest house for a beer. Over dinner I had a lovely chat with Ronny and Johnny. Ronny is a politics and English student who was happy to practice his english and Johnny seems to do a lot including owning a shop, teaching English, and being a tour guide.
I agreed to go out with Johnny the next day and had one of the best tours I have ever had. He told me all about the agriculture of the area and then we went to a tofu making village, pottery making village, buddhist monastery, some temples associated with Borobodur, his house and shop for a sign-a-long, the local market, pigeon races and Taoist temple for a fortune reading. The next day I got the bus back to Yogya with a German guy I met over dinner the night before and today I have mainly been making a mess with batik. As I could not find a cookery course I decided to try something else and as there seems to be a lot of batik around I have tried my hand at that. My poor teacher has been very patient and had to remove countless unwanted drips of wax from my bit of fabric. Even with his help my attempt does look very "my first picture", similar to if three year olds tried batik. hey ho.
Right now I am trying to kill time till my train leaves at ten thirty for Jakarta. As I have been going to bed at nine thirty most nights it may take some concentration. The only other option is sitting in a cafe for five hours and there is only so much juice you can drink. I could start on the beer but that way I may never get to the station.
Just a note on the earthquake. Thankfully not felt a whisper here although I believe it was felt in Jakarta which is a huge distance away. The papers here are reporting that there were only two deaths although lots of damage was caused on Sumatra.
So just one more day of Indonesia and then I fly off to see lovely Liz and Craig in Australia. I have had a lovely time here but I am also looking forward to a bit of relative normality and staying in one place for a while. And it will be great to see L&C again obviously.
Minggu, 09 September 2007
OK so had a few problems with the old blog.
Ropey old internet technologies, eh?
So here I am in Yogyakarta, or Jogja. I got here on Saturday after a fairly crazy bus ride. in between Gili Trawangan and here I spent a few days in Candi Dasa and then a few days in a tiny village near the volcano known as Mount Bromo.
Candi Dasa was quite nice. I dived the libery Wreck which is a WW2 wreck just off the coast (like 20m off the beach). It is now quite stunningly covered inall manner of sea vgetation and full of pretty fishies. I dived with a place called Yes Dive. Would I dive with them again, No! My divemaster was prefectly lovely but their equipment was quite odd. I had to get them to give me different equipement after they tried to put the respirator on upside down and the back up air source didn't work properly. The next one had the tubes coming off of the first stage in an unusual way. My divemaster kept vanishing and swimming off but I coped ok and had a good dive. The biggest problem was that there was quite big surf and the beach was mainly large volcanic rocks. When I tried to stand up with all the kit on to get out a wave hit me and knocked me on my face dragging me over the rocks. I now have the grazed elbows and knees of a five year old.
I also had a bit of a moment when I thought I had lost everything. It turns out that I accidentally packed Beth and Osyth off with my travellers cheques as we had put everything together in a safe. Not realising this I thought I had left them in a hotel. Whilst calling up to stop them in a bit of a panic I couldn't find my passport which sent me off into mild hysterics. The guys at my bunglaows were great and helped me go to the police and make a report and I was very glad off my multiple photocopies. When I went to pack and head to the embassy to gt a replacement what should I find, my passport!!! Great giant numpty. I had put it in a plastic money envelope in my money belt. All a great relief but a terrifying morning. So I mainly took it easy and tried to relax for the rest of the day.
It did mean that I got on great guns with all the guys who worked in the bungalows. They invited me to a meal for another long term guest who was leaving the next day and we had lots of spicy satay and some arak. Arak is scary stuff, it gives you "helicopters above the head" in the words of Nyoman. It also leaves you with a vile hangover based on the experience of Osyth so I managed to not over-imbibe and got to bed reasonably early.
The next day I got to Denpasar (2 hour drive) to be put onto a bus to Probolinngo. All quite straightforward. An older chap came and sat on the seat next to me and nodded hello. Good, thinks I, he does not speak English so I can sleep happily. After 2 hours we got to the ferry for Java. The old chap escorts me around the boat and tries to talk to me. After fifteen minutes he started grabbing me by the wrist and saying something to the other Indonesian men on the bot who all laughed. I went and sat on the bus and when he got back on he slapped some vile smelling stuff on his head, sat down and then tried to snuggle into my arm. Some fairly basic sign language later he was sitting a good two feet away from me and did not give me any further hassle for the next six hours of the trip. It did mean I was not entirely relaxed though. At least it prepared me in some way for attitudes on Java.
He was very polite as he got off the bus and the bus driver was good enough to drop me where I could get transport up to Bromo. I met a lovely girl called Deb in the travel agent and we had a good chat in the minibus to the villages surrounding Bromo (another hour long trip). Needless to say I was knackered by the time I got to the hotel. It was also much colder up the mountains so I went for the luxury of a room with hot water. Deb, a guy there called Chris and a German girl called Nina spent a couple of hours swapping horror stories of touts, optimistic men and places we had been. It was lovely to have a good chat. The area around Probolinngo is famous for rip-offs and tourist hassling tricks.
The next day I took a walk up the mountain to get to the volcaninc rim and from there to gt a look at Bromo. "Up" is definitely the only description for that walk. It was 7km of stright up hill. I was walking through the villages which was nice. All the kids shouting hello, and waving and exchanging nods with people sitting on their steps.
Bromo is an active volcano which sits with a few other active and dormant volcanos in a giant ancient volcano. To get to it you cross the "sea of sand" a wide expanse of black sand with a temple near the volcano. As I dropped down the crater rim a man came up and hired me his pony as my legs were still scremaing from the uphill. Guess I am not as fit as I thought. So I had a lovely leisurely ride across the desert before tining up the pony and climbing the steps to the volcano. The next morning I went up in a jeep to a higher peak to the northwest to watch the sunrise and then back to bromo. Seeingn it in daytime is a very different experience to the tourist frenzy that goes on in the morning. About fifty ponies and their owners flock to very jeep that arrives and tries to convince the occupants to ride a pony. All in a cloud of black sand and early monring fog. Quite crazy.
I had made an error of judgement in deciding to stay there for three days as there was really not that much to do and I finished my book. Luckily Chris had left me Freakonomics which was eally amusing although I finished it after one day. A waiter had offered to take me to some waterfalls. It was about an hours drive on a scooter. Scooter driving in those mountains is a bit like a rollrecoaster ride that goes on forever, with no safety equipment. The waterfalls were stunning though. A 400m drop into a lovely blue pool. I jut wish I had brought my swimming gear. Doo-doo, my driver took me back to the hotel and then tried to talk to me about "the first time he made love with his Stockport girlfriend". It must have made quite an impression on him cos he went a bit odd every time he mentioned it. I decided it was not suitable lunchtime conversation and managed to extricate myself to get the minibus back to Probolinngo and my onward travel to Yogya.
The minibus was also a world of fun. After being moved from a good empty bus to a really busy one we were all asked to get out so that they could replace a flat tyre with a spare. I have never seen such a bald tyre. They then brought a better one and changed it again (thankfully). I eventually got down to the travel agent and spent a few hours waiting for my bus. The agent was a bit crazy and seemed friendly enough until he started stroking my hair and telling me how sweet I am. I pointedly remarked that my boyfriend would probably disagree and that he should bugger off. When the bus did turn up we drove around for an hour before heading off and seeming to go to the same plce three times to pick up various people. I was then driving at great speeds and frequently on the wrong side of the road for 10 hours to gt to Yogya at 5.30 in the morning. Thankfully there was someone in reception and whilst there was not going to be a room free for three hours, they did let me have a sit down and fed me tea.
So here I am in Yogya. I thought it would be a bit more cosmopolitan for the big tourist centre but it is a big, busy and fume filled city. I had also hoped there would be better shopping opportunities so that I could stock up on pretty things and souvenirs. Not really. I may get a fwe of you islamic headscarves as they are quite pretty, apart from that it is leather knock offs and peculiar ornaments. I went to the Sultans palace yesterday which had some fantastic displays of scouting memorabilia of an Indonesian hero.
I did make it to the Prambanam temple complex on the first day and went to a Ramayana dance performance. The tenmples are lovely, although nothing compared to Angkor Wat. I did have lots of fun having my photo taken by Indonesian tourists. Apparently they don't see white people often so I had a large group of men all sit beside me to have their photo taken and then a large family grabbed me for various combinations of family members. Quite odd, but at least I have been famous for five minutes and can amuse everyone back in the village.
I am planning to go to Borobodur tomorrow for the night and then either Dieng Plateau or a walk up Merapi (a very active volcano). I quite like the idea of a trek up merapi, although not sure about the "5 hour uphill slog through spider and snake infested forests" as described in the Rough Guide.
So here I am in Yogyakarta, or Jogja. I got here on Saturday after a fairly crazy bus ride. in between Gili Trawangan and here I spent a few days in Candi Dasa and then a few days in a tiny village near the volcano known as Mount Bromo.
Candi Dasa was quite nice. I dived the libery Wreck which is a WW2 wreck just off the coast (like 20m off the beach). It is now quite stunningly covered inall manner of sea vgetation and full of pretty fishies. I dived with a place called Yes Dive. Would I dive with them again, No! My divemaster was prefectly lovely but their equipment was quite odd. I had to get them to give me different equipement after they tried to put the respirator on upside down and the back up air source didn't work properly. The next one had the tubes coming off of the first stage in an unusual way. My divemaster kept vanishing and swimming off but I coped ok and had a good dive. The biggest problem was that there was quite big surf and the beach was mainly large volcanic rocks. When I tried to stand up with all the kit on to get out a wave hit me and knocked me on my face dragging me over the rocks. I now have the grazed elbows and knees of a five year old.
I also had a bit of a moment when I thought I had lost everything. It turns out that I accidentally packed Beth and Osyth off with my travellers cheques as we had put everything together in a safe. Not realising this I thought I had left them in a hotel. Whilst calling up to stop them in a bit of a panic I couldn't find my passport which sent me off into mild hysterics. The guys at my bunglaows were great and helped me go to the police and make a report and I was very glad off my multiple photocopies. When I went to pack and head to the embassy to gt a replacement what should I find, my passport!!! Great giant numpty. I had put it in a plastic money envelope in my money belt. All a great relief but a terrifying morning. So I mainly took it easy and tried to relax for the rest of the day.
It did mean that I got on great guns with all the guys who worked in the bungalows. They invited me to a meal for another long term guest who was leaving the next day and we had lots of spicy satay and some arak. Arak is scary stuff, it gives you "helicopters above the head" in the words of Nyoman. It also leaves you with a vile hangover based on the experience of Osyth so I managed to not over-imbibe and got to bed reasonably early.
The next day I got to Denpasar (2 hour drive) to be put onto a bus to Probolinngo. All quite straightforward. An older chap came and sat on the seat next to me and nodded hello. Good, thinks I, he does not speak English so I can sleep happily. After 2 hours we got to the ferry for Java. The old chap escorts me around the boat and tries to talk to me. After fifteen minutes he started grabbing me by the wrist and saying something to the other Indonesian men on the bot who all laughed. I went and sat on the bus and when he got back on he slapped some vile smelling stuff on his head, sat down and then tried to snuggle into my arm. Some fairly basic sign language later he was sitting a good two feet away from me and did not give me any further hassle for the next six hours of the trip. It did mean I was not entirely relaxed though. At least it prepared me in some way for attitudes on Java.
He was very polite as he got off the bus and the bus driver was good enough to drop me where I could get transport up to Bromo. I met a lovely girl called Deb in the travel agent and we had a good chat in the minibus to the villages surrounding Bromo (another hour long trip). Needless to say I was knackered by the time I got to the hotel. It was also much colder up the mountains so I went for the luxury of a room with hot water. Deb, a guy there called Chris and a German girl called Nina spent a couple of hours swapping horror stories of touts, optimistic men and places we had been. It was lovely to have a good chat. The area around Probolinngo is famous for rip-offs and tourist hassling tricks.
The next day I took a walk up the mountain to get to the volcaninc rim and from there to gt a look at Bromo. "Up" is definitely the only description for that walk. It was 7km of stright up hill. I was walking through the villages which was nice. All the kids shouting hello, and waving and exchanging nods with people sitting on their steps.
Bromo is an active volcano which sits with a few other active and dormant volcanos in a giant ancient volcano. To get to it you cross the "sea of sand" a wide expanse of black sand with a temple near the volcano. As I dropped down the crater rim a man came up and hired me his pony as my legs were still scremaing from the uphill. Guess I am not as fit as I thought. So I had a lovely leisurely ride across the desert before tining up the pony and climbing the steps to the volcano. The next morning I went up in a jeep to a higher peak to the northwest to watch the sunrise and then back to bromo. Seeingn it in daytime is a very different experience to the tourist frenzy that goes on in the morning. About fifty ponies and their owners flock to very jeep that arrives and tries to convince the occupants to ride a pony. All in a cloud of black sand and early monring fog. Quite crazy.
I had made an error of judgement in deciding to stay there for three days as there was really not that much to do and I finished my book. Luckily Chris had left me Freakonomics which was eally amusing although I finished it after one day. A waiter had offered to take me to some waterfalls. It was about an hours drive on a scooter. Scooter driving in those mountains is a bit like a rollrecoaster ride that goes on forever, with no safety equipment. The waterfalls were stunning though. A 400m drop into a lovely blue pool. I jut wish I had brought my swimming gear. Doo-doo, my driver took me back to the hotel and then tried to talk to me about "the first time he made love with his Stockport girlfriend". It must have made quite an impression on him cos he went a bit odd every time he mentioned it. I decided it was not suitable lunchtime conversation and managed to extricate myself to get the minibus back to Probolinngo and my onward travel to Yogya.
The minibus was also a world of fun. After being moved from a good empty bus to a really busy one we were all asked to get out so that they could replace a flat tyre with a spare. I have never seen such a bald tyre. They then brought a better one and changed it again (thankfully). I eventually got down to the travel agent and spent a few hours waiting for my bus. The agent was a bit crazy and seemed friendly enough until he started stroking my hair and telling me how sweet I am. I pointedly remarked that my boyfriend would probably disagree and that he should bugger off. When the bus did turn up we drove around for an hour before heading off and seeming to go to the same plce three times to pick up various people. I was then driving at great speeds and frequently on the wrong side of the road for 10 hours to gt to Yogya at 5.30 in the morning. Thankfully there was someone in reception and whilst there was not going to be a room free for three hours, they did let me have a sit down and fed me tea.
So here I am in Yogya. I thought it would be a bit more cosmopolitan for the big tourist centre but it is a big, busy and fume filled city. I had also hoped there would be better shopping opportunities so that I could stock up on pretty things and souvenirs. Not really. I may get a fwe of you islamic headscarves as they are quite pretty, apart from that it is leather knock offs and peculiar ornaments. I went to the Sultans palace yesterday which had some fantastic displays of scouting memorabilia of an Indonesian hero.
I did make it to the Prambanam temple complex on the first day and went to a Ramayana dance performance. The tenmples are lovely, although nothing compared to Angkor Wat. I did have lots of fun having my photo taken by Indonesian tourists. Apparently they don't see white people often so I had a large group of men all sit beside me to have their photo taken and then a large family grabbed me for various combinations of family members. Quite odd, but at least I have been famous for five minutes and can amuse everyone back in the village.
I am planning to go to Borobodur tomorrow for the night and then either Dieng Plateau or a walk up Merapi (a very active volcano). I quite like the idea of a trek up merapi, although not sure about the "5 hour uphill slog through spider and snake infested forests" as described in the Rough Guide.
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)