Java (Indonesia)

3 december 2019 - Copacabana, Brazilië

After an 11 hour flight from Athens to Singapore my rhythm was completely different. My original plan was to fly back to Australia but plans changed again and I missed my flight to Perth. I had to wait almost 11 more hours for my next flight to Surabaya in Indonesia. Sleeping at the airport was a problem due the rhythm and shortage of good places to sleep. Finally I found a small kind of sofa and had a bad nap for a few hours. Finally arrived in Surabaya my rhythm was still not how this should be. I couldn’t sleep till around 5am and after that I finally fell asleep.  I had a little bit of a jetleg but was doing not to bad. 

One day later Mariana arrived from Thailand after an horrible bus ride from Jakarta. We met each other in Dubai and didn’t see each other for a bit more than 3 months. We actually decided to relax, plan some things and especially do completely nothing. In the taxi I met a guy who would turn out later our private driver for the next days. After discussing some options we created our final plan. We first wanted to see the sunrise at mount Bromo and  we had to leave in the middle of the night. When we arrived we got a 4x4 transport towards the mountain and after that a scooter to the top. As expected we were not the only persons here. We followed some local looking people in the bushes and arrived at the top, almost no people around here compared to the other places. 

I decided to just sit there, don’t make to much pictures and just enjoy the moment. Mariana was going a lot around and looking for the best pictures. I actually enjoyed to just enjoy the moment instead of being focused on other things. The sunrise was beautiful and there came even smoke out of the vulcano. Beautiful to see the area changing from pitch black to an unexpected green scenic view with mountains and mount Bromo on the background. 

After enjoying the views and taking our time we moved back to the 4x4. This time we stopped at the Bromo crater. After a small walk we ended up on the edge with some incredible views in the crater. Its an impressive crater with different colors and smoke coming out of the middle. After walking and relaxing here a bit we moved on the Madakaripura.

This was an hidden waterfall in between all the rocks and green nature. After a drop off with scooters and a walk we finally arrived the the waterfall. To reach the center they recommended using ponchos to stay dry. Mariana listened to the advise and scammed myself instead of getting scammed. I was completely wet from all the water poring down where we had to walk. At the end this was all worth the journey. The waterfall was high, wide, green and very amazing surrounded by the rocks and incoming light. Very hard to capture the moments with light here on a camera. After laughing about Mariana and her photoshoots with locals we moved on to the next volcano.

Ijen was the name and famous for the hike in the night to see the blue fire. After sleeping half in the car we made our way up with gas masks and our headlights. Everywhere we were surrounded with lights from other people doing the same thing. After hiking a while up the volcano we thought we arrived at our destination. This was not the case and we had to walk down the volcano towards the blue fire. After a climb down there was unfortunately a lot of wind. We still could see the fire but the sulfer smoke was literally smoking us out around the fire. We had to wait till the wind dropped for a few seconds, walk to the fire and moved your ass asap. A few times I stayed to long to make some videos and this caused some coughing attacks. Even the gas mask was not enough in this thick layer of sulfur gas. We made our way slowly up to the edge of the volcano to see the sunrise. Unfortunately this was not the best sunrise we had seen so far due all the clouds in the air. Despite of this we still had an amazing experience at the Ijen and especially the views over the lake by daylight. 

Yogyakarta was our next destination with as main goal to visit the two famous temples from Java, Prambanan and Borobudur. We stayed af an amazing homestay with a lot of friendly people and rented a scooter to make our way around. We decided to go for the sunset at the Prambanan temple included diner. This was the best decision to make and go around this place. Only people with sunset tickets can stay on the complex and the rest of the people have to leave. Thanks to this we had way more time to relax here with less people and better for the pictures of course. This was for my model Mariana the perfect invention. The temple was nice to see, but to fair they know that tourist come here and take full advantage of that price wise. But not only here unfortunately... 

The day after we went to Borobudur. The same idea and we went here for sunset as well. The biggest benefit is that the people disappear together with the sun. At the end we had the whole complex again almost for ourself. Again an other nice temple but to be fair for me, I’ve seen enough temples now. 

With the bus and boat to the island and our final destination called Karimunjawa. We decided to stay here for a week and do absolutely nothing. Just going to the beach, going around on a scooter, see the sunrises and sunsets, some boat and snorkel trips  and especially do nothing and relax a lot. 

After this Island we moved to Jakarta where our ways will seperate again. We had an amazing time together and have to see what the future will bring. For now Im going to Australia to fill my bank account again and Mariana keeps continuing her travels a bit more before going home. 

1 Reactie

  1. Jo en Coba:
    4 december 2019
    Deze reis komt ons heel bekend voor Java was ook een prachtig eiland en nu nog Bali dat is ook zeker de moeite waard
    Groetjes Jo en Coba 😘😍