Climbing Volcanoes & Diving with the Ray’s

We booked a two day trip to visit Mt Bromo and the Ijen crater (sulphur mine) from Yogyakarta. This trip included all transport along the very potholed ‘roads’, lovely expensive hotels (but they are in the middle of nowhere) and two breakfasts consisting of bread, jam and a tiny inch long banana and the next day a boiled egg and a chocolate sprinkles sandwich – just what you want when you’re about to visit a sulphur mine!

Mt Bromo was amazing, we had a jeep transport us just before sunrise to a viewpoint high up in the nearby mountains where we saw all three volcanoes in the area surrounded in low lying mist slowly being lit up as the sun turned the sky pink to clear bright blue. After an hour and a half and the sun firmly in the sky the jeep took us down to the base of Mt Bromo so that we could climb to the top (there are sand covered steps) and peer into the smoking crater. We liken the landscape to how you would imagine Mars or the Moon to look just desolate desert stretching for miles in every direction.

The following morning we visited Mt Ijen where there is an active sulphur mine. Upon arrival we climbed up an exhausting 3km track along with some of the very friendly miners some of whom were on their third trip to reach the crater and then we descended to the bottom of Ijen’s interior to admire the turquoise sulphur lake and all the hard work transpiring at the mine. We found the trip hard work but the miners do it all whilst carrying up to 100kg (H&S Regulations?!) of sulphur freshly chiselled from the bowels of Ijen and they earn about $13 (US Dollars) a day for their efforts, yet still they have the cheer to say “hello” whenever you pass them!!! Kat and I both think that the miners keep a tally of nationalities somewhere as every one of them asks you “Where are you from?” and then nods sagely at your response. It was a fantastic trip and testament to the human spirit that the miners can wake up each morning and do 3 or 4 more trips. As with all of Java the scenery was amazing.

We caught the ferry over to Bali later that day and made our way to Sanur which is described in our collection of used pages from 2005’s Lonely Planet as ‘Kuta with a Cardigan’ – what a lovely description! Kuta is a bit of a rough and ready beach resort for heavy drinkers looking for sun, sea and surf. Sanur has all this but with a bit more class and naturally, higher price tags L First impressions of Bali are that it’s a lot more built up than Java (besides Jakarta) and traffic seems congested in the main cities but there is still beautiful coastlines, coconut trees and rice paddies to brighten up the views.

The main reason we stopped in Sanur besides a day off from travelling every day and early sunrise starts was to get the slow boat over to Nusa Lembongan to do some more dives. Little did we know when we booked the ticket and got told to turn up at 7:30am the next day that we were still running on Java time which is an hour behind Bali – we did think the sun went down early! So we missed the first slow boat but luckily transferred to the 10:30 boat with no issues except for the locals laughing at us.

Nusa Lembongan is a small island with a penchant for seaweed cultivating / harvesting to be exported and then used in cosmetics, shampoos etc. I think we were expecting another Perhentian Islands (where we dived in Malaysia) experience with nearly deserted beaches and a handful of guesthouses and cafes so were initially disappointed with the small boats everywhere, coral strewn beaches and rectangular patches of seaweed filled sea (like a farm’s fields) and the island seemed pretty built up and busy. Then we realised how great it is to sit back and watch the local seaweed fishermen go about collecting, drying, packing and replanting their seaweed in the crystal clear waters and the tourism hasn’t affected this one little bit.

This morning we did 2 freezing cold dives (18 degrees at one point!) with the main aim of seeing Manta Rays and what a sight they were as they gracefully swooped over our heads! The biggest was about 2.5 – 3 meters long and there were about 5 or 6 rays in the area we dived which is a cleaning station for the Rays. The next dive had a visibility of 25 meters and the coral and fishes we saw were so vibrant because of the clear water. We had some fairly strong currents and it was distractingly cold but it was another great dive.

We’re now weighing up whether to do some more dives in the area before we head back to Bali and meet Kat’s mum on the 16th. In the meantime I think we’ll enjoy island life some more.

Love Chris & Kat xxx

End of Malaysia, A Memorable Entrance to Singapore & Java First Thoughts

So our return to Kuala Lumpur was soured by us both picking up the flu!  We stayed a couple of days to organise a few things (like our Indonesia visa and picking up the fixed Sony Camera) but then once both us could survive without being next to a toilet we headed to Melaka!  Melaka was where we chose to recuperate and as we were both still a little ill, we decided to spend almost a week there – almost unheard of for us to stay somewhere so long!  It’s a nice little town, full of history of English, Portuguese and Dutch invasions, full of culture having a China town and a Little India and it had nice cafes, a big shopping mall and home comforts such as Pizza Hut for when we started to eat again!  We didn’t do a lot but the week went quickly and soon we were feeling well enough to move on again.

Our next destination was Singapore.  We had been very lucky and met a lovely English couple (hello Alice & Con) when we were in the Perhentian Islands and they very kindly offered us their spare room in Singapore!  This was great news as Singapore is expensive.  As any good house guest we brought a bottle of wine with us as thanks; not realising that you are not allowed to bring anything over from Malaysia to Singapore!  So we got stopped at the border, Chris got taken into a room and after some form filling the great ‘fine city’ issued him with a $8 bill and we were on our way...or so we thought!  The bus had only gone and left us there!  And we had only 1ringgit and 1Singapore Dollar (courtesy of Canadian Kyle) and not an ATM in sight.  After a minor panic, lots of pacing up and down and worried looks, a coach driver took pity on us and let us on his bus for the measly 70p we owned!  Sadly his bus went in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be – but we made it into Singapore and to Alice & Con, only a mere 2hours later than planned – they appreciated the wine too.

Pulau Ubin

We had a great few days in Singapore.  We enjoyed a walk, hawker food, beers and some drunken tree climbing on our first night at the East Coast Park.  On the 2^nd day Alice & Con took us to the beautiful Pulau Ubin.  We went over on a bumboat from the mainland and then hired bicycles to explore the island.  We admired the scenery, from turquoise lakes to the mangroves and we saw plenty of wildlife; hornbills (!) monkeys, lizards, fiddler crabs with their one huge pincer and lung fish - it was great.  The 3^rd day we explored the marina area to see the skyscrapers, shopping malls, theatres and huge casino that has 3 hotel blocks with a huge boat lying on the top of them on the 57^th floor – it was very Vegas!  Our last day we decided to go to the zoo as so many people have told us how good it is and it didn’t disappoint.  The enclosures are all quite big (the Orang-utans are free roaming) and the animals seem well stimulated.  We spent the whole day there, mostly entertained by the various monkeys, gibbons & apes!  We also saw Komodo Dragon being fed, Giant tortoises, White Tigers and Pygmy Hippos to name but a few! For our last evening we were spoilt by Alice & Con and we got taken to an Ex-pat place that did amazing egg, chips & beans and had a big cider collection!  We enjoyed a Westons Cider & a Hobgoblin – oh how we’ve missed them!

Over to Java and back to haggling Asia!  We had almost forgotten what it was like after being spoilt in Malaysia!  Everyone has been very friendly so far, although they normally want to sell you something!  We have done a lot of travelling so far, as we didn’t want to spend much time in Jakarta.  The trains have been really nice as we’ve plumped for slightly more expensive business class (less chickens & goats!), the journeys scenic – paddy fields, hills, volcanoes and coconut trees and the temperature has been surprisingly pleasant, not nearly as sweaty as we expected!  We are now in Yogyakarta which has a nice backpack feel to it.  We went to Borobudur today, a cool Buddhist Temple which has dozens of latticed stupas (look like bells) which each contain a Buddha.  The scenery was amazing with volcanoes in the distance and the early morning light (we were there at 6am!) made it look all the more impressive.

Next we head to Mount Bromo (a volcano) and another early morning wake up; as every tourist knows – you need that sunrise picture for your collection!

Lots of Love K&C xxxxxxxxxxxxx