Indonesia - Java, Sumatra & Bali

Latest News		Photos

Overview

Although we only had four weeks, I loved what we saw of Indonesia and could easily spend four months there. It's definitely the most stunning country we've visited so far and between the various islands, it has just about the entire spectrum of landscapes with mountains, volcanoes, beaches and lakes.

Despite the war, the people were the friendliest we've met. One woman on the bus paid our fare and would have taken us home for dinner had we not been leaving town, simply because we're English and she had lived in Leeds for a couple of years. However, the desire of the numerous students of English to practise their English could be a bit tiresome.

Highlights were the wild Orang-utans in Sumatra, sunrise at Mt Bromo, the dolphins in Lovina and the massages are on the beach. The food's been great – hotter even than Thailand – and, with the exception of Bali where everyone seems intent on making as much money as possible out of whatever tourists they have, incredibly cheap.

On the downside, public transport is a nightmare – rickety old buses, serious overcrowding and - after months of being where helpful drivers and conductors would make sure you got off at the stop you wanted, these guys didn't care where you ended up and we got lost quite often.

We also had our first brush with the law in Bali, when we were stopped and fined (an entire 4 pounds) by the police for riding a motorbike with no license. Ooooops.

25 March

•   Not much new to report since I last wrote, cos all we've been doing is lazing on the beach, swimming - although there are too many waves to actually swim - reading and enjoying plenty of cold beer in preparation for Oz.

24 March

•   Ubud was cool though a bit pricey for us poor travelling pikeys. A place it would be great to go with loads of money - beautiful art, carvings, restaurants and spas.

•   Before we left, we rented bikes and cycled out to an ancient temple (Gunung Kawi) which dates from the 11th century, and has all these memorials carved into the rock face. The lonely planet said it was a "few" kilometres from Ubud and the guy in the hotel said more like 8 but pretty flat. They were both wrong and I reckon it was closer to 25km and uphill all the way, but at least we hardly had to peddle at all on the way home.

•   On the way there, we passed a bunch of women carrying these ENORMOUS piles of fruit (they must have three feet tall!) on their heads, and had I not been struggling up the hill – I have decided I’m really not very fit – I'd have stopped and asked for a photo as it really was impressive.

•   We also had a guided tour to a village hidden in the hills near the temple - where we made complete fools of ourselves trying to drink out of a coconut and getting the stuff everywhere. Of course, because it was so much further than we'd thought, we got back too late (and hot and sticky) to fit in the art museum we'd been planning to see, but we've seen so many paintings, batik, carvings etc for sale that we'd had a taste of Balinese art anyway.

•   We're now in Kuta, and planning to do not very much again (except possibly see if we can fit in a surfing lesson). We're staying down the road from where the bomb was, and on the front of the building there's a huge memorial banner with hundreds and hundreds of messages for those who died.

21 March

•   The bus we were on broke down earlier on the way to Ubud but, although it was fixed in about an hour, we were hot and bothered when we arrived so treated ourselves to a cold drink and the largest chunk of apple pie you've ever seen! That said, we've not seen much of Ubud yet, which is supposed to be the cultural (and designer label) capital of Bali, so we'll do some of that tomorrow, and try to get a bit of a taste of the Balinese culture.

•   Then it's off to Kuta for a few days and a bit more beach action and maybe even some surf ing lessons, so that we can go play with the surfer dudes in Australia!

19 March

•   We're in Bali - and no sign of bombs (although we're the other end of the island at the moment), wars or flu, but I'll keep my eyes peeled for all of the above.

•   We arrived in Bali late on Sunday after an incredibly long day. We had been up since 3.30 a.m. to see sunrise of Mt Bromo - one of the highest volcanoes in Indonesia - which was absolutely fantastic. So we were more than a little tired when we were stuck on a bus at 7pm the same day.

•   To recover, we vegged on the beach – black volcanic sand here – all day yesterday (Tuesday).

•   This morning we went snorkelling – millions of fish everywhere you turned

•   Tomorrow we're up at the crack of dawn again, to go and see the dolphins.

•   Then, we'll probably head to Ubud, which is apparently the cultural centre of Bali, before a few more days on the beach in Kuta (yes, where the bomb was) because it's close to the airport and our flight to Darwin (next Friday) is in the middle of the night.

•   Haven't seen much of Bali, but I like the little I have seen so far. However it is not as cheap as we'd expected. Everyone has said that prices had been slashed since the bomb, but to me, it seems they are trying to fleece the few tourist that are here.

14 March

•   After a fairly uneventful flight back to Java – though am I ever glad we booked at the last minute the express bus which it dropped us at the airport rather than about 20km away – we arrived in Yogya on Wednesday.

•   The town, probably a city, is nice enough, and there are some lovely bars and restaurants around our guesthouse, but nothing too special. We took a ride around to see the sights yesterday in a rickshaw and were taken to see how much batik and silver we would buy. Haven’t indulged yet although I'm tempted by some of the batik.

•   Last night we went to an open air performance of the Ramayana ballet, which was a scene from the epic story of Rama. It was fantastic! I was happily surprised by how enjoyable it was. We've seen so much of the slow Indian style dancing that certainly doesn’t do anything for me. However, the combination of a story I could understand, the costumes and the atmosphere – although the atmosphere was limited as there were only about a dozen of us in the audience, which was a shame – was brilliant.

•   We were up at 5am this morning to see sunrise at Borobudur, a 9th century Buddhist temple ruin, very much like Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Unfortunately, it's on a hill and as the fog only lifted when we were leaving, we missed most of the views, The ruins themselves were still impressive.

•   Then we went to visit a similarly ancient Hindu temple ruin (Prambanan) which was also cool. Having been to Ramayana the day before, we were able to recognise scenes on the reliefs carved into the walls.

•   A day's relaxation tomorrow, and then we're off to Mt Bromo (apparently one of the biggest/most impressive volcanoes in Java) before going to Bali.

11 March

•   The trip we had planned for Sunday was postponed until today, so I’m just back from visiting loads of villages surrounding Bukittinggi to see what they do apart from farming. Answer – weaving, silver work, wood carving, grind coffee.

•   We've visited the old royal palace, which is a huge traditional old house.

•   We also wandered around a village to see all the fruit and learn what they do with it, and not for the first time, I've been advised NOT to try the durian fruit (it must be bad, as one hotel had a sign on the wall, "Strictly No Durian") so perhaps I won't try if after all.

•   Then we went to see a bullfight, which I wasn't so keen to see expecting the bulls to tear each other to shreds, but when in Rome and all that....anyway, turned out not to be so bad, they just lock horns and wrestled until one of them runs away. As far as I can make out that meant the other one won and then usually ran around chasing the crowd, scattering them in all directions.

•   Yesterday, we went out to another village with a student we met at the weekend who wanted to practise her English. She was one of about a hundred thousand we met on Sunday, but she was the first. Sunday is obviously the day to bring bunches of school kids into town to talk to/pester the tourists. They were cute enough, but kept on asking the same questions over and over, and over. They wanted photos and addresses, and there were hundreds of them everywhere you turned. I felt like the Pied Piper! It was exhausting.

•   Tomorrow we're flying over to Java again but skipping Jakarta though, and heading straight for Jogjoakarta as we have a few days to kill there or in the vicinity before Bali and our flight to Darwin at the end of March.

8 March

•   It's been a busy week. I would have written earlier but we couldn't find an email that was working or didn't cost the earth.

•   We're at the tail end of a trip to Sumatra where we been into the jungle – with wild orang-utans that were close enough to touch and a slightly more camera shy bunch of long tailed macaws (?), anyway they were monkeys.

•   I took a tumble in the jungle but was saved from an even worse fall by a convenient tree and now have a stonking bruise to prove it.

•   We've climbed trees, been "rafting" in rubber rings and scrambling up a volcano (which was very cool!).

•   We've just spent a few days relaxing on Samosir island, which is in the middle of this giant lake - apparently, it’s the worlds largest volcano crater lake, and it was beautiful. Hardly any tourists, so it was very peaceful, and we were treated like royalty (again) because everyone was fighting for our business!

•   We risked a mammoth bus journey on public transport to get to Lake Toba (the volcano lake) which was pretty uncomfortable, but not as bad as the one in Cambodia. These buses sit about 12 people but always have a minimum of thirty people on board, with a few more on the roof for good measure. They're hot, overcrowded and usually held together with sticky tape (I'm not kidding!). If you're lucky (and we were for one short leg) you get to sit on the roof, where it's still hot, but at least you get a bit of a breeze. Although then you get covered in dust instead, so it does not seem quite such a good idea

•   In Bukkitinggi at the moment, from where we're off to see some of the surrounding countryside/villages tomorrow.

•   Then on Monday, we've been invited to visit some girl’s village which is also nearby (bless her, she wants to practise her English). This way we're not on a tourist package, so that should be interesting.

•   Then we're booked a flight back to Java on Wednesday as it isn't much more expensive than the bus and takes a fraction of the time.

28 February

•   Our 20 hour boat trip from Kalimantan to Jakarta actually turned out to be 27hours. Our bible -The Lonely Planet - got it wrong.

•   It wasn't actually too bad a journey, all things considered, and as the only foreigners onboard this huge ferry, we were a source of some fascination to most of the passengers and crew.

•   A very sweet guy helped us out by getting us beds and food when it was time for either. He also translated the thousands of questions everyone else had for us, and tried to teach us some Indonesian – I can now count to 10, and say "good morning".

•   We had our photos taken with loads of different people, and I wouldn't have been surprised had they asked for autographs! Madness.

•   We didn't stop in Jakarta long - it was a filthy, smelly place and I was practically eaten alive by mosquitoes. People there seem even poorer than in Cambodia.

•   For a capital city it was like a ghost town - there were lots and lots of people, but few other tourists. I don't know if this is par for the course throughout Indonesia due to the Bali bombing or it is simply that other visitors aren't too keen on Jakarta either.

•   We had a bit of a run of bad luck as well – nothing too serious as we still have all our possessions and we're both alive and well – but we did manage to get on buses that didn’t go where we expected and trains that passed through our destination without stopping.

•   We couldn't even find a couple of the places we wanted to see, but we saw some very “off the beaten track” Jakarta in the process.

•   Everyone had warned us about pickpockets and the like so we've been super conscious although we haven't felt too threatened. There were kids on the train that would rob you soon as look at you, but we were hugging anything valuable so close they didn't stand a chance.

•   After some messing around with the tourist information place, we finally got a flight sorted, and we've just arrived in Medan, North Sumatra. We'll probably not hang around long, as there's lots to see before we have to return to Java and across to Bali before the end of March.

23 February

•   We're now in Pontianak, in Kalimantan

•   After the celebratory last meal in Malaysia we had an overnight on a bus to get here. There's not a great deal to do, but then, it is Sunday so almost everything is shut anyway.

•   We head over to Jakarta tomorrow morning - TWENTY hours on a boat!

•   We'll be careful. I've been keeping an eye on the news and the Foreign an Commonwealth Office website, and there doesn't seem to be anything to be wary of at the moment (Editor’s note – this in reply to parental concern).