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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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Dear readers welcome to volume two of the fools adventures in travel.
When we left off our hero ( me ) was heading out of yogyakarta to the mountains of east Java. I got a mini bus ride where I was the only rider. I got to stretch out and take in the vegetation of the landscape, nap, and listen to the sometimes endless chatter of the driver and his brother. I really don't talk much compared to the world at large. What in Allah's name could two brothers go on about for hours. We left at noon and we got to Probolingo at 10pm. Then I hopped on a local bus to take me up to the Mount Bromo area.
This little guy ( no more than 5'1") hopped on right next to me and immediately began chatting me up. Next thing I know he has put his hand on my upper thigh. Even for touchy feely Indonesia this was a little intimate. Well, it was n exciting ride up the mountain shall we say. We stopped at a hotel and got a room for the night from where you can take a jeep to the view site for the sunrise. We awoke at 4am and joined two British women and a French Canadian fellow for the drive to the view site. The sun rises over this caldera which is vast with a number of volcanic rises coming up from the original.
It is a premier visual site. I took tons of photos. We then returned to the jeep and rode down to the caldera floor to a temple from which we hired horses to take us to the stairs from which we climbed to the edge of the smoking crater. My horse quickly became the star performer farting and pooping its way to the stairway. My new traveling companions were in stiches at this.
After our visit here we headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast and then on with our driver Tony to our next destination. A town near Mt. Ijen. It was another long drive that got us to a hotel in the late afternoon. We then all went to a nearby hotsprings. This was a man made site with two nice pools. But the gate was closed and locked. So our driver Tony found that we could climb along the edge of the wall and get in. We were all settling in for a nice soak when the guy in charge of the place showed up with sickle in hand and a threatening manner. Words were exchanged. Then some money and things settled down. What cracked me up was the guy then went over to the wall and set about washing off any footprints we may have left on the ledge.
Another very early morning. We headed out at 5. Then things started getting interesting. The road had been blocked by construction. We had no idea. They said to go around another way. We headed up this road that quickly became a fishtailing nightmare. We backed out of that one and headed up another which was not much different. At one point we had to ford a stream that dropped off the side at about a hundred feet. The driver put down some sticks and rocks for traction. Then we got stuck right in the middle. He began to fishtail toward the dropoff. Jo, who is the sounding image of Shirley Valentine was saying "Tony, I think this is a bad idea. I have a bad feeling about this. Can't we go back?" At the same time both girls are taking photos. Then Uddine gets right under the edge and starts to lift. Tony looks at me and says " Mike, can you help?" I think Ok, this jeep is going to slide over and crush Uddine and me as it goes over the edge. Then I lift and the car grabs hold and moves through. We are all covered in mud. The car, which Tony had meticulously cleaned last night is a mess. But we are moving and eventually we arrive at a village from which the road is paved. There is this sort of euphoria that takes hold of us having passed through this trial. The girls get into waving and saying hello to the passing villagers. We stop to get air and the school children surround us staring at the strange white people. We get to Ijen about 3 hours behind our plan. The climb to Ijen crater is short but steep. Tony had told Jo it was an easy climb. So she became quite put-out to find it more difficult. Uddine coaxed her up the hill by continually saying just a little more. The worst is over etc...which was total lies. There was a Canteen midway up. All along the trail there are men carrying the sulfer that they mine at the crater floor. The load which can weigh as much as 80kilos is balanced on their shoulders in two buckets joined with a bamboo strap. They have to breath the sulfer fumes and they make about 500 rupiah a kilo which is less than 10 cents.
We had masks purchased earlier to ward off the fumes and still we were all coughing. The air gets very thick and impossible by noon. After leaving here we were joined by a German couple. Tony dropped us off at the ferry and took them on to Bromo.
Another bus then taxi and finally an exhausting collapse in Kuta. Now at an even nicer hotel.
previous travel blog entry
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