Chris and I

This morning after a surprisingly good night’s sleep, but covered in mozzie bites, we woke up at 6am and decided to make a run for it and leave Jakarta. Although we went to the train station last night and tried to book tickets to go to Yogyakarta, we decided to not take ‘Full’ for an answer! So we jumped in a tuk tuk to the station and Chris managed to blag his way onto a luxury train. Prices weren’t cheap at all, but as soon as we got onto the train, the money was instantly justified, as it was so comfy, clean, and spacious with air con and unbelievably plug sockets! Perfect!

The lovely comfy train

Leaving Jakarta

An over-flowing bin just outside of Jakarta

The scenery along the way was great as well. There were just miles and miles of rice terraces and cute little villages to look out at.

On the way

Rice paddies with a huge mountain or volano in the background

However, just over half way the power was cut off, thus no electricity and worse, no more air-con! My God, it was simply like being in a sauna, it just got hotter and hotter, and as it was an air-conditioned train, none of the windows would open, so no breeze so we were left to bake for the next 3 hours! I felt so sorry for a local family trying their best with 3 young children to keep cool, using everything they could to fan them down even though sweat was literally pouring down them!

Rice paddies

farmland

So, we were relieved when we finally arrived! Finding accommodation wasn’t as easy as we thought, as most of the nice ones were full already. But after about walking in and out of 10 of them, we found a nice little place for good value but unfortunately, we forgot to check the bed! As soon as we sat down on the bottom right corner, Chris almost fell through! So we lifted up the mattress and found a huge chunk of wood missing! It was very funny though, but it didn’t matter as long as we avoided that area of the bed! In the evening after having one of the most refreshing showers, we went out for something to eat and got chatting to a friendly English couple, Nadia and Sam who gave us loads of great tips on what to do in Indonesia until late at night.

written by  chrischarly on June 2, 2011 from Jakarta, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Chris sitting on the balcony

After having a lovey lie-in this morning, we went for a walk around the streets of Yogyakarta. It was so hot and humid today, which didn’t help the stinky smells of the city. It is also so loud here with all the mopeds and cars driving around honking their horns. I swear I have never in all my life seen so many motorbikes in such a confined area, it’s literally crazy here. It is like being back in India again for so many reasons. We can’t walk more than 10ft without people coming up to us and asking us a zillion questions and by lunchtime, I was already exhausted.

Chris and I sat in a cute restaurant

However, the majority of people are really friendly though, but it doesn’t make it any easier to keep your smile plastered on your face!

written by  chrischarly on June 3, 2011 from Yogyakarta, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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This morning we woke up at 4:30am to get ready for our trip to Borobudur, Mendut Temple, and Prambanan.

Firstly, we took a minibus to Borobudur, which is an amazing Buddhist temple constructed in the 9th century AD.

We took a guide and learnt all about the symbolism of the temple and in short, it shows the journey of Buddha from birth through to enlightenment, sharing the guiding principles along the way.

This monument was actually lost and destroyed by various volcanic eruptions and only rediscovered and renovated after 1814.

It’s like the biggest, most complex jigsaw puzzle ever attempted. Plus, it took 10 years and they still have several 10,000’s pieces left over.

Also, every time Merapi erupts, quite regular of late, it is buried in ash and they need to clean it all! Don’t fancy that job!

Afterwards we went to Mendut Temple, which houses a 3m tall Buddha. Some believe it was supposed to be put on top of Borobudur, but they couldn’t work out how to get it up there. I can see them scratching their heads and saying ‘Oh Bugger’, all those years ago!

Finally on our thoroughly cultural day, we went to Prambanan, which is a massive Hindu temple complex, built, would you believe it, in the 9th century AD.

Once again my cultural mind could see the Hindus and the Buddhists having a build off, the Buddhists finishing first but the Hindu’s saying 'you ain’t done till you get that big Buddha fellow on top, suckers!'

written by  chrischarly on June 4, 2011 from Borobudur, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Today we left Yogyakarta and made our way to Kaliurang in preparation of climbing Mt. Merapi Volcano tomorrow, which is currently the most active Volcano in the world. So to get there we had to catch a local bus to the main bus station and then change buses. However, once we were on the bus, it emptied out, the driver and conductor said they would take us all the way there for a cheaper price so we wouldn’t have to change! Perfect and extremely nice of them!

However, I think it was an excuse for them to have a drive and thus enjoy some lunch and time off! When we arrived in Kaliurang they unfortunately as well as 3 other locals gave us incorrect directions for Vogels, which is the guesthouse we were staying in. So we wandered around and around for ages before working out that it was right where the bus had dropped us off! As soon as we checked in, we instantly fell in love with the place and the owner Christian and enjoyed a chilled evening in the restaurant.

written by  chrischarly on June 5, 2011 from Kaliurang, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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It’s 0320am and we awake earlier than planned full of excitement of going to see Merapi. A few facts, to get you warmed up:-
1) It's rated currently as the MOST active volcano in the world…
2) It’s been in a near-constant state of eruption for 100s of years; last major eruption was November…
3) It wiped out a staggering 10 Million hectares of forest and land…
4) It destroyed 22 villages…
5) It killed 300 people (found), another 100 never found…
6) 30,000 people evacuated some of which can never go back…
7) It erupts clouds of rocks (some as big as houses) and gas all at about 1500 degrees C that travel down the side of the mountain at 150kmph. It looks like traditional lava, but it’s actually the rocks crashing into one another and exploding into flames and sparks…
8) Only Christian (a legend in these parts) can lead into the danger zone (3km from peak), which is exactly what we did!..

We get ready and go the restaurant to meet Richard, another trekker, and Christian our incredible guide and have our first of apparently 3 breakfasts before being briefed on how dangerous this is!

We then set off through town guided by the stars and up a dark path and steps into a forest.

Getting to the top of the ridge is about 30 mins before the sun starts to break.

We wait here and as the sun creeps up and the stars disappear, we can see the silhouette of Merapi smoking in the distance. As it lightens, the sheer magnitude of the devastation is revealed. Chris tries his best to capture it on the camera, but it was impossible to reflect what we saw. Basically, massive hardwood trees have been smashed just like a domino effect all along the slopes down, and on the slopes in the distance there WERE villages. Some people are still believed to be buried under the 2m of volcanic ash!

A house that had a tree landed on it

Up Merapi volcano

Walking

The climb up was pretty slow, as it was more scramble and climb than actual walk, but we made it through without any significant damage. It was only 3.5kms but it was tough and very rough and some of the ridges drop off several hundred meters. You don’t want to slip, so you go very slowly.

Merapi

Happy tpo be in the danger zone

Entering the danger zone- hence red flag

We retuned back and saw some of the damage to houses in Kaliurang, which was mainly protected by a hill. We then had a second local breakfast (soyabean burgers, sticky rice with whole green chillies, yummy) and returned to the guesthouse for a full breakfast. Chris got double as he recognised the smell of the Cinnamon leaf on the tour. So much for all the exercise.

A TRULY AWESOME DAY and it was only 10am.

written by  chrischarly on June 6, 2011 from Kaliurang, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Outside our accomodation

Chris chatting to his Mum

We spent most of the day before leaving Merapi trying to get our flights confirmed for the following day understanding that flying in Indonesia is really not that easy as many airlines don’t accept U.K credit cards so you have to book through a travel agent online, which is a real pain. Once we had finally finished we left to go back to Yogyakarta so we were close to the airport in the morning. Unfortunately where we stayed before was fully booked, but we still found somewhere nice to stay. We chilled out for the rest of the evening taking an early night after strolling around eating some cheap street food.

written by  chrischarly on June 7, 2011 from Yogyakarta, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Sitting in the waiting room waiting for our flight

Our Garuda flight

We woke up really early today and took a taxi to the airport, which wasn’t far, about 30mins away. It was a tiny airport so we checked in and made our way through departures really quickly.

Chris and I enjoying our free plane food

Mount Merapi from the air

We flew with Garuda Airlines to Bali which is a great airline to travel with and a nice change from low-budget airlines.

View from the plane

Mount Bromo from the air

Once in Bali we checked straight in to fly with Merpati Airlines to Maumere in Flores noticing a nice 2-hour delay but at least it wasn’t our first flight and our second that was running late.

The plane

Kelimutu lakes

Merpati has a reputation of cancelling, delaying, and even crashing planes, which we discovered after booking it, so Chris for once wasn’t that excited about flying. In the airport, we made 2 new friends, Rod and Isa who were also going to Maumere so we decided to travel with them once we arrived.

The view of Flores

A view of Kelimutu lakes from the plane

But it was quite a surprisingly long journey there as the plane stopped off on the way to another island, Sumba, to drop and pick up more passengers, so we all had to get off and wait for a while, but a good excuse for a quick cigarette break!

About to board our Merpati flight

Walking to Bali airport

Then, in Maumere airport, we took a taxi to 25kms away from the city to stay on a lovely beach at Sunset Cottages just in time to watch the sunset, which was gorgeous!

View of the sunset when we arrived

Rod passed out on the floor after waaaay too much arrack!

After this, we had a great evening with our new friends whilst Chris and Rod especially got drunk on local Arrack.

It got a bit messy!

written by  chrischarly on June 8, 2011 from Denpasar, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Maumere beach

The beach we stayed on 25km outside of Maumere

Today was a great do-nothing-day but enjoy the peaceful and practically empty beach and sea, and going for a walk around the village for a couple of hours.

Fishing boat

Fishing boat

First we met a local diver who had caught an octopus and some other delights.

The local guy proud of his catch

An octopus

After this we trekked through some swamp until coming across a small family living and working on a coconut farm.

Picking the coconuts for us

A guy climbing a tree

Cutting open the coconuts for us

The village

They were lovely, gave us the biggest coconuts to drink/eat, and showed us how they make the coconut milk. Very impressive.

Coconut mincer

Where we got the coconuts

Chris drinking a coconut

Local guys digging

We also saw some local women weaving in the traditional way.

A happy guy

Weaving

Then back to Sunset Cottages to sit, relax and enjoy a beer whilst watching another fantastic sunset and have a beer.

Where we stayed

On the beach

Today we woke up, packed, and walked to the end of the road to catch the bus to Moni. It was a small mini bus, so a little cramped but it was nice to take local transport.

Walking to the main road

Locals

A fish stall

Ojeks

A view on the bus

Cocoa beans drying on the road

Digging on the road

Locals on a van

Chris and I

Rod and Isa at the back of the bus

Chris and I

When we arrived in Moni we walked around for a while before finding some cheap accommodation which we had to haggle hard for before going for a nice long walk in the early evening for a few hours to a Waterfall and then to some hot springs.

Preparing to walk the bridge

A cow

Windy road

Nice view

Rice paddies

Local children

The hot springs- aka- a burst pipe

The waterfall

Rice fields

Hot springs- aka baths

Cute kid

Locals

They weren’t exactly what we expected them to look like, considering all the locals were bathing in them and they didn’t look that hot either?!

Nice view

Local woman

In the evening we went for a local dinner (Mountain food), the ingredients had to be gathered from the Mountain in the afternoon. It consisted of local rice cooked in a strange leaf, Banana flower and other Mountain vegetable mixed and an amazing vegetable soup, which was smokey as the veg, had been roasted on a fire beforehand. VERY tasty and nice to have something different.

written by  chrischarly on June 10, 2011 from Gunung Kelimutu, Indonesia
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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The sunrise

Chris and I waiting for sunrise

Today we woke up at 4am and quickly got ready to meet Isa and Rod outside to get in our bemo (minibus) to take us to Kelimutu volcano. It was about an hour’s drive listening to loud old pop music from the 90’s. Bit too much for first thing in the morning! Once there we had to climb the rest of the way to the top, which was a mission climbing what seemed to be never-ending steps but at least we managed to warm up as it was freezing outside and we were all wrapped up in fleeces. The reason we got up so early was to watch the sunrise come up and if it is a clear morning, the views are meant to be spectacular!

Chris drinking un-filtered local coffee

We were unfortunately unlucky as it was a foggy and cloudy morning so we saw nothing!

Our first sighting of the black lake

Cloudy day

But it did have a nice eerie feeling to be able to watch the fog and clouds slowly disappear once the sun came out.

Just as the clouds were lifting

The black lake still a little foggy

An explanation of the lakes

At the top of Kelimutu there are three crater lakes to see which all change colour at different times in the year, one even going a burgundy colour, but not while we were there.

'Fanch' means fence by the way

Coffee

Rod taking a closer look

The blue lake

Chris, Isa and I

Local children on our walk down from Kelimutu

The blue lake

Chris and I

Nice blue sky finally

Very cloudy

The black lake

The blue lake

Beautiful view

us really cold!

Then we walked back 13Km to Moni, taking an off-road walk with a few wrong turns before ending up on a banana farm, but one of the kind barefoot ladies working there led us back to the path, it was quite rough going but we finally made it!

Chris and I

Monkey checking out the view as well

Coconuts

Rod and his new friend

Chris walking over a waterfall

Local man also cold

The guy who served the coffee

Local woman

Local man also cold!

Local woman

Local woman

As we took ages to get back to Moni, the owner of the guesthouse we stayed at was pretty annoyed with us for checking out late, especially as we didn’t pay him any extra! We then grabbed something quick to eat as we were famished and took a bemo to Ende as we missed to bus to Riung.

Me

On the bus

Chris and his new buddy

On the bus

Ende is a really dusty city and everyone avoids it as it’s not the nicest of places, but we really enjoyed it there. Chris and Rod finally found some Bintang (beer) which was not easy, we sat outside the shop we brought it at, and a cow soon gathered to look and chat at the Westerners!

Local man

Locals

We counted at one time almost 40 people surrounding us and most of them children, who were so funny and friendly.

Cute kids

Check out the youngest posing with her hands on her hips!

It was a great evening, great day and seriously long, but so worth it!

Us eating at a local place