Thank you, kja. Yes, the names are familiar and useful.

Were there lots of school children at the various temples when you were there, kja? I think there were school groups at almost every temple we visited, with the exception of a few. I'm glad you enjoyed Penataran as much as we did. It's the sort of place that could easily be a UNESCO site (the carving is so fine!) but the complex is small and it would be overrun.

We loved the Tugu hotels. We only stayed at the one in Malang, but we visited the one in Blitar. The hotels are filled with lovely (local) antiques and artwork.

I'm really enjoying this trip with you!

There's little I can say other than WOW! Such a great trip and your report is so well written. I dream of following in your footsteps. This has been a great journey along with you.

@ tripplanner001: Indeed! I want to remember these names when I next have the chance to dine on Indonesian food.

@ Kathie: There were a lot of school children at various temples, especially in Bali. I think they had just finished up with a bunch of required annual exams, and that might be why I saw fewer in Java. My drivers told me that schools make a point of taking the kids on day trips to major sites, and I was glad to hear that there is an effort to make sure they have the chance to experience these amazing parts of their cultural heritage. And I’m also glad that you are enjoying this trip with me, since I often felt, during this trip, that I was traveling with you!

@ dgunbug: Again, thanks for the compliments! If you are able to get to this part of the world, I don’t think you’ll regret it.


<u>Day 19</u>: <u><b>East Java</u></b> -- <b>Malang</b> to <b>Bromo</b>

• One more delicious breakfast, and it was time to check out and join my driver for the day –
• Hari, who spoke English well and was very experienced in guiding foreigners through this part of Java. Once we left the city behind us,

• Mists dominated the landscapes, separating each ridge from others and delicately veiling elusive glimpses of distant … what? Oh, no – not another day of hidden volcanos? Too early to tell, I reminded myself.
• After declining an opportunity to see a waterfall (because of a very minor injury, suffered while traveling, that made stairs difficult :-( ), our first stop was
• An overlook of the <b>”savannah”</b>. Oh, how beautiful! :-) :-) (Many thanks to crellston and gr21 for making sure I knew to take the southern / savannah route!) Uncounted shades of green covering undulating, vuluptuous slopes between the ancient volcanic rim – upon which I was standing – and the slopes of the newer volcanoes (tops hidden) within the caldera. With an abundant array of yellow and purple blooms near the overlook, the overall impressions were truly stunning! We also stopped briefly at a
• small village, where preparations were underway for a major Hindu celebration. (This area is unusual in Java, in that the majority of its people are Hindu.) Interesting! Our route then took us

• down into the <b>caldera floor</b>, beyond the savannah to largely barren lava fields. We visited the
• “lion rock” – which does indeed look a lot like a sitting lion. Having been headed directly to this rock, I wasn’t paying attention to the scenery to the left of the jeep, and so was stunned to find that within just a few moments, we had crossed a sightline –

• I could now see <b>Mr. Bromo</b> (meaning the specific volcano called Mt. Bromo, which is among the volcanos – I think there are five! -- that now populate the enormous ancient caldera that goes by the name of Bromo) … and I could see that Mt. Bromo was spewing huge amounts of volcanic ash high into the sky!!! It was smoking (sending up white vapor), and it was also ejecting voluminous, roiling grey clouds – ash. Oh my!!!
• Hari said that it had been doing so on-and-off for about 4 months, and that it was quite safe – and that I was lucky, since it had been quiet just the day before. I admit that I had checked for warnings the night before, and at this point, it wasn’t like I had a lot of options. ;-)
• We stopped for a while at small camp-like place from which local guides take interested tourists on horseback (using small horses, like those at Gedung Songo) to a Hindu temple near the base of Mt. Bromo; from the temple, tourists can climb the mountain. While I’m sure I would have enjoyed the temple, I wasn’t inclined to climb Mt. Bromo, and so we went on. Hari
• turned uphill from the flats on an extremely narrow road that went up and up and up an extraordinarily steep slope in a series of seemingly impossible switchbacks, until we reach the parking lot for

• a viewpoint along the caldera’s rim – the one on <b>Mount Penanjakan</b> from which most people apparently go for sunrise. From the parking area, I
• climbed just a bit to reach the point from which one could look over the caldera – a place with rows of seats -- and OMG, what a vantage point! I must say, though, that there didn’t seem to be that many seats that really allowed a GREAT view – I bet the competition can get fierce!
• While admiring the view – including the continued display of Mt. Bromo’s smoke and ash – a huge black stormcloud moved in from my right with surprising speed, soon blocking everything from sight as it dropped torrential rain. It was like watching a curtain being moved from right to left -- wow!!!

• Hari and I sipped coffee while we waited out the worst of the storm, and then
• went back down that incredibly narrow road of seemingly impossible switchbacks and back onto the lava flats and then onto
• yet another impossibly narrow road climbing up the extraordinarily steep caldera rim through yet another set of seemingly impossible switchbacks until we reached

• the <b>Lava View Lodge</b>, where I said farewell to Hari.
• I had splurged for a room with a view, and although I couldn’t see the caldera floor, I could see Mt. Bromo and several other volcanic cones from my room and from the covered terrace outside. I sat there for quite a while, catching up on my journal and being awed by the ever-shifting images of the ash rising from Mt. Brono, until darkness and clouds and renewed rain obscured the view. I then
• ate an OK meal at the lodge’s restaurant and
• fell asleep to the sounds of a powerful rainstorm.


<u>Day 20</u>: <u><b>Java to Bali</u></b> -- <b>Bromo</b> to <b>Ubud</b>

• Because I wanted to see the sunrise over the Bromo caldera – my reason for spending the night here -- I once again surprised myself by managing to get up at 4 a.m.
• It was, as I had been warned, surprisingly chilly, so I was glad that I had brought layers suitable to the low temperatures. I dressed quickly and stepped out of the door and discovered that
• I could not lock the door to my room! :-O I tried and tried, and then
• went to the hotel’s office, where (I am glad to report) the person on call, who was sleeping in an adjacent room, woke up quickly. He couldn’t lock it, either, and so left to get some tools….
• Aware that time was ticking and the sunrise approaching, I began throwing everything I could into my suitcase willy-nilly. By the time the man returned,
• I was ready to store my suitcase at the desk and insisted that we do that. The sun had not yet risen, but I was leaving my room at least ½ hour later than I had planned. :-(

• With the help of a small flashlight I had brought with me (and thank goodness I had it!),
• I started up a nearby slope to a place along the caldera rim that wasn’t as high as the Penanjakan overlook (which I had seen the day before), but which I had been led to believe would be less crowded.
• Given the short distance (a walk of at most 10 or 15 minutes), I was a bit irritated when numerous guides and motorbike renters and horse renters kept stopping me to ask me to hire them. :-( I soon reached the
• nearby overlook, where a pair of huge, bright spotlights marked a few food stalls and a dozen or so people. And then I went back just a little bit of a way to
• a quiet place right along the caldera’s rim where a small concrete block, anchored into the land, allowed me a welcome, dark, and private place to sit. :-)

• The sun was just beginning to tinge the clouds to the east (to my back) with the palest bits of pink, and the stars overhead and toward the west (over the caldera) were breathtakingly brilliant. Although I wish I could have gotten there while it was still completely dark, at least I was there reasonably early! And oooh my, the <b>sunrise</b> was magical!
• The sky over the caldera gradually lightened, limning the slopes of the volcanos as the stars faded, eventually revealing – in a way that seemed, at first, a trick of the light -- a vast sea of mist that filled the caldera below the tops of Mt. Bromo and other volcanic cones. Utterly otherworldly! A few red dots, accompanied by the sound of motors and barely seen throught the swirling spun-candy-like clouds that filled the caldera, seemed the only color as they showed the progress of motorcycles crossing the lava flats under the cloud cover – and then it became silent. As the light grew, the cloud cover over the lava flats seemed to shift and thin; the volcanic cones in the center of the caldera became increasingly clear, as if the lighting on a theatric scrim was being shifted; the roiling column of ash over Mt. Bromo asserted itself against the brightening sky; the distant edges of the caldera gained clarity; and the mists that had filled the caldera so densely faded, ever so slowly, to wisps as the colors of the region back to take on their normal, daylight hues. Oh, my! Let me ask again: How is it that <u><b>I</u></b> am lucky enough to see things like this sunrise?!? :-) :-) :-)

• As I began to arise from my perch, a distant volcanic cone – Mt. Semeru – sent a white plume into the air. OMG! Just minutes later, it stopped. I’m told I was very lucky to have seen Semeru smoke, and I can’t disagree!!
• The caldera continued to clear; the sky continued to brighten; and Mt. Bromo continued to disgorge smoke. I finally decided that I was ready to leave.

• It was just a few easy steps back to my hotel, where my room was still unlocked. I
• sat on my terrace, admiring the views, adding to my journal, and preparing messages to send once I had wifi access.
• Someone tasked with repairing the lock arrived just as the breakfast buffet opened, and shortly after I finished breakfast, hotel staff managed to repair the lock to my room. :-) I could finally prepare for the day!
• I showered and dressed and began packing, this time with attention to the fact that I planned to take a flight later that day, and so I needed to pack in accordance with all those rules and regs that keep those of us who travel on our toes.

• I had just finished (re)packing when my driver for the day – Paul – arrived to take me to the airport near Surabaya. He was a very pleasant man who
• took a route that went away from the caldera, down and down and down and ... it seemed we went downhill for hours! And for much of that time, we could see bits of the sea. :-) He helped me understand what I saw on the way there and
• he got me to the Surabaya airport in plenty of time for my flight to Bali. Actually, he got me to the airport WAY in advance of my flight because I had erred, asking for delivery 2 hours earlier than I needed to be there -- oops! :-( Better to be early than late…. ;-)


• To be continued….

The volcanoes sound awesome!! Definitely going on my list for next time.

Your driver/guide telling you that the volcano spewing smoke and ash was "quite safe" made me laugh. On my first trip to Java, during one stop at the Dieng Plateau, we were looking at the geysers, and the guide said that the volcano was extinct. As I watched the boiling waters and boiling mud, I realized that what he meant by extinct was that it had not erupted in living memory.

A friend of mine was recently at Bromo and sent me a link to a video he had done of his hike. So I am visualizing that video while I read your report.

As for the pics I suppose it was too much no matter how well intentioned.

If you did not know what the sausage was made of you would have never guess. It was good and I think that was due to the spices used.

Too bad for the farmers who discovered the ruins then got displaced. I would hope they were compensated in some way. As for Herculaneum I think it was like a suburb of Pompei and was for the more wealthy Romans at that time.

I suppose traditions will change faster in more urban settings but will lag in the villages and rural societies. I do recall seeing a show some yrs. ago about a man in Indonesia who had a rare skin condition and eventually came to the US for treatment. There were female Indonesian MD featured and a hosp. admin. as well. I would be all over that breakfast!

I saw caged cocks in Brunei and our H2O taxi driver said they practice this as well. Too much for me but I think this is common in SE Asia.

The Tugu Malang sounds great. Its that sort of care that adds an intangible to your experience. Conversely we've had some sloppy service at places where the price you pay you would think would rule that out. However I did complain. At one place we got and apology, a bottle of Champagne and Muscatel and flowers. The other fetched a 10% overall discount and a fruit bowl. So do speak up when its warranted!

At Candi Badut you saw a Shiva relief. So did you see Hindu temple as well and Buddhist? Indonesia is a Moslem country, the largest population wise in the world I think. There must be quite a few who practice Hinduism and Buddhism too. Did you see many if any churches?

On our cruise stop in Cambodia we saw a lot of kids at the temples we went to also. We also went to a school and somehow I did not see that we were asked if possible to bring school supplies and many in our group did do. They depend on this and must know when tourists from the ships will be there as they seem to flock to the school on those days. The kids were beautiful too.

If you don't mind how much did the drivers cost on average? I know it is influenced by time and distance but I'm just curious.

I'm Hari is a volcanologist. :S-.

Some folks get up very early to see sunrises on volcanoes like Mt. Haleakala in Hawaii. Its an experience one never forgets I suppose. I do recall something sort of similar. We were in the Baltic Sea in June 2007 which of course is white nights. It was around 0200 and we were in the stern bar on the 17th deck looking out at the wake and in the distance you could see a break between dusk and dawn as the new day was staring. I will never forget that.

Still with you!

kja,
Really enjoying reading your vivid descriptions of the many highs of your trip (as well as the occasional travails!).

Thanks for writing such an informative trip report (as well as one that is entertaining). This will be a valuable resource when we get around to exploring beyond Bali in Indonesia!

Now looking forward to your trip to Bali!

Congratulations on getting up so early! So glad you got to see the volcanoes in action without getting damaged.

Did you arrange the drivers ahead of time, or just through your hotels on arrival?

I finally found enough time to devote to reading your TR, which I found informative and entertaining. I appreciate all of the details you provided and hope that someday in the near future I will find the time to visit some of the places you visited. Thanks so much for posting.

Thursdaysd asked what I forgot and that is about how drivers were arranged.

Also I suppose noodles among other items were on the breakfast menu is no surprise as noodles seem to be a staple all over Asia.

Still enjoying kja!

Bad idea to get too far behind in your report! :)

I can't believe how much you packed in (!), yet somehow you make it seem like a relaxed pace. Kudus to you, guess this a case of pre-trip research paying off.

I did have to follow along with some Google maps and photos as I'm totally unfamiliar with east Java. Less so now.

During all the time I spent in SE Asia, both on business and for pleasure, I drew the line on purple eggs, perhaps a mistake. But I'm not a real adventurous eater.

Super TR and commentary. Thanks for posting.

Nelson - you are right...it is a bad idea to get behind as Kja keeps packing in a lot of great info! Looking forward to reading about Bali.

What a delight to find that so many of you are reading along, and with such interest! Thank you, one and all! :-)

@ tripplanner001: After having been completely unable to see Java’s renowned volcanos for <u>so</u> much of my time on the island, or catching only the barest of tantalizing glimpses, I really lucked out when it mattered most – that first morning at Borobudur and this last experience in the Bromo area. Spectacularly breathtaking! I hope you get to have moments like these, too.

@ Kathie: lol … I can’t imagine looking at the crator on the Dieng Plateau, while hearing someone say the volcano there is extinct! As it turns out, there’s a rather important difference between extinct and quiescent. ;-)

@ jacketwatch:
... Java has an interesting religious history. As I understand it – and I’m no expert! -- a Buddhist monk brought Buddhism to the area in the 2nd century. But Hinduism was also a powerful force in the area, and many say it has even older roots. As Hinduism spread through the area, it generally incorporated Buddhism (and some of the local animist traditions) and included Buddha as a diety (or at least part of its pantheon -- sorry, but I don't know the proper terminology). The oldest temples I visited, which are (I believe) the oldest surviving temples in Java, were the Hindu temples of the Dieng Plateau; they date from the 7th century. The only “strictly” Buddhist temples I visited were those of the Borobudur complex (which includes Candi Mendut and Candi Pawon), built in the early 800s. All the other ruins I visited were Hindu; many (but not all) included images of Buddha. Enter Islam, stage left. As Islam grew in popularity, and as religion became a factor in regional battles among competing kingdoms, the Hindus in the area either converted or moved east. With the end of the Majapahit Empire around 1500, Hinduism had largely vanished from Java. Java remains primarily Muslim (85 or 90%), and mosques are a common sight there. (Oddly, though, I only remember hearing a call to prayer just a few times. Did I forget, or was I away from mosques at the times, or are the calls less common? I don’t know!) The small population of Hindus around Bromo – the Tenggerese people -- apparently trace their roots to their exodus from central Java with the end of the Majapahit Empire. Other Hindus moved from Java to Bali, which remains primarily Hindu today – about 85%. Some Buddhists remain in Java; for example, the Mendut Monastery remains active. I rarely saw Christian churches, although I saw one during my evening strolls in both Blitar and Malang.

… As you suspected, the cost of a car and driver varied with the time and distance; it also varied from place to place. I think the average I paid for a full day was on the order of about $50 or $60, plus a small tip paid directly to the driver. The jeep and driver was more than that. I must admit, though, that I can’t be certain: I found it very disorienting to think in terms of multiple hundred thousand IDR – the math was reasonably easy, but there was something daunting about the numbers! Too, I had decided, in advance, that I was not going to skip something simply because of the cost, so in Java, I always asked about the cost and then had the charge added to my hotel bill, and then tried to block the costs from my mind, because my pockets are not all that deep and it made me anxious. :-( I did gently challenge one quote, saying something like it seemed high to me … could they check? And the next day, when the driver came, I was advised that the price was lower than had been quoted. I don’t know if the original amount had been in error or if that constituted successful bargaining. ;-)

… Sounds like you’ve had some wonderful travels, too!

… Noodles are, indeed, ubiquitous in Asia – but in Indonesia, they are eaten with Western flatware, not chopsticks. Gosh, but I hate trying to eat noodles with chopsticks! Life can be good! :-)

@ rje: Thank you so much for your compliments! I’m glad you are finding my report both informative and entertaining.

@ thursdaysd: Yes, my visit to Bromo worked out well – I managed to get up, and saw some awesome volcanic activity, and I lived to tell about it. Hard to beat that! ;-)

@ thursdaysd <b>&</b> Jacketwatch: I arranged all my drivers in Java through my hotels, and the only “advance” part was when I wanted to arrange for someone to pick me up from an airport or train station, which I usually did just a couple of days beforehand. (I had reserved all my hotels well in advance.) I then made further arrangements once at the hotel. In Bali, I made arrangements for my airport pick-up in advance through my first hotel. For the rest of my needs there, I worked with a driver who had been recommended by the Alam Indah group, which owns several lodgings in the area that have been praised by many Fodorites over the years, such as the Alam Jiwa.

@ shelleyk: Welcome aboard! Thanks for making the time to read this TR; I hope it proves useful when you are ready to travel to this intriguing part of the world.

@ jdc26: I’m glad you are still enjoying your vicarious journey!

@ Nelson: Packing a LOT into a trip turns out to be easier if you spend a chunk of time most days in an air-conditioned car. ;-) And I spent a LOT of time with maps and Google images as I researched this trip.

@ dgunbug: Thanks again, but you – and others! -- are going to have to wait one more day to start reading about Bali, as I have one more post on Java. Hang in there!


Some <b>final thoughts</b> on my time in <b>Java</b>:

As noted earlier, many of my experiences in Java contributed to the things that made this trip <u>as a whole</u>, so special – but those were mostly the things that contributed to the diversity of my experiences. So I’ll now turn to the things I liked best and least about my experiences in Java <i>per se</i>.


<b>What I liked most about Java</b>:

• The people, with their open smiles, easy laughter, and gracious hospitality! Wherever I went in Java, even the tiniest connection with someone – a glance, a greeting – was all that was need to evoke a full-face, open, and welcoming smile, a smile with <u>nothing</u> held back. :-) I suspect that these smiles – and the warm welcome I received from SOooo many people – will be the thing that I most remember of this very memorable trip – and I don’t mean just my time in Java, but the whole trip.

• And I had plenty of reasons to smile, too!
… The awesome ruins, Buddhist and Hindu, of varying ages. I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to see Borobudur at sunrise, or Prambanan at sunset, or Penataran or Plaosan or Sukuh – or any number of other temples -- at ANY time of day! …
… The spectacular scenery of Java, from the calm of a newly flooded rice paddy through Bromo’s power and rawness; from sugar cane fields and verdant forests through age-old terraced hillsides.…
… The variety of spectacularly entertaining and skilled performing arts …
… and OMG, the batiks!
… The fruits and gourami and freshly roasted peanuts and black rice porridge and ginger tea …
… and the songbirds and collections of beautifully crafted krises and bowls of flower blossoms under massage tables …
… and the many cats who greeted me and the fact that they didn’t fear people and what that says about how they are treated …
… and the sincere efforts of several people to engage in honest discussion about difficult subjects…
… and SO much more!

<b>What I liked least about Java</b>

• My inability to see many of Java’s magnificent volcanos because of the haze (really, nature should be MUCH more obligiing!) and, of course,
• the reason for that haze was because the (ridiculously hot) air was so humid! :-(
• The difficulty of finding a beer on a really hot day in Jogja, and elsewhere, empty mini-fridges.
• Repeated requests to take a picture with me, even if I was being honored by these requests (thanks, jacketwatch, for that re-frame) …
• and worse, the very few people who tried to take my picture <u>without</u> asking. :-(
• The difficulty of trying to explain nonsensical things about my country.
• The absolutely insane traffic…
• … and so many very, very young people riding motorcycles without helmets.
• And the signs of how very hard life is for many people in this part of the world.

Again, the best FAR outweighted the worst!

<u>Next up: </u> <b>Bali</b>

Just brilliant kja, your report is evocative and entertaining. Great to travel with you.

Thanks.

bookmarking. Thanks, lovely report!!

I was fortunate enough to have enjoyed a sunrise visit to Borobudur, but did not make it to Bromo on our trip; I've thought about including it for a return trip but you've made it a must. Looking forward to reliving some of my very fond memories of Bali through you.

Terrific report kja, very evocative. Only part way through but already it brings back to me very clearly, our time in Indonesia (and is almost tempting me to return - outside of Ramadan this time!) . Have downloaded to my iPad reader to continue on a long bus trip tomorrow.

Thank you for that detailed history about all those temples and the times religion came to that area or the various types of religion I mean. It's clear that the Hindu and Buddhist temples are quite ancient ass again Indonesia is now primarily Muslim. It seems that you know so much about it you could be a tour guide there. :).

I did not know that Bali was primarily Hindu. I wonder if that has something to do with the violence that you see there from time to time .

When we were in Hong Kong the trick to eating noodles with chopsticks is to bring the noodles up with the chopsticks and then drop them in a spoon . S:-.