glover

We're slowly getting our itin together for Jan/Feb trip to SEA.

So far, it looks like this:

Dec. 30 fly to Singapore (already ticketed). 4 nights reserved at Intercontinental (thanks for tips, Bob!)

Jan. 4 had thought to fly to Yogyacarta and spend 3 nights to see Borabadur and city.

Jan. 7 - fly Yogy to Bali. Have reservations at Alam Shanti on 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Jan. 11-14 - 3 or so more nights in Bali near beach at location TBD.

Along about the 14 or so, fly to KL, then Kita Kinabalu in order to go to Borneo Rainforest Lodge for several nights TBD.

After that our loose plan is to spend time in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos - and return to U.S. from Hong Kong (flight already ticketed) on March 3.

Now, here is our most recent quandary. After reading the NY Times article posted by ekscrunchy about Java volcanoes, we'd like to do some of that territory, which would require some more time in/around Yogy. How can we best fit that in given above parameters/existing reservations? Any ideas? Thanks.

Kathie

Unless you are willing to change the reservations and tickets you already have, I'd say you need to save the volcanoes for another trip. It would make no sense to try to circle back from Kota Kinabalu and Lahad Datu to get to Yogjakarta - lots of time wasted, lots of extra flights.

glover

Thanks, Kathie. I forgot to say that, while I've had some contact with BRL, haven't reserved yet. So one idea we've tossed around would be to hook up with a tour/driver from Bali West to ferry over to Java for volcanoes for several days. I see that folks do that route sometimes. Then we'd fly from Yogy to KL and on - pushing BRL time back several days. Does that sound feasible?

Guess I could try to change Alam Shanti reservation, but it seems to be a popular place . . . Then we'd just extend the earlier Yogy time by several days.

rhkkmk

AS tends to be full most of the time but they might be able to accomodate you....ask them....

what a fab trip!!

marmot

Glover, the NYT article covered two different parts of Java -- Central around Yogya/Borobudur and East around Bromo/Surabaya. They're some distance from each other either a flight or a long (12 hour) drive.

The mountains around Borobudur are free standing and serene. Bromo is a complex of several mountains and caldera that is very geologically active.

Ijen, where the sulphur mines are, is on the far east coast.

The ferry from Java to Bali leaves from the east coast of Java (a few hours from Bromo) and lands in the far northwest corner of Bali. It's a two or three hour drive from there to Ubud or to the Southern beaches. Or you could fly from Surabaya to Denpasar. Surabaya is about 2-3 hours from Bromo.

Yesterday I flew from Jakarta to Bali and had a birdseye view of the Bromo caldera. It is really spectacular. Not easy to get to but well worth the effort.

marmot

Also, gunungbagging.com is a great site on mountain trekking in Indonesia.

Expect rain in January, though, so be cautious, especially if you go to Bromo.

kuluk

According to what I read on your itinerary, you have budgeted 3 or 4 days in Jogja...and you will be very close to Merapi. You can easily fit that into the Jogja part of your trip.

Then from Jogja fly direct to Surabaya and have one of the tour operators at your hotel arrange for your overnight to Bromo. Then once back in Surabaya, fly to Denpasar (Bali).

All of it is easily done. You might have to skip one day either in Yogja or Bali for the Bromo part, but you can figure out which part is most important for you!

glover

Thanks all for this. Marmot, have you been to Ijen? I was looking at their site, and also wondering if anyone had done any of the tours arranged from there - they have several I see. And kuluk thanks for the additional suggestion of flying Yogy to Surabaya. Something else for us to consider.

rhkkmk

be very careful in selecting any ferry rides....they tend to overload them...

kuluk

Hope you have a wonderful trip. But it's called Jogja, not Yogy...you might really confuse travel agents if you call it that!

Jogja to Surabaya is about a 45 minute flight and will save you at least 8 hours of hard driving. Surabaya to Bali is another 45 minutes flight.

filmwill

Kind of like Yogi Bear?

StanKase

We returned in late March from Central Java and could have easily flown to see Mt, Bromo or driven with our guide. The drive according to our experienced guide I believe is a good deal less than 12 hours. I thought he said 5,6 or so, but we would have flown fron yogja or solo, only 45 minutes apart, in a 40 minute flight as I recall. I would suggest to make it a fabulous trip you hire a guide in jagja and in 3 full days you can see Borbudur, Peramadam (spelling off) Temples, go out to see the specacular Dieng Plateau, and with my guide and probably others visit small villages that most tourists do not get to and interact with locals where one village makes tofu, another makes flour out of coconut trees, ceramic cooking wear with 1600 style kilns, etc. Yes, you can do it all in 3 10-11 hour days and if its a Sat. or Sunday take in the Sultans Palace at 11 AM for a live performance. The drive to Mt.Merapi is only 20 minutes from town but because of the last eruption there is not much to see other than the devastation it brought and how they are trying to revive the area which we found interesting. If you flew out on an early evening flight to Mt. Bromo you could spend 1 full day around that volcano and then fly within 90 minutes to Bali. My guide is somewhat on the expensive side I gather by Indonesian standards but he and his partner Rachmad are so knowledable it is worth the $25-$30/day difference from a run-of-the-mill guide. If interested email [email protected] You might want to mention my name because we have been in contact planning a return trip that will explore more of Central Java and 3 days in East Java. Good Luck.

StanKase

I gave you the wronge email address. [email protected]

glover

Thanks for this specific info, Stan. Great to have the name of a good guide! We're now thinking we'll just switch up the order of our itin a bit to allow more time around Jogja and to do the volcano area. We were planning on spending 3 beach nights in Bali (lodging TBD) after our already reserved time in Ubud at Alam Shanti. Think what we'll do now is move Jogya to back end. Fly Singapore to Bali on Jan. 4. Spend 3 nights at beach place, then 4 at Alan Shanti. Then do 4 or 5 nights in Java, then fly Jogja to Kuala Lumpur and hence to Borneo Rainforest Resort.

Maybe we should do the reverse of Kuluk's suggestion. Fly Bali to Surbaya (for Bromo etc) and then fly Surabaya to Jogja. . . . .

Kathie

I think that's a fine solution!

marmot

Stan, your guide was overly optimistic. Yogya to Mt. Bromo is 12 hours, maybe more. Perhaps he was thinking Surabaya or Malang which are about 8/9 hours from Yogya.

glover, I'd suggest you try to stay on Bromo, not in Surabaya. It's a really beautiful area. Accommodations are quite basic, though. Java Banana is supposed to be an improvement, but I haven't stayed there. They had a jazz festival recently so I guess they're trading up!

Be sure to get a local guide and a car with four wheel drive. The area is well touristed, but it can be treacherous, especially during the rainy season.

I haven't been to Ijen yet, but it sounds fascinating. The Bali/Java ferry is okay, but flying is faster. The resort that I stayed at in North Bali recently offered a tour of Ijen including water transportation which would be another way to go about it.

Jogya is the old spelling. It's Yogya now. And just to confuse things the proper name for Solo is Surakarta.

glover

Thanks, Marmot, so what was that resort in North Bali?

marmot

The resort was Villa Puri Ganesha which is a wonderful place, just four villas on the sea with a great natural food restaurant. . .but it's very pricy. Most likely you could get the same tour from some of the other places in Pemuteran. I've not taken the ferry but my son has. He says it's under an hour, but then you have to get to Ijen or Bromo.

rhkkmk

we stayed at rambutan in n. bali... it is not on the water, but about a block away.... nice quiet village atmosphere with several restaurants within walking distance, plus their own..

StanKase

marmot; you may be correct and my memory may fail me but we were going to drive or fly but will fly anyway because the fares are that resonable out of yogja or solo especially when you are spending this much money on a trip to maximize enjoyment. The Bali to Solo was only $110 on Garuda Air. I was advised to try and avoid the smaller airlines, if possible.