Indonesia Dua

We had to return to Indo in order to catch our onward flight from Jakarta to Singapore, and we managed to find a great flight from Melbourne to Denpasar (Bali) on Jetstar. Learning from our past experience in Denpasar (see A Long Hard Slog), this time we decided to make our lives easier and just stay in Bali. My cousin recommended a hotel that, while a little out of our budget, was still pretty reasonable at about C$35 a night. (Definitely much cheaper than what we had been paying in Aus and NZ.) And since we were arriving relatively late (around 11:00pm), it was nice knowing where we were going. His recommendation was well deserved! The Masa Inn was practically a luxury hotel -- at least three star by western standards -- with two pools, AC, TV, a big comfortable bed with crisp clean sheets, and hot showers. Okay, maybe it's just a nice hotel by western standards, but for us it was luxury. (Goes to show what your standards become when you're backpacking.) We enjoyed the perks while we had them (just the one night and following morning). We didn't give ourselves much time to do much else in Bali, although we did visit the memorial to those murdered in the Bali bombing of 2001. We knew that many people had died, but we didn't really grasp the full scale of the tragedy until we saw all those names.

Bundled against the cold mountain air. Bromo is the grey crater just
over my right shoulder; not the big mountain in the background.
Our first and only stop on our way to Jakarta was Mount Bromo, an active volcano set amidst an incredible moon-like landscape (or so the Book says). We jumped on a night bus and, true to form, it arrived in the town of Probolinggo, our connecting point to Mount Bromo, at 2:00am. And, of course, the 'bus stop' happened to be in front of a travel agency that also just happened to have an agent up at that time of the morning. Since the public bus wasn't expected for another six hours (assuming that it would even run on time), we were left with little choice except to take their expensive shuttle to Cemora Lawang (the town nearest Mount Bromo). So we agreed and handed over our money. We also, after further badgering, signed up for a 4WD trip to the viewpoint that overlooks Mount Bromo and transport to the rim of the volcano crater itself, AND we agreed to buy a return ticket to Surabaya (where we were catching a flight to Jakarta). We knew at the time we should just say no, and sort things out on our own when we got where we were going, but it was 2:00am! And the agent was more than a bit persistant. Although we knew we were paying probably more than double, we consoled ourselves with the fact that at least we wouldn't have to deal with the same hassle when we arrived. And despite the extremely late/early hour, Lee still managed to bargain him down from Rp600,000 (about C$80) to Rp500,000 (about C$65). (That's C$65 for both of us, by the way).

We had a bumpy sleep in the shuttle to Cemoro Lawang, arriving just after 4:00am. We quickly got ourselves sorted (we needed warm clothes!) and jumped in the waiting jeep. Our first stop was at a cliff overlooking Mount Bromo and the surrounding mountains, and we waited there for the sunrise. Bromo looks a little like something out of a Flash Gordon movie, with all the craters and the smoke belching out in sporadic puffs. Very cool. And cold! The mountains get quite cold during the wee hours, and we were glad to have thought to pull out some warm clothes before getting in the jeep. After the sunrise, the jeep drove us to the bottom of the crater. From there we walked up the 237 steps to Mount Bromo's rim for a good look into ... well, the sulphur cloud. And boy did it smell bad! It stung our eyes, throats, and noses. We didn't see any magma, but that was probably a good thing. But we managed to get a pretty good look around before the smell finally drove us off the mountain. After all the excitement, we headed back to Cemoro Lawang for breakfast and kopi susu (coffee with milk), which tasted extra good that morning.

Cemoro Lawang's 'superstore'. Notice how all
encompassing the surrounding darkness is.
We spent two-and-a-half days exploring the mountain village of Cemoro Lawang and their endless cabbage fields before jumping on a bus to Surabaya. From Surabaya we caught an Air Asia flight to Jakarta (which was cheaper, easier, and faster -- so much faster -- than the train) where we would fly to Singapore. Apart from being stressed that we were going to miss our connecting bus to Surabaya, our travel from Cemoro Lawang to the Surabaya airport went remarkably smoothly (remarkable because it involved continuous travel from a minibus to a big bus to an airport bus -- no mean feat in Indo!), and we soon found ourselves in the luxurious embrace of Singapore Airlines.

For more photos, see our Bali & Mount Bromo photo album, and/or our Indonesia photo album.

Sun, sand, and sea!

Welcome to paradise.
I think Lee needed to get that out of her system. Public transport in Indonesia is NOT easy. It's not that the trains/buses/ferries are bad (although they are hardly great), or even expensive (it's probably about a C$1.50/hour average), it's just that it takes sooo long to get anywhere.

We were well and truly tired when we arrived at Gili Air. Luckily it wasn't too late in the evening and was still daylight, so we felt confident that we could find a decent space to throw down our backpacks. The island itself is very small; circumnavigating it on foot takes about an hour, and it was very quiet when we got there. As we made our rounds of the resorts, a lady who wanted us to see her place called out to us. We kind of had another place in mind, but she told that the price of the room was only 35,000 Rupiahs/night (about C$5), and this included breakfast (which turned out to be a big banana pancake with a fruit salad and coffee!). Needless to say that sounded too good to be true, but we decided to take a look. Good thing we did as the hut was very nice, indeed. It was a self-contained hut in a hibiscus garden close to the beach, with a nice big bed and a big, clean bath room. Awesome. Still, we thought we should check out our original option, which, unfortunately, was at the farthest point on the island. And, of course, it turned out to be no good, so we trudged right back, double checked the price, and settled in. The next six days (it was only supposed to be three) were spent doing some serious relaxation, eating some good food and, of course, doing some diving.

We went on three great dives, and saw sharks, turtles (eight in one dive!) and leafy scorpionfish. The highlight would have to be the purple Pygmy seahorses our guide found in a large fan coral. They were so tiny, only about 5mm, and they blended in perfectly with the purple coral itself. I don't know how they spotted them! I would look at certain spots of the coral, not really knowing if I was actually looking at a seahorse or not, until I would see an eye blink or a gill move. Amazing stuff! Lee and I have seen a lot of stuff underwater and can be a bit hard to impress, but these little critters are certainly at the top of the list.

We also met a couple from Quebec (we seem to be meeting only people from Canada; it makes one wonder ... ) that we got talking to. Marie-Helene and Numa had also spent a lot of time on the road, and were, like us, recharging in Gili Air. We spent many a night on the beach, eating food and chatting, which funnily enough was mainly about food, especially French-Canadian specialities such as poutine (for those not in the know, it's french fries with brown gravy and melted cheese curds -- heart attack in a paper box, but oh so tasty ... ). We had to leave eventually, but this time we decided to fly ... no more slow boats for us! We got ourselves a plane ticket to Kupang, West Timor, the most easterly island in Indonesia.

For more photos, see our Indonesia photo album.

A Long Hard Slog

The lovely facilities in Denpasar.
After getting stuck in Kumai, Kalimantan for three days longer than expected, we finally left via ferry to Surabaya on Java. The ferry was supposed to leave at 8:00pm, but for some reason it was delayed about three hours. So more than 28 long hours later, we arrived at the port in Surabaya tired, cranky, and more than a little worse for wear. Being so late/early also meant that not only did we have few transportation options to get us to the city centre, it also meant that we were in a very poor position to bargain for a reasonable price.

Side note #1: In general, backpacking is a lot of fun. It can be challenging at times, but, overall, the challenge is what makes it so interesting. EXCEPT when you arrive into a city late at night (pretty much any time after dark). Then backpacking is not so fun. The bus depot/train station/ferry port is generally several kilometres out of town, and arriving after dark means that you're much less likely (with good reason) to want to walk around. There are usually only a few taxi drivers around, and those that are waiting with the welcome mat out, know only too well that you're pretty much stuck and price gouge the hell out of you. (Not that I'm bitter or anything!) Thus far, the only times I have been angry and annoyed with travelling in Indonesia, and Indonesians in general, have been during these times.

Unfortunately, we had to deal with this several days in a row as we were travelling hard and furious to get to a small island north of Lombok (just east of the infamous Bali). We decided to bypass Bali altogether (too many people said we "just had to go" ... I guess we like too much being different). Because we got into Surabaya so late, we decided there was no point in trying to find a room, and instead decided to just head directly for the bus station to catch a bus for Denpasar, Bali's biggest city. From there, we planned to catch a short bus ride to the ferry, and then the ferry to Gili Air, one of three small islands just north of Lombok. We'd heard that it was a pretty chilled out place that had some pretty good diving.

Our overpriced taxi got us to the bus station at about 5:00am, where we're told that a bus is just about to leave for Denpasar. "Great!", we thought, "What luck!" "Hurry!", they say and gesture urgently to the bus that we would be travelling on. After a quick discussion between the two of us, we decide that it does indeed look like this "luxury" bus (AC, TV, reclining seats, and a bathroom on board -- sounds much better than the reality!) is the only bus heading to Denpasar. We buy our tickets and make our way to the bus. Where we wait. And wait. And wait some more. We arrived at about 5:00am and didn't pull out until 11:30am.

Side note #2: Travelling in Indonesia is an exercise in patience and futility. Patience for surviving the long delays, and futility in trying to understand the reasons why you haven't left yet. Sometimes, the reason for waiting is simply that they are waiting for enough people to come along to fill up the bus. This was why we had such a long wait for the bus to depart for Denpasar. They apparently needed 20 paying passengers to leave. (Unfortunately, I think we were passengers five and six.) But even when we seemed to have twenty passengers waiting on board, we were kept waiting for at least another hour. Hence, the futility of asking, "Why aren't we leaving?" (which I must have asked Ulrik at least a million times). But there is also the patience required for surviving the incredibly long travel times in Indonesia. Before we arrived, we had little concept of how spread out the country is. Now, a veteran of two 24+ hour ferry rides, two 12+ hour bus rides, and a 12+ hour combined ferry/bus ride (and these were in the space of two weeks!), we know first hand how much time it takes to get from place to place.

Twelve hours later, we arrived in Denpaser. The bus ride was long, but actually not too bad. The countryside was beautiful! So much so, that it somehow made the time pass by quickly. But arriving so late (almost midnight), we knew we were going to have a hard time of it getting out of the bus station and finding our hotel. And, sure enough, we did. Our taxi overcharged us and didn't even bring us to our hotel. So we schlepped around with our rucksacks for about half-an-hour. We finally managed to find our hotel, only to find that it wasn't a hotel any more!! We ended up going to another hotel that we had passed along the way. It was all boarded up, but there was a guy sitting out front who tried to help us out. He got someone, who seemed to be like the manager, who initially didn't want to help us. (By this time it was close to 12:30am.) He kept saying that they were closed for the night and gestured down the street as if to say, "Try someplace down there." I was having none of it. I put my most pathetic face on and explained as nicely as I could that we'd been travelling for more than two days straight, and could he please just let us stay there? (If I had seem the rooms in advance, I probably would have cut our losses when we had the chance!) He finally relented and showed us the worst room we have seen in, I am pretty sure, all of our travels (including India!). It was such a dive. I didn't even want to walk on the floor without shoes. It was just that gross. And it was one of the more expensive places we've stayed at too. But, by that point I was beyond caring. We managed to get a shower (only because, as we'd been travelling for more than 48 hours we really needed one) laid out the sleeping bags (for the protection from their manky beds), and went to sleep.

The next morning, we got up early to look into a bus to get us to the ferry. We probably walked for about an hour looking for either an internet place or a wartel (a place to make phone calls). We finally found a wartel open and, after calling a travel agent, found out that they had a bus/ferry combo ticket from Denpasar to Gili Air. BUT the bus was scheduled to leave in less than half-an-hour from a place that we had no idea where it was. We raced back to the room to pick up our bags, which we'd fortunately had the forethought to pack before we left, hailed a bemo (a minibus that functions like a public bus), and managed to get to the rendezvous point with about two minutes to spare. Now, with our history of Indonesian transportation to date, we really didn't think they would either be there, or depart, on time, but we didn't want to risk it. And sure enough, when we got out of the taxi, a "helpful" man told us the bus had just left.

Us: "The Perama bus?"
Him: "Yes. Perama."
Us: "It left?"
Him: "Yes. Perama. Just left."
Us: "But it said it would wait." (I have no idea why we gave this guy any credibility."
Him: "You take my bus ... it's just over there."

Ahhh. Of course, he has a bus "just over there". Forget this. I saw a wartel across the street, ran over, called the company, and they said the bus HADN'T EVEN ARRIVED YET!! Why do people need to lie? I can (sort of) understand the overcharging, the taking the long way, the request to "just look" at their room/store/restaurant. But the lying makes me so mad!! This wasn't the first guy to blatantly lie to us; he wasn't the last, and, I am sure, we will meet many more in the year to come. But I also know that for every liar we meet, we meet so many more people who are helpful and friendly. I just have to keep reminding myself of that ...

After getting more directions from the lady on the phone, and from the helpful ladies at the wartel (see? friendly people everywhere), we easily found our bus. And finally found ourselves amongst OTHER "WHITIES" (our name for foreigners).

Side note #3: Until this point, we had seen very few foreigners in Indonesia. Even in the "tourist" areas that we'd passed through. In fact, we didn't speak with another backpacker until we'd been travelling for almost two weeks. And that's not due to our being overly anti-social (although I know we can be). There just weren't any whities to talk to. Funnily enough, the first whities we talked to were also from Canada, also from Toronto, and also on a one-year trip around the world (they were in month four). Ulrik and I felt like we had run into our future selves, there were so many parallels! And they also referred to backpackers as whities!

So there we were, amongst a whole pack of whities. And after being on the bus with them for a while, we realized why we generally try to avoid being around too many of them! But, fortunately, most of them ended up on Gili Trawangan (aka the "party" island). Ulrik and I went to Gili Air, the smallest island, and that is where we have languished for the past six days.

Three full days of travel -- we left Kumai on the night of 21 Jan, and arrived on Gili Air the evening of 24 Jan -- to get some beach time. It was well worth it.

For more photos, see our Indonesia photo album.

Macaques, Gibbons, and Orangutans – Oh my!

Our home for three days ... it was so cosy!
Here's a long overdue update from Indonesia.

Ulrik and I are sitting at an email place in Kalimantan (that's Borneo for the geographically-challenged). Doing email in Borneo! That's enough to do my head in.

Yesterday we finished a three day klotok (boat) tour of Tanjung Puting National Park, where several orangutan rehabilitation camps are located. The primary camp is Camp Leaky, which was established in 1971 by a Canadian woman (Dr. Biruté Galdiki). The purpose of the camps is to rehabilitate wild-born orangutans that were stolen for sale in the illegal pet trade. Our three day tour was fantastic! We lived on the boat, which was very cosy, put-puting along on the river ... it was all very relaxed and quiet. The tour included three meals a day, and boy did they feed us well! When we got our first meal (lunch on day one), there was more food than we had eaten in the previous three days! (Mind you, we have been living rather cheaply and, because of the heat, have had minimal appetite, but still ....) So needless to say, we ate very well on the boat. We also got to see tonnes of monkeys playing in the trees along the riverbanks. It got to be so much, that after a while they became almost commonplace -- "What? There are monkeys in the trees? Oh that's nice." -- when at the beginning it was, "Monkeys? Where? Cool!!"

But the main attraction was the orangutans. We got to see so many!! At one of the first camps, we saw a momma orangutan break into the feeding hut. She initially left with a few fistfuls of bananas. But when most of her bananas were stolen by one of the juvenile males, she broke in again, plopped herself amidst the bananas, and proceeded to stuff herself and her baby. The ranger tried to move her out, first by calling and then by prodding, but she was not going anywhere!

Getting friendly with the locals.
Although we were amazed by what we saw at the first camp, and by being in such close proximity to the orangutans (Ulrik actually handed bananas to one), Camp Leaky blew our minds. We saw nine orangutans, which included three mommas and their babies, during the feeding. When the feeding was finished, one juvenile male walked with us most of the way out of the jungle. Back in the camp, we saw another four mommas and their babies (one baby was just a few months old). The experience was incredible. We'll never be able to go to a zoo again. Although some might question what these camps are doing, our feeling, based on reading about the background and the purpose of the camps, is that they are doing their best to restore these animals to a wild, or semi-wild, existence. A baby orangutan lives with his/her mother for about seven years during which s/he learns everything s/he needs to survive. If that baby is snatched from its mother at a very young age, how challenging must it be to try and teach it all that it needs to know to survive in the wild?

Other than Kalimantan and our klotok tour, we've mostly been spending our time in Indo traveling from place to place. Indo is so spread out! We were able to do a short trek to see an active volcano (Mt. Merapi). That was pretty cool. (Although waking up at 2:00am to see the sun rise over the mountain was not so cool.) We also got to see Borobudur, which is this huge Buddhist stupa. Great views from the top.

A beautiful sunset as seen from our klotok (boat).
Next up, we're heading back to Java (Surabaya to be exact). We're actually stuck here in Kumai (a one-horse town if there ever was one!) waiting for the next ferry, which doesn't leave until 21 Jan. Then we'll head through Bali to the Gilis (this is a group of small islands north of Lombok), then through Sumbawa to Komodo (where the dragons are) and Flores.

For more photos, see our Indonesia photo album.