Java juice
Prambanan was on our way out of Jogjakarta. The temple clearly had Khmer influences, and was accoring to my Philipino-friend much better than Borobudur.
Very different, but personally I preferred Borobudur, possibly because we got sunrise there, possibly because the guide was better there, and possibly because it was more different than most other south-east asian temples I've seen before.
More time spent in the bus untill we got to Solo in the evening, spent a few hours there where we went to a resturant who possibly took indonesian record in slow service.
Next morning it was again back to the bus and a new long drive to Batu. In Batu we had a gorgeous boutique hotel, one of these places we'd probably not been able to find by ourselves. Really nice, but somewhat weird that there was no light in the room, and just one power outlet - thankfully bringing my power-split made it easier. A pretty annoying small artificial waterfall 10 cm outside our window could have made sleep difficult, but earplugs and the fact that we had to leave at 01:00 made it ok anyway.
Yet another long ride in the middle of the night to get closer to Mt Bromo, spent about 3 hours in the bus before swapping for jeeps which then took us further for a little more than an hour again. This is a place I think we should've stayed closer to the vulcano and not having to get up as early and spend so much time in the bus every day. Mt Bromo viewpoint was however just a few minutes walk from where the jeeps dropped us off, and it was completely packed with other tourists who was also ready for the view.
The view was great, but the obvious problem was lack of sleep and also that there were more spots we could've used, but were never told there were some much nicer just some meters down a small slope. Did however get there when some light had spread out and got a great view of the vulcano.
A new drive back to the sandsea before what turned out to be the big highlight of the day - the vulcano itself. Several locals with horses for rent where in the area, but after too many hours on a bus, I really was more ready to use my legs. Going through the not-too solid soil and especially up the very sandy steps to the vulcano was pretty tiresome - again probably due to lack of sleep, but very worth the trip. The roaring of the vulcano and the smoke spewing out really showed the natural power right infront of us. For some minutes, I just sat down there and listened, got sucked in and felt how powerless we are as humans if nature decides to screw us over some day.
Of course, a new LONG ride back to the hotel, which was even longer now due to traffic waking up, and another night at the same boutique hotel. We did however go to panties pizza, which was rather crap, but they sold calzones with cheese and chocolate. Not too bad, but not a new favorite either.
Next morning was, of course, another couple of hours drive to Suribaya where we took the flight to Bali where we checked in to Sanur and the group split up after a farewell dinner.
We finally managed to get a few of our group to go out with us for the night, and we even took one of the older canadians out for a walk as she was getting more and more frustrated by her friend.
All in all happy with the trip, some challenges, and probably a bit too much time spent on busses between the different destinations. I'd preferred to spend a few more days in the different cities even if this would've meant the trip took a bit longer.
The last week was spent in Bali. I'm not going to write too much about this part of the trip, not because it was a bad part, but simply because I've spent too long writing this part of the chapter. Bali is extremely touristy and in many ways similar to the mediterrainian islands. Bars and resturant everywhere, drunk people everywhere, sales persons who knows very well how to get the sale from a tourist etc.
The island is very nice and has a great diversity, there are some great temples, a vulcano, the monkey forrest in Ubud, good snorkling spots, and awesome beaches for learning how to surf or just relax and let life pass you by. The highlight was the water temple of Tanah Lot as shown on the picture. The main tip if someone who is reading this is going to Bali is to download Uber. Generally costs 1/3 of normal taxis and works fine in most areas.
