The Path Through Java, Indonesia - Borobudur Temple, Mount Bromo/Semeru, and Ijen Crater - Jan 2014

I feel guilty because I haven't blogged in a month, but it's really been out of my control due to slow or non-existent WiFi. Today Darryl and I parted ways AGAIN, ugh :( happy Valentine's Day. I am currently in Singapore for the night and the WiFi at my hostel is the fastest I've encountered in Asia, so carpe diem, time to start catching up!

I lucked out after my last blogging location (Lake Toba), and intersected with another friend who is traveling the world for 8 months on a UW scholarship (how awesome is that!!) - Catherine. In addition to having a new super smart and funny companion, I had someone to help me feel more comfortable/safe with the inquisitive (to the point of aggression) people... mainly men... encountered. It's kind of cute until you have been followed for the 5th time in an hour by a nagging voice "Excuuuse me miss, where are you from?" 

What I did enjoy greatly though is how consistently we heard "AMERICA? Barack Obaaaama!" Indonesians relate to Mr. Obama because he went to school in Jakarta in his youth, and recently visited and addressed the nation in their native tongue. It's pretty funny to try to explain that their beloved Obama, someone they also relate to as looking more like them than any previous President, is quite controversial back at home.

Teeny tiny people climbing up - there are hundreds
of Buddha statues adorning the pyramid

Anyway, Catherine and I met in Jogjakarta (central Java). Neither of us were set on spending too much time there, so chose one major tourist activity: Borobudur Temple. We both expressed a bit of temple fatigue (she has been in Asia the past 3 months)... honestly I wasn't even that motivated to go, but holy cow, I am really glad we did.

Borobudur is a UNESCO World Heritage site, over one THOUSAND years old and the largest Buddhist temple in the world. This means it has had to go through a few restorations, most recently by UNESCO, who pretty much took it apart and put it back together in a painstaking process - at least what still remained.

Poor Buddha's arm!!

Almost all of the Buddhist statues are headless or missing limbs, but it makes it feel all the more genuine and well, old. There is no actual inside to this "temple," which is kind of a loose translation of the Indonesian word "candi," which can mean a structure.

When viewed from above (thanks Wikipedia for bringing these words and concepts back to me), Borobudur "takes the form of a giant tantric Buddhist mandala, simultaneously representing the Buddhist cosmology and the nature of mind". In the form of a pyramid, you ascend through three levels of Buddhist cosmology until you reach the top (as our guide called it - Heaven, really meaning enlightenment).

Incredible stone carvings, all done by hand

The lower levels are covered in endless stone carvings depicting the story of Buddha and Buddha's previous lives, which in their entiretey stretch 2km. "Heaven" is covered in tons of bell-shaped stupas, some of which contain Buddha statues inside. I definitely felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie, without the action.

It was truly remarkable and as I'm sure I've said a hundred times... photos can't do it justice.

The stupas at the top of Borobudur - enlightenment!

It was time to get out of Jogja, as the locals call it. Catherine helped find a 3 day bus trip that would take us east to both Mt. Bromo and Ijen Crater (after I told her I was dying to see both), and drop us off in Bali. This involved 8-12 hour days packed in a mini-bus with very early wake-up calls to see the mountains, but we masochistically decided it was the best, fastest, and cheapest way to see the area at about $60 a piece.

Day 1 on the road, and I was thankful the van was at least large. The seat I was in must have been right over the engine, however, and I thought I was going to die of heatstroke during the 12+ hour drive. Additionally our driver had a knack for taking a phone call every 5 minutes and SCREAMING his way through the conversation, resulting in a lot of mutual eye rolling by the passengers.

We got to Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park around 9pm, grabbed a quick dinner, and went to bed as we had a 3am wake-up call. We were in a jeep by around 3:30am to head to a lookoutpoint to see the sunrise over the mountain range.

Mt. Bromo isn't the biggest in the range, but is definitely the most well known. We got to the lookout point and there must have been at least 100 people crowding to get a view. About 10 minutes into the sunrise we were tired of trying to peer over people and started to walk back, when I found a mostly unoccupied viewpoint which was much more satisfying to watch from.

Mt. Bromo in the forefront, Semeru to its left

I thought this was all that was in store for us, but once the sun was up our jeep took us to this endless desert area called the "Sea of Sand" at the base of Mt. Bromo, as well as Mt. Semeru, one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, which we took stairs to the top of.

Horses were available to ride part of the way up Seremu
(Bromo in the background)

We were staring down into the crater of this beast and I felt a bit lightheaded watching the locals traverse down the steep slope like mountain goats, as if they might leap into the crater at any moment. One man just stood sideways smoking a cigarette nonchalantly. Semeru erupts about every 20 minutes so there is constant steam and smoke belching out making for quite the show.

View of Bromo from Semeru

Then... back in the van, for a substantially shorter 7-ish hours, when we were dropped at a rustic guest house (to be generous with my description). We had another early morning ahead of us and woke up at 4am to hike up to Ijen Crater - surprise, another volcano! Some folks we met opted for a midnight hike to see the famous "blue fire," aka sulfur flames in the dark. At first I was envious, but we passed them on their way down, and they said that the fumes were too thick for anyone to breathe or even see anything, and had also missed seeing the crater in the daylight.

Miner with sulfur baskets

This was my first warning that it was going to be a bit rough at the top. The trail is lined with sulfur miners, who are local men hauling 70-90kgs of sulfur out from the crater at a time, balanced on a wooden beam on their back. It's a steep hike in and out, with most wearing flimsy rain boots - truly back and lung breaking work for $6-12 a day.

As we approached the top viewpoint of the crater my asthma kicked into overdrive as the sulfur fumes seeped into my lungs. Some hikers did a better job of researching and were prepared with masks (or even gas masks). It was painful to be up there let alone walk DOWN into the mining area of the crater, which we opted out of.

I couldn't fathom how the miners were doing their work unprotected. But as the smoke layer that covered the view cleared and showed the aqua blue waters of the crater lake below, and the sulfur source where the miners were working, it was truly an awe inspiring sight.

Catherine hiking through the hazy sulfur fumes

Ijen Crater

All of those black dots are miners

Yet... depressing to know the lifespan of the miners is maybe 40 years of painful work. I am not sure what the correct action is honestly - tourism brings more attention to their plight, and if the tourists weren't there, the mining would still continue.

My mind full of thoughts on this perilous lifestyle, we hopped back in the bus, then were dropped at a local bus (read: cramped with no air conditioning) to take onto the ferry to Bali. Finally we arrived at our fancy hotel... OK, the nicest place I had been at in days so it felt like luxury, even if the towels were dirty.

Looking back, I'm glad we did the grueling 3 day trip... BUT if anyone asked me how I would do it again, with a larger budget, I would hire a private driver for extra comfort and sanity. We're talking about $50 a day for the driver, which is what you can accidentally pay by taking a drunken Uber home from Ballard to Cap Hill at the wrong time of night.

And current news side note... a mountain erupting on Java (one we didn't visit) is causing all sorts of trouble, airport shut downs and flight diversions due to debris. This is the third major eruption I've heard of since I started my trek through Indonesia - remind me to never move there.

Up next... beaches, beaches, beaches. And Darryl! I've pretty much been at the beach since leaving Java. So tough.

Link to full Borobudur photos here, Bromo/Semeru here, and Ijen here.

-Erin

The hike up to Ijen

The World's Largest Volcanic Lake - Lake Toba, N. Sumatra

Before I left on this journey, I was watching a nature special with Darryl on the Sumatran Rhino and found myself entranced with Sumatra. I am the first to admit I have a horrible sense of geography, so when I found out that it was right next to Malaysia, I was sold.

When I landed at the airport in Medan, Sumatra, I realized it was the most "foreign" I had felt since I started this trip. Let's start with the obvious: I was the only white person on my flight, and saw maybe one or two white people throughout the entire airport.

Calls of "LADY!" and "MISS!" would follow me from the airport until now. I don't expect it to stop. Thailand was certainly not like this at all, probably because it is overrun with tourists, and I only got a small taste of this in Malaysia. Here people are very, very curious about me. And unlike the states where someone would gawk but not say anything, many will brazenly walk up and say "Hello Miss! Where you from?"

America, the promised land. They believe in the hype, and I can't blame them, because this is also the most impoverished country I've visited. Which is another reason for the attention - my money. And again, that's OK.

My least favorite question: "You travel alone?" ... because I can't answer honestly. It's just not smart.

The first full day here was a long, confusing day full of non-stop travel to reach my required stop: Lake Toba, the site of a massive supervolcanic eruption (and the largest known explosive eruption on earth in the last 25 million years, THANKS WIKIPEDIA). A resulting collapse from the eruption led to the formation of Lake Toba. My end destination was the island in the middle, and I hoped to take in its beauty and reflect on life. 

The local Batak people are predominantly Christian
and these buildings dot the side of the roads

It was about 9 hours of travel, which started in a rundown minibus with the locals, who again asked probing questions, and even wanted to take pictures with me. I agreed, but only on the condition that I could take a photo of them back.

A hot, smoke filled 5 hours later (you can smoke on these buses and ferries, and the driver chainsmoked the whole way), they dropped me off in Parapat, the town with the ferry to Samosir Island in the middle of Lake Toba. They didn't drop me off with any directions, so when another minibus full of schoolkids (some of them smoking) pulled up and said "Ferry!" I hopped in. I paid about 50 cents and was dropped off at a ferry terminal. 

Definitely the wrong ferry

I suspected it was the wrong terminal, as the "right" ferry came every 30 minutes, but as no one spoke English except to confirm that a ferry stopped there, I waited 2 hours. Once on the island, I hopped on the back of a scooter to my guest house, a 40 minute, very uncomfortable bumpy ride due with my 15kg pack on.

When I showed up at the guest house, I was greeted by a friendly employee, Jelita, who looked shocked at my time and mode of arrival. I had definitely taken the wrong ferry, and she told me that the right ferry would have dropped me off right at the guest house. 

But suddenly everything was OK, because she was so sweet and comforting. Her voice purred with her "r"s gently rolling every time she would say "No problem, my friend." I felt right at home.

I dropped my luggage in my room and sat down for dinner, only to witness the spectacle of an overweight middle aged Russian man arrive in the same way, but this time on the back of tiny Jelita's scooter. He was exclaiming "THIS IS IS JUST CRAZY" in a thick Russian accent, and I knew we had something to bond over. His name was Vladimir and he was a physics teacher. For real. We agreed to rent scooters together the next day and explore the island.

It turned out that Vladimir liked produce. Like really, really liked produce. So when we went to the market the next morning, he must have bought at least 8kg of fruits and vegetables, including tiny chilies that he eats raw. Our small trip proved tiresome to Vladimir, so I continued on my own to the Stone Chairs, which were used by the ancient empire for judgment and execution... and apparently cannibalism.

There are no words to describe the sheer variety and beauty of the island landscapes on Samosir, only pictures. I spent the next day just driving in one direction until I thought I might run out of gas, and was greeted by scenic vista after scenic vista. The photo opportunities were endless. Whenever I would drive by other tourists we would give each other a knowing smile: We were somewhere very special.

Unreal

Working the land

On one hill I was greeted by children who ran after me "HELLO! HELLO!" and then they chanted "Money, money, money, money, money!" - the only English they spoke.

Back to money, which kept running through my mind. On my "meager" budget, I was still wealthy in comparison and these people had so little.

Jelita and I had become fairly well acquainted over the past few days, so I asked her that afternoon (my last day) to take me to her shop, as well as help me find some authentic wood carvings, which the Batak people of the island are known for. She drove me to her store and showed me some woven textiles made on the island. I selected a few items as "maybes" and we headed to the woodshop.

As she drove we chatted, and remembering that earlier she had asked me if my parents were "around," I asked the same of her. She let me know her father had passed, and that her mom was very sick in Medan. As she is a single mother trying to put her son through school (she never finished school) and makes very little money at the guest house, she admitted she couldn't afford to go see her mother. She was able to take the time off, but with the cost of transporting her son to school, it wasn't possible.

I asked how much the trip would cost and she said about 300,00 Indian Rupiah (IDR), or $25 USD. I felt myself tearing up. Yes, it's a lot of money for a local, but I couldn't imagine $25 standing between me and my family if they were sick. And this is a reality for many, many Indonesians, and well, anyone in poverty in the world.

Jelita then took me to her family's carving shop and I bought a few fantastic pieces to send back home with Darryl. When we got back to the guest house she asked if I wanted to buy the textiles we had discussed. I handed her the 300,000 IDR, but knowing she wasn't making much of a profit off what she sold, I told her I didn't want to buy anything. I just wanted her to go see her mom.

I spent the rest of the evening grappling to wrap myself around this reality. We all know poverty exists in the world, have maybe even suffered through it, and I have seen it throughout my travels - especially noticed by me in the form of animals suffering. But you just never know when something is going to hit you hard, and this did. 

The next day I was supposed to take a bus to Bukit Lawang up north, the place that National Geographic dreams are made of, to see orangutans. The guest house had told me it was a 4-5 hour drive, but once I go to the pier they gave me a more realistic 8-10 hours. Knowing I had a busy week ahead of me, I just couldn't fathom that much time in a car. I'm glad I just went back to Medan, because it took 6 hours and I was OVER IT by the end.

So now I have a big reason to come back to Sumatra. Hopefully it will be on a big trekking expedition in a few years with Darryl, when we can spend extra time really getting lost in the jungle, seeking out the elusive and rare Sumatran Rhino.

Next stop.... Java!

-Erin