Java - Island of Volcanoes

Right now we are relaxing in Bali, after spending a week and a half traveling across the Indonesian island of Java. We arrived in Jakarta on a flight from Singapore, spent one night in the hectic city, then took a train then mini-van taxi to the town of Cibodas. Cibodas is pretty high up in the mountains of west Java, with a cool climate that was quite welcome. We visited the city's famous botanical gardens one day with a Canadian couple we met in Jakarta. That same night we left our homestay at midnight to hike Gunung Gede, a volcano which is 2,958m high. The hike up was absolutely grueling (we started at 1,300m), half our group of 8 dropped out halfway, and we arrived at the top after 5 1/2 hours, just before sunrise. The summit was freezing cold, and we had to wear all our layers just to stay warm. The view was amazing and you could see for 50 miles or so towards central and east Java. We got really sick the next day, due to altitude sickness and sheer exhaustion, and spent two days recovering in our hotel room.

Cibodas Botanical Gardens was full of flowering plants

Erika and Josh enjoying the scenery

Josh got a lucky close-up of this dragonfly

Hairy caterpillars were everywhere in Cibodas

A scenic waterfall in the heart of the gardens

Just after we arrived at the summit of Gunung Gede

Sunrise over Java!

Just after sunrise it began to rain off in the distance, and we actually watched as rain slowly fell from the clouds towards the ground

Erika enjoying fried rice for breakfast (packed the night before)

Gede crater, with a small column of steam rising from its center

Erika surrounded by the steam from a hot springs river halfway up the volcano

Josh barely visible through the steam

Jungle mushrooms we spotted on the slow and painful hike down (we took an hour longer to get down than we did up)

A carnivorous pitcher plant we spied right off the trail

After we recovered from our hike up the volcano, we took the train to the city of Jogja in central Java. It is well known for its batik (dyed fabric) artists and silver jewelery. It is also the capital of central Java and home to royal family. The Kraton (palace) in the center of town is home to the Sultan and several thousand family members and servants. We spent 4 days in Jogja, mostly reading books and going for walks around the city. Josh finally trimmed his beard in Jogja, after 3 months of growth got a little out of hand.

Josh's beard before...

...and after. The trim cost all of 15,000 rupiah ($1.50)

The entrance hall to the Sultan's palace

The throne room used for coronation and wedding ceremonies

After Jogja we bused it 11 hours to Gunung Bromo in east Java. Bromo is one of 3 volcanoes contained within a giant crater about 10km in diameter. We hiked to the volcano during the night for another amazing sunrise. This was a much different hike from Gede. The hike was easier since there wasn't a lot of elevation gain, but difficult to find the way since we didnt have a guide, and were the only hikers (everyone else takes a jeep). It was dark when we hiked in, and the large crater was covered in a thick fog, which didn't burn off until after we returned in the late morning. We got a little disoriented at several points, but still managed to make it to Bromo crater rim for sunrise. The hike out was just as difficult, because even though it was light out, the mist covered the bottom of the crater and we ended up about 2 miles from our entry point when we made it back to the outer rim. In the end we made it on our own and were very proud of ourselves for having done so.

Pre-dawn view across the outer crater, the floor covered in dense fog.

Sunrise was spectacular!

Satisfied after putting another volcano at sunrise under our belts

Neighboring Gunung Batok, viewed from Bromo

Looking down into Bromo crater, which is constantly spewing sulfurous gases

A horseman in the mist

Josh blending in with the background, visibility was about 100 feet

Bromo and Batok viewed from the outer rim at the end of our hike

Photo of our hike: down into the crater, across the plains, up the smoking crater of Bromo for sunrise, then back to the outer rim.

Malaysia by accident

When we left Hanoi, Vietnam we flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From there we were supposed to fly to Bali in Indonesia except we were not allowed to board our plane since we didnt have a departing flight from Indonesia (required by immigration). So we missed our flight and stayed in Malaysia. We explored Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days, and got to see the KL Tower and Petronas Towers (Petronas was the world's tallest builing until 2004).

Merdeka Square in KL

The KL Communications Tower mirrored on a office building, where we toured the observation deck for a superb view of the city.

The Petronas Towers, viewed from the top of KL Tower.

In KL we found Erika's favorite place in the world, Dunkin Donuts

From Kuala Lumpur we headed to the island of Palau Tioman, which is on the east coast. We planned to spend a few days there and liked it so much we stayed for 8 or 9 days. Palau Tioman has a population of only 3000 scattered across 7 or 8 little villages. The entire island is duty free, meaning there is a grocery store in the main town where everything is tax free. Our days in Tioman were mostly spent reading, napping on the beach, and snorkeling. The island is very wild, and where we were staying, jungle took over not more than 300 feet from the beach. We often saw monkeys and monitor lizards from our front porch.

A gorgeous beach on the east side of Tioman, which took a four hour hike to reach from our village.

Enjoying a sunset dinner on the beach

Monitor lizard crossing the "street" (walking path), big ones can reach 6 or 7 feet in length

Monkeys were a common sight right outside our bungalow

We watched the sunset almost every night in Tioman

Rainbows at sunset!

Jungle river that cut right through the village

Erika reading a book on our front porch

The things you'll do for a cold beer: hike 2 miles to the duty free store for a case of 60 cent beers, buy a bag of ice from the restaurant next door, and clean out a bucket full of paint rags and dirt...and voila, cold beers!

From Tioman we went south to Johor Baru, right next to Singapore, to try and find a ferry to Indonesia. This was a hassle and we ended up finding cheap flights from Singapore to Jakarta. We had a few days to kill before our flight so we headed to the west coast city of Melaka, and old colonial port town. In Melaka we visited St. Paul's church/fort built in the 1500's on a hill overlooking the town, and spent a night walking around Chinatown which had a nice street market.

This is a picture of the Prime Minister of Malaysia arriving in Johor Baru...right outside our window.

St. Paul's Church, also used as a fort by the Dutch and British

Inside St. Paul's the walls were filled with old tombstones from centuries of colonial occupation.

After Melaka we bused back to Singapore, and barely made our flight after I was detained at customs for carrying a machete in my backpack (guess thats not quite legal in Singapore!). Everything worked out fine in the end and we are now on the island of Java in Indonesia, making our way east towards Bali.