Indonesian Summary

Days travelled - 18 days (2 weeks, 4 days)

Distance travelled - Approx. 2337 km (1461 miles)

Hours travelled - 80 hrs (3 days, 8 hours)

Destinations - 8

Top 3

3 - Gilli Trawangan - Although there's not much to do on this island if you're not diving or snorkeling, it has a chilled out vibe that's also seen through the local people. The island isn't that big so it's a nice walk around!

2 - Gunung Bromo - Our first volcano and I'm sure it won't be our last. Yes it is a big tourist attraction but it's definately worth getting there to see the sunrise-you'll be amazed. Stay away from the crowd and you'll enjoy it more. Best thing is, Indonesia is full of volcanoes.

1 - Bali - Our first trip to Kuta wasn't what made Bali the hot spot, it was the 2 day motorbike ride starting in Ubud to the north of Bali via Munduk. We rode up to the peaks and saw more volcanoes and lakes at heights above 2000m. Another off the beaten track ride for us, which makes it our number 1.

Final Advice

Starting Indonesia by flying into Jakarta isn't the ideal way to start travelling around such a beautiful country but it is the capital and a short brief visit is all that's needed. The Indonesian people are soooooo friendly, probably the friendliest people we have met on our travels. There are not many people who speak English but you can usually find someone who can speak enough broken English to get by. We visited the country at a bad time for us because played shit in the world cup and we get cussed for it all the time but I'm sure they'll love us again-give it til the next world cup!

Indonesia is made up of different sized islands and travelling from one place to another is hard work. We've realised that they never reach the destination at the correct time so you have to be quite flexible with your time. Java is the only island with a train line and if you can, try travelling on the train, it's just a lot more comfortable and usually takes less time. Buses here are good enough, it's just sometimes leg room is a problem with us generally being a lot taller then them. The only major problem we found was how badly Indonesia is connected in terms of getting from one island to the other. Yes you can get buses/boats but they're time consuming, but if you look into flights, they are really expensive.

We originally wanted to go to Kalimantan (Borneo) via a pelni boat, the only boat company that goes across, but it seems they only have 2 boats going across every month and they usually don't know the schedule until a few days before so it would be really wise to plan your trip around their boat departures to save you the hassle of going back to Jakarta like we did.

All in All, Indonesia has been a dream country to travel because every island has something different to offer. I personally could spend 3 months easily taking my time exploring the whole of Indonesia. It's just that you need a bit money to climb up the big Volcanoes, which has got to be done if you can afford it!

Biking In Bali

After 9 months of travelling and everything going our way, it was innevitable that we would be restricted from following the original plan to the end. We wanted to continue eastwards in Indonesia to Sulawesi and the island of Komodo to see the present dinosaurs, the Komodo dragons. Unfortunately, because of the distance, alloted time available and the terrible boat services in Indonesia, we had no choice but to return to Jakarta for a flight to Tarakan in the province of Kalimanta (Borneo Indonesia). From there we would head north and cross back into Malaysian territory.

We regrouped with Leive in Ubud (Bali) and Aurore from Belgium also joined us there. We planned to hire some bikes for two days and see the less touristy northern parts of Bali. First things first for me and Maj was to drive a bike down to Bali's airport past Kuta and book our flight tickets, since we couldn't do it over the internet. The tickets ended up being a lot cheaper buying them direct, and we scheduled to fly out on the 3rd of July. That gave us a 5 day window left in Indonesia.

It felt great getting some motorbikes out again, especially some reliable ones. We drove for around 4 hours into the mountain terrain of Bali heading for a small hill side village called Munduk. The views were superb. High altitude lakes shrouded in mist that faded away into really dense forests. At times it was hard to differntiate the tree tops from the clouds because of their whiteness.

We luckily stumbled across a guesth-house that offered us 100,000 Rupiah for 1 night for all four of us. That probably doesn't mean much to you, but let me tell you it was a bargain. The price also included free breakfast, which was a Balinese style cake. Some weird concoction of banana cooked in egg and sprinkled with coconut shavings. Gotta admit it was pretty tasty. The view from our rooms balcony was a great place to eat the brekky, a long stretch of foresty jungle that merged in the distance with the sea. That was where we decided to head next.

The roads were in great condition but they were very windy. At least it kept us focused at all times. As we descended down to sea level you could feel the mountain cool leaving, and the heat of the day starting its attack. It was gonna be a hot one. As we drove the stretch of the northern coastline we passed a few touristy spots with nice hotels, diving opportunities etc. Instead of hanging around here we made back for the mountains, climbing an equaling twisty road as the one we came down earlier. This time we got to pass the hills parallel to Mt. Brato which was again an incredible sight. We stopped a few times for camera breaks before continuing on to a Hindu temple on our route back to Ubud.

The temple here had a pool with small fountains pouring fresh spring water that was supposedly blessed into it. I got invloved with the blessing and had to sarong myself up and enter the freezing water to get my head wet under the fountains. Another experience that I don't think is available in the Sheffield peace gardens.

We had to wait out a small downpour of rain before making the 10km journey back to Ubud. We never got to see Komodo, but we did learn a load of rude phrases in French and Dutch. Who needs dragons?

Stooma klootzak!!! Sil vous plais.

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Indonesia to Malaysia - In addition, the rest of our days spent in indonesia we're long and stressfull. From Ubud we had an 11 hour bus ride to Surabaya, where it took a long time and some help from locals on motorbikes to finally find a cheap joint that wasn't full. The next trip for us was to get back to Jakarta for our flight to Tarakan in Borneo, but everything, trains and buses were completly full also. Even the buisness class tickets. We were looking at our only other option to fly to Jakarta, but we tried a different train station 1st and low n behold they had some buisness class seats remaining. The seats were far from what your picturing as buisness class, with cockaroaches running the place and mozzys getting their munch on, it was a pretty restless 12 hour journey. We hung around Jakarta for a few hours burning time by eating and using the net, and we even bumped into Herman again! Our Jakarta tour guide. He was in the exact same place we met him last time, thought he said he works for a travel agent? My arse, lol.

After reaching the airport and checking in, we sneaked into a business lounge (now your picturing correctly) that was really cozy and full of businessmen. We made use of the wi-fi and free coffee and the comfy chairs. I even helped myself to a plate from the buffet too. Hustling.

Because the bloody border crossing was closed on Sundays we had the privilege of spending a full day in Tarakan on the Indonesian side of Borneo. We took the day to update this god damn blog (Were enjoying it really) and go on our own individual jogs. I got mad lost, and had a little following like Forest Gump through a coast side village with a boardwalk winding between all the houses. It was fun. Later on I spent half an hour in a dedicated gaming cafe where the geeks were playing a shoot em up. 1st game I got powned (gay gamer talk), but in the next game I fucked em all up good and proper. Top ranking player......PAP!

Bali Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5886773011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Gili, Gili, Gili, Gili, Gili, Gili........

Indonesia has loads of beautiful beaches and with Kuta (Bali) out of the way, it was time to visit another. Gilli islands are a group of 3 paradise islands off the main island of Lombok that have no cars or motorbikes on them, just horse & cart to get you around. Obviously there's gotta be the hard work of travelling to the island, which took 2 buses and a 5hr boat ride, which we slept on by hiring mattresses-PIMPING. Leive was still with us but we found her a dutch compandre, Elle, who we met in Thailand and caught up with her in Bali. They just chatted shit in dutch while we talked about important relevant things in life-true story! We had to get a small boat (20min) to Gilli Trawangan, the backpacker island, but the boat was a nightmare. The sea was pretty rough, which resulted in me getting drenched but one girl dropped her bag and one fell in- don't laugh!




Finding cheap accommodation took a while but the island was expensive for our budget. We met up with Alejandro and the 2 Canandians who we met in Thailand but they had another Canadian with them who looked like Bart Simpson, so we welcomed him with both arms and chilled with them the night. We both made sure we got a good nights sleep before we went on the beach to sleep some more and that was what pretty much happened for our days on the island, apart from one day when we went around the island but that didn't take long at all.




We found a nice cheap restaurant that had a buffet style lunch/dinner and ate there for most nights. We went to the free cinema (a projector) one night but you had to buy something to watch the movie, which was kick ass by the way-funny movie, and with the 21% service charge, it turned out to be a bit of a cheeky skank. Watching the Germans beat England was our last night and with that loss it was time to leave the island.

Gili Trawangan Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5886728011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Boadin' in Kuta (Bali)

We didn't arrive in Kuta, Bali, until really late on Monday the 20th of June. So instead of hunting for cheap accomodation we just stuck with one the first places we came across (at 80,000 Rupiah, it turned out to be one of the cheapest options anyway). We knew 2 Dutch girls who were both in Bali at this time but they travelling separately. We managed to contact Ell the following day who had been in Kuta for a while now and she was able to show us around. But Leive, the other Dutchy managed to avoid us until our last day in Kuta. We found a great food joint that was cheap and would be our 'local' for the next few days straight away. It cost only 10,000 rupiah (bout 80p) for a considerable portion of nasi goreng super. With the lack of sleep in past few days we really needed a day of relaxation. So the majority of our time was spent reading on the beach and taking the odd dip in the cool of the Indian Ocean (been a while since we swam in these waters).




Me and Ell wanted to give surfing a try since we were in Bali and its famed for its big waves. Maj stayed in bed again the lazy git. For an hours surfing lesson and then 2 hours use of the surf boards afterwards we payed only 8 pounds! Since we had our lessons from a local, who could speak English great, it was so much cheaper. Some places were charging up to $50, so a great bargain went down. I managed to stand and start surfing straight away after my 5 minute tutorial, and I loved it. The hardest part was timing the waves. I would either be too late and miss the collapse or I would be too far away and have to deal with the wrath of the wave. That hurt at times, especially if the board knocked you on the head. I'm definitely gonna give it a try elsewhere on the travels to master my technique.

Other than eating cheap and relaxing at the beach we got our tickets for the next place booked, which was the Gili islands off the coast of Lombok. The four of us planned to travel there together and we would be meeting up with the gwizzly gwizzly Argentinian Alejandro and the two Canadians. Terrance and Phillip, okay budday!

Bali Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5886773011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Indo Volcano Bromo

We stayed up to watch the England vs. Algeria game at 2.30am, which shows our dedication to the team but they played shit and wished I never stayed up. We were travelling at 8am and with 4hrs sleep, we had a long journey ahead of us-a nice 15hrs when it was meant to be 10. It seems this is how Indonesia works, that they tell you a time but it ALWAYS takes longer. We got to our hotel, which is in the nearest village to Gunung Bromo, and just had enough time for food before we went to bed.




Gunung Bromo is probably the most visited active volcano in Indonesia, it has a rough pattern of erupting every 2-4 years. The crazy thing is that there are bigger more active volcanoes all over Indonesia but these require tours and days of trekking, so it ends up being expensive. We got up at 3.30am, another night of 4hrs sleep and we started to make our trek to the volcano. Everyone was making their way to the viewpoint with 4x4's which see's over Bromo and the other surrounding volcanoes, including the big daddy Gunung Semeru, but we decided against it and did it our own way. It was an hours walk to the top and it was fairly easy but the hard part was walking in the dark as we forgot the torch. At first it was ok using the 4x4's lights but once we were on the path, we couldn't see anything! So we paid a guy to take us with his horse to the foot of the volcano and then we nabbed his lighter that had a torch to get our moneys worth.




Once we got to the top, we were surrounded by Indonesians who were there to see the sunset on the one and only platform, so we decided to go and find our own viewpoint by walking around the crater. I stopped and walked the other way around because there was no path and there were huge drops on either side-fuck that! Dan who loves the outdoors carried on and I just met him halfway on the other side. The volcano itself was letting off constant steam from the hot lava in the middle of the crator, but it left an eggy smell, which had me gipping for most of the time. When the sun came up, that was when we could appreciate the volcano and the surroundings truly-it just seemed like a different planet. We took our pics and posed in all the Indonesian pics (standard thing now) and made our way back to the hotel for breakfast and a shower before another long day of travel ahead of us, and you lot think we've gone on a long holiday-jeez!


Gunung Bromo Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5871189011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Fans in Yogyakarta

We arrived at Yogyakarta (pronounced 'Jogjakarta') at 4am after a 9 hour long haul by train from Jakarta. The train was cleaner than an Indian train, but the amount of touts and beggars and coffee sellers that constantly patrolled the carriages was ridiculous. Neither of us managed to squeeze in a sneaky nap. So you can guess what the first thing we did was, after finding some digs. We planned to have a dedicated rest day (it's been well earned) and catch up with the blog/photo's etc.




Yogyakarta's main tourist attraction is another world heritage site called Borobudur. It is a truly colossal structure and a poignant epitaph to Java's Buddhist history, ranking with Angkor Wat as one of the great Southeast Asian monuments.......according to Lonely Planet. It really isn't that spectacular to be honest, but it was worth the visit, especially because we managed to get student entrance fee (Sheffield shuffles still going strong I'm proud to report Uncle Daz). The temple is located 42km away from Yogyakarta and was constructed in early 9th century AD. With Islam taking over Indonesia as the dominant religion, Borobudur was abandoned and not re-discovered until 1814 when Stamford Raffles was governor of Java (Yes, the same dude who founded Singapore, and yes he was an Englishman, top lad).




The stupa has survived the times really well with the carvings and decorations very clear and easily identifiable. It wasn't the 1500 narrative panels of Buddhist teachings nor the 432 Buddha images that kept us entertained on this day though, it was the number of people who were fascinated by OUR presence! I kid you not, we were like friggin celebrities. We must have had over 100 photographs taken with complete strangers. It was so much fun though. There was a class of kids on a school trip and their teacher asked if the children could practice their English language skills with us. The teacher hogged nearly all the questions though. Afterwards we got a brilliant picture with the kids at Borobudur doing the famed 'conquered pose'.

Next we had a little walk around the park and found an elephant stable. We arrived just in time to help the keepers feed the elephants their lunch, which was a bunch of mini bananas. Maj thought it would be funny to stick a banana in each nostril of the elephants trunk.




Making our way to the exit we were beeped by a large black Toyota. Down rolled the windows and it was one of our fans from the photo shoot with his 2 sons. He offered to drop us off at the exit since it was a fair distance (not in English by the way, he kind of insisted with his hands that we get in and then pointed ahead, why not, he was only a little fella, couldn't see him taking both of us hostage).

The rest of the day we had a little nap and awaited England's 2nd group stage game against Algeria. Just having my second coffee as I type this up. COME ON ENGLAND you bunch of scum bags!

Yogyakarta Photo Link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5871307011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Jakarta ala Shit Hole!

It's been a while since we've been on a plane but we made it Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, in one piece. We got the public bus to the centre and a rickshaw to the hotel and it felt like being in India again, with how busy and smelly everything was. We didn't do much on the first day we got there, changed some money and went on a big search for an internet cafe to update our blog for our crazed followers. World cup fever has really kicked in, with one guy sat on the corner laughing at us when we told him we were from England because we drew to the US. We watched the Portugal-Ivory Coast game at a restaurant but we were joined by loads of people on the streets too watching it from the curb.

We had a bit of a deserved lie in the next day, checked out, and made our way to the train station with Lieve, our new dutch comprande to book our tickets (people are just wanting to travel with us all the time-must be my good sense of humour!). We got stopped by Hermen, who was telling us to go to another station as the tickets are a lot cheaper. It also said this in the book but we were a bit weary of him at the start because he approached us and usually they ask for money. He got on the bus with us, took us to the main office, where we spoke to the master officer fo the station and he sorted our tickets out for us. There was a huge que, which we would have happily waited in but this station manager waited in the que for us and called us up when we had to pay-What a nice guy!

It was lunch time now, so Herman took us to his house, in a small poor village right next to a stinking, rubbish-filled river. We met his mother, who was either blind or had really bad eye sight. The house had one room and an outside toilet-these guys were really poor but yet she had the biggest smile on her face. He got us chicken and rice, because allegedly the chicken in the town is no good and village chicken is better, so we all munched that down. We got a pic with Herman and his mother and another pic with the boys hanging around smoking as they've got nothing better to do. As we walked back through the village to get back on the bus, we walked past some school kids playing football with a tennis ball (ghetto), but then they stopped their game to shout 'boolay' to us and we were cheering with them until we found out they were calling us 'foreigners'. We laughed it off and walked off before we were about to hmmer these school kids-only kidding.

We wanted to see a bit of the city while we were here, so he took us to Indonesia's National monument (monas) and we got mobbed by kids, grown men and women for photo's. Lieve got it the worst, a white girl, and every lady wanted a pic with here-bless them. We visited Masjid Istiqbal, the biggest mosque in South East asia, which holds 200,00 people. It wasn't that impressive from the outside like usual mosques but inside it was really huge. We had to cover up properly so we all had to wear a gown to look cool. Across from the mosque was a nice looking church, which we also visited before we made our way back to our hotel and then to the train station.

Jakarta photo link:
http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5871219011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/