I flew out to Bali and stayed with Silvia and her affectionate dogs for a few nights, hanging out in Kerobokan, enjoying delicious Vietnamese food from Chung's warung Vietnam, and trying to work out my game plan.
After a few days of that, I met up with Edea, Nana, and Ciama to do some touristy stuff, kicking off with lunch at Motel Mexicola in Seminyak before heading out to check out Tanah Lot, where I tried to avoid a tourist with erratic face-level elbows. We finished the evening (after a long drive) to Jimbaran for seafood dinner. We then had an adventure getting back as our Uber driver cancelled on us. Fortunately, technology came to the rescue and the helpful and courteous men from Go-jek and Grab Car got us all home safely as well as giving me an idea for a blog post!
After settling in to Bali a bit, I made my way up north to Ubud to meet Sydney, who was introduced to me by my uni friend Arif. We had a good chat and idea exchange, and I explored Ubud for a bit, being well looked-after at Amaluku Homestay.
I left Ubud several days later to meet up with Chung, Rina, and Tara back in Kerobokan and we started on our great adventure to climb Ijen mountain/volcano. We reached the nearby town of Banyuwangi after a quick ferry crossing onto Java and chilled for a bit and tried some local (spicy!) food. The next day we went on a bumpy (understatement!) car ride out to Teluk Ijo (Green Bay), a beach, before turning back and enjoying the sunset at Pantai Merah (Red Beach) instead.
Then it was time to head for Ijen.
We reached Ijen a couple of hours before it opened at 1 am. We needed to get there early to see the blue flames and we were among the first ones to enter the park. It was bitterly cold and we did not have enough warm clothing, so fortunately they had jacket rental(!) and I just tried to get up the steep incline as quickly as possible to warm up!
The night was clear and the stars were out in full force. Our paths were well lit by the full moon.
After some trekking, we started to smell the sulphur. From the edge, we needed to descend into the crater to see the flame, and we were advised to wet our face masks.
We put them on and carried on down the path into the pit of the earth, our eyes smarting, noses streaming, and throats burning from the fumes.
When I was near enough to the blue flame to get a good view, I decided not to continue any further, while the others carried on past the sulphur harvesters. After a while, I started to ascend, as I felt the need for fresher air. I was also glad I started ascending when I did, as more and more visitors were streaming down the path. In fact with all their headlights on, they lit the way all the way up the stairs, looking like stars themselves!
The path reminded me of a theme park - not quite real. With the mild sleep and oxygen deprivation, I kept thinking I'd hit my head on the "ceiling" in a "narrow" part of the path (the ceiling was actually the sky... no chance of knocking my head on that!)
The eerie landscape, the fumes, the unfamiliar mineral and rock smells, textures, and lights and colours... it was as if we had landed on another planet (ala Insterstellar... I half expected Matt Damon to pop out somewhere).
I waited for my friends once out of the crater and we soon started heading for the sunrise lookout point (another 45 min walk away).
Caught some nice sunrise pictures, saw Mount Raung farting away, then the painful descent back to the car, where we were exhausted and looking forward to sleep and food!
We stopped by a waterfall en route and my friends soon left me at the train station to find my way to Salatiga, where I would meet my friend from middle school in Jakarta, Toby.
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| Personal watch dogs! |
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| View from the lounge |
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| View from my doorway! |
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| Kerobokan |
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| Warung Vietnam |
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| Waiting for my pho |
After a few days of that, I met up with Edea, Nana, and Ciama to do some touristy stuff, kicking off with lunch at Motel Mexicola in Seminyak before heading out to check out Tanah Lot, where I tried to avoid a tourist with erratic face-level elbows. We finished the evening (after a long drive) to Jimbaran for seafood dinner. We then had an adventure getting back as our Uber driver cancelled on us. Fortunately, technology came to the rescue and the helpful and courteous men from Go-jek and Grab Car got us all home safely as well as giving me an idea for a blog post!
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| Tanah Lot |
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| Smiley faces at sunset at Tanah Lot |
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| Tanah Lot sunset |
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| Balinese offering for the festival of Kuningan |
After settling in to Bali a bit, I made my way up north to Ubud to meet Sydney, who was introduced to me by my uni friend Arif. We had a good chat and idea exchange, and I explored Ubud for a bit, being well looked-after at Amaluku Homestay.
 |
| Ubud education |
I left Ubud several days later to meet up with Chung, Rina, and Tara back in Kerobokan and we started on our great adventure to climb Ijen mountain/volcano. We reached the nearby town of Banyuwangi after a quick ferry crossing onto Java and chilled for a bit and tried some local (spicy!) food. The next day we went on a bumpy (understatement!) car ride out to Teluk Ijo (Green Bay), a beach, before turning back and enjoying the sunset at Pantai Merah (Red Beach) instead.
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| Ferry crossing from Bali to Java |
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| With our prettiest faces on |
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| Road trip yo! |
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| Getting our pretty on again, at Pantai Merah |
Then it was time to head for Ijen.
We reached Ijen a couple of hours before it opened at 1 am. We needed to get there early to see the blue flames and we were among the first ones to enter the park. It was bitterly cold and we did not have enough warm clothing, so fortunately they had jacket rental(!) and I just tried to get up the steep incline as quickly as possible to warm up!
The night was clear and the stars were out in full force. Our paths were well lit by the full moon.
After some trekking, we started to smell the sulphur. From the edge, we needed to descend into the crater to see the flame, and we were advised to wet our face masks.
We put them on and carried on down the path into the pit of the earth, our eyes smarting, noses streaming, and throats burning from the fumes.
When I was near enough to the blue flame to get a good view, I decided not to continue any further, while the others carried on past the sulphur harvesters. After a while, I started to ascend, as I felt the need for fresher air. I was also glad I started ascending when I did, as more and more visitors were streaming down the path. In fact with all their headlights on, they lit the way all the way up the stairs, looking like stars themselves!
The path reminded me of a theme park - not quite real. With the mild sleep and oxygen deprivation, I kept thinking I'd hit my head on the "ceiling" in a "narrow" part of the path (the ceiling was actually the sky... no chance of knocking my head on that!)
The eerie landscape, the fumes, the unfamiliar mineral and rock smells, textures, and lights and colours... it was as if we had landed on another planet (ala Insterstellar... I half expected Matt Damon to pop out somewhere).
 |
| Man carrying about 60 kg of sulphur, Gunung Raung farting away in the background, causing Bali airport closures for 3-4 weeks as at time of writing....! |
I waited for my friends once out of the crater and we soon started heading for the sunrise lookout point (another 45 min walk away).
Caught some nice sunrise pictures, saw Mount Raung farting away, then the painful descent back to the car, where we were exhausted and looking forward to sleep and food!
We stopped by a waterfall en route and my friends soon left me at the train station to find my way to Salatiga, where I would meet my friend from middle school in Jakarta, Toby.
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| Looks like Bromo! |
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