italy: pozzuoli and vesuvio

My first train from rimini took me to bologne, where i almost ran through the train station to get my second train...the bologne train station is undergoing some renovation, and the tracks are on three levels...when i had to transfer there on my way to rimini i figured some of it out, but i still found it confusing, and not very efficient when you have to book it from one level to another...my second train went from bologne to napoli, where my friend ken picked me up at the station...yay for door to door service...

on the way home we picked up food for dinner and our excursion the next day...dinner that night was steak on the grill, YUM...a simple, but great meal, looking out over a beautiful bay, during sunset...i don't think it gets any better :)

the next morning we had to get up early to get ready for the day...ken's friend came over to drop off food for the bbq later that evening...the three of us drove to a meeting spot to get everyone corralled, then the convoy drove to sorrento, through the town to the port...

i don't know who had arranged everything, but someone had rented three boats for the whole group to take out for the day...the plan was to spend the day going around the island of capri, celebrating the birthday of the US...

it was a fabulous day...beautiful weather, beautiful people, lots of patriotic clothing...

at one point we saw a superyacht with the stars and stripes, so someone looked up the boat...the limitless is owned by the guy who owns victoria's secret (among others)...it was a BIG BOAT...i'm sure the limitless was greeted by every american in the area who saw the flag :)

during the day the boats stopped a few times to play in the water, jump off rocks, etc...so much fun...id forgotten how much fun it is to play in water, i haven't done it in ages...i put suncream on a couple times, so my sunburn wasn't nearly as bad as i expected...yay :)

after returning home ken started prepping everything for a 4^th of july bbq he was hosting...the first guest to arrive was a french chick, carrying a french flag...i yelled 'allez les bleus' which surprised her, as most of her friends in the area do not speak french or know much about the country...she had the flag because france and germany were playing in another round of the world cup...(a few minutes after she arrived and we put up the flag, a house across the way put up the german flag...i loved the trash talk)

over the rest of the evening people arrived, ate food, talked with each other, took photos, etc...a great time was had by all...i ended up crashing before everyone left, i was so tired...

the next day we took it easy...waking up late, breakfast, watching tv, generally relaxing...i laid out on the balcony, forgetting that my back had already had enough sun...ooops...

the next morning was sunday, and i was wide awake at 0614...we had breakfast, and eventually got on the road...i sortof played tour guide, the guidebook gave vague directions as to how to get to vesuvius...remember when mom and i visited naples in december and i said that during my next visit i wanted to hike vesuvius? That's what we did...

we took an accidental detour, since the highway signs were not terribly clear as to where to exit...after the whole thing was over, we came to the conclusion we'd come up the opposite side of the mountain from what we intended to do...anywho, after driving through a few neighborhoods, we found the mountain, or more specifically, a parkplatz...

from there our options were limited to one: take a 'bus' a good portion of the way up, then walk from there...the path for walking was really loose, i'm glad i was wearing closed toe shoes...it was an easy walk, taking about 15 minutes i think? The views over the side were awesome...

when we got to the top we heard a brief by one of the park rangers...she told us about a few of the worst eruptions of vesuvius, as well as how it is expected to behave in the future...because of the most recent eruption it is no longer possible to walk all the way around the rim, but you can get pretty close...looking down into the middle, you don't see anything liquid...it's hard to imagine how this volcano has caused so much destruction over history...

on the way back, we missed the bus going down, so after hanging out for a while, we started walking...the weather was awesome, why not?

Maybe halfway down another bus came along and made us climb aboard...argh...we'd enjoyed as much walking as we'd been able to do...

back in pozzuoli we found a small hole in the wall cafe for lunch...YUM...it seemed to be family owned, and ken was convinced it had mafia connections...i don't know about that, but the food was fantastic...seafood pasta, YUM...this is the kind of place i want to make 'mine'...i want to come back regularly, so the owners get to know me well, and i never have to worry about ordering a specific meal :)

our late afternoon activity was going to the sulfatora...it's a wide area with natural steam vents...you can wander just about anywhere you want to go, there is almost nothing blocked off...(i kept thinking that in the states everything would be blocked off, you wouldn't be able to get anywhere close)...some of the vents had a very strong sulfur smell, others were just plain hot...i loved the colours of the minerals...

after we got home a couple friends came over for dinner, then we watched a movie called lawless...i love long holiday weekends with good people :)

the next morning we were up to go on another boat...the renting had been done from another port, so we didn't have to drive so far, or go so early...the boating crew this day was smaller, only 6 of us total, on one boat...

this time the boat was driven around the island of ischia...another beautiful island...there are hot springs in a few places around the island, we stopped a few times...one spot was small, and located near a former brothel...(from waaaaaaaaaay back when)...the other springs area was a lot bigger, and filled with people...i soaked up more sun than i needed, but it was worth it...another day when i looked around and knew i get to have an amazing life...

we loved the seafood pasta restaurant so much we wanted to go back...unfortunately it was closed on mondays...argh...

the next day my host went back to work, i enjoyed relaxing around the house for a while before walking into pozzuoli...i like this town, a lot!

Pozzuoli is where you can find the 3^rd largest roman arena in italy...there are also ruins of a temple in another area of town...plus the little port is beautiful, and still used by locals...i saw fisherman fixing their nets, sitting under umbrellas...

i saw several beautiful churches, none of them big...one of the churches i saw entirely by accident, as there was a tour group inside when i walked by, otherwise it would've been closed and locked...

i didn't get to see the cathedral in town, the guys in the information office told me it was closed except on weekends...

it was hot while i was wandering around, but the heat didn't really hit me until i was climbing up the hill to go home...at that point i just wanted to sit down and wait a few hours until my host drove by me on the way home so i could hop in the car...hot hot hot!

When he did get home we wanted to go to a chicken place for dinner, but it was closed for random cleaning...so we went back to the seafood pasta place...yahoooo!

We had a few others with us, and the family remembered us...(more likely, they remembered my friend, cause he is a big guy)...another fantastic meal, this one served family style...seafood pasta, spaghetti bolognese, wine, meat, etc...i felt pregnant when we left, hee hee...

germany kicked brazil's ass that night in football...

the next morning i woke up with an awful headache, and went back to sleep as soon as my host left for work...a few hours later i felt better, got dressed and headed out to see the arena...(it was closed the day before)...it was fun to wander around, there weren't too many other visitors...i wish it was possible to wander around the upper layers as much as the underground areas...

i laid out again that afternoon...since the house is on a hill, there was an awesome breeze, so i never felt hot even though the sun was strong...

i was sad to leave pozzuoli the next day :(

gunung rinjani

When I arrived in senggigi, I thought I’d be staying two nights, so that’s what i paid for at my hotel…it turned out that I signed up for a rinjani trek starting the next morning, so I arranged with the lady at the hotel for my payment to cover the night I came back from the trek…she also said she’d put some fruit in the fridge for me to grab in the morning, since breakfast isn’t served that early…YAY!!

0500 pickup…ugh…I wasn’t thrilled about that, to say the least…to make sure I was ready to go, I had my alarm set for 0400…I wasn’t going to be taking everything with me on the trek, so I needed a bit of time to separate things, and I never move fast at that hour, though I do function…the taxi (I was surprised it was a taxi) picked up another trekker just down the road, a British student named Richard…then it took us two hours to a village called senaru…senaru is where all the trekking companies have their offices, and it’s always the starting or ending point of treks up and down the volcano…

Richard and I had arranged to start our trek in a village called sembalun, off the western edge of the volcano…after leaving stuff behind, a ute took us to sembalun with our guide and porter, where we got our official national park entry tickets, and signed the book saying that we were trekking…(safety, I guess?)…this was when I found out Richard was only 20 years old!! He’s in Lombok and Bali for a couple weeks with his mom…then she goes back to the UK, and he travels overland up to Mongolia…

The first bit of the trek was through flattish ground…always aiming up a little, but nothing strenuous…everyone was sweating because the sun was behind us and quite strong, but it wasn’t hard…yet…we broke for lunch not long after the trail got steeper…it was still an easy path, just a bit more steep…I wondered why we needed a guide, because there seemed to be just one path, it wasn’t as if we could get lost…lunch was basically ramyeon, with rice as well…and pineapple and tea…most trekking companies break for meals at the same places along the trail, so we met several others who were doing the trek in the same direction we were walking…one American geologist couple who live on Sumatra, a Swedish/French couple…

After lunch we kept going, for another hour or so before taking a break…this was where the ground got steep, there were lots of roots and rocks to watch out for, climb over, etc…our guide told us it would be another three hours to the top…by that point we were all feeling it a bit, and well aware we’d be knackered when we got to the top…when the guide said three hours, I gave myself four hours in my head, as I know I’m slower than most trekkers…slow, but steady…I don’t like taking breaks, and apparently my guide and Richard did…at one point I stopped taking the breaks with them, I just kept going…I wanted to get to the top, and I knew that every time we stopped it got harder for me…it was hard going, and I wanted to be finished for the day…after not too long, we hiked into the clouds…clouds have a strange way of completely muffling sound, I couldn’t hear anything but my footsteps…

Surprisingly, three hours later I did get to the top…the crater rim, that is…I guess all the break taking slowed others down, though they were faster hikers than I was…just before reaching the top I broke through the clouds, so I could see where I was going, and I could see the peak we’d be going for the next morning…what I couldn’t see was anything down either side of the crater…I knew there was a lake in the crater, but I couldn’t see it at all…not surprisingly, our porter made it up before we did…I don’t know how they do it, carrying everything, and only wearing jandals…he had both of the tents set up, and had water heating to make tea…not only does everyone break for meals at the same place, just about everyone camps in the same area…some tents were definitely nicer than others…lol…people who’d signed up for the luxury treks had little stools on which to sit, the rest of us sat on the ground when we weren’t in our tents…I was rather surprised at the amount of trash on the ground, I guess porters don’t clean up all that well, which is really disappointing…that, and they use trees to make fires, instead of bringing stoves…I get the impression that environmentally, the ways the treks are being done right now won’t be sustainable for much longer…

About 45 minutes later Richard made it up, I was sitting in our tent, writing a letter…just as he got there, our porter brought us tea…yum…about an hour after that, dinner was served…fried rice with a fried egg on top…and a giant prawn cracker…and a piece of fried chicken…normally I like prawn crackers, but this one seemed particularly fishy tasting, so I only had a couple bites…and I’m not big on nasi goring (fried rice) so I only ate about half of that…Richard and I went to be almost as soon as we were done eating, I think most people did so as well…we knew we had to get up early (REALLY early,) and the hike had worn people out…plus, there was no view to enjoy, with the clouds covering everything…

0230 came pretty early…that’s when our guide woke us with tea (and coffee for Richard)…that and a few crackers was our predawn snack…at 0307, we were on our way…up…up…up…the idea was to go for the peak of the crater rim, which is at 3724m I think…3700m+, and I earned every one of them…almost from the beginning of this part of the trek, the path was made of soft sand/dirt/scree…there weren’t many strong footholds, so it took a lot more effort to make forward progress…plus, it was pitch black…I had my head torch so I could see where to put my feet, but I didn’t have any sense of where I was…challenging, to say the least…I had no idea where my guide was, again…somewhere in front of me, until he was taking a break and I kept going…I kept going slowly and steadily until I got to a really windy spot…REALLY WINDY…the kind of wind where you have to turn your head to the side, because you can’t see (if it was light anywho) or breath properly…the path was really challenging the entire way…I briefly stopped behind a rock, along with about 15 others…the rock blocked the wind very nicely, you didn’t notice how strong it was until you stood up again…I think people were waiting out the wind, or maybe waiting for sunrise…either way, I didn’t want to keep waiting…I knew the distance left wasn’t great, but it was only going to get harder, so I stepped into the wind, and started moving forward again…

Not long after that rock, the going got really really hard…I have no idea what distance I had left, but the path changed again, into even less sturdy stuff…the rocks were completely loose, there was no traction whatsoeva…combine that with the vertical aspect, and quite a few times I was essentially on a natural treadmill…taking steps, but not making any forward progress at all…at all…so frustrating…plus, the wind was still going strong, so I couldn’t stand up straight…each time I picked up my head to see where I needed to go (by this point the sun was starting to come up, I could see shadows) the wind would catch me and push me a bit…which wasn’t good, considering the path was fairly thin, and it would’ve been easy to fall over either side of the crater…I cried more than once, when I wasn’t making any progress…sometimes the wind got so strong I was sliding down the path without picking up my head at all…I was so unhappy…eventually, I made it…four hours after starting the hike, I made it to the peak…a ray of light shown on the peak, which was quite nice…the view from the peak wasn’t any better than what  I’d seen on the way up…I did it, and that’s about all I can say…it wasn’t worth the physical pain, the mental stress, or the views…it turned out that because of the crazy wind, not many people made it to the top…only 7 of us…no guides…I was number 4…a lot of people got to the rock I mentioned earlier, or just a bit farther before turning around, including Richard…about the only reason I made it to the top was because I didn’t want to say I didn’t make it…that’s a terrible way to find motivation, but that’s how it worked for me…

The way back down hurt…as tired as my legs were from going up, they weren’t ready for going down…the soft stuff was fun to go down, there was almost no impact…with each step I’d land on my heel, and sortof slide a bit…a few times my legs kindof gave out on me, so I fell/sat…surprisingly, my guide was waiting for me behind the rock, and came back down to camp with me…given how weak my legs felt at that point, it was probably a good thing he was there…the hardest point was right before reaching camp, as there were a number of actual steps down, and my legs weren’t supporting me very well…lots of falling on my arse…I was so tired…

Breakfast was tea again, (I only dumped 8lbs of sugar into itJ) and banana pancakes…sooo good…lots of sugar, which I sorely needed…after eating, I dumped out my shoes…there was an amazing amount of dirt/sand in them…I tried wiping off my backpack and coat, but that didn’t do much…I used two wet tissues to wipe off my face, they were both black when I was done with them…and I knew I had dirt in my nose…my nose always runs when I’m going up steeply, and all the wind had added a bunch of dirt…I had dirt coming out of my nose for the next two days!...

About 45 minutes later, we packed up, and started making our way down into the crater…my legs were not enjoying this down, it wasn’t s smooth path…every foot had to be placed, and it was a constant game of picking out the easiest way…and none of it was easy…my quads were screaming with every step down…after a little over an hour, the path evened out a bit…it was still going down, but not so steeply, and it was more of a dirt path, not rocks and roots everywhere…

Two hours and fifteen minutes total after breakfast, we got to the lake at the bottom of the crater…it felt like a lot longer than that, but that’s what my watch told me…the flatter parts of the path were surprisingly easy for me, but the steep, step picking parts were really hard…our guide showed us where we’d be eating lunch, then took us to some hot springs…the springs are right next to a lovely waterfall…the locals have built different pools, all of them rather small…people sit in them for as long as they like…Richard put on his togs, and hopped in…I had a bikini with me, but wasn’t completely comfortable putting that on, so I just stuck my feet in the hottest pool…it felt wonderful…putting my shoes and socks back on afterward didn’t feel so wonderful…

Lunch was the same as the day before, and I gobbled it up…

Our afternoon hike started along the edge of the lake, which was really nice…there is very little shoreline in some places between the lake and the crater wall going up…lots of locals fishing…In an area with more space between the lake and the crater wall, I saw a few fish being cooked over a fire…it looked sooo good…my guide said that the fish are sometimes sold to trekkers…too bad, we didn’t get any fish…eventually the guide started us on a path up…just like the second half of the day before…up…up…up…climbing up roots and rocks, very little flat area…lots of step picking…lots of using my hands as balance on various rocks…it would’ve been hard to begin with, but combined with what I’d done earlier in the day, and the day before made it even more difficult…fortunately, the guide had figured out that I go slowly, and steadily…he only took a couple breaks, during which I drank a whole lot of water…we never went fast, so my breathing never got crazy…more than once I hoped for a magic fairy to come and fly me to the top…thankfully, there were lots of great views over the lake, and the little volcano in the middle…

Two and a half hours later, we got back up to the crater rim…our camping spot was right on the edge of the rim…there was room for just two tents, and two more tents about 10m away…I didn’t know where others were camping, but it felt a lot more private this evening…dinner was again served at 1800, again preceeded by tea…and again Richard and I went to sleep almost as soon as we were done with eating…10.5 hours of hiking in one day…very little of it was “easy”…

Our third day was the easiest, but that’s just a relative term…we did get to sleep in, all the way to 0630…I could hear the guide and porter moving around at 0600…after breakfast, (banana pancakes and a sandwich made with white bread – the crusts were cut off) we started making our way down around 0730…the first two hours and some were steep…lots of steep, step picking…going over and around roots and rocks…where as my legs had been really tired, and not functioning so well the day before, they hadn’t been too painful…this third day every step hurt, and my feet hated me…I wonder if I’ll lose any toenails…after a couple hours of this steep stuff, we got a few patches of smoother trail, which felt like heaven…still going down, but I didn’t have to worry so much about falling down a mountain…

We passed numerous porters, guides and trekkers going the other way, and I was glad I wasn’t them…we stopped a couple times for water, and once for the last pineapple the porter was carrying…good, and I wasn’t keen to eat a full lunch anywho…

About 5 hours after starting, we got to the end of the trek…a van picked us up and took us back to where I’d left the rest of my stuff…then it took us back to senggigi…I’m amazed Richard could stand to be in the same van with me, I know I smelled disgusting…layers of sweat and dirt…yuck…he had a flight to catch that night with his mom to Bali…thankfully I didn’t have much to do, I didn’t need to worry about reorganizing my stuff so fast…

A shower has rarely felt that good!

bali:batur

As usual, the drive didn’t take as long as I expected…it ended up being about two and a half hours from lovina to toya bungkah…most of it involved driving up, or along mountain ridges…since I was going toward the middle of the island, and up, I was cold…even though it was sunny…when I got to penelokan, and was able to look out over danau batur (lake batur) and gunung batur (batur volcano) the view was fantastic…a blue, half moon shaped lake next to a volcano with at least two craters to be seen…

Toya bungkah is the starting point for most treks up batur…I didn’t really care to do the trek, I just liked being close to the volcano…and from what I’ve read and seen, there is a LOT of hassle when it comes to trekking in this area…there is one group (the name of which I don’t remember off the top of my head) that has a monopoly on guides for this climb…and  you have to take a guide when you go up the volcano, and it isn’t cheap…I do want to climb up a volcano in Indonesia, just not this one…this area is visited by day trippers from ubud quite a bit I think…

From the porch of my ridiculously HUGE room, with a king size bed, I look out over the lake…beautiful…

After checking in, I got back on my bike and started driving toward the town of tampaksiring…it’s halfway between toya bungkah and ubud…just north of tampaksiring were a couple temples I wanted to see…the first was called tirta empul…it’s one of the most important pilgrimage temples for the Balinese…the temple is situated right next to natural springs…people come and bath in the springs (a couple man made “pools” allow this) then visit the temple…the springs are outside, so everyone bathing is wearing a sarong, and it’s coed…there are spouts all along one edge, and people queue up in front of each one…it’s neat to see…there is even a little locker roomJ…the entrance fee for this temple has more than doubled since lonely planet did it’s research, booo…there is a holy pool (you’re not allowed to get into this one) in the temple itself, if you look at the right spot in the pool you can see water coming up into the pool…the temple itself is otherwise just like so many other temples I’ve seen on bali…just up the hill from the temple is the presidential palace, built by sukharno, (sp?) indonesia’s first president…despite him not being the best of guys, the palace is still used when high muckymucks from other countries visit…getting from the temple back out to the carpark involves going past a gbillion souvenir stalls, which is just plain annoying…

The second temple was called gunung kawi…it’s a candi, meaning there are different groups of altars within the temple complex…and the complex is spread over a small valley…the entrance fee for this one is also more than double what is in the guidebook…I wonder when the prices went up, and how much they were previously…since tampaksiring is relatively close to ubud, I wonder if it’s the eat, pray love factor…argh…and you have to pay for parking at this place too…argh…anywho, to get started, you walk down a whole bunch of steps, past a lot of souvenir stalls…I ignored the ladies telling me to just look, and thought about the fact that I’d have to come back up these steps to get back to my bike…exercise is good, right? What makes this temple unique is that much of it is carved into rock faces…awesome…it was fun wandering all over, hoping I’d seen all the different groupings…a lot of the holes in the rock no longer have anything in them, but they’re still neat to see…there were also some lovely views over rice paddies…coming back up the steps I was breathing hard and dripping sweat…eww…

On the way back to the lake I stopped at a roadside warung, and was actually charged the local price for lunch…woo hoo!! Not only did I get my plate of food, but I got a cup of soup and a glass of water…yay for yummy surprises! The not so good surprise on approaching the lake: having to pay a fee to enter the “tourist area” of gunung batur…nevermind that I’d already been in the area (I didn’t have to pay a fee earlier since I’d come from the other side) and I’m not just checking it out for the day…this is the first fee of that kind I’ve had to pay, and I don’t like it…

The rest of the day I spent camped out on my porch, looking out at the lake and reading…it was rather windy, so I was cold as, with chicken skin…but totally worth it…

My second day in the batur area dawned (yes, I was awake when the sun first came up) not nearly as beautifully…there was a rain cloud hanging over the mountain on the other side of the lake, and as I looked, much of gunung batur was covered as well…a good thing I hadn’t arranged for a trek of any kind, I wouldn’t have been able to see diddly squat…I sat around for a while, working on postcards and writing part of a couple letters, and having banana pancakes for breakfast…

Eventually I got on my bike and started driving up to the crater rim…driving through the clouds…not fun…at all…it wasn’t raining, but it was spitting, and my clothing was definitely not water resistant…there was an unmarked turn as I got to the top of the crater, thankfully someone was around so I could ask which way I needed to go…I was headed in the direction of pura besakih…another temple…this one translates to mother temple…it’s on the most holy mountain in bali, gunung agung…for whateva reason, gunung batur is a lot more popular for climbing…I’m guessing the view is probably better, or something like that…but you can climb agung, and from what I understand, it’s a lot less hassle…

Pura besakih is huge…it isn’t just one temple, it’s actually 22 interconnected temples…in terms of tourism though, it’s not much fun…it seemed like every local there was out to make money from the temple, and I didn’t like that…the entrance fee was the highest I’ve paid yet…at least I didn’t have to pay more for parking or a camera…I had a sarong, but was forced to rent a sash…I don’t think it was absolutely necessary, as I saw quite a few people w/ only a sarong, but they weren’t about to let me get away w/out spending something…

Then, at the counter where they were supposed to check my ticket, the guy took my ticket and set it aside…I reached and took it back…then he pushed a book at me and wanted me to sign…when I asked what it was for, he said it was the names of people who had visited, where they were from, and how much they’d donated…I signed, but left the donation space blank…after all, I’d just paid a large entrance fee…the guy didn’t like that, and said I had to donate, because the entrance fee goes to the government…I don’t know who gets the entrance fee, but some of the numbers I saw in that book were pretty large…sorry, but I have no desire to “donate” 5x (or even 20x!!!) the entrance fee…the guy tried to say that I had to give, that I had to have a local guide with me because there was a ceremony in the temple, and I couldn’t go by myself…

I already knew that if there was a real ceremony, the temple would be completely closed to visitors, and I wouldn’t be able to walk around at all, so that line was a lie…and they are temples, so locals are going to be praying at various times as I’m walking through…in that sense, these temples are like a giant church, when someone is sitting in a pew with their head down…I went back and forth with the guy, knowing that I didn’t have to have a guide, and him trying to tell me that I did, all the while a woman was trying to rent me an umbrella…the guy said people wouldn’t let me in if I was by myself, and I told him that if that happened, I’d come back…but of course it didn’t…and I didn’t rent the umbrella…I REALLY don’t like it when people lie about religious things…it taints what I’m seeing, if that makes any sense…even though I managed to get away from them w/out “donating” I still had to say no to every man I walked by on the way to the entrance of the area…

Finally I got to the entrance of the area…the temples go up the side of the mountain, I wasn’t exactly sure where to go…so I followed my eyes…if it looked to be of interest, I walked in that direction…in the end, there was only one temple I wanted to see that I wasn’t allowed to see…the guy outside that temple said I could take a photo from outside, but not inside…okay…keep in mind that none of these temples have roofs…they’re all outdoors…so with the crappy weather, all the normal colours of decorations weren’t as fun…I wonder how often they replace all those decorations? The only negative to wandering around were the two girls at the very top temple, one of whom kept bugging me to switch sarongs with her…I must’ve said no 10 times…continuing to hassle me does NOT make me likely to buy what you’re selling, or to do what you want…I wandered around the temples for an hour or two, and I would’ve stayed longer if the weather had been better…

On the way back, more ladies on the road tried to get me to stop for another blessing…argh…does it ever end? I got back to my hotel, and again camped out on the front porch…a bit before dark I went for a walk, just to use my legs since all I’d done was sit during the day…(except for wandering around the temples, but that wasn’t much)…as I was walking back from that nearly every guy on a motorbike stopped to offer transport…or trekking the next day…one guy even offered a free massage…now that was totally creeptastic…yuck…even though I liked the place I stayed, and the views of the lake/mountain, that was all I liked about the area…the rest of it was too much hassle, and I wouldn’t recommend it…

java 3

from surabaya i took a local bus to the bus station, which was about 15km from the center of town...then a bus to the city of probolinggo (sp?)...somewhere in probo the bus stopped in front of a travel agency and a man got on the bus and asked if i wanted to get off there...i said no, i wanted to take public transport, and he said they had public transport...he said it was "only" 50,000Rp (about $5USD) for transport to cemoro lawang, which is where i was heading next...my guidebook said that this sort of thing happens regularly in probo...buses drop foreigners off at these travel agents, who then force you to pay ridiculously high fees for not so great transport...the guidebook also said that it should only cost me about 15,000Rp to get to cemoro lawang, so i knew something was funny...he kept saying that it was public transport, and i'm sure it was...anyone could take their transport, but only foreigners can afford that...i knew that even though prices go up, they don't triple in two years...when i looked outside, i could see the sign that listed all their 'services' as well as all the foreigners waiting, so i opted to stay on the bus, all the way until the bus station, from where i could catch real public transport...when i got to the bus station, it was indeed possible to catch local, public transport...for 20,000Rp...which made a whole lot more sense...i asked the price before getting on that minibus, and was told that number, but it didn't surprise me at all when the guy collecting money on the bus tried to raise the price by telling me that was only to an earlier village...i simply refused to hand over more money, and repeated that i had been told 20,000 by people who knew i was going to cemoro lawang, not the earlier village...when we arrived, it was pretty cloudy, but a bit of the landscape was still able to be seen...

cemoro lawang is on the edge of a very old crater...in the middle of this old crater are three smaller, 'younger', cones and craters...one, gunung bromo, is a steaming crater...around these three craters is a sea of sand...nothing but sand...to me it looked a bit like i think the moon might look...really hard to describe, but AMAZING...anywho, the thing to do is either be on the lip of gunung bromo at sunrise, or be at another viewpoint and watch the sunrise as it hits gunung bromo...to do this, you have to get up pretty early in the morning...so i spent the rest of the afternoon just wandering a little, finding a path i could use to make my way down to the sea of sand...i went to bed early...and spent a very cold night trying to get a little sleep...(remember, altitude = chilly nights)

even though i went to bed early, waking up at 0300 was NOT EASY...i made it out the door with my head torch going strong, and made my way to the head of the path i intended to take...at this point, i turned off the head torch and looked up...incredible night sky, full of stars, and total quiet...as i made my way down the edge of the old crater, and across the sea of sand, i repeated this...turning off my headtorch and standing still...just enjoying the fabulous sky and total quiet...(until i started to hear the jeeps, which weren't very quiet at all)...there was a cloud laying on the bottom of the old crater, so i had to walk through that, which was a bit odd with my headtorch...in the dark, walking through a cloud seems a bit like rain is coming across the light...but of course it isn't...anwho, after a while i came across other folks (i had taken a path no one else used but local horse riders) and together we found the proper way to go to get to the steps to take us up to the lip of bromo...there aren't too many steps, and they're not big...but most people stopped a couple times on the way up to catch their breath...that surprised me, i didn't think the steps were very strenuous, and i KNOW i'm not in shape...anywho...the sunrise from the crater wasn't any great shakes, i've definitely seen better...BUT, i loved looking around the landscape in general, and seeing the morning light come across...amazing...i had expected there to be a crowd of people, and while there were other tourists, i never felt crowded...not at all...and everyone remained pretty quiet, sortof in respect for the amazingness we were seeing...i loved it...after a little while up there, i went back down the stairs, and went back across the sea of sand the way i had come...i made it back to my guesthouse by 0715, and packed up my stuff, bought postcards and got ready to go...

then i waited...and waited...i hoped to catch the first minibus to probolingo, and the guy at the bus station in probo had said it left around 0745...but it didn't...it left around 0915...not really a big deal, since i had no specific itinerary to keep...there is no specific spot in cemoro lawang for people to catch a minibus, which results in about 3 of them all trying to get the earliest customers...i ended up sharing with a french family, a pole, a brit, and a couple dutch...along the way we picked up a couple more locals...again, the guy tried to raise the price on all of us, but none of us went for that...as we drove into probo, i tapped the driver on the shoulder and indicated the bus station, which was where we all wanted to go...he nodded, and kept going...the next thing we knew, the minibus had stopped in front of yet another travel agency, and we were told we could get out there...all of us said no, we wanted to go to the bus station, which, we reminded him, we had already told him, AND i had pointed out...he tried to collect our fees at that point, and we also said we weren't paying until we got to the bus station...the travel agent tried to ask where we all wanted to go, but we all said we just wanted the bus station...so our driver didn't make a commission, and the travel agent didn't make any money from us...i suppose they do this all the time...as we got to the bus station, our group split up, as we were going in all different directions...i stayed with the french family, as we were all headed to the same place...we found our next desired bus, hopped on, and only had to wait about 15 minutes before it left...

the adventure started when our bus arrived in bondowoso...we had expected to be able to catch a minibus to sempol, and from there, find transport to another volcanic plateau...but, at bondowoso, they told us minibus service was finished for the day...they pointed out another bus that could drop us a little way ahead, and perhaps from there we could catch onward transport...so, that's bus #1...we got off, and asked around, and found another bus to take us a bit farther...bus #2...at that point we were in sukosari, and met up with another french couple headed to our same destination...now a group of 6, i was the only non french speaker...i could understand a bit, having had french tutoring in the past, as well as studying (though not nearly enough) through high school...it was definitely an advantage to have a bigger group, as well as to be in a group where a language other than english could be used to discuss things...it turned out that the french mom was quite good at bargaining, and obtaining discounts...we asked around the street in sukosari, and she found out from someone that there was supposedly a public bus to sempol in an hour or so, but that sort of information wasn't for sure...anywho, soon enough, a car of sorts pulled up, and we were able to negotiate a ride to sempol...the back of the car was totally open, with just a seat at the very back...but the entire area was filled with pillows...we all piled in, with all our bags, and made room for everything and everyone...the other couple locals in there looked at us with amusement, and i don't blame them...as far as local transport, the pillows actually made it one of the most comfortable rides i've ever had...which was a good thing, given that the road was AWFUL...the worst road i was on in all of indo...TERRIBLE...potholes, pavement falling apart...a plain dirt road would've been far better...i hit the roof several times...thank goodness, as all of you know, i have a hard head:)...we made it to sempol after dark, and started negotiations to continue along the road, up to pos paltuding, which is a park post, and the starting spot of the hike we all wanted to do the next morning...our guidebooks all said we would be able to find accomodation at the post, and it seemed everything else listed was full...the first offer made by the drivers seemed reasonable to me, since there actually isn't any public transport between sempol and pos paltuding...you always have to hire something...but apparently no one else in my group thought so...in the end, after a break for dinner, and lots more negotiations (and discussions between us in french) we got a ridiculously good deal to go all the way to pos paltuding...oddly enough, the road the rest of the way was actually quite good!!

we arrived at the post, took a look at the rooms available, and decided that we'd all share one room...there was a large bed, and two smaller beds...the couple shared one of the smaller beds, i got the other, and the family shared the large bed...we paid our park entrance fee, the tariff for our room (it surprised the park ranger that we all chose to share the same room...we're all cheap, hee hee!) and chatted a bit with the researchers who were in another room in the same cabin...

early to bed, early to rise...we didnt get up in time for another sunrise, but we did get up early...then we started a 3km hike...kawah ijen is in the middle of the ijen plateau...kawah ijen is a crater lake, volcanically active...the lake is a gorgeous blue, and there is a sulfur vent in one corner...we walked UP 3km, to the lip of the crater...it's a steady, fairly steep hike...an easy path to follow, which was nice...we could all feel our hearts pounding the entire way...(i kept thanking my lucky stars for having done the trekking in nepal...i knew that i would eventually reach the top, no matter if others were faster)...looking out over the lake was awesome, despite the wind blowing the sulfur clouds all over the place...

i decided to go down into the crater, to get close to the sulfur vents...there is a path, though it's not easy to make your way down...and thank goodness the french dad had given me a mask, because i definitely needed it as i got closer and closer to the vents...i added a scarf i had in my day pack, tying it around my face and nose...and yet, the sulfur wind was so strong, i could still feel the burn in my nose and throst...i was able to see the vents, the incredible yellow colour, the incredible smell...a few pictures, a bit of wandering around closer to the edge of the lake (in which i could see the heat bubbles) and i decided to go back up...as i got back up to the top i looked at my rings, both of which are sterling silver...they had both oxidized quite a bit and were rather dark...a hike to another view point, then all the way back down to the park post...

one of the reasons people go to see this crater, beside the amazing view, is to see the workers...locals make the climb up the outside of the crater, go down in, close to the vents, and fill their baskets full of sulfur, climb back out, go all the way down and to the company office...they do this 2-3 times a day, and work every other day...they're paid per kilo, and we figured out they make about $10USD each day they work...the stunning part is that the average basket load is 80-100kg!!! it's actually a pair of baskets, connected by a bamboo rod, they carry it over their shoulders...i tried picking up one of the basket sets, and barely budged it...these guys are STRONG...and small...they carry the sulfur to the company office, where it is weighed officially, and from there to the "factory/processing plant"...

as the french family is the curious sort, we found the factory, and decided to walk around if we were allowed...and we were...just one giant room, with different areas for different activities...some people took the blocks of sulfur, knocked off the ugly grayish areas, and put the rest of the pure yellow stuff into bags...others took the parts that were knocked off, and put them into large pots set into concrete on top of wood fires...looking into these pots, we could see the sulfur cooking/melting...it's not pretty...yellowish, brackish...and bubbling...one guy was in charge of keeping the fires going hot...another guy had the job of ladling out the melted sulfur and putting it through it's first filter, from which it drained into another pot, which was also kept HOT...a guy ladled from there through two more sets of filters, from which it drained into a large, metal bucket of sorts that sat on a dolly...one guy pulled that dolly to the largest area in the room, which was covered by white tiles, kept cool by water...the mostly pure hot sulfur was scooped onto these tiles, much like you do with sugar, when you are making candy glass...it cooled quickly because of the water...then yet more workers broke it into large pieces, which were then smashed into smaller pieces in yet another area...it sounds confusing, i suppose...these smaller pieces were then packed into more bags, and, like the plain yellow blocks i already mentioned, were shipped off to somewhere...i got to try my hand at picking up the bigger pieces of mostly cooled sulfur and smashing them down on the floor so they broke into smaller pieces...fun:)...we were completely impressed with all the hard work that was done in this factory...and with few, or no safety precautions...no face masks, and only a couple people had gloves...it was stunning...we were able to walk whereva we wanted, and were in there so long in fact that the workers started ignoring us and just did their jobs as normal...the french father is a professional photographer, so he was thrilled with all the pictures he was able to take...the father later bought a pack of cigarettes for the factory workers and gave them to one of the guys, indicating they were for everyone...i haven't seen people move that fast in a while, as all the workers came flying over to get their cigarette...it was awesome, and the smiles on their faces were amazing...

we spent an extra day at pos paltuding, it was super relaxing...the french father wanted more pictures, and i just loved how chilled out everything was...nearly all the tourists were french, unlike the rest of java and sumatra, where you are much more likely to be seeing dutch folks...when in doubt at kawah ijen, speak french! the french couple opted to move on, so the french mom decided we should have a discount on the room...it wasn't looking good, the park ranger said the government set the rates and it wasn't his choice...so she said that if he wanted to be proper, then she needed a receipt for our previous night as well as the park tickets we had all paid for...and whaddya know, we got our discount...so obviously some of the money was going into his pocket...(this is normal all over indonesia)...

the following morning, we got ready to leave after the french father returned from taking more pictures...we got lucky, and joined the researchers on their transport back to bondowoso...it had a flat tire along the way, which was no surprise at all, considering the quality of the road...i leaned out my window, and could actually hear the air hissing out of the tire...ugh...but the driver knew what to do, and did it all rather quickly...back on our way quickly, we made our way to bonodowoso...

upon arrival, i immediately got another bus to situbondo, and from there almost immediately got another bus to ketapan...at ketapan i got to the ferry terminal, and took the ferry to gilimanuk, on the island of bali...