java 2

from yogyakarta i took two local buses and three intercity buses to arrive at the dieng plateau...also an increase in altitude of around 2000m...fortunately, the connections between buses were all pretty quick, i never had to wait more than 10 minutes...
dieng plateau is a volcanically active plateau...it used to be full of temples, archeologists think there used to be about 400 temples!! there aren't many left now, less than 10, and they're not very interesting...the plateau is beautiful though...
i first walked out to a bubbling lake...called the coloured lake in english, telaga warna in bahasa malaysia....really pretty...there is a path that goes all the way round, and even goes up the hillside, so you can look over the lake...it's beautiful, and it's quiet...next, i managed to get myself lost in farming fields in the hills on the other side of town...whoops...one lady came across me and asked where i was going, and when i told her i was looking for a particular temple, she not only pointed me in the right direction, she walked with me most of the way...i was sooooo cold that night...i wore warm clothes to bed, and snuggled under two blankets, but my body was used to heat, and at 2093m, nights are rarely warm, even in summer...
the next day i got up and started walking again...i started my day with temple ruins, which weren't all that interesting...i was more entertained by the animals around the temples...some sheep, a gaggle of geese, etc...have you ever watched a gaggle follow each other around? next up was a crater...a large, steaming, bubbling crater...you can't really see the madness boiling inside very well, because of all the steam...it's awesome...just down the road from dieng village is the highest village on java, at 2300m...this village apparently does quite well with potato farming, and sends a large number of pilgrims to mecca each year...
the best part of dieng in general was just looking around the valley, and enjoying the views...it's a beautiful area...
from dieng i made my way to solo...it's supposed to be important in the batik industry, but still full of cultural stuff...i found a place to stay, as many of the hotels are somewhere close to each other...other than that, there is no tourist hotspot...the tourist information office isn't anywhere close to anything, its only open 3 days a week, for four hours each of those days...the monday i was there happened to be an islamic holiday, which explained why the post office was closed...though i didn't know about the holiday until i arrived at the puri...puri means palace, and is the place in solo where the second ruling family resides (as opposed to the kraton, where the first family resides)...the entrance fee includes a guide, and since i was by myself, i got my own guide:)...she did a good job explaing everything, including the museum collection...some of the displays (old coins, medals, head ornaments, etc) i found interesting...others (belgian crystal sets) i did not...the puri is still lived in, so you don't get to see the entire complex, but that's all right...there has even been a divorce in the current "ruling" generation!! the family has no more political power, but the title is still passed down...from the puri i went to the kraton...definitely a disappointment after the puri...the kraton is the seat of the ruling family, but it's not as wealthy, it's not nearly as well kept, and there isn't very much of it open to the public...and the entrance fee doesn't include a guide, so i was pretty clueless about most of what i was seeing...there were a whole lot of indonesians visiting though...
my last day in solo i paired up with a swiss girl also staying at my guesthouse...we took a couple local buses, then hired ojeks (motorbikes with drivers) to take us up to two temples...we could've walked to the first one (it was only 2km, STEEPLY uphill) but the drivers didnt want to miss out on any money...the second was an additional 9km, and we didn't have the time to do all the walking...candi setho and candi sukuh are quite different from the other temples i've seen in indonesia, it was worth the time and energy to go see them...plus, there were VERY few other tourists...the ojek rides took us through tea, coffee and mustard fields, as well as looking out over the valley...beautiful...the temples are both on the side of a volcano...
to get to my next destination, i opted for another night train...this time, business class...it was supposed to arrive in solo at 0200, and leave a few minutes later...it didn't arrive until almost 0330...i had a hard time staying awake, and was afraid i'd fall asleep and miss it completely...business class was slightly more spacious than economy, the seats were certainly larger, and i was lucky to have a whole row to myself...there were still people in the aisles, but the aisles were larger...
as surabaya isn't a tourist destination at all, there is no traveler spot to head toward...it was simply by walking around and hoping that i found a place to stay...more expensive than i expected, but i had a tv!! and my own bathroom....almost luxury:)
after my day of walking around surabaya, i was ready to call off the rest of the trip...ridiculous attempts at overcharging, an "accidental" boob grab, and more...i was tired of it all...i was only too happy to leave the next morning...the only good thing about surabaya was the lower postal rates...(for whateva reason, postal rates around indonesia vary, and i never found out why)...