Borobudur and Bromo - temples and volcanoes: The best of Java

We've been quite busy this week and have seen a lot of impressive sights.

It started with Borobudur, which is impressive because of its size, but also because of the amazing stonecarvings telling the story of Buddha's life before he became a Buddha. The temple is supposed to be at its best at sunrise and sunset, so we decided to stay in a hotel close to the temple so that we wouldn't have to get up at three in the night to get there for sunrise.
The Menohara Princess Resort was nice, but the rooms felt a bit old. They were probably very nice and modern in the '80s. The good thing about staying here was that the hotel is based within the temple grounds and as a guest you can enter the temple for free during the opening hours. And they had a beautiful cat who just loved us and tried to sit on my lap all the time.

To visit the temple itself, you have to wear a sarong. Matthias looks fabulous wearing a skirt, I think he might be a bit Scottish deep inside.

The temple itself is massive and measures 118 m by 118 m at the base. On the galleries, there are more than 400 Buddha statues sitting in niches looking down from the monument. As the last levels were closed for visitors due to renovation work, we were just allowed to climb up to the sixth level, where you still can get some great views of the surroundings.

Since we were not lucky with the weather, heavy clouds covered the sun and sunset was not spectacular at all. The next morning was just as grey, so we were glad that we had chosen not to pay additional 175,000 Rp to be let into the temple grounds at 4:30.

Our next destination was Gunung Bromo, a spectacular, active volcano (2329 m high) surrounded by a moonlike landscape in the eastern parts of Java.

There are several ways to get from Yogyakarta to Probolinggo, which is one of the main gates to Bromo, and since we felt brave, we decided to try the train service. How big are the odds that our train will hit an elephant, car or whatever this time? We were lucky and the five hour train ride from Yogyakarta to Surabaya went alright. We did have to get into an older carriage though, because the aircon didn't work in the one we were originally booked in.

A train ride through rural Java is very nice, much more relaxed than going by bus and the landscape passing by the window is really something. Green rice fields, men and women working in the fields, animals and children playing in the villages; all very idyllic.

The next day we caught the train from Surabaya to Probolinggo and arrived in Probolinggo around eleven. From there we took a shuttle bus up to the village Cemoro Lawang where our hotel was.
Cemoro Lawang is quite close to Gunung Bromo and the temperatures dropped dramatically. We booked a sunrise Jeep tour for the next day, which meant getting up at 3:15 in the morning, get into a 4WD and bump around up the mountain, then walk for about 20 minutes in the dark to get to the viewpoint on a mountain next to Gunung Bromo and then wait in the cold for the sun to rise.

At 4:30 waiting for the sun to rise. Temperature: 5 degrees

If it was worth it? You bet it was!! The views of the volcano and the surroundings were absolutely stunning and the sunrise was great. It almost had something magical over it. Have a look for yourselves:

Bromo is the one without top. The top was lost in an explosion.

After sunrise we went on down by Jeep to the foot of Bromo and walked through the Sea of Sands to the crater itself. I thought I was going to throw up and faint several times, but somehow I kept on walking. The view from the crater was amazing. On the way down, we overheard a British girl who was going up when she said to her boyfriend: "I give up. I have to puke!"
All I could think was: I can feel your pain, sister! Been there, done that...

Sea of Sand and the Hindu temple below Bromo, which is a very important holy mountain for the Hindus of Java.

After the tour to Bromo, it was time to leave for Bali.
Since all the men in Probolinggo just want to sell you ridiculously expensive bus rides and rip you off completely, telling you that the local bus will take sixteen hours and their transport only five, I insisted on going by local bus. On the way there I scared all jokers who tried to offer us transportation off by looking very angrily at them and saying that we already had tickets. Somehow that made them leave us alone. ;)

The local bus was 30 000 Rp per person (which is not even 3 €) and it took us five hours to go to Banyuwangi, where the ferry to Bali leaves from. Going by local bus might not be the most comfortable option, but it is a lot of fun! We sat next to all kinds of people; old toothless men, young schoolboys, a mother with her baby and a crazy, but funny, bus conductor.
This kind of transportation is not for the faint-hearted though. The streets of Java are quite dangerous. Our bus driver preferred taking over in sharp turns, where he saw absolutely nothing. One time the bus was extremely close to turn itself into an accordion by crashing in to a truck. You could hear all the passengers draw their breath, so it had to be a close one even for Javanese people. The truck driver had a rather terrified face expression as he raced by our window.

Luckily, we arrived in Banyuwangi in just before the ferry was about to leave and arrived in Gilimanuk just before seven in the evening. Exhausted after sunrise watching, five hours on the bus, another hour on the ferry and then two more hours in a car, we arrived at our hotel in Lovina that night.

Our pool area in Lovina

Lovina was the perfect place to chill out a bit before exploring the rest of Bali and we spent a couple of lazy days at the pool before leaving for Ubud, where we arrived today.
So far, Ubud is a great place. Let's see how I feel after spending a week here.