Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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StevePIraq
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by StevePIraq »

Man you take some fantastic photos, beautiful.
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buksida
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by buksida »

The sheer power and sound of the ongoing upsurge of volcanic gas was awe-inspiring. I took as many shots as I could before the Nikon became clogged with ash and unusable, it was time to get off the rim and head for a small makeshift shack selling coffee I’d spotted on the way up. We headed back in the same direction which by now was clear of low cloud and beginning to fill with jeeps, and tourists. The kids took horses as they were starting to get fatigued, I was still running on pure adrenaline!
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To follow: Cemoro Lawang
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by migrant »

Some of the pictures look straight out of a star wars type movie!!
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by buksida »

Apologies for not updating the TR ... been on another road trip ... :oops:

By 11am the rain and cold clouds had returned to Cemoro Lawang and the visibility was back to 50 meters or so, if it wasn’t for the distant thunderous rumbles you would never have known what was out there. By 5pm it had cleared across the caldera and we were treated to a fading sunset and the ongoing show from Mount Bromo as the temperature dropped and night closed in.
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To follow: Sunrise from the viewpoint
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buksida
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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At a chilly and dark 03.30 we were on the move again, this time up to the viewpoint for the spectacular sunrise. We decided on a jeep for the ride as the kids probably wouldn't have made the 6km trek up the side of the giant caldera. Our particular jeep didnt have any lights which made for some precarious driving up the dirt track with me hanging out of the window with a frozen hand and a torch to navigate with.

The vehicles could only go so far and the rest was done on foot, after a quick stop for a coffee at a little local tent halfway up. We reached the first viewpoint as the sky started to lighten and slashes of orange began to glow in the east. Bromo below us was still shrouded in an eerie darkness.

The show that commenced was simply magical as the first rays of light of the day illuminated the caldera and cast an golden-orange tinge over the ash plume reaching ever skywards from the brooding Bromo.
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To follow: Bromo to Yogyakarta
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by pharvey »

National Geographic paying you yet...... ? :bow:
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buksida
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by buksida »

I've sent a few to them ... but no pay check yet!

We were on the clock today as we would be commencing a journey that few others have achieved; Bromo to Yogyakarta in a day. We knew there was a train leaving Surabaya for Jogja at 13.00, we didn't know if we would be on it. The epic journey started with a scramble back down the mountain to our jeep which took us back to the homestay. Bags packed we checked out and headed down the hill to try and negotiate with the van bandits for a ride back to Probolinggo which was achieved for 400k and taken at breakneck speeds.

At Probolinggo bus station an hour or so later we were herded onto a public bus for Surabaya and promptly over charged so off we got in search of the real express bus for Surabaya, which was round the corner and half the price. They'll stop at nothing in Indonesia to extract an extra dollar or two from the uninitiated.

Two hours later and at almost midday we arrived at the Surabaya bus terminal and grabbed a taxi straight for Gubeng Station in the hope that there wouldn't be a repeat of the ticket booking fiasco we had a few days ago. The station was a seething throng of people and queues so I went straight to the shortest one and asked about getting on the next train to Yogyakarta which was leaving in less than an hour. The good news was that there were seats – the bad news was that they were economy, we had little choice if we were going to avoid another night in Surabaya.

After 5 butt busting sweltering hours on a train across Java we rolled into Yogyakarta as dusk was falling, grabbed the nearest cab, (I couldn't care less about being over charged again at this stage in the day) and headed for our hotel for some well deserved rest following 15 hours solid travelling.
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To follow: Yogyakarta
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by STEVE G »

......we had little choice if we were going to avoid another night in Surabaya.
If anyone else finds themselves stuck for a night in Surabaya and they have the budget, stay in the Majapahit hotel in the center of the city. It's a beautiful old colonial hotel similar to what Raffles was before they rebuilt it and it has some history from when Indonesia went independent.
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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We had planned to do very little on our first day in Yogyakarta (pronounced locally as Jogja), so the pool at the Puri Pangeran hotel made a good excuse for just that. In the afternoon we took a walk to Malioboro Street which is the main tourist strip for shopping. I was expecting something similar to Kuala Lumpur's Petaling Street where you can sit at a side cafe with a beer and watch the world go by.

Being Indonesia beer was not available, and neither were roadside cafes, there were people asking if you wanted a taxi every 6 seconds though. The street was literally lined with t-shirt vendors, thousands of them, so unless you wanted a t-shirt, some Javanese Batik or handicrafts there was little else here. A t-shirt saying "I don't want a fuggin taxi" would have been useful.
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To follow: River rafting
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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Organised day trips and tours are ridiculously expensive in Indonesia (compared to Vietnam or Thailand), but we had little option unless we wanted to trudge around temples in the roasting heat all day - there was little else to do in Jogja.

We opted for a half day river rafting excursion followed by a visit to the main attraction for the area; Borobudur temple. The rafting turned out to be great fun, something I'd never done before and the kids loved it. The rapids were pretty tame but it was a blast nonetheless, the only downside was the shocking amount of trash that lined the Elo river, one of the many that flows down from the ever looming Merapi volcano.
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To follow: Borobudur
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by JimmyGreaves »

Great Photos Buksi.

Streets look much cleaner than here, is that the case?
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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Streets were clean, but the rivers, lakes and countryside were awash with plastic.

Taxis from the city to Borobudur were a sting as it is the most touristy place in Java (and Indonesia for that matter), we combined ours with the river trip to save a few hundred thousand rupiah. Before our driver had even stopped the vendors and hawkers were pulling the doors open and thrusting hats, umbrellas, selfie sticks and all manner of unwanted crap into our faces.

Borobudur has two entrances, a hot long queue for the locals who get in for a peanut, and an air-conditioned hotel-type foyer for the foreigners who have to fork out $20 each. It is touted as the biggest Buddhist temple in the world and dates back to the 9th century. The colossal monument consists of nine stacked levels topped by a central dome surrounded by 72 perforated bell stupas.

The place was impressive but having visited Cambodia's Angkor Wat and Burma's Bagan it didn't measure up to them in my opinion. Maybe we were there at the wrong time of day, early afternoon has far fewer crowds, but is stiflingly hot and the light was too bright for photos. Sunrise is when most people visit.
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To follow: more Borobudur
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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Hope you're not still near the volcanoes ...

"Seven dead, others injured after Indonesian volcano erupts"

https://www.yahoo.com/news/seven-dead-o ... 12925.html
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

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Yes, we went to Sinabung and Sibayak on a previous visit to Sumatra.

Seeking some rest-bite from the punishing midday sun we found shade on the lower levels and were able to marvel at the intricacy of the reliefs and stone carvings. An hour or two is about all you need here, and we were funneled through a labyrinth of alleys and stalls selling tourist tat that stretched for over a kilometer to get back out.
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As the road trip drew to a close we had one final day and decided to fly back from Jogja via Jakarta rather than taking a train across Java and spending a night in the traffic clogged capital city.

We'd seen and done a lot over the past three weeks having visited 14 different places which included beaches, volcanoes, coral reefs, waterfalls, Hindu and Buddhist temples, lakes, villages and cities. It was time to head home.
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Re: Photo trip report: Island hopping Indonesia

Post by migrant »

You covered a lot of ground! Thanks for sharing, great pics as always!! :cheers: :cheers:
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