Journey through the island of Java
Having traveled from Nusa Dua to the Bali crossing, closer to one in the morning by car, it costs 400.000 rupees, I went to buy a ticket for the ferry 6.000 rupees. As far as I understand, they go around the clock and very often.
There are a lot of cars at the crossing, huge buses of both tourist and local domestic flights. There are similar crossings between Sumatra and Java - it connects the main transit roads on the islands together. Having shown the ticket to the local security guard, he went to the ferry indicated by him, it was already completely packed with cars, buses, trucks - on the first floor, the second floor is equipped with seats, karaoke and coffee. There are not so many people, you can freely stay away from karaoke, which is popular with locals. The crossing time takes 30-40 minutes and another 15-20 minutes waiting until the ship is moored.
Coming out of the ferry, women in headscarves go towards, in Java, Islam, but more democratic than in Arab countries, so women can make a choice - dress as religion says or not, but with the permission of her husband and if she does not live in an orthodox village.
At the exit from the port we are met by Sam, an Indonesian by origin with excellent English and education. We jump into the car and move towards Kawa Ijen, on the way Sam says that the short road has been washed out and we will drive along the other one making a small circle.
Comfortably sitting on the second row of seats, putting a backpack under my head, I fell asleep. I woke up from strong shaking and the noise of breaking stones - the road that leads to the volcano and plantations in a terrible state, tropical rains and trucks carrying sulfur from the volcano are doing their job.
Night, dark but outside the window you can guess the silhouettes of palm trees and other tropical beauty. The sky is insanely clear with scatterings of stars.
And then the car stalls, the driver tries to bring it in, but
to no avail, steam comes out from under the hood ...Apparently, the cooling system was pierced with a stone. Around the jungle, bewitching sounds around, the starry sky, beauty, but you need to hurry up to dawn. Sam calls up and says that in an hour and a half he will do.
spare car. We decided to hitchhike with a guide, and Sam will drive up later to the foot of Ijen. We brake the truck, which transports sulfur and goes just to the base. The driver agrees to give us a lift, climb into the seat and continue on our way. The road gets even worse, once the former asphalt is now a stone porridge of mud stones from small pebbles to impressive boulders. Offroad still one must say. Coming out of the next turn, we see a half-overturned truck, and the drivers trying to raise it, the passage further is difficult due to the ropes stretched between
trees and a truck - this is such a lifting technology. A traffic jam forms, it begins to dawn. Indonesians go from truck to truck, smoke, chat - apparently they are waiting for the car to jump out by itself. Workers on motorbikes somehow ride along the same road,
still managing to transport very oversized cargo. Hearing the noise of the bike, they decided to ask for it, the Indonesian did not refuse, but said that he would turn off earlier, but it was easier to get from the village.
Jumping into the saddle of the bike, we rushed, yes, we rushed along this off-road, there are a lot of impressions, the jungle from all sides, and the Indonesian is fluent in the art of driving a bike in such conditions, the road goes higher and higher, it is already light,
having approached the checkpoint, the sentry asked me to check in the magazine and pay 1000 rupees for entry. From this place you have an insanely beautiful view of the mountains.
While I was photographing all this, apparently they raised the truck and my guide caught up with me, jumping into their truck, I felt the already familiar smell of durian and rushed up.
We were dropped off in the village, because the truck did not go to the volcano. The village is quite clean, tidy, mosques are visible, the time is closer to 6 in the morning, first-graders go to study in a friendly company, primary classes wear a white top and a red bottom - the flag of the state. Classes start at 6 o'clock and until 12 o'clock, since there are no kondeevs in public schools, and you have time to unlearn until stuffiness. Braking another bike. Agreeing on a price of 8000 for both climb on it. After a 30 minute, crazy ride, we are at the foot of the ijen. Admission is 15.000 plus 30.000 for a camera. Having drunk tea there, we begin the ascent on foot, along the way we meet workers with huge baskets of sulfur, the weight of the entire luggage is 70 kg, each worker, according to the norm, must bring 140 kg per shift, for which he receives $ 10 per shift.
Along the way, there are monkeys hanging from trees, and awesome views. The road leading to the top of the volcano is quite easy, but does not exclude the presence of shoes with a closed toe and a non-slip surface.
Having risen to the very top, I take out respirators from my backpack, I must say that the only protective equipment for workers is rubber boots. The smell of sulfur is very strong, a caldera opens up with an insanely blue lake, or rather emerald, above all this a huge column of sulfur smoke. Around the scorched earth, dead trees and an obsessive smell.
Workers are rising from the crater with cornices of sulfur. It is possible to descend into the crater itself. I’ll immediately draw your attention to the descent, you will need good shoes - completely closed, shales with a closed heel and good soles will not work, and a respirator and
a bottle of water, there were accidents with tourists, they fell off into the abyss ...
Along the way, workers offer sulfur souvenirs, guide services, and a photo session.
Going down to the lake itself, a gorgeous picture opens up, an emerald-colored lake, from which evaporation comes, it is hot, a column of yellow-gray smoke and whitish stones - a white coating is sulfur from smoke. Respirators help a little to breathe. Work here is not
does not stop for a minute, at night the attendants clean the pipes through which sulfur is received from the volcano, and from the very early morning they begin to raise the sulfur to the top, the most difficult and dangerous section is the ascent from the crater, then the road is easier and the transshipment point follows where the sulfur is weighed. At the very bottom is a loading base, where, before accepting sulfur from a worker, it is weighed again and then only reloaded. For each undelivered kg of cargo
the worker is fined.
Having a bite to eat, we get into the car that arrived in time to replace the broken one and set off towards Probolingo to the Bromo volcano.
Along the way, the guide Sam offers to stop by the village and see the megaliths - huge, processed stones are neatly stacked in a pyramid.
In the local villages it is quite clean and tidy, after getting out of the car we were surrounded by local children, a white man is rare in these parts. Once upon a time, megaliths were something meaningful
for people, but through time information about it has not passed. Now they stand alone in the middle of a small tobacco plantation.
After taking photos we go to Probolinggo. On the transit road of the island of Java, late in the evening but there is heavy traffic on the road, on the way we stop to eat at a roadside cafe, dinner turns out to be within 20.000-30.000 rupees - bakso (soup with meatballs and sometimes
with glass noodles) and nusigurek - rice, spices and meat. You should also try ravon - soup with beef, served with rice. Very tasty too. By the late evening we drive up to Probolingo, we have heard a lot about this settlement by their mafia taxi drivers
Then the serpentine begins to the top of the volcano, the road in some places is in one lane and with turns of 90 or more degrees. The driver honks warningly when approaching such turns in the hope that an oncoming driver will hear him. Getting there
no adventures, it’s quite cold at the top, you should wear at least a sweatshirt. We check into a hotel where it is cool but tolerable, there is hot water and two warm blankets per bed. Before going to bed, we walk along the street along the numerous cafes,
hostels and hotels. Freezing enough, we go to drink hot tea with ginger and milk, after which we go to bed, getting up at 4 in the morning.
At five o'clock in the morning, we meet with our driver and find out that it is forbidden to drive up to the observation deck in our cars. Here it is - the mafia, you have to pay something like 170.000 rupees for a 20-minute round trip.
The shift supervisor calls a jeep, and after about 5 minutes an old, colorful land rover appears, after reaching the top you have to climb on foot, a flashlight is very useful here. There are not many tourists on the observation deck
there is enough space for everyone, locals offer hot tea and blankets for rent - something very familiar : ) after a little languishing on the left, the sun begins to come out, illuminating a huge crater in which four volcanoes are picturesquely located, one of them is Bromo, it smokes insanely strong. The early morning sun illuminates the gray smoke and other volcanoes with soft colors. A huge caldera begins to appear in which volcanoes are located. Here you can show all your photography talents.
After contemplating the panorama, it makes sense to go down to this very caldera and get closer to the volcanoes themselves, the locals offer horses for rent, which we took advantage of, the feeling is fascinating - you walk on scorched earth, in the distance the lunar landscapes are all around ashes. At the foot of Bromo there is a Hindu temple.
After a horseback ride, we set off for Surubway. The road to Surubwai continues along the same transit road with busy traffic, the journey time is about 6 hours. From Surubwai by train for 85.000 rupees from Guben station I leave for Jokju.
I must say that there are three types of service classes. Executive, business and economy. I recommend only the executive, there is air conditioning, clean cars, comfortable chairs, plus the seat has a socket for recharging phones and other pieces of iron. In the economy, as far as I know, they sell tickets without seats. You can have a bite to eat on the train, they sell from fruits, tea to hot dishes, edible and not expensive.
Upon arrival in Jokju, I call Sam's brother to arrange excursions, he offers to live with him in a student house. We agreed to meet on Malibaro Street, it is not far from the station, it houses all kinds of hotels, shops and cafes. Having time before the arrival of Anga (Sam's brother), I walked around the hotels and bunkhouses for the sake of interest. It turned out that you can easily stay in a rooming house for 80.000 rupees, there is
bed and light bulb overhead, all amenities on the floor, no hot water. With hot water, the price tag starts at 180.000 rupees. In hotels, in the usual sense of the word, the price tag starts from 350.000 rupees. In general, for any wallet. Having walked along Malibaro, I waited for Angi, and on a bike rushed to him, stopping along the way to have a bite of delicious local food by the road.
The student house is quite spacious, each has its own room, there is no shower, there is a vat of water and a ladle.
Everyone has a computer on which facebooks are open : ) I was given a room with a mattress on the floor, a cabinet and a small desk - such decoration in all rooms.
In the morning we went on a bike to inspect Borobudur, we got there quite comfortably, it's not so far for a motorbike, 30-40 minutes on the way. Entrance costs something like 15 bucks. The temple is impressive, made of stones “carved” from the hardened lava of the Merapi volcano, which is located not far from here. The views are fascinating, there are mountains and jungles around the temple, the temple itself is huge, the walls are decorated with all possible patterns and paintings, restoration is underway, it is clear that they are watching and maintaining in excellent condition.
After the inspection, we went to inspect Prambanan, it is located in the opposite direction. The entrance to Prambanan also costs something around 10-15 bucks, the huge complex impresses with its size and with what zeal it is decorated with carvings.
There is also a small exposition with national musical instruments of the island of Java. At the exit they sell all souvenirs, very interesting specimens come across.
This concludes my visit to Jokju, an insanely hot city. We stopped at the airline agency, bought a ticket back to Bali. Flew via LionAir cost about 450.000 rupees. Neither my last name nor passport number was indicated on my ticket, when I asked how it was, they calmly answered me - “you’re not flying abroad” : ) and indeed I checked in for the flight without any problems, the airport is quite civil, air conditioners, good shops in a sterile area, cafes where you can have a very delicious meal with their incomparable food and free internet.
I must say, having run pretty much in a few days, having seen a lot of things, I got a little tired, and as soon as I got on the plane, I fell asleep, buckled up, woke up only because the plane began to shake a little - we were landing at the Denpazar airport. Having returned the time on his cell phone to Balinese - an hour ahead, he got into a taxi and rushed off to Nusa Dua.
This is how the trip turned out, special thanks to Irina the guide, who helped me see the insane beauty of Java : )
