Member Since: 06 Mar 2017
Location: Lost
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DSL wrote:
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Our guide was convinced this cloud looked like an elephant!!
DSL wrote:
not sure our driver/guide wasn’t a bit over-stimmed on RedBull type stuff.
I've once or twice seen a pink Elephant Del, and have even heard of flying ones but I think your driver might have discovered something a bit more stimulating than Red Bull.
Amazing pics yµ (idµ - eAµ) ψ=mψ
2nd May 2024 6:36 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Evening all, and greetings from Malang, a city we’d never even heard of a few months ago! Staying in a lovely hotel (Tugu Malang) which is basically a hotel built around an antiques collection. Good wander around today, nice and cool at 25c & not humid, getting up to 28c, perfect!!
Seems this is a bit of a key place in the Indonesian struggle to kick out the Dutch, fair amount of history in the military museum. Lots and lots and lots of school kids in the museum so no good pics inside.
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Japanese WW2 tank.
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Ex US Buffalo/AmTrac that helped kick the peskie Dutch out.
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And a couple of villages that have splashed out the colour. OK, costs a small fee to go through both villages (one either side of river) but worth it as nice to walk without traffic. And the fees go towards local stuff so the residents are glad to see us.
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And loving Indonesian food, as long as it’s medium spicy!!! Tonight’s dinner, for those who are hungry, with a lovely bottle of VC from Bali.
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Back on the train tomorrow, up to Surabaya. Luckily back in the Eksekutif fancy carriages, the train here was Ekonomi type only and it was a bit cozy. This carriage was packed, peeps here had de-camped to go and get sustenance on a long(ish) stop.
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On Tuesday got a 4hr 27min train ride in Ekonomi, that’s going to be a long day!
4th May 2024 1:31 pm
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Another day, another hot & sweaty wait at the station for next train on our jolly. 35C here, bit of cloud and a slight breeze, boooooooooootiful.
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Not much has been happening last few days, just hopping from city to city working west. Down to Surakarta then, later in the week, to Yogyakarta for Borobudur and Prambanan temples, jewel in the crown of Java.
Just over an hour to wait until train, then back in comfy train. Trip here was 4.5 hr in Ekon, but wasn’t too bad.
9th May 2024 6:00 am
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26774
You need to put your feet up and have a rest! Must be exhausted with all this travelling.
The lengths people goto to avoid Eurovision! 😉
9th May 2024 6:33 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Deffo worth it just to avoid that Eurovision nonsense!! And as we don’t pay a TV Tax while we’re away, I don’t even rant about paying for it!!
Re rest, deffo needed one after yesterday. Shade over 10km wandering around Surabaya in mid 30s heat. Though made up by train and Gojek drivers doing the moving today.
PS And gratuitous pano of the tracks.
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And our train, with a thumbs up from the driver as he clocked the strange person taking a pic.
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And lovely AC!
9th May 2024 6:59 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
A few pics from recent days while I’m enjoying morning coffee.
They’re having a laugh!! In typical Indonesian traffic, I’d eat my metaphorical hat if it didn’t have a complete meltdown! Stick it in Ubud, Bali, in the afternoon and if it copes, ie makes progress and doesn’t just add another blockage, I’ll put my name down for one tomorrow.
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Here moto is king, and I doubt a rule book could be written to describe how traffic works, and in much of Asia. These ones are asleep, under a blanket, awaiting their turn on the mean streets.
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Couple of royal palaces but this one was closed on a Friday, in spite of us thinking it was actually Thursday! Royal guards that love to take pics with the visitors that also thought it was Thursday, and don’t pull out the swards until the peeps are lined up!!
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And to confuse things, there are 2 royal palaces in this city, we went to t’other palace coz it wasn’t closed on a Thursday Friday.
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Ready, steady, …………… GO! Starter pistol instead of traffic lights.
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And fooooooooood!! This was last nights scoff, all of £9 for the two of us in a western(ish) Accor hotel. Wine wasn’t cheap (twice the cost of food) but it was Balinese and well worth it.
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Off to Yogyakarta today. Only a 50 minutes train ride so nice easy day.
11th May 2024 1:24 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
A few more transportion related pics.
Not something you see regularly in a busy street through a typical city.
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Lots of pedal rickshaw contraptions here, more common than in other cities. We do get the odd offer of their services but given my non-Indonesian size the offer is somewhat halfhearted. Plus I’d have to squeeze MrsDSL in as well. Most here are pedal powered but elsewhere the bicycle bits have been replaced by motos. Couldn’t get a better pic as the “driver” is usually curled up asleep on the passenger bench.
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Talking of motos. Here pos on way to ceremonial stuff at the palaces.
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Today’s train. We had gotten all excited at the relatively expensive “business” tickets we only had the option of buying. However we were disappointed as they were like economy but no playing kneesies with the peeps opposite. It was prob rel expensive coz we were doing a short hop on a long haul train, we didn’t know re the Commuter trains. Lesson learned.
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Off to Borobudur tomorrow, think Ankor Wat in Indonesia.
11th May 2024 9:58 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Bandung here we come! Only 8 hours on a train to there so loads of time to bung up pics from Ol’ Yogi, Yogyakarta. That is subject to spotty Indonesian 4g and the gallery gremlins.
First off, Barabudur temple, the biggest single Buddhist temple on the planet and prob the jewel in the crown of Indonesian sites. We had to do this by car tour, that guarantees getting up to the top of temple, which is where the Buddhas sit in little stone cages. Cute in a strange way! The other advantage of doing a car is you are guaranteed a ticket to go on top of the temple. The limit is 150 peeps/hour, 1,500/day which is relatively new as it was prev unlimited numbers and on a busy day, like a Sunday when we were there, there could be 60,000 peeps there in a day. Talk about bun fights!! OK, prices have been hiked for foreigners but not complaining as it was by no means crowded.
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The temple has 10 levels, each of the lower levels has carved panels so you are supposed to study each one as you wind your way up, a process that is supposed to take 3 weeks.
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SWEEEEEEEET elephants.
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Then you get to the top and Nirvana, sadly we weren’t allowed on the 10th level and didn’t achieve Nirvana, either that or the rock band wasn’t playing! Quite glad we weren’t up there too long as it was getting very hot, not helped by the lava block construction blasting the heat back out!
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Each of the Stupa has its own Buddha. If you follow the lien of the approach lawn to the horizon, then next “hill” on the left, that’s Mt Murapi whick is presently undergoing a bit of an eruption!! Luckily far enough away from us not to worry.
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There are 504 Buddhas in total, one for each of the reincarnations. Another reincarnation is due soon and they are looking for candidates, strange the guide seemed to think I’d qualify!
Now looking at the pics you’d think the temple had stood there forever (well since 800AD) and defied ravaged of volcanoes, earthquakes and the jungle but no, it had succumbed to all three only to be found, put partially together, deconstructed, foundations built then reconstructed to get it to as it is now. All with no record of what it looked like back in days of yore.
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Plus many (~200) of the 504 Buddhas have lost their heads. A lot of the reconstruction of the temple used the stonework scattered around but obviously the heads have ended up in peeps’ houses and gardens, even though Buddhism died out in that area a long time ago.
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Then back to find out driver through the wonders of WhatsApp, via a veritable scrum of souvenir sellers. They deffo didn’t take no for an answer for a while and we would have gotten the merch quite cheaply but we’re travelling light and didn’t have room for a plastic Buddha in a lava stupa.
15th May 2024 12:22 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Are we there yet? Not quite as still 7 hours to go. Typical view, lots and lots of rice fields.
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Talking of transport, which we weren’t but hey-ho, soooooooooo glad Java has a decent railway system! It can be booked on-line (some trains are booked out by the time we get to the station), it’s comfy and pretty punctual. The only alternative would be long rides in long haul coaches which would be a bit stressful to say the least. Not sure if we’d have kept to plan if the railways weren’t available. Rest of the time has been Gojek car rides, Gojek being the competitor to Grab, Asian Uber. Gojek is cheaper and never had a problem getting hold of one through their app. It can be a bit of a lottery if the rear seats have seat belts but have survived so far. Not going to miss Indonesia’s unique style of driving! And no, we weren’t doing any Gojek or Grab bike rides, pretty popular here but looks way to scary!
The only mode of tpt that we should have been using but weren’t are local buses. As we’ve moved W along Java some of the cities have had buses but for each city we’d have to get a different e-card or app (usually only available for Indonesian Apple acct holders) and Indonesia has lots of ways to top up the cards & apps, none of which we have access to. Bit if a PITA but meant we did a bit more walking (in mid 30s heat) so good for the old exercise.
15th May 2024 2:41 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
And in the manner of ying and yang, the other temple complex near Yogja, Prambanan. This time a Hindu temple.
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As this is a temple complex, Borobudur being a single structure, we headed away from the mahoooooooosive crowns of school kids to the far end where there was one temple surrounded by 8 medium and 240 mini temples. Most of the medium and mini temples were just piles of stone blocks as this are got hit pretty hard by an earthquake in 2006. They have a lot of rebuilding to do, to put it mildly!!
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It was a 1.2km hoof up to the far end and Candi Sewu complex, luckily a bit of shade from trees but when we got there we had the place virtually to ourselves!! On the way back to the place where most visitors go (Roto Jonggrang Temple) there are places to supply entertainment for IDRs. Here a gaggle of SWEEEEEEEEET little defenders eager to go off-roading for about £1.50 for an unspecified time.
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And the main visitor attraction. Lots of peeps, lots of school kids and families but plenty of shade to go round.
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And the nearest we’ve come to monkeys for quite a while. Pheewwwww!
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Last edited by DSL on 15th May 2024 4:01 am. Edited 1 time in total
15th May 2024 3:26 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Oh, and for completeness, a few pics of the other palace that is part of the Prambanan complex, Ratu Boko, a 5km minibus drove away. Nice and quiet, plus different as palace instead of temple.
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Plus the perfect poster for much if Indonesia’s food. Boy do they love chillies!!
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There, like quite a few places we were “interviewed” by groups of school kids practicing their English and GoogTranslate skills. We usually don’t mind, it’s part of travelling in Asia where the kids are keen to actually learn, but it was best when they pounced on us near shade. Was a bit toastie answering questions in solid sunshine! Plus it reinforces my theory that schools have either been done away with or mothballed, worldwide. Just send the kids out in packs round sites and keep them moving, cheaper to hire coaches than run schools!! TBS, doubt it had any educationally value whatsoever. You turf the kids out to the local, or not so local, museum, they wander round looking bored, lucky ones find the cafe, and they get back to the bus suitably late and hold everyone up. S’pose it has another upside, teachers don’t have to actually teach.
15th May 2024 3:53 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
And a few non temple related pics.
Let me out of here!!
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Our hotel had a rather nice eatery next to it. The coffee shop was full of students with expensive looking MacBooks who looked like they had moved in. Above it was the Roaster and Bear eaterie that specialised in bears, not a roaster in sight!!
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My fave pic, he just has that cool look and he knows it!
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Food was very good, bit more expensive than were are used to but still Asian prices. Had a bit of rebellious digestive system at the beginning of the Yogja stay so they had just the ticket food-wise.
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And these bad boys were fantastic, also in strawberry!
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Hotel had a free minibar, biscuits, crisps and soft drinks rather than booze, so got to try this. Tasted better than the name suggests!!
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15th May 2024 4:11 am
DSL Keeper of the wheelie bin
Member Since: 11 May 2006
Location: Off again! :-)
Posts: 73081
Morning all, another day = another train trip, this time up to The Biggest Indonesian Smoke, Jakarta. And when I say big I mean big! 40,000,000 peeps live there! We’re using the normal slow train, almost 3 hours of watching the rice fields go by, causing traffic jams and generally flopping. There is an Indonesian super fast train called, imaginatively, the WHOOOOOOOOOOSH. Though I may have added a few “OOOO”s. And by fast I mean 360kph! But we’re not on that one, we’re on the 80kph one.
It’s been a good short stay in Bandung, we did a car tour yesterday to a Bandung volcano then hot springs. Bit of a drive from N of Bandung and back but worth it. Plus it even rained, first rain we’ve seen since we landed on Java. And like on Bali, when it rains the heavens open up!
Few pics of White Crater. Up at almost 8,000ft so an interesting combo of thin air and thick H2S smell, esp when climbing hills!! Luckily it hadn’t rained when we hiked to the top, that would have been fun!
Tea plantations on the N side of the active volcano. Handy for a brew if it erupts!!
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The Indonesians have a phrase which they are very fond of, plan plan, which means take it easy. No plan plan here then, though the symbol is missing one important part of plan plan, the obligatory fag!!
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And from lake’s edge. The water is very acid so no skinny dipping, plus the “authorities” set a notional limit of 15mins at the “beach” area. We lasted 8 minutes before we decided that was enough.
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After lunch in a very local eaterie (good old nasi goring/fried rice) it was off to the steam baths, similar to the Hells in Japan. And it was chucking it down! Luckily had shelter and tea before tackling the rope bridge, which was one of the least terrifying we’ve tried!
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Lots of steam!
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And yes, that’s toastie, plus this is the “coolest” pool!! It was like a super hot bath, and adopted the technique of floating towards the input stream on the right of the “swimming” pic and used my feet as temp probes. About there if went from ooooooh to ouch!
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Pretty rustic but it was a great little treat, though both pairs of my shorts and t-shirt stink of sulphur!! Even after a shower and thorough scrub I still have a feint whiff of eau de fumerole!
Getting back to the rope bridge was also interesting, cute baskets a la ropeway. They has safety belts which consisted of old aircraft seat belts, a bit of rope and a carabina.
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And back to Bandung for tea and medals, through 2 1/2 hours of traffic and more torrential rain. Was a long day but prob one of the best of the trip, and the last active volcano we’ll be visiting, well on this jolly.
Jakarta for 3 nights then to the airport and pastures new, well an old fave, Bangkok.
17th May 2024 3:22 am
Gareth Site Moderator
Member Since: 07 Dec 2004
Location: Bramhall
Posts: 26774
👍 Great stories Derek. Looking forward to your impressions of Bangkok 😛
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Royal guards that love to take pics with the visitors that also thought it was Thursday, and don’t pull out the swards until the peeps are lined up!!
