java

The ferry from Gilimanuk, Bali landed in Ketapang, Java. In Ketapang we jumped on another shuttle bus and took a 5 hour ride to the village of Ngadisari. Riding with us were two Brits, and two guys from Holland. The Brits were on a one year voyage like us and the Dutch guys were travelling for three months each. We learned about where they had been and where they were headed and one guy told us about the guest house we stayed in. Ngadisari is nestled on the side of the massive Tengger Massif volcanic landscape. We stayed at Yoschi's Guest House the nights of Sunday, November 26th and Monday, November, 27th paying $2.50 U.S. a night.

Monday, November 27th, we took a bemo up the hill along with other locals, and hiked into the Tengger Massif crater at about 9:00 am.. Within the crater walls rises up three mountains -- Batok (2440m), Kursi (2581m) and the smoldering peak of Mount (Gunung) Bromo (2329m).

Surrounded by a desolate landscape -- almost moon like -- we experienced a strange end-of-the-world feeling as we climbed to the top of Mount Bromo and gazed down into its smoking caldera. As usual there was someone at the top trying to sell us something -- this time being a bouquet of flowers to throw into the volcano.

Tuesday, November 28th, we took a two hour public mini-bus (bemo) ride from Ngadisari to Probolinggo. From there we took a 10 hour shuttle bus ride to Yogyakarta (pronounced "Jogja") and checked into the Bladok Losmen.

Wednesday, November 29th, we went to see the Water Palace, or Taman Sari. It is a complex of canals, pools and palaces built within the heart of old Yogyakarta, called Kraton. While touring the Water Palace we spotted some Batik art pieces that we simply had to have. One was done on silk and the other depicted mountain climbers (foreshadowing when we get to Nepal). Batik art is one of Indonesia's best known crafts. Designs are produced on material by covering part of it with wax and dyeing it. When the wax is scraped or melted off, an undyed patch is left. Repeated waxing and dyeing can produce colorful and complex designs.

Thursday, Novemeber 30th, we went to Prambanan, the biggest Hindu complex in all of Java and Borobudur, one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in all of South-East Asia.

Friday, December 1st, we returned to Kraton, to see part of the Sultan's Palace (they don't let you see the part he actually lives in). Then we went to the Sono-Budoyo Museum, which has a first rate collection of Javanese art.

Looking ahead, we had originally planned to continue traveling over land through Java to Jakarta. From there we planned on crossing over to Sumatra by ferry, and then to travel north through Sumatra to Medan. From Medan we planned to cross over to Malaysia by ferry. This is not going to happen.

The best laid plans of mice and men are sometimes laid to ashes, by the cruelty of fate and the quirks of mother nature.

Here's the situation. On November 1st, the U.S. Department of State issued a travel warning for Indonesia. They are urging American citizens to defer all nonessential travel to Indonesia.

Indonesia is experiencing a major political transition, and unrest and violence can erupt with little forewarning anywhere in the country. This has been complicated by a rise in anti-American rhetoric by some national political leaders and extremist groups. In addition, events in the Middle East have sparked tensions between Muslim and Christian communities in parts of Indonesia, increasing the possibility of further violence.

Needless to say this warning does not give us a warm fuzzy feeling when we are sitting right in the middle of Indonesia. There have been recent bombings in Jakarta and Medan (both cities we planned on visiting) and in the city of Solo, which is just down the road, only one hour by car, from where we are now, Yogyakarta, the State Department has warned about "sweeps".

Anti-U.S. groups are rounding up Americans and forcing them out of the country. Nice, huh?

Also the northern province of Aceh, which is experienceing some of the worst violence, is very close to where we planned on ending up in Sumatra.

So now we are in a bind. What should we do? Even if we decide to just get the hell out of Indonesia, all flights have to go through Jakarta. We could just stay in the airport, no matter how long the layover. Or we could fly to Medan, try to still see the main attraction of North Sumatra -- Lake Toba -- then cross over to Malaysia.

Not that Malaysia is a sanctuary either. On Sept 11th, the State Department issued a warning for Malaysia, although the trouble there seems to be more isolated. They warn of travel to all areas around Semporna and Tawau on the Sabah mainlaid (on the Island of Borneo) and the islands off southeastern Sabah, including Sipadan and Pandanan. We had not planned on going to any of these areas and travel to Penisular Malaysia should be safe.

Also, when we made our tentative itinerary, we had planned to go to the Phillippines. Guess what? Yep, another travel warning from the State Department, this one on September 1st, warning against travel to the southern and western areas of the Island of Mindanao, including Zamboanga, General Santos City and Cotabato. Also they are instructing U.S. citizens to avoid the islands of Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Jolo.

To make matters worse, we just found out that western and northern Sumatra are experiencing the worst flooding they have had in over 50 years. There have been over 200 deaths recorded so far. This is where we planned on going overland!

NOW THIS IS TRAVELING!

Saturday, December 2nd, we bought an airline ticket to Singapore for Sunday, December 3rd. It cost us 3,335,000.00 rupiah (about $333.00) for both of us. We will have a short layover in Jakarta (about 4 hours), but we won't even leave the airport.

Instead of spending our last night in Indonesia bunkered in our room, we decided to venture out. We went to the Purawista Theatre and saw the Ramayana ballet. The performance was excellent and we didn't encounter any problems.

We want to reiterate that we never encountered any problems, we only heard about them. The "every day" people of Indonesia are wonderful, friendly people. There is probably not a more culturally diverse nation of people on the planet and for an all out travel experience it can't be beat. Yes, we heard about the "sweeps" by anti-U.S. groups in Solo, and the bombings in Medan and Jakarta. That combined with the worst flooding in 50 years in Sumatra made our decision to leave when we did a little easier, but we'll be back. (Maybe on this trip. If the political tension cools down in the northern province of Aceh and the flooding subsides in Sumatra, we may cross back over into Indonesia from the northern mainland peninsula of Malaysia.)

Sunday, December 3rd, we flew (via Jakarta) from Yogyakarta to Singapore.