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Well the update from Indonesia is a little delayed - moving to a new country, a new continent for that matter, and house hunting has taken up quite a bit of time...
The fried rice trail started off in Jakarta, the overcrowded, smoggy, steamy capital of Java. We'd been told by other travellers to fly in, and get the next bus out to somewhere else. We ignored these warnings and decided to give the bustling city at least a couple of days to prove itself. And we quite liked it! We ate some great street food, walked around the central monument, wandered the museum, met some friendly locals and drank cheaper than average beer. The pollution does sting the eyes and overcrowding is obviously a problem as you see a bus or train wizz by with limbs poking out and the brave clinging on to the roof. But generally we left with a good impression.
After a comfortable 8 hours on the 'eksekutif' train (i'm afraid at this late stage in the trip we're turning into flashpackers) we arrived in the arts hub of Yogyakarta. Staying at a Losmen (homestay) down some twisting alleyways, our jolly hostess cooked us breakfast on the rooftop while we looked out over the mosques and lines of laundry. For a reasonably large city Yogja had a lovely small town feel, with extremely friendly locals, sprawling markets and cyclos and horse drawn carts. One guy even slyly payed for our dinner after we'd been talking at a stall - which i thought was a wonderfully generous thing to do for someone you just met.
A day trip to Borubodur proved interesting for two reasons. Clambering up the steps after being pulled from sleep at 4.30am i was grumbling about why we had to leave so early, we'd been in the car for sunrise, and then i realised it was for those few moments of peace at the temple. Not even halfway up we were swallowed by swarms of school groups in bright uniforms, giggling, shouting, pulling, cameras flashing. They were mostly very sweet and called us both mister so it was hard to say no. One group literally squealed with delight when i said they can pose for photos with us. It was like being celebraties for 2 hours. Consequently we spent half the time there perusing the Buddist/Hindu sculptures and live volcano in the distance, and half the time smiling, answering the same questions again and again. But it all adds to the experience.
After buying some batik art from a government funded gallery and scoffing a quick bowl of Bakso Jave (chicken meatballs with noodles, tofu, crunchy crackers and mouth scolding chilli paste) we headed off on the long sticky mini van ride to Mount Bromo. After a full day travelling and just a few hours sleep we trapsed out at 3.30am(!) to climb to the viewpoint overlooking the trio of volcanoes for sunrise. Unfortunately the camera battery died so we didnt get any pictures of the surreal moonscape around Bromo and the scrum of hawkers with horses ferrying people back and forth. A nerve racking peep over the edge and we were on the way, covered in ashy dust, to Surabaya for our flight to Lombok. Theres not much to be said for Surabaya (one guy thought we were English teachers because there's no other reason to be there) and we stayed in the most ironically named Hotel 'Sparkling'. I think the leaking roof, brown stained sheets and mass of cockroaches would have something to say about that...
Running short on time we didnt give Lombok much of a chance, we stayed in Kuta for a couple of days, a tiny surf town on the beach. But it felt so abandoned and the locals and kids selling their wares were so persistent we soon headed for the Gili Islands. Gili Trawangan was very heavily developed for such a tiny island, and the rows of empty restaurants and bars became a bit depressing. But it was beautiful none the less, and had a baby turtle sanctuary so after some more snorkelling, diving and chilling we caught the boat over to Gili Air for more diving and err...chilling.
After 5 hours of laying side by side with the locals while hawkers came round selling everything you could need for a ferry journey and more, we found ourselves in infamous Bali. As a treat to ourselves for Christmas we left behind the salt water showers, rock hard beds and bucket flush toilets and booked into a little resort. So in the quiet village of Kubu in the north east of the island Christmas was spent mostly drinking by the pool, and trying to jumble items from the Chech/Balinese menu together to get something resembling a roast dinner. A seafood BBQ and 'traditional performances' (one was definitely a drinking game) made a fun Christmas eve. We then squeezed 7 dives into 2 days in nearby Tulamben, including a night dive at the WWII US 'Liberty' shipwreck, which was eerie but we saw some incredible things like a 'spanish dancer', even more mesmorising by torchlight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6H01cUSpfQ&feature=related
We spent the few days over New Year in the cooler heights of Ubud. We were expecting a bohemian village of artists, temples and yoga, but what we found was a crowded tourist haven of hotels and overpriced restaurants, which was a shame. We still had a nice time , zipping around the surrounding rice fields and scouting out the cheaper (and tastier!) warungs. As if we hadn't had our fill of monkeys already, Ubuds 'monkey forest ' had several troups of very brave and naughty macaques - sunglasses, camera and even earrings were at risk with these guys! A little unnerving as they're still wild. We celebrated New Years Eve in a lively bar whilst outside, small children set of fireworks from their hands! No one did the countdown which was a little disappointing but it was nice to spend it together all the same. The last couple of days of our Asian adventure were spent in the beachside town of Sanur in the south, getting our last fill of tropical waters and Bintang beer.
At the end of (a slightly extended) 8 and a half amazing months in SE Asia, we say goodbye to cheap booze and street food, squat toilets, cheeky monkeys, mosquito swatting, bumpy rickshaw rides, geckos, swinging in hammocks, monsoon rains...and boarded our flight to Melbourne!
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