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Up at 6 ready for the loooong bus journey, the only good thing at this time of day is we had a really good view of the mountains for miles and the sunrise.
Breakfast - no same same but different here - just same same same same same and it's crap! Why am I not losing weight?! ... Could be the chocolate pancakes. I figure I have about 3 weeks left, it's doubtful I will do any exercise and I've decided to enjoy any good food I can find and deal with the flabby consequences when I get home.
First stop today was a spice farm, they were growing pepper, cinnamon, lemongrass, cloves and loads of other things I can't remember. There was a monkey chained up looking miserable, his job was to go up the tree and pick coconuts and then he would obviously be put back where he belongs on his very short lead. Most of us said we didn't like coconut and to leave him be, so we got him out of the little stunt but that meant he stayed chained up-which is worse I'm not sure?
We've been told to keep an eye out for a very important piece of information in these very local restaurants. If it says serving A1 - it means you'll be eating dog. B2 - pig which isn't so bad.
Since arriving in Indonesia we've pretty much had the same coach and driver, I've only had to shout at him once so not bad going. There is another little man always with us, the co driver. We just found out the co driver can't drive?! So his job is basically to place a little step on the floor for us to get on/off the bus...that's why he's here. The poor guy doesn't even sit in a seat, he kind of sits in the stairwell by the door, but to be fair to him I don't think anyone could look after that bottom step as well as he does.
Next little stop was at the riverside, the co driver held the bottom step so we could wander down and watch a man looking for gold. He showed us how he sifts through the water and silt, he was left with the tiniest specks of gold. I had my picture with him but he wasn't keen to let the clumsy girl hold his gold incase I dropped it back into the river. Every gram earns him around $50, you can tell he's done it for a long time by the colour of his skin...he was almost crispy. He had some little rocks with specks of gold on them, he sold them as souvenirs for 10,000 rupiah (50p)...I gave him 20,000. For on a quid I think this is a really cool thing to bring home and keep.
After lunch we still had 6 hours to go and only 1 more fun filled stop - the equator! We'd all been looking forward to this bit all day, but it was a pretty long way and we didn't arrive till around 4.30 along with the rain. I tucked my shorts into my pants, put on my little mackintosh & braved the ankle deep water to step across the all important line & get a cheeky photo....before quickly swimming back to the bus.
Nice hotel again, being spoilt this week and the wifi is good...this is all we care about now. We met before dinner to get our options for tomorrow's activities from a local guide. It cheered me right up after the long day on the bus, the most confusing presentation yet, so confusing it was hilarious. I said I'd go on the walk to see a few things, it's a long walk but it's easy just a few stairs. So at the end I asked 'just to clarify, this is an easy walk no climbing involved'....'yes miss, just one river to cross!'.... So I didn't go on the walk.
For dinner we found a nice cafe bar, lots of reggae music and lots of western food on the menu. I stupidly got excited about my jacket potato, if you ever feel the need to have jacket spud here you should know they they serve them only half cooked...mmmm.
We had a surprisingly fun night, obviously the staff all sang and played instruments, they even took requests. We amused ourselves playing cards and taking pictures of ourselves looking as fat and ugly as possible-doesn't sound like much of a game but we found it pretty hilarious.
The next morning a couple of us went to a village nearby famous for its silver, we got a taxi and would meet the rest of the group mid way through their hike that wasn't a hike. It was like being dropped in a ghost town, fields all around and the odd person and car. We found a couple of the silver places and they weren't exactly what I was imagining. The first was someone's house, an old lady took us into her living room and told us to sit. So we sat and we waited, in the end I asked what silver she had and she showed us a small case with hardly anything in it. We found a few more but nothing nice enough so we rang the driver who's dropped us off, he was 2 hours away. So imagine trying to get a taxi in a place like this, I remembered someone pointing out a blue car/van thing and saying it was a taxi so we went in search of one. It didn't take too long but the language barrier is always fun when you're lost, he told us to get in and we did. We were crammed into this little van with some local ladies who'd been to the markets, there were no real stops people just seemed to hop on and off wherever. After getting a bit worried we were getting further from home a couple of little girls got on, they spoke some English and said 15 mins to our town...and they were right. All of a sudden the driver pulled over and shouted 'OFF', so we paid our 30p each and then realised we weren't at the hotel at all. The driver was then shouting more unknown words, which we finally realised meant get in another van. So we jumped in another van and he did take us to the hotel or near enough for the same price. If only taxis at home were so cheap, I wouldn't mind sharing.
We had our final group dinner a day early, apparently the place we're staying the final night doesn't have much to offer....what's new?! We had a nice dinner at the Kock Cafe and guess what, the staff played guitar and sang to us...he said you're not a real man in Asia if you can't play the guitar. The choice of alcohol in Indonesia is beer, beer and more beer. I've given up looking for off an licence, they've replaced them all with mosques I think.
Either way it was a good evening with nice people.
We didn't leave till 1 on Friday so had some time to kill, I went to the mall for a look around. It was not exactly the kind of stuff I had in mind, people stared and laughed at us (as usual). For lunch Gede took us to a very local place, like the ones I've been avoiding since I arrived. There are big pots of food stood out (who knows how long for) and you just pick which you want... I went for beef I kind of thought that would be the safest option. Their idea of vegetables was a massive spoon of hot green chillies, but the big ant in my rice was a nice surprise. Now for a 2 hour drive with no toilet, this I will not miss.
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