Chapter 4: East Java, Indonesia 16-Oct-08 to 21-Oct-08 +ve spin rating: 7 out of 10

Flying from Lombock over Bali was beautiful, I think it has a lot more to offer than just Kuta Beach, its a bit of shame I didn't see any of it but decision's made and all that, for now at least...

Thomas and I landed safe and sound in Surabaya, East Java, to make our way to Gunung Bromo, which must be the most well known volcano in Indonesia (any of you know it?!). In arrivals we approached a couple to ask if they were doing the same to save money on a taxi to the train station to get to Probolinggo, being seasoned sole backpackers. I think they thought we were the usual pestering tour agents; they ran off!

Upon arrival at the train station we found the best donut ever... banana in the middle with cream and chocolate sprinkles on top, in fact we had 2. I have a problem, I can't stop eating in Indonesia!

After we arrived in Probolinggo at around 6pm we bemo'd (minivan) it to Yoschi's Guest House, up towards Bromo (not before having more food of course) with Boris, a middle aged dude (nearly said an 'old dude' - phew, that could've offended a few people) from Czech Rep. His story was that he decided to head off traveling for 6 weeks after some 'success' from his 'business'... that was 4 years ago. There are many interesting folk on the road, everyone has a different story for reasons for their travels.

We checked in at Yoschi's which is easily the coolest (both in temperature and in character) guest house I have been to in SE Asia, got a bit of kip in then we were pleasantly wakened at 3am to make our way to the viewpoint (no trekking this time, f**k that, stick me in a jeep this time round) in time for sunrise. I think we were looking over Bromo?! Yet another sunrise that was well worth the early rise... yes i'm still banging on about sunrises, build a bridge and get over it. One of the 4 volcano's in view (Semaru I think) puffs out a dust cloud every 20 minutes or so, pretty random, so cool . To add to the unreal view the full moon was sitting proud above another mountain peak showing just through the clouds. We were spoiled for choice for sights to look at!

After that it was the small trek up to Gunung Bromo itself, a bit of an anti-climax to be honest after the sunrise view. On return to Yoschi's Thomas and I took the option of going back to bed as opposed to everyone else who decided to get a bit of road into them. In hindsight, they made the better call, we were waiting on transport to make our way to Yogyakarta (Jogja for short) all day, a part of traveling yes but fairly frustrating all the same... everything was late. Lesson learned, when faced with a similar dilemma always take the option of getting a bit of road into you.

We made it to Jogja off the night bus and we got a cool vibe about the city and the backpacker area (Sosro for short) especially. Its like a cheaper more chilled out version of Khoa san Road (without the ping-pong shows), basically everything a backpacker needs in the small area. I got lured to an artist's 'batik' shop and ended up purchasing a few pieces... con or no con I thought this art was stunning. Hung out with a few of the locals brewing on the street that night... 'Muslim's don't drink' is a big misconception by the way, they're not meant to, but they do. A bit like us Catholics and drinking before the age of 18, me being the exception of course Mother. On a side note I had the best Nasi Goreng (fried rice) ever!

I grabbed a little sleep before our 5am departure out of the city to Borrobodur (huge Buddhist Temple built in 900 A.D.) and Prambanam (same same but a little different - many smaller ones). Both temple sites are hugely impressive, its incredibly difficult to imagine just how they built something so big with so much attention to fine detail back then. Borrobodur is on top of a hill, as if it wouldn't have been hard enough?!

Before leaving I thought it was important to see some more of Jogja itself i.e. the Sultan's Palace (the Kraton) and the local market which were okay but the heat killed my enthusiasm for the Kraton, the market was a good escape from the sun. They had massive sticks of cinnamon on sale, hhmmmm cinnamon!

Thomas and I had a few brews to celebrate my last night before embarking on the adventure of going to Kalimantan alone and also the end of our 3 weeks traveling together. Many arak (Indonesian spirit) later and I was still determined to stay up through the night until my flight at 6am...