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When the ferry departed and I looked at Java behind me, I told my travel buddy from the last couple of days I left it behind gladly, but with mixed feelings. The cities were mostly terribly depressing chunks of grey concrete covered by plastic rubbish. The people act nice; They smile, they lie and then they want your money.
This is not entirely fair of me. I remember two exceptions who were just genuinely nice which leads me to the conclusion that tourism really ruins a place. It draws the wrong crowds. The tourists who unthinkingly part with their money create a breeding ground where it becomes a silent tug of war defined on one side by travellers who need to be wary of anyone approaching them and of every deal they do. And on the other side the Javanese who see many fools without any sensibility or knowledge of where they are and how their behaviour is impacting the place they are visiting. I feel we are all losing in this. Where there could be a respectful and beneficial relationship between visiter and visited, there is often greed, distrust and mutual contempt. And I am fully aware that I am a part of this process just the same.
I try to remain optimistic, giving people the benefit of the doubt. And because of this I my faith in people has been rewarded as well thanks to a handful of people. I also know that the point where I lose this optimism is the point where I may as well stop travelling altogether or withdraw deeply into nature so as not to run into other people. For now I chose the first option.
When I think of Java I think of these things. It has been my first experience in Indonesia. I hope by the time my 60 day VISA expires I will shrug this off. And I honestly believe I will. There is that optimism again. What saved Java for me is the natural environment. It is simply magnificent. I have no other words. I felt awed, insignificant, inspired and eternal all at once. To think how small and shortlived all of us human beings are and at the same time, the experience of these landscape can only be appreciated in this way through us. By experiencing it, we breathe live into it. Without sentient beings it is all meaningless. The meaning is that which we give to it by simply being there. We are nothing compared to it and at the same time it is nothing without us seeing it. I suppose I could say the natural world is my church.
So now I have arrived in Ubud and I look around me and I thoroughly enjoy it. The cultural identity is alive through the people and through the architecture. There is a lot of tourism and somehow Ubud found a way to embrace this without sacrificing its identity. This gives the town a very pleasant atmosphere. The streets and surroundings contain a lot of green and there are no highrises to take away from the view. It feels small enough and spacious at the same time.
After being on the move the last couple of days, leaving Yogyakarta through Bromo and Ijen, it is good to not travel, but slow down again. I will go for some walks, do some yoga, do some reading and in a few days I'll meet up with a travel buddy whom I met in Melaka. Then, onwards!
I realize I cannot conclude with relating my little Bromo story:
Everybody and their mother does the sunrise tour on Bromo and this is tourist high season. You can either walk or take a jeep to a viewpoint, see Bromo from there, then drive to Bromo and do the walk up. Or you can just walk wherever you want to go. Most people choose the jeep to the viewpoint. In defiance I decided to walk right up to Bromo.
Me and my friend Lou departed as early as 3:45 in the night (I refuse to call this ungodly hour morning) and it was dark. There was a beautiful sky full of stars and light of the reflecting moon. We were unsure where to walk, so decided to make a beeline for what we determined must be bromo: Not too far away, a mountain with a flat top seen from our ground perspective. We concluded that this must be the crater.
We were looking for the path, but could not find it. We did find some small trails and footsteps and decided to follow this. It would end up on the same path at some point. After considering how much energy this was taking I became entirely sure this was not the path most people take. In fact, it was the path taken by the water flowing downward during wet season. Right now however there was nothing but an avalanche of dust created by every step upwards. Soon we had to use our hands to keep moving up. I was breathing hard and had to take breaks, waiting for both my breath and my heartbeat to calm before I moved on.
At a certain point Lou tells me he believes he can see Bromo. I look behind me and I am staring right into the crater! I consider we climbed far beyond Bromo and I burst out in laughter. I feel like a champion for getting this far and being filled with pride and joy my energy is renewed and we manage to climb the last part of the mountain.
It was astonishing. We were on the mountain top and had a 360 degree view of the entire area. There was no one else here. We can see lights in the distance both on the viewpoint and a few on Bromo. The sun is coming up and we eat some well deserved Oreos in anticipation.
I think we stayed up there for nearly two hours and it was sublime. A stupid mistake turns out to be an incredibly rewarding and somewhat unique experience of Bromo.
After the sun came up the jeeps came towards Bromo and the masses flooded out. I know I am also a tourist (although I prefer the term traveller for myself), but I am happy when I can have an experience without being surrounded at every turn. I was happy to have managed this at Bromo. Or I should say Batok, because that was the dead volcano we climbed.
Having made a mistake in direction this early in the morning, ending up exhausted and completely covered in dust and feeling that good all because of it. It could not have been planned and this was the highlight of Java for me.
- comments
Eric Seems like a relief that you left Java and have moved on to something else. This one doesnt seem like getting on top of my travel list. Nice climb you did there! I think its easy to say that if you knew Bromo was already passed you, you would have never gotten up there. One of the fun things about travels. Looking forward to the rest of your stories.
Eveline Fantastic story. You must be proud you didn't turn around when you realised you were on the wrong track (I would have, I am sure, so I am very proud of you too). But it turned out to be the best and together with the hour you got to the destiny it is an experience you will always remember and tell many times.
Marc Sounds like a great adventure bro! I'm curious about your next stories, hopefully you'll remain positive and keep the travellers spirit alive. It;s not about what you do but how you do it, so if you do something unplanned it might turn out even better ;-)
Richard Jullie mogen wel in het Nederlands reageren, hoor ;) Ubud is een goede plek om tijd door te brengen. De afgelopen zeven dagen ben ik met vier anderen in een huurauto de noord- en oostkant van Bali wezen verkennen. Fantastisch. Mijn optimisme is weer helemaal hersteld. :)