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Several hours later we awoke to the aftermath of a volcanic eruption some 300km away. Undeterred, after withstanding a typhoon and many other natural disasters, we headed for the temple with surgical mask firmly fixed to our faces. Not even the locals could quite continue business as normal with the 5cm thick caking of ash, therefore the temple was unfortunately closed until further notice, we did however manage a quick peek through the gates at the temple. With our departure from Indonesia just days away we did not have 'further notice'. Our only option was to head back to Yogykarta, which happened to be 50 kms nearer Mt Kelud, driving through an ash haze, the visibility was poor but we made it back in one piece. Planes, trains and buses all postponed. We spent our time witnessing the chaos left behind by the eruption of Mt Kelud and the locals pulling together to clean the streets. We managed to find a bus operator leaving that night and settled into a restaurant to write our news reports to the BBC, regrettably not well received! Another overnight bus was on the cards and an awful nights sleep. Several hundred bumps in the road and a black eye later, we arrived at the Pangandaran and the beach. As we arrived at 4am our chosen diggs were less than adequate and the lady charged us for a nights sleep which meant when we were satisfactorily rested we could find some nicer accommodation. And indeed we did, Pondok Wulan just a short walk down the beach, we decided to treat ourselves to AC and quickly set about planning our last few days in Indonesia. The owner, Betty was aware of our demanding schedule and tried to sort us out as best she could. Sadly with only small 20 seater planes and with such short notice, we had to bus and train the final leg of the journey which meant we lost a day in Pangandaran and had 2 days left to Enjoy the beach, Java and Indonesia.
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Mum Once again so beautifully described that I felt I was there with you both x