Stomping up through Indonesia

Kuta improved slightly after Matt joined me on August 2nd. We stayed there another few days venturing into the sea for surfing, body boarding and generally getting thrown around by the waves. A random afternoon posing as a married couple also provided some amusement. We were dragged off the street by a funny little guy whose job it is to take people to a posh hotel where they sell time-share. Rather than actually targetting couples who fit the requirements he has set up a whole set of people to cover for him. Matt and I were no longer 24- and 25-year old brother and sister on an eight month trip but a married couple of 29 and 25 who were in Bali for just two weeks. And so the lies began. We didn't feel comfortable about it but what can you do? Most ridiculous was my explanation that we had achieved a tan in the garden back in England. Also, when different questions were matched together, it transpired that we had spent our honeymoon staying in youth hostels in Scotland. The whole thing was a joke but the guy gave us free use of a motorbike for three days in return for our troubles. Having seen how people drive in this country, I was a little anxious about jumping on a bike. Thankfully, Matt mastered the driving pretty quickly and I just sat on the back and watched the world go by. We explored the Bukit peninsula, south of Kuta, and also headed west along the coast to Pura Tanah Lot, a pretty Balinese temple perched on a section of rock in the sea.

We then waved goodbye to Bali and got a bus to Probolingo on Java, jumping-off point for Gunung Bromo. Bromo is one of three volcanoes that rise up out of the ancient 10km-wide Tengger crater. We set off on foot at 3am in order to reach a viewpoint on the crater for sunrise. We struggled in places to find the path so arrived with only a little time to spare to discover that half the tourists in Java had gone up in Jeeps-lazy buggers! We got some decent views all the same and continued our walk for another few hours down into the crater and up Bromo itself.

That evening saw us back on a bus, destination Yogyakarta. We spent a few days taking in the sights of the city including the Sutan's palace, a lovely batik gallery, and the streets that bustled with people and rickshaws. A trip to a silver workshop and the Buddhist temple of Borobudur was a highlight for me.

The prospect of over 40 hours on buses to reach our current location was not appealing so we braved the Indonesian skies and flew to Padang on the west coast of Sumatra. Padang was not a place to hang around so we quickly moved on . We are now in Bukittinggi, a hill town surrounded by volcanoes, jungle and rice fields. So far so good. I think we'll stay here a while.