Day 1
Waking up feasting again, first was some local coconut based deserts with palm sugar.
Next was the soto (beef soup). It’s my friend’s childhood favorite food.
It’s so good that we both finished two bowls. The price was around $10 for 4 bowls.
After that big meal, I was taken to the horse carriage museum to see what Sultans used to ride on.
Then was the Sultan palace
We hired a guide also, and she insisted that I took a photo there.
Next was the water palace (this was used for the sultans to choose their concubines and bath with their queens.
Without any break, my friend decided to drive up to a volcano park where there’s a Javanese cultural center.
Unfortunately, the tour was in Indonesian so I didn’t quite learn much. This was very much off the beaten track attraction where the primary audiences are locals.
It’s getting dark and also wet. We went for some local delicacy – Rabbit Sate
After we got back to the town. My friend decided to take me to his brother’s ice factory for a tour.
Lastly, we waited for some freshly cooked cake.
Day 2
Said goodbye to Jogja and headed towards Solo.
First stop was the Hindu temple on the way.
This complex is just a version of Angkor Wat lite.
Continued on road tripping.
In no time, we arrived in Solo. My friend decided to take me to a quick tour around the attractions before dropping me to my hotel and heading back to his wife.
I wanted to see the local fresh market
Ended up getting a coffee
Last attraction
Went to bed early due to an early train ride next day.
Day 3
In just about 5 hours, I arrived at Surabaya. There I had to wait for my German friend in which I met in Mt. Kinabalu to arrive.
He got to town really late that we barely had enough time to get on our next train to Probolingo
It was at this point we decided to not go straight to Bromo due to my friend’s hangover. It’s long ride already, I was fine with that. Though that decision turned out to be wrong since the next day was Nyepi (silence festival) where everything shuts down.
Probolingo is a small town that rarely sees foreigners, thus took us a while to hunt down much needed beers.
Day 4
Just as we finished our breakfast and getting ready to head to Bromo, we realized there’s no way we could make do the sunrise hike without having to stay for another 2 days due to the mountain being closed from 6am to 6am. Unlucky, that we had to make a last minute plan change.
We didn’t do much but waited in our hotel to check out and then headed to a “Japanese” restaurant in town near the train station to wait for our train to Banyuwangi where Mt. Ijen is.
The last 2-hour of the train journey was slightly better due to that the train was almost empty that we each had a full row ourselves.
Before arriving to town, I had already figured out where to eat and drink to avoid the hassle having to run around to find some beers.
Day 5
Got up at 2:30am to get ready for Ijen climb (400k)
Just before sunrise, we arrived at the top.
It’s a relatively easy hike due to the path is complete paved. We took some very nice pictures due to our guide was also a good photography.
It’s ramadan so there wasn’t many miners working. Daily, the miners carry about 300-400kilos sulfurs from the mine. It’s hard brutal work and most of them don’t live longer than 50 year old. Many don’t wear masks and sulfurs can be very damaging.
Finally it’s lunch time, I was hoping I ate enough that I could catch up with some sleep.
After a brief nap, I decided to take my guide’s offer to go visit a local national park (300k). He’s very friendly and kept inviting us to his village to watch his soccer match, unfortunately we were on a time crunch. (more like my German friend, he really wanted to climb Agung Mt. In Bali)
My lovely guide even prepared us beers. We were going to the beach in the park to watch sun goes down. Sadly, it was a bit late and the park was closing.
Later on he took us to his favorite restaurant for some dinner.
Day 6
Travel day for us to go to Bali (250k). It’s the weekend after Nyepi so the traffic was so bad… normally 3-4hr ride became 11hrs…
Upon arrival, it was already 11pm. We went out to search for food. We were so hungry that we ate at two restaurants. A Vietnamese and a Mexican. Both were equally horrible. The Vietnamese restaurant staff didn’t know what Xin Zhao (Hello in Vietnamese) is and the Mexican one didn’t know what Salsa is.
Day 7
It’s my meander day. Socialized in the hostel a bit and went out for lunch.
60k for two entries.
At night, we went to the Irish pub in town for some food. It’s finally a decent western food.
This week was very really exhausting. Hanging out with friends turned out to me much more tiring, especially others tend to wanting to do things all the time. I was really worn out the whole time that I missed taking many photos.
Expenses
| Week 17 | Currency: | INR | 15 | |
| Day | Food&Drink | Lodging | Transportation | Other (tickets/tours etc) |
| 1 | $12.93 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $14.67 |
| 2 | $20.95 | $12.70 | $43.39 | $0.00 |
| 3 | $30.47 | $10.10 | $29.73 | $0.00 |
| 4 | $35.54 | $13.33 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| 5 | $30.44 | $13.33 | $0.00 | $50.00 |
| 6 | $45.88 | $9.78 | $20.00 | $0.00 |
| 7 | $27.13 | $9.78 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
| $203.35 | $69.03 | $93.12 | $64.67 | |
| Total | Grand Total: | $430.16 |
What royal travels and dining by the Sultan! I found the Water Palace and Mount Ijen especially interesting. I also didn’t realize you have to train with a gas mask in boot camp.