Indonesia
A week of temples and volcanoes across Java and Bali, on not much sleep.
A week across Java and Bali with a friend, over a reading break on exchange. The pitch was temples and volcanoes, and it delivered on both; not much sleep was involved.
We started in Yogyakarta for the two big temples, Prambanan and Borobudur, then took an overnight train east to Malang to reach the Tumpak Sewu waterfall. From there it was the classic East Java run: a pre-dawn jeep up Mount Bromo for sunrise over the caldera, then a midnight hike up Mount Ijen for the crater and its sulphur fires; we ran the Tumpak Sewu and Bromo legs with TrippyTrip Tour. We crossed by ferry to Bali to finish, with a day trip to Nusa Penida and sunset at Uluwatu before flying back to Singapore.
It was rainy season the whole way and the early starts were brutal, but the volcanoes made it.
Route
- Yogyakarta (Feb 3–4)
- Malang / Tumpak Sewu (Feb 5)
- Mount Bromo (Feb 6)
- Mount Ijen (Feb 7)
- Bali (Feb 8–9)
Where I stayed
- Mount Bromo: Café Lava Hostel
- Mount Ijen: Ijen Backpacker