Gili Islands, 2 vulcanos and Yogyakarta

Part of traveling in Asia is seems like it unfortunately is getting sick, today I have a fever and some strange tropical infection in my leg. But I went to the doctor, he gave me lot's of medicine and he said I'll be better in a week. Let's hope so. At least I finally have time to write my blog.

Last time I wrote on my blog was April 14th, I can't believe how much I have done in since then! 

Ubud was great I ended up staying 5 nights, went on a 5 hour bike ride by myself and saw beautiful views and met with wonderful locals. The next day we hired a car and saw more of north-Bali lot's of temples. 

It took I while Bali to convince me, but now I know. The south is crap, but luckily most tourist don't leave it and so the rest of the Island is really beautiful! After my 5th night I said goodbye to Miko (my friend from the US that I was staying in Ubud with) and I took a boat to Gilli Trawangan.

I had an amazing time there! It was the perfect tropical Island. Beautiful white beaches, clear blue water, no cars, or dogs, and awesome party's. I stayed in a really fun place, a diving school that had 10 dorm bed. Because it was so small we went out with everyone that was staying there (including the diving instructors). I met lot's of really cool people.

I stayed for 4 night and did almost nothing, went snorkeling (saw 4 sea turtles!), went out, and discovered Vodka Joss (Joss is a vitamin powder that you are meant to dissolve in a glass of water. But here you put the powder in your mouth, chew it and than do a shot of vodka it becomes foam in you mouth. Vodka Joss! Great invention, you get drunk and your body is so full of vitamins that you don't get a hangover). I only took 5 pictures during the whole stay on the island. 

After this I found out that Glen a Kiwi guy and I had to go in the same direction so we decided to travel together for a bit. 

First we went back to Bali to climb our first volcano. mt batur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Batur

 a not so high but really beautiful volcano. You are only allowed to climb this with a guide. So we woke up at 2.15 am drove to the volcano and met our guide and the rest of the group.  A 50 year old lady from South Africa who was about the climb here first mountain and a American guy and our Indonesian guide. So together we had a the continents! (yes except for Antarctica smart asses)

It took about 2 hours to climb up and it was not to hard. The last bit was all volcanic sand so that was a bit harder. But once you are up there and see the sunrise peeking trough, it was all worth it. 

But this mountainclimb was just the beginning of an extremely long day. While climbing this mountain Glen and I decided to try and get to Java today. We first had to bring our hired scooter back to the other side of the island. (with backpacks on) than take a taxi to the bus station. We were at the bus station at 3 and realized we hat no Idea where to go on Java. So we pick the place that looked closest and ask for a bus going there. 

After a lot of screaming pointing an confusion we were suddenly sitting on a bus, hot no air-con and with the whole bus staring at us because they never saw a foreigner before. But this bus brought is (while driving as an maniac and tooting his horn ever 5 seconds and at least 5 people smoking the whole time) to Bangyuwagi for less then 2 dollars.  The bus driver thew us out of the bus in the middle of nowhere. There we stood, on a busy street 10pm extremely tired and no idea where to go. We diced to get out the lonely planet and found some motorbike guys that brought us to a place that LP said was 'cheap and clean'. It turned out it was not that cheap and definitely not clean. And worst of all it had no shower! 

Thanks for nothing Lonely Planet!

But the place had a bed so that was good enough for me at the moment. I fell asleep a few seconds later. The next morning we couldn't wait to get out of the dump so we had an other day of traveling ahead of us. We took train to Probolinggo (slow but a lot more comfortable than that bus ride) and then an minivan to a village on the slopes of mt Bromo. 

It was a really nice mountain village high in the mountains, it was nice and cold for the first time so that was a nice change. We took one day of traveling and walked around in the village. It was sunny but not only 25C so that was a really nice change. We saw the crater, made friends with a nice crazy cat. The village only attraction is the volcano, so there is lot's of tour companies offering to drive you up the mountain in a 4-weel drive. (people don't climb Bromo but the mountain next to it to have a nice view on Bromo) But soon we found out that is was easy enough to climb this mountain ourselves. So we woke up at 2.45 am and the next climb started. It started easy, but the last half hour was a bit hard on me, my legs still tired from the last climb, and extremely cold weather I struggled up. But we go there and the view was amazing 3 volcanos in one view, amazing! 

We walked back trough the crater of the volcano got lost and shared a motorbike  with a local. 

When we got back we ate some breakfast and it was time to travel on to Yogyakarta. We we jammed in a tiny van with way to many people and drove back to Probolinggo and got on a bus to Surabaya. There we found out we had to wait for the train for 3 hours because all the others were full (because it was friday) and had to pay $21  for or tickets! This was a bit frustrating since in the mountain village someone offered to drive us strait to Yogyakarta for $25. But the train was comfortable (except for the hurting leg) and than after a extremely long day we arrive at our hotel. It was a bit more expensive than I normally pay but it is absolutely beautiful and really fancy. It has pool, hot shower and buffet breakfast and afternoon snack. The right place to have a sick day off. 

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sorry Nederlands komt later!