JAVA - LOVE / HATE RELATIONSHIP

 Time to leave Bali behind and make my way across Java! In the morning I said goodbye to Moritz who is waiting for his bike to arrive in Darwin (good luck mate!) and also good bye to Lupi (super nice owner of Palma’s B&B). That arvo I arrived at Bali’s Western port, pre checkpoint pay 10 cents to get a ticket that allows me to move forward to the police checkpoint. Here police ask for licence and registration, no problemo! So I hand them my international licence and he immediately says “this not international”... well yes it is mate. So I politely told him it is legit and that he should know that. Next my rego’, clever me had packed it away with my other documents.. so 10 minutes of unpacking on the road side later and I produce my registration papers that I’d printed in Bali 2 days earlier! The officer looked at them, handed them around to about 5 other officers and after a lot of ummm’ing and aaaaah’ing I was told to get on the ferry, another $3.90 later for the ferry ticket and the bike was on it’s 6^th ship for the trip.

The last 1600 KM over the past few days, Java's traffic and roads are insane - average speed 40 KM/H

Another tedious ferry (15 minutes to cross and another 45 minutes waiting in the port... all whilst having a million photos taken with the other passengers) and I was on my way to Ijen, the first active volcano I would visit on Java. Upon arrival in the evening I tried to stay in a guest house at the start of the climb, alas there was none.. and they wouldn't let me camp there! So I rode 15 KM further to Arabica guest house in a nearby town.

The following morning I woke up to my alarm at 1 AM, that’s right 1 AM! The idea was to beat the tour groups to the base of the volcano, as I left the guest house I could hear the guides waking their clients. Ijen is home to the world’s largest acidic crater lake – 950 x 600 m, sits at a height of 2799 m with a 4 KM hike from the base at 2250 m. Sulfur miners make the climb every day earning roughly 7 USD per load (most manage 2 per day) carrying loads of around 70-80 KG out of the crater and down the active volcano.

A picture of the miner who loaned me a gas mask

After an extremely foggy ride to the base I was denied access, apparently whilst it’s raining no-one is allowed up (funny that I still saw miners coming and going). 1 hour later and it was 2:45 AM and the gates opened.. I hid in amongst a tour group to try and sneak in without a ticket ($10) but they saw me and sent me back to get one... damn! The reason I tried to avoid this was mainly to save money, but I hadn't felt bad as the rumours say that there’s one guy that just pockets all the cash and none goes towards conservation ETC, this is Indonesia so it’s quite likely. So I grabbed a ticket and raced back to the start, by now about 30 people were ahead of me. But it was a 4 KM hike with over 500 m of altitude to gain. YAY for competitiveness! I smashed out the hike to the rim of the crater in around 55 minutes (without a guide and in my boots and all my gear) and was the first one at the top besides the miners that were already there. I followed one of them into the crater and gave a small tip to borrow a gas mask (the sulfur smoke is not only toxic, but makes breathing extremely difficult even with the mask!) I was in the crater enjoying the blue flames for about 15 minutes before more tourists rocked up, but by now my eyes were stinging and with tears down my face I climbed back out of the crater to a viewpoint in order to get a sunrise photo of the volcano.

Sulfur being mined quite literally with a pickax - the labour being done here is out of this world

Blue flames from within the volcano's crater (I have a mate sending me a better picture - UPDATE will come soon) - GOOGLE IT for now, it's so awesome!

Sunrise, bloody weather ruined it... I still hiked around the rim of the volcano, freezing!

By 7 AM I was back at the base and by 9:30 AM I was leaving the guest house with the rest of my belongings. Around 4 PM I arrived at the next volcano, Mt Bromo. This active volcano sits at 2329 m altitude and last killed 2 people in its 2002 eruption, since then it’s erupted 2 more times.

Visibility? Yeh NO, riding back to the hotel to get all my gear

Absolutely radical mountain roads on the way back, makes for slow progress though! And watch out for TRUCKS

Heading up to Bromo, such a spectacular road

Taken 10 seconds after the picture above, insane fog

Entry here costs a ridiculous $30, not to mention the Jeeps you have to rent if you don’t bring your own vehicle. However! Here I got lucky, as I approached the gate to the national park it was slightly open allowing some locals through so I just kept going... with some yelling from the gate keeper I never looked back and just opened the throttle, Bromo was AMAZING. By 8 PM that night I was at Kampong Tourist in Malang, staying in the dorm for 5 bucks – immediately racked out, totally knackered.

The town before Bromo, about to fly through the ticket gate

10 minutes after I dodged the entry fee I come across ol' mate blocking my path, I'm thinking shit shit shit get out of the way!

Seriously spectacular, imagine this with good weather!

The off-road riding here was so sick, stoked that I fitted the new rear tire!

Magical, 6 KM sea of sand surrounding the volcano

My baby looking sexy as ever, in her natural habitat

I could have spent days here, but it was getting dark and I needed to get out!

The way out was some hectic 'road'

Interesting wooden sculpture at the Kampong Tourist hostel

The subsequent morning I fueled up and rode the 273 KM to Surakarta, the last 27 KM took 2 hours! On this stretch I witnessed 2 crashes and I’m sure there were countless more with the weather and road conditions. The reason for my rush across Java is that I have a ship to catch from Medan in Northern Sumatra on the 24^th of March in order to get to the Thailand – Myanmar border for the 10^th of April, for which my guide and permits are booked to cross the country. On this night I paid the final amount for the crossing and locked it in! Myanmar has only recently opened up to tourism, especially recent is the allowance for overland trips such as mine (prior to this most travelers flew their bikes from Thailand to Nepal over the top!). The guide and permits necessary to cross are still ridiculously expensive so I found 8 others in a forum and we are sharing the costs, roughly 900 USD each for 9 days crossing.

I followed this river for over 80 KM through the mountains, what a way to start your day!

2 hours, 27 KM, a lot of swearing in my helmet

Crash #1 - wet railway tracks makes for a nice obstacle

Crash #2 - his lower leg was definitely broken, constant reminders of what can happen

YAY french fries! A nice change from rice and noodles

After the ‘compulsory’ photos with the hotel owners in the morning I made a delayed start on the 333 KM trip to Cirebon. By now I was half way across Java! After another draining day on the road I was 45 KM away from my destination and had just finished a cheese sandwich when I was stopped by what I thought was a police officer at the time, turns out his name is Mas and leads a local biker club and he just had the lights on his bike to make riding easier here (cheeky but effective!). From here I received a private escort into Cirebon and taken straight to the local biker hangout point. I was fed mie goreng and coconut juice and then escorted again to my hotel (after many photos of course). The hotel I wanted was full so the bikers spread out across the city looking for one within my budget, they couldn't find a cheap one so I was taken to this beautiful hotel and they got me a discount! After a few more free drinks with more locals at the hotel I collapsed in bed. What an insane day, I could not believe the immense generosity and hospitality from these guys, I will never forget it!

Tightening some bolts outside a supermarket - both my 5V USB charging ports have also stopped working, only have one 12V socket left

Mas escorting me with his lights and sirens into Cirebon, made the ride a lot faster!

Group photo - one of 1000's I've had in Indonesia haha

After being given countless contacts in Sumatra should I have any issues and being warned to look out for CANNIBALS... today’s destination Jakarta! Only 250 KM away this leg took 8 hours, with 4 of these spent getting through Jakarta and it’s outskirts... my clutch hand and brain were both absolutely fried when I pulled into the hotel which cost an outrageous $31 with the WIFI out of order. I was disappointed in myself for staying here, but I was too tired to continue so I forked out the cash and racked out for the night. An interesting note: Jakarta has toll roads to bypass the traffic, another interesting note: BIKES AREN'T ALLOWED ON THEM, although I tried 3 times... every time I was sent away!

Now I’m sitting in the restaurant in Bandar Lampung, Sumatra. Today I rode from Jakarta to Merak and caught the ferry across (2 hours). Once on Sumatra I discovered my bike still had 4^th and 5^th gear! The JOY! So that’s it for Java, it had been both my favourite island and least favourite for obvious reasons. Until next time! 

Why are you all on the road!!! Outskirts of Jakarta

More outskirts, this is a 2 way road

I'd had enough, foot paths and bus lanes from now on - the bike and myself were both overheating