After a full nights sleep without road noise or being chewed out by mosquito's I made my way to the small hill side town of Comoro Lewang, my base for a walk up Gunung Bromo.
The weather at Comoro Lewang was cool, at 17 degrees C, it was the coolest temperature I had experienced in Indonesia and provide nice relief from the tropical heat. After a walk around town investigating modes of transport into the volcanic cauldron before the final walk up Bromo I settled on the cheapest method, a pillion ride on a scooter, as opposed to the more expensive yet more common method of a ride in one of the many well restored Toyota Landcruisers driving the route.
Bromo is an active volcano, erupting in late 2010 and continuing through till mid 2011, it's expected to continue to erupt for some time to come. The walk up Bromo was short, first through black sand, thrust out of Bromo's active cauldron during the recent eruptions, then a long flight of concrete stairs, constructed to cash in on the tourist dollars.
The following day, once back on the main highway, and I mean a single lane each way type highway, I started what would be days of long traffic jams from one town to the next. When I say one town to the next, there is no real distance between one town and the next, they all seem to be one long town, leading from one big city to the next, after a little research I found out why. Indonesia has a population of about 240 million people, over half, about 150 million of that 240 million people live on the small island of Java. Travelling long distances quickly is not an option or at least not a safe option. So after reassessing my itinerary I added a few extra overnight stops.
When I eventually made it to Yogyakarta I visited the Sultans Palace, situated within a walled town in central Yogya.
My next destination was Borobudur for a visit to the world heritage listed biggest Budha Temple in the world, a spectacular complex well worth the expensive entrance fee. Had I been there a week later I would have been very disappointed, due to a volcanic eruption a couple of hundred away the whole temple complex was covered with tarpaulins, I would have seen nothing.
After the quiet relief of Borobudur I was back in the highway traffic jam, averaging about fifty (50) kilometres an hour, I had a couple more long day's ride to cross Java. Following an overnight stop in Tasikmalaya I had a big obstacle to face, the city of Bandung.
What a nightmare, with road construction diversions, one way streets and a couple of bad directions I became very frustrated resulting in a police escort and being shown out of town. It started with me riding on the Toll Way, which is a no - no for motorcycles in Indonesia. I was pulled over by two policeman in a patrol car, they were a little aggressive to start with, asked for and confiscated my drivers license, and told me to follow them to the police station. After a slow ride behind the patrol car down the shoulder of the road for several kilometres we exited the Toll Way. Not knowing what to expect, the patrol car stopped on the road side, the officers exited and promptly provided directions to the next town, handed back my license, shock my hand and sent me on my way, what a relief.
More traffic and busy roads had me at my overnight stop in Cipanas. The following afternoon the traffic thinned, the mountainous roads returned and I knew I must have been close to my final Java destination. Situated on the West coast of Java, the Anyer region was once a popular international tourist destination, prior to cheap airfares overland bus travellers would frequent the Anyer area. With its white sandy beaches and surrounding forested mountains it is easy to see why it is still a popular weekend away or day trip for visitors from Jakarta.
The beach was packed with day trippers while I enjoyed my weekend stay in Bondulo, Anyer and it allowed me to regain my sanity after the traffic madness of Java before moving on to the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
