Surabaya - Indonesia

Mt Ijen, on the way downhill, 6am

I have taken more kissing shots with Lnr in the past one year than I ever did all my life prior to this. I guess showing a little (too much) affection hurts nobody. Heheh. That aside, I am way pampered and travelled a lot in my final two years of university, if this were to make up for my failed applications for exchange program, perhaps we are break even now. It's fifth month into year 2017 and I have popped to Bangkok, Phuket and East Java thus far, maybe I should be thankful for Singapore's strategic location, situating amongst the cheap and accessible South east asia regions. The most recent Indo trip happened last week because 1) Initial plan A of free & easy China for a month failed as Bl went for internship at Cambodia 2) Plan B of going Tibet with Lnr failed due to high cost of travel 3) East Java mountains were highly recommended by Chang who claims it will worth all the while. 

Indeed it did, or so I feel. Standing at the top of mountains always make me realize over and again just how tiny we humans are; and how gorgeous and stunning nature can be (Though as a geog major I know jolly well that Nature and Humans are not mutually exclusive, in fact we are one. But staying in a concrete jungle for too long often makes me forget the world is much bigger than my everyday playground). I did the planning and booking for most of the itineraries and we spent good 6 days going from Surabaya - Mt Ijen - Madakaripura waterfall - Mt Bromo viewpoint - Surabaya. And despite minor hiccups, exhaustive continuous travelling and occasionally feeling worn out from staying vigilant against umpteen tourism traps, it was still 6 days well spent with Lnr. 

Mt Ijen, Sunrise at 5.30am  

Oh yes, I can't stress enough on my top travel priority. There is absolutely no room for negotiation when it comes to this; that no matter where I go what I  witness or experience, my top priority is always travelling with a comfortable companion, either that or going solo. In fact I enjoyed the time greatly during my Solo Phuket trip in March, the tranquillity and solitude, the removal of having to be considerate and responsible for others. Wohoo. Though the only woes being I couldn't order much food because there was no food buddy to share with. Oh well, it's all give and take. Having said that, travelling with Lnr has been the best companion thus far, ( or else why would I have married him HAHAHA ) considering that he never complains ever and  pretends to /genuinely shares the same thoughts with me on travelling preference. And that to me, is really important. So yeah, +1 for Lnr keke.  

Mt Ijen, on top of the crater, sulphur lake

The thing about travelling to me is that I feel it opens up a window for me to interact, or just come to understand how diverse and different our life can be by witnessing. And I start to understand the world a little better, a little more. Which is why I always prefer Free & Easy despite that it is, never free or easy compared to a full packaged tour. The very first group of people I noticed during the trip was the Sulphur miners who make multiple trips to and fro the base and into the crater, carrying hundreds kilograms of Sulphurs with them, breathing in the toxic gaseous everyday, selling off the Sulphurs to factories at 1,000IDR /KG (S$0.10) everyday. And then there is our local guide, who is of same age as me, started off by working as a Sulphur miner for 3 years while self learnt English with the help of Google, and eventually managed to work as a English guide at the Inn we stayed for about a year or so. And I couldn't stop thinking how tourism has indeed benefited certain group of locals, provided that they equipped themselves with  the necessary skills - which largely means being able to converse in  English I suppose. 

 Madakaripura Waterfall

Tourism development has always been a double edge sword, and there is always a million outcomes resulting from it. Like how it also breed a group of locals who are either out to scam / coerce tourists which often leaves some unhappy memories as we leave. And in some places we went it was so rampant that we are constantly worried of being conned even if some of them could be genuine. Especially so with transports agh, taking Taxis in South east asia has been pretty much a pain in da ass, Oh well. Like how we were often overcharged for short distance rides ( though it's still acceptable to me at large if the price isn't too ridiculous), got drove to fake 'tourism information counter', got 'forced' into having a local guide. All these little unhappy encounters seems to become part and parcel of travelling in developing countries. Ofcause most of the time there are ways to counter and avoid, but all these somehow adds up to some negative emotions towards the places I have been to. 

Now the locals aside, let me recall back to our adventurous, tiring, seemingly endless hikes up the mountains. We got up at 1-ish on night #1 and began our 3km hike up to the crater before the sun rises. The road was hell steep but at least it helped our body to warm up and it actually feels very hot despite the low temperature. We went after Ijen for it's legendary blue fame at night but was told that we can't go close to crater due to a recent eruption. After the trip Lnr asked if I were disappointed with the negligible flame, but truth to be told I was already intensively satisfied with the sky full of stars that very night during the hike uphill, I never believed there could be 7 billion stars in the night sky until that very night. How gorgeous and beautiful. Sighhhh. 

We were planning to hike up Mt bromo viewpoint on night #2 but we were sooo worn out from a whole day of travelling, 4 hrs train ride, waiting, tensing up at the fake tourism center, and more waiting, and travelling uphill eventually reaching the base in the evening. So we took a break and hiked in the middle of the night day on night #3 instead. Guess I was pretty unsure whether or not we could do it w/o (as per what most tourists do), but as Chang advised that a guide won't be necessary, we went for it in the pitch darkness and it was... well a really dauntless venture up the muddy mountain and grass fields with the help of two torches. Hahahaha. Made it in time for the sunrise but not for a cuppa of Indomie because it was sold out Ohwell. And also it was a pretty cloudy morning so there wasn't a pretty Sun rise, but seeing a real live volcano from afar for the first time was still quite something teheehee. 

 Mt Bromo view

The rest of the journey wasn't as venturesome as we made our way down from the mountain and took a train back to Surabaya to rest our body and mind in the Suite that I booked, all for that bathtub beside the drop down window overseeing the city Woohoo. Though Lnr was down with high fever the moment as we reach back to city centre and the fever stayed with him till the end of the trip ): Which made me felt xiao guilty for arranging such a hectic trip without consideration of his old age LOL. I think we had quite some fun during the trip, like squeeze onto a small bike all the way down Mt bromo, trying to hold still and not push the rider off the seat as we sprinted through the sea of black sands right beneath the volcano; like surviving all the travelling safely without data roaming as Starhub played punk on us throughout; like finding the right famous restaurant this time with great Ayam Bakar ( we got pulled to a 'counterfeit'  restaurant in Bangkok by Taxi ); like creating more and more shared memories with Lnr that I  hope to remember for a long time down the memory lane~  

This pretty much sums up our 6D5N East Java trip, and to more adventures ahead!