Javanese jaunt.
Trip Start
Jul 24, 2008
1
16
22
Trip End
Ongoing
Banguwangi,
Indonesia
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sorry have been absent for awhile but have been a busy, little, bee. I traveled to Java for a quick weekend to check out the conditions for a camp being run in the next couple of weeks. It was amazing... You wouldn't think that such a tiny gap of water could affect such a transformation, but then again France and the UK... Java is clearly poorer, there is less extravagance and the people are a little less friendly. There are almost no temples anywhere, (the people are almost entirely Muslim rather than Hindu and it is obvious immediately. What I had taken as Indonesian style / culture is definitely a Balinese version and I think on the whole I prefer the Balinese version of life. However... Java had amazing sights and although we spent almost all the weekend traveling it was worth it.
On the first day we traveled up along the west coast of Bali and saw some picturesque beeches and cliffs along with a mahusive temple complex, that was easily taller than the national museum in Cardiff, just on it's own outside a city. The ferry was interesting, but luckily the crossing was flat. Was amused by the flock of small boys volunteering to jump off the top of the ferry for money... until people started to throw coins off, (UK value about 2.5p) that the boys actually jumped after like performing monkeys. They were there out of choice and they are selling their skill and an entertainment like so many of us but there was definitely something... unwholesome about it that left me feeling a bit uneasy. Not sure I will be happy to let our kids command performances for pocket change. Anyway enough sociological musings. Had carefully applied sunscreen to my face, neck, ears, arms, legs, feet, in fact all parts of my exposed body... Or so I thought, the underneath of my arms burned during the ferry trip, that's right the milk bottle white, never seen, shaded parts of my body burnt bright red... Yay for reflected rays so strong they can destroy your skin structure! Not! We ate fried chicken, (entire chickens dumped into a deep fat fryer until they are a neon yellow colour, Mmmm Mmmm, just like KFC) Did find it a bit disconcerting to be eating an animals face, (wonder if mine would taste as good) but the neck was delicious - clearly underused anatomical wonder!
We then entered the vast teak and mahogany managed forests that cover a large section of East Java. They were impressive and very regularly planted without too large a monoculture basis, which was nice to see. With a bit of cloud cover, the A.C. blasting in the car and the trees leafless as part of their yearly cycle, it was almost like driving down the Gower, through dense woodland in autumn. For awhile it was nostalgia central until we reached the last real house. Then the government clearly saw no reason to continue with roads. The forest managers saw no reason to make it easier to get in and out of land packed with hugely valuable trees and so the 'road' became a collection of rocks held together by gravity as much as anything else along with an occasional 'iceberg' rock which would require us to divert into the forest to pass. Fun? Do I hear you say? Well yes it was quite jolly for the first hour crawling at 20 Kph but by the time hour two was ending I was more or less ready to kill someone for a stretch of road that would allow my vision to stop shaking. Mind the occasional monkey troop or displaying peacock did keep the boredom at bay.
We eventually reached the camp in the heart of Trianggulassy the national park. It resembled the stock horror movie camp, you know where that group of teenagers get lost and stumble across an abandoned camp up in the mountains, all rundown and shabby, paint peeling, bits falling off? They invariably think what a good idea it would be to stay here instead of seeking actual human help or finding our way home. Cue one by one them disappearing only to reappear dead and dismembered in a variety of intriguing ways apart from the one who disappeared first who is in fact the demented serial killer who has led them all to this spot in the first place, (please insert fake dramatic, shocked, pause with sharp in-breath here). The toilets were by far in a away the most fascinating part of this camp, squat and hand-flush of course, (only the best for our kids) And naturally coated in several layers of filth, encrusted so deeply and firmly that original shape and colouration of the rooms is impossible to identify. There were clearly cleaned regularly as my eyes started to burn as I entered (there was no way any microbe could gain a foot hold before being poisoned by the levels of toxic chemicals dispensed liberally and then left to ensure no growth could occur before the next yearly spraying). Rather than allow one of our students to develop their killer instinct or die of water-born pathogens we decide we may skip the delights of returning to Neanderthal man's slob like cousins house.
Next stop - several jiggled hours later, (and those are not the good kind of jiggling hours!) we arrived in Kali Baru. At the Margo Utomo hotel, (founded in the early 1900's by a severe couple of Indonesians, one of Chinese and one of Indian descent who's pictures stare out from many photos / portraits around the complex... disturbingly sitting on many of the same items of furniture!). Clearly colonially Dutch, the furniture is gorgeous, the hotel luxurious, (by comparison at least) and the food is lovely, (although they do seem to think that mozzarella is a kind of cheddar/Parmesan blend!?!). The hotel was linked to a farm and plantation. The kids, (and clearly moi) will be milking cows and making cheese, (Yay for learning how to make a mozzarella that is in fact a cross between cheddar and Parmesan!) They also grow; Coffee, sugar palm, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, rubber, cacao, (that's chocolate to you and me, yum!) as well as every type of fruit you can think of, including a type of passion fruit the size of a marrow! It was brilliant, and got to eat raw cacao flesh... so good! Less good were the caged birds of many different species around the hotel... too small were there aviaries, too sad were the birds... although the giant fruit bat seemed content enough.
Next day we traveled to Ijen a, currently, dormant volcano. There we found the recipe for the Catimore homestay.
Recipe time: 100 years preparation, 10-20 years for seasoning and presentation.
Step 1. Set up Indonesian archipelago using volcanic uprisings leave to simmer.
Step 2. Add 1 Dutch colonial building - high in the mountains, (so high it is as cold as the UK, about 10-11 degrees, yay!) built in 1895 to aid with the subduing of the natives and exploitation of the superb coffee growing region.
Step 3. Slowly develop into a kind of Butlins holiday resort over a period of fifty to sixty years.
Step 4. Allow mixture to enjoy a period of calm and prosperity for 30 - 40 years and then fall on hard times for a couple of decades.
Step 5. Serve as a cheap destination for people who are not up themselves ex-pats.
Serves up to 100.
Here there is gorgeous waterfalls and hot springs, (soooo good!) and is the launching spot for the trek up Ijen to watch the sunrise from the crater at the top, with the pure blue lake and sulphur mining!! The hot springs are where I discover our handsome guide as angel wings tattooed along the full length of his back... ... ... ... ... ... sorry zoned out there.
Finally set off for home and traveled for a long old time until arrived back home at about 1.00 am on Sunday night... School is going to be fun in the morning!
Love to you all my happy little funsters, (countdown to arrival Ian - 56 days and counting!)
Ixxx
