Anak Krakatau and Life in Bali

We left Johor Bahru on the 1st of April. D drove us into Singapore, where we went to the Botanic Garden, thence to the airport for our flight to Jakarta. Did a little shopping as well - Singapore seems known for that activity. Milestones of the day - successfully negotiated a bargain price with a shopkeeper on Arab Street. Three pashminas for $22 (Singapore)! Also successfully walked away from a woman who wouldn't stop showing me things I wasn't interested in.

Thence to Jakarta - which has a reputation as not very tourist friendly. We waited about two hours in line for immigration/customs, then a "helpful" man grabbed our luggage cart and took off to his buddy's gypsy cab - no meter, a bit grungy, cost about double the normal rate. We were kind of frightened. Much like Sandakan, I can't really recommend Jakarta as a place to go, except that is where the closest airport is to where we really wanted to be - Krakatoa. Our impression: Jakarta is an ugly, dirty, smelly city, filled with garbage, crumbling buildings and terrible traffic. Our hotel was in a pretty dodgy section of town, and we were just staying overnight before heading out early. Good thing too, as we were a little afraid to leave our hotel room. "Boing" picked us up very early, so as to beat the traffic. His driving was remarkable - remarkably scary! We took a piece of video showing the car dodging trucks, potholes, scooters, dogs, chickens, etc.

When we arrived in Carita, we met our guide, Sam, who helped us and all our stuff onto the boat and introduced us to the skipper and the crewman. "He's a young skipper, but he's a good skipper", we were told. He looked about fifteen. But we got there and back safely, in spite of losing one engine and leaving in the middle of a thunderstorm. As we approached Krakatau - the proper spelling, "Krakatoa" was a journalistic misprint from the 1883 eruption that just stuck - we could see a plume of smoke rising from the top. The volcano had erupted six times the night before we got there, but she was taking that day off. There was smoke, but no fire. A little disappointing, but that's the way it goes. First stop, Panjang Island (called Lang Island, by the Dutch), where we went hiking through the jungle to an old Japanese bunker from World War II. Sam split open a coconut he found nearby and we all tried the "milk" and the "meat". I (Jennifer) tried it only out of politeness, as I generally despise all things coconut, and was surprised that I didn't want to spit it out again. But that's about as much as I'll admit. I won't say I liked it, just that I didn't hate it. Then we went snorkeling. Clear water, lots of little fishies. A great way to cool off after the super sweaty hike. "Jenn-ee-fir, come here!" I heard from under water. When I got there Sam was yelling "Eelfish! Eelfish! Mor-Eye Eelfish!" I stuck my face back in the water, and saw it, a moray eel, in our usual parlance. Sam promptly tied a string around a prawn and tried to catch it. Unsuccessfully. Then on to the main attraction, Anak Krakatau - Son of Krakatau - the new cinder cone that grows up to 6" per day. Over 12oo feet in less than 100 years. That's amazing. The blink of an eye, geologically. We were allowed to hike only up to the lower summit, not all the way to the peak. The wind was so strong up there that I felt if I let go of the ground, I'd blow away. I don't know that I've ever felt wind quite like that before. Being a brand new piece of land, it shows the colonization process very well. The three vegetation zones were clearly visible. Big trees and thick jungle at, the lowest level, near the beach. Smaller shrubs and plants on the lower slopes. Then only scattered small plants. Vegetation finally disappearing altogether, with only barren rock from about midway up the lower summit. We then camped on the nearby island of Rakata, a remnant of the original Krakatoa. When the torrential rainstorm began at about 3:30 am, we discovered that the tent leaked like a sieve, and ended up sleeping with our umbrella open inside the tent. We, and some of our gear got a bit damp. Given the inclemency of the weather, we opted to skip the morning trek and snorkel portion of the program. Afterwards we met with Roman, from JavaRhino Ecotours, who told us about their efforts to promote EcoTourism on Java. He asked if there was anything they could do to improve the experience, to which we replied, "Get a remote for the volcano!" But, alas, our Mother Earth does not perform on command. To quote the movie we saw at the Mount St. Helens Observatory, "That's just the way volcanoes are".

On the way back to Jakarta, stopped by the remains of the old lighthouse, wiped out by the Tsunami in 1883, and it's replacement, built in 1885. It was way high, but we climbed all the way to the top. Back the Hotel Batavia, Doug ordered a Heineken, then when he ordered another, the waiter disapprovingly agreed to "one more" - alcohol was a little more difficult to obtain there. Leaving Jakarta and heading to the airport for our flight to Bali, we took a much nicer cab for less than half the cost of the gypsy cab. D & P were already in Bali and waiting for us when we arrived at the airport. We were picked up by a van and driven to the Hotel Villa Sonia in Ubud, which was quite nice. Clean, posh, and quiet.

Went downtown, ate some dinner, and went to see traditional Balinese dancing performance near the Royal Palace. Interesting - the eye movements are a part of the dance, and quite pronounced. Next day, shopping in the Market and the little shops. Went to a Spa for a traditional Balinese massage - very relaxing and quite affordable in Bali...it's a must do here.

J and P went to do more shopping, but D and D walked down to the famous Monkey Forest. Many long-tailed Macaques in residence. It was fun to watch the people that bought bananas being accosted by the Monkeys (it turns out monkeys really do like bananas). We chose not to encourage that behavior, but took a few pictures of the two varieties of Primates interacting.

We observed a lot of interesting scooter technology and culture on Bali. Often helmetless, passing left and right, once saw a man with three small children all on one scooter. Very large payloads are carried on the scooters. Very few bicycles being used....they celebrate the traditional Indonesian bicycle, but you see very few people riding them.

Oh, the hawkers - constantly accosting you to buy buy buy. Gets pretty tiring, of course, but it's how they make their living. "Looks are free" was one refrain heard many times. "Rain price", "morning price", "afternoon price" were some others. We asked which was cheapest, but they just laughed at us without giving an answer. I (J) got a little freaked out when they started to get really aggressive, touching and grabbing my arm and standing in front of me and not letting me leave. I finally had to actually physically push one woman out of the way. They will really not take "no" for an answer. We had a hard time even enjoying the beach, due to the incessant, pushy hawkers, who accosted us the second we exited the hotel gates, and followed us around everywhere we went. They kept asking us what we wanted, and I swore the next time I heard that, I would answer "for you to leave me alone!"

All in all, Krakatoa was more the adventure part of the trip, Bali was very much more tourist-oriented and very relaxing. We're back in JB now, planning, preparing, blogging, downloading photos, etc. We fly out tonight for Cambodia. We're keeping our eyes on the situation in Thailand - demonstrations/riots in Bangkok have been a bit rough - so we're evaluating alternative travel scenarios - Panang or Laos or Vietnam seem like possible alternatives. Suggestions? We'll see how things are going in Bangkok by the 22nd of April. Thanks for all the comments and emails, it's good to hear from you. A. put the Corn Dog on Skype for us yesterday !