There are not so many people on the ferry and almost no foreigners. Actually there is a group of strange looking motor-bikers with checkered shirts, tyrants and cloths on their heads. Later we find out they are Dutch. In two hours we reach the port Poto Tano and head to the capital of the province Sumbawa Besar in the truck we hitchhiked to enter the ferry. Continue reading
Selong Belanak
24.08
We wake up early in the morning before tourists and restaurant staff start coming. We pack our bags, then suddenly I feel a strong stomach discomfort. I feel better as late as of noon. We go back to the port where we start looking for a truck driver who will be willing take us and thus not pay for tickets. Mr. Shushtari is walking among the trucks and then one driver offers us by himself to take us hitchhiking in his truck on the ferry. Continue reading
Mystical pathway
11.08
We continue to go around the island with the motor-bike. The main road is OK but all the the other smaller roads have big potholes and are quite steep. The things is the most interesting parts of the island could be reached namely driving on these small roads. We start a wild off-road drive barely managing to hold ourselves on the motor-bike because of the heavy rucksacks. We are on a very steep hill when the motor bike starts loosing power and in order to not crash I jump off it together with the 30 kg backpack of Mr. Shushtari on my back. In an hour we finally arrive, driving on a dirt road covered with many sharp stones. Our woes are worth it because we reach some incredible rock formations on the so called Broken Beach. We see a rock arc trough which the sea water passes and then goes into a giant hole. The water is sky-blue.
Bali
Interesting to know…
Bali is the only Hindu island in Indonesia. When the Islam came in 15-th century all the aristocracy and the priesthood of Java came here and established their Hindu bastion. The religion has remained unchanged for 500 years but the differences to Hinduism in India are obvious. Here the religion is mixed with local animistic beliefs and rituals and thus has been formed a specific, local form of Hinduism. For example people are not vegetarians and they even eat veal. People don’t put the typical red dot on their foreheads (sindur) except when they visit the temple and stick rice beans between their brows. Only one god, who represents the infinity, is acknowledged (Achintya) and the other: Vishnu, Shiva and the rest are just his manifestations.
The volcano Bromo
09.07
We are ten kilometers away from Ngandjuk. After breakfast we start hitchhiking. A strange couple takes us – a transvestite and a young driver. Magy doesn’t even realize that this is a man and believes that the driver is his/her son and that s/he has three more as s/he tries to convince us. Anyway the people are nice. After that we start hitchhiking using the new method: walking and waving. One car tries to stop, almost causes a crash, and then continues. In a while it comes back, forms a traffic jam and takes us. Inside is an amiable family from Madura. They will takes us directly to the incredible Elizabeth, our host from Jakarta, who is now in her hometown Surabaya. This time we travel really fast and take the 100 km for just 6 hours 🙂
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The mystic Java
25.06
We continue to the next town Wonosobo, 25 km away where our couchurfing.org host awaits us. A nice man with car takes us and in half an hour we are in the center of the town. Since we entered Central Java we noticed that towns are really clean and well kept. They look to us more like the Malaysian ones than other Indonesian.
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Women from the Baduy ethnic group on Java Island
We enter the belly of the huge ferry along with trucks, cars, motor-bikes and various people. We position ourselves inside the luxurious lobby. The ferry “sets sails” and we head to unknown adventures.
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Minangkabau museum in West Sumatra
29.05
We take off as usually at noon. Today hitchhiking goes very well, as usual. We couldn’t understand what was it yesterday and why no one stopped for whole six hours. A middle aged man with a lustful look in his eyes takes us to Panyabungan 3 kilometers down the road and then he decides to help us even more and take us after the town. Then we start hitchhiking small trucks and jeeps without waiting much.
Capital: Jakarta
Population: 258 million, the forth most populous country in the world following China, India and USA
Official religion: Islam
State system: Presidential republic
Monetary unit: Indonesian rupiah
Indonesia is an island country. We arrive on a big one on the west, one of the 17 thousand islands of the country. If we decide to visit every single island of Indonesia we will not be able to do it in a whole lifetime. We have just three weeks for Sumatra, which is very little time for seeing all on the sixth biggest island on earth with a territory as big as Sweden.
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Magic Kervan 