Bromo

As I already said before, Bromo was great. I decided to stay there for 2 nights even though it was quite cold in Cemara Lawang and the hotels were a bit above my budget (I managed to get a room with hot water at the Lava Cafe for 100 000Rp but it was not easy). Cemara Lawang is a little village on the outer crater rim with great views of the Sandsea and Bromo, but you can't see Seneru from here. I wanted to see the sunrise from viewpoint 2. You can get there by jeep, but of course I couldn't find any other people to share the jeep with for the first morning. So I decided to see the sunrise at the terrace of the Cemara Indah Hotel probably the best viewpoint in Cemara Lawang, but not as good as viewpoint 2. After sunrise I walked all the way to Bromo, which isn't that far and climbed the volcano, which was a breeze compared to climbing Batur. The firt part you can get a horse, but that is really not necessary and then there is a staircase of about 250 steps. There were a lot of people there, cause all the jeeps returning from the viewpoint stop at Bromo to see the crater. After returning to the hotel to have breakfast, I decided to walk to viewpoint 1. You can only reach it by walking and even though it's not as high as viewpoint 2, the views are nice. It's about an hour walking from Cemara Lawang. The last bit is a bit hard, but it's worth it, amd you'll be completely alone to enjoy the views...
The next morning I was able to share a jeep with 2 Dutch couples. We left at 4 am. When we arrived at viewpoint 2 we could see immdiately that there were about 50 othe jeeps there, and that there were a lot of people. It was actually not that easy to find a got spot to see the sunrise and it was definately impossible to use a tripod to take pictures cause there were to many people and they were all pushing... Unfortunately it was so cloudy we couldn't see Bromo or the sandsea. We could only see Semeru far away. The sunrise was nice though. I guess that's just as life, sometimes it's cloudy and all you can do is wait until the clouds go. Of course I didn't have time to wait for that, I had a bus to Surabaya to catch...



Nederlandse versie komt nog...

Climbing Gunung Batur

Friday morning Katrijn and I left Ubud, where it had been raining for several days already. Luckily friday morning there were bright blue skies and we set off for our journey to Mount Batur. We arrived around lunchtime at our hotel in Kedisan, a small village on the banks of lake Batur, with beautiful views of the volcano.
Yesterday morning we climbed the volcano before sunrise. It was very hard, the guide had a fast pace and it was a steep path to the top. With the help of the guide we did make it to the top right in time to see the beautiful sunrise (pictures will follow when I find a better place for internet). After having breakfast we walked to some other craters and started our descend. By then there were so may clouds that we couldn't see any of the nice views they promised us :-(
Around lunch we joined some English tourists to go to the hotsprings. Several ladies tried to sell us a massage, and since we had done such an exhausting climb I agreed to half hour massage for 30000RP. It was really funny, cause when the lady started 4 or 5 other ladies also started to massage my legs and arms, I told them I wasn't going to pay more than 30000Rp but they kept on doing it hoping I would change my mind (which I didn't). Anyway in the end I had a really good massage, maybe even better than the one I had in Ubud.
This morning we left Kedisan and went to Lovina in the North of Bali. Our first impressions are very positive. It's a beautiful and relaxed beach and there are only a few tourists. We found a nice hotel with swimming pool close to the beach. We're probably going to stay here for a few days...




Vrijdagochtend zijn Katrijn en ik uit Ubud vertrokken, het had dar al bijna 3 dagen aan een stuk geregend. Gelukkig was er vrijdagochtend een stralend blauwe hemel en zijn we naar Batur vertrokken. WWe kwamen rond de middag aan in ons hotel in Kedisan dat aan de oever van het Batur meer lag, met eem prachtig zicht op de vulkaan.
Gisterenochtend hebben we de vulkaan voor zonsopgang beklommen en dat was best wel zwaar. De gids ging in een heel snel tempo omhoog en 't was een steil pad. Maar met behulp van onze gids raakten we toch op tijd op de top zodat we de prachtige zonsopgang konden zien. Na een ontbijt op de top wandelden we verder om nog enkele andere kraters te bekijken en begonnen we onze tocht naar beneden. Maar helaas was 't toen alweer helemaal bewolkt en zagen we niet veel van de mooie zichten die ze ons beloofd hadden.
Tegen de middag zijn we samen met enkele Engelse toeristen naar de hotsprings gegaan. Verschillende vrouwen probeerden ons een massage te verkopen, en aangezien we toch zo'n vermoeiende tocht achter de rug hadden wilde ik een massage voor 30000RP (2,5 euro). Het was best wel grappig, want toen die vrouw begon te masseren begonnen er ineens nog 4 of 5 andere vrouwen aan mijn armen en benen te masseren. Ik zei hen dat ik niet meer zou betalen dan die 30000RP, maar ze bleven doordoen in de hoop dat ik toch van gedacht zou veranderen (wat niet gebeurde). Uiteindelijk heb ik echt nog wel een goeie massage gehad, misschien wel beter dan die in Ubud.
Vanchtend zijn we uit Kedisan vertrokken en naar Lovina gegaan, in 't noorden van Bali. Onze eerste indrukken zijn alvast heel positief. 't Is een mooi, relaxed strand en er zijn niet zo veel toeristen. We hebben een hotelletje met zwembad en vlakbij 't strand gevonden. Waarschijnlijk gaan we hier wel enkele dagen blijven...