Don't Bypass Padang Bai

23rd – 25th March 2015

Blue Lagoon Bay

     Arriving in the harbour town of Padang Bai in the South-West of Bali I can totally understand why very few tourists stay a night or two. A first glance the place has the serenity of Dover ferry terminal. Although not nearly as busy as Dover the town is dull, run down and full of fly tipped litter. But just as where Dover has its famous white cliffs and castle, Padang Bai also has a few surprises up its sleeves if you’re willing to look beyond its scruffy exterior.

I really hate Mondays

  

Monster mosquito

It turns out Padang Bai can offer a great pit stop for budget backpackers, especially during the low season. Many of the guesthouses have many vacant rooms and offer great discounts. Jono and I stayed in the catchy named “Pondok Wista Tirta Yoga Inn” just by the bus car park and market and paid 80,000 IRP a night (£4) for a twin room with fan, en-suite bathroom, breakfast and Wi-Fi.  Many of the restaurants offer considerably cheaper prices than the islands more popular tourist destinations and the town’s long standing heritage as a fishing port means that most of the places offer fantastic evening seafood BBQ’s. As the day comes to a close the best bars can be found on the market square operating from small shack lettings, pumping out mostly reggae although they are open to personal track selections on quiet nights (which is most nights). Nothing better than listening to Genesis, Bowie and Thin Lizzy whilst savouring a rewarding Bintang at the end of a challenging day of doing nothing.

slightly obscured view of Padang Bai

     As I mentioned earlier Padang Bai has a couple of places to waste the hours away in the form of two sheltered bays called “Blue Lagoon” and “White Sand Beach”. Blue Lagoon is located 1.5km south of Padang Bai close to the expensive hotel resort bearing the same name. The beach is quite small but there are small shack cafés with sun loungers if you’re willing to pay to use them. Taking a swim can be a little risky as the waves are quite large and the resulting undercurrent has the tendency to rip your legs away. White Sand Beach of course features a small white sand beach and like blue lagoon has a few family run eateries operating on the shore front. Located 2km north of the town I would say this is the more secluded of the two as it’s too far away for most of the resort hotel hippos to bother walking the short distance to. Both coves offer nice surroundings away from the urban mess of the town although you do have to put up with the annoying sarong sellers who will continue to harass you even when they can clearly see you’re sitting on an almost identical product I purchased in Cambodia.

White sand beach

    For most tourist Padang Bai is the gateway to the popular Gili islands and their close neighbour Lombok. Many people purchase ferry tickets in Denpassar, Kuta beach or Ubud as part of an all in one package deal but I see that as a real schoolboy error. Firstly as with any package the company or hotel you purchase the ticket from will inevitably take a commission meaning you have been ripped off before leaving town. Secondly because they know you have never been to Padang Bai and have no interest in checking out the normal ferry prices most of the touts will charge you what they claim to be a “good price” which is in act double or triple the actual price. When we boarded the ferry to Gili T we paid 200,000 IRP (£10) and to get that we had to haggle a little (you will not get this price in high season). To my surprise during the hour and half journey Jono and I listened to other tourists comparing ticket prices and the variance was staggering. I heard a German girl say she paid 450,000 (£21.50), a Dutch guy seemed annoyed at paying 600,000 (£30) but the most pissed off of all was a posh Brit (probably on his gap-yaaaahhh from Oxford……..although this is just a hunch) who had paid a staggering 1,100,000 IRP (£55). On this occasion Jono quite rightly told me to “keep my gob shut” as inciting a riot on a ferry over ticket prices wouldn’t be in the best interest of people on board. So we kindly broke him the news just as we reached the island paradise of the Gili's.

Ubud: Monster Madness & Silent Saturdays

19th – 23rd March 2015

     We had a slight conundrum whilst in Medewi. With the Hindu festival of Neyepi (Silent Day) fast approaching do we venture to the cultural heart of Bali, Ubud and waste a day sat in a guesthouse or do we stay in the Muslim dominated Medewi with the promise of wild beach parties? Strangely enough we turned our backs on the beach and headed inland. It may sound crazy but Jono and I both agreed we had dawdled long enough in Medewi and it was time to move.

     Once again we caught a cheap public bus, this time all the way to one of the terminals near Denpassar. Remaining unsurprisingly consistent this overstretched transit van retained the standard features of non-existent leg room, durian air freshener and a box of free range chickens under the seat. However it was clear that this vehicle must have been part of the luxury fleet due to the appearance of a bus conductor. Sadly we soon realised my initial assumption had been incorrect when the vehicle slowed to a halt on a slight incline. The geezer jumped to his feet, pulled a large wooden wedge lassoed in thick rope from under an adjacent seat, threw himself off the bus and rolled the wedge behind the rear passenger wheel. It was at this point both of us realised the guy’s actual occupation wasn’t a bus conductor at all, but a HUMAN HANDBRAKE! (Actually thinking back to it there were two kids sitting on the roof called Pebbles and Bam Bam).



Market street n the heart of Ubud

Pyscho Goat

Weird Pig wth Afro 

     90 minutes later we arrived in the busy island capital of Denpassar and frankly we didn’t intend to stay. The streets of Denpassar were really just generic urban sprawl lacking in features unless you count the congestion. Taxi drivers clung onto the bus looking for business even before we had reached the bus terminal. As one elderly Indonesian lady left the vehicle on the city outskirts one such driver hung his head through the window, saw me and asked the ever familiar phrase “Where you going mister?”, to which I frankly replied “Where this bus is going. That’s why I’m sat on it”. Now I understand that it helps to show a certain degree of anticipation to get ahead of the game in a competitive market, but this was ridiculous. Once at the bus terminal we left Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble behind and flagged down one of the many bluebird taxis to take us the 12km to Ubud. Bluebird are mentioned in the Lonely Planet guides and are known in the region as the most professional taxi service on the island. They always use the meter and have the bluebird logo and contact number on the windscreen. There are many fakes around though so if any refuse to use the meter due to “technical issues” or “because it broke this morning” find another driver. Between Denpassar and Ubud the scenery from the cab window was pretty spectacular. Despite Indonesia’s monetary poverty when compared to its neighbours the country certainly contains natural riches beyond measure.



Tina Turner Lizard with acrylic nails

      We finally arrived in Ubud late in the afternoon to a height of activity. Tourists were jostling through the streets searching for guestrooms and locals were weaving through the dense traffic on mopeds rushing to help out with the preparation for the upcoming festivities. Sure the silent day was not for another two days but plans were in place for the much anticipated evening parade. The festival of Neyepi is all to do with tricking evil spirits away from your home or town. As with Bonfire Night in England some locals construct idols to burn. In England it’s traditionally models of Guy Fawkes. In Bali its huge fiberglass monsters called Ogoh-Ogoh. After settling into our room at Sania’s House we went on a monster hunt. The majority of the Ogoh-Ogoh were being constructed on the football pitch in the centre of Ubud. They all looked good enough to be used as props in some big Hollywood horror movie. A huge ginger wolf, a snarling wild boar and a weird green lizard woman that kind of resembled Tina Turner. Definitely would have given me nightmares as a kid.     
















Ubud had a surprise in stall for our first night when we found out our German friends from Yogyakarta were also in town. Dennis and Mara had set off to Bali a few weeks before we arrived and had already explored the Gili Islands and Lombok. It’s always great to bump into people you have shared experiences with and although it’s unlikely we will see this cool couple again as they only had a few days remaining before heading back home, having a laugh and sharing experiences around a restaurant table seemed like a fitting farewell. We can only hope that our paths cross again someday.

     Bumping into past friends became a growing trend in Ubud as the next morning we heard our Spanish buddy Alberto had rolled into town literally. Alberto was another member of our temple group in Yogyakarta and like Dennis and Mara he had also hightailed it to Bali to hit the surf and explore the island by scooter. Thankfully our room at Sania’s House was large enough to accommodate three people so Alberto joined us in our tourist trap refuge.



This is what rabies does to animals

    The town itself has plenty to distract the typical tourist crowd. Markets selling all kinds of tack from slingshots and sarongs to Bintang lager vests and cock shaped bottle openers. The perfect gifts to airmail home to your loved ones (Hmmm I hope my Dad likes that bottle opener). Art galleries and craft shops also account for most of the shop fronts in town with wood carvings, stone masonry and oil paintings galore. If all this bores you can always chill out in a bar and people watch whilst tucking into some Nasi Goreng or if you’re feeling really adventurous wander along one of the popular walking trails along nearby rivers and rice fields. However we never had time to venture beyond the town limits as it wasn’t long before the much anticipated national holiday of Neyepi kicked off to an energetic start.

The monster mash.........It was a graveyard smash!

 

    Once the sun retreats to end the penultimate day before Neyepi the locals appear for a monster march of impressive proportions. Men, women and children of all ages band together to carry the cumbersome structures along the main street to a nearby temple where the monsters are quite rightly put to the torch and cast out in the prevailing wind. Not since the Hindu festival in Kuala Lumpur had we witness such a cacophony of lights, lyrics, music, and mayhem. On many occasions across Indonesia I have felt a definite divide between the local and tourist population but on this particular evening all the jealousy, naivety to foreign culture, disrespect, stereotypes and resentment vanished as everyone embraced the holiday vibe. If you visit Indonesia during Neyepi. Don’t head to the Muslim regions to avoid silent day, decide instead to stay for the parties just before the big day.

entrance to the cool Balinese home compound known as Sania's House

I know I miss our dog (Zac) and cat (Chester)
but I can always find other creatures to wind up 

     Silent Day was pretty much what was described on the tin. Nobody is allowed to leave their hotel, all public transport (including flights) come to a halt and all the stores are closed. It’s as if the whole island switches to energy saving mode and focusses on the things that matter closer to home. For backpackers and holidaymakers the day offers the chance for people to turn to more traditional forms of entertainment be it reading a book, writing a diary (or notes for a blog post) or having a drink and a game of cards with friends. It does however help if you have a place to stay that offers a little space to manoeuvre alongside a social vibe and we found such a place. Sania’s House is located in the very heart of Ubud just next to the street market. It’s an inexpensive guesthouse set in a stunning traditional Balinese home complex with its own pool. After a month or so of rooms infested with termites and bathrooms with frogs the place seemed like a secluded Garden of Eden. The place was a real find and with three people staying in the room the price dropped to £4 a night, so a stay won’t break the bank.

Great Place to try local cuisine and help others

Located on a quiet corner of the football pitch in the heart of Ubud is the quaint, little café “Sjaki’s Warung”. On the grounds of a local charity run school for developmental disadvantaged kids the café offers a place where the students can practice their English with customers whilst learning how to run a successful eatery. If you’re looking for the best Indo dishes in town look no further and the best thing is that all proceeds go straight back towards funding this great project.

Go on guess which one is Spanish

Unfortunately we never had the chance to venture outside Ubud as by sods law the heavens opened with unrelenting rain the day after Silent Day. Alberto left us to surf in Southern Bali for a few days and Jono and I caught a bus the following morning to the harbour town of Padang Bai. The gateway to Lombok and the Gili Islands.

Medewi Beach: Bali's quiet surf retreat

15th-19th March 2015

Not bad for our first sunset in Bali

    

Heifer on the halfway line

It took us no time at all to find transportation from the ferry terminal at Gilmanuk. Unless you want to explore the nearby national park in Bali’s extreme north-western peninsula there is no real need to hang around. After turning away the usual taxi and bemo touts that lurk around whenever a ferry arrives we soon found a public bus heading to Denpassar, the islands capital. We knew that our intended destination was located halfway down the western coast of the island and any transportation to Denpassar (which there were many) would pass by soon enough. The public busses are pretty small, cramped and resemble knackered VW campervans but are by far the cheapest way to travel to the islands main destinations. It cost us 70,000 IRP for both of us which equates to £3.50 and for that price it was worth losing the blood flow to our legs for 40 minutes.

Medewi is a hell of a catch

     At first glance Medewi didn’t look like much. The small fishing village is strewn with family run convenience shops hugging the main road selling the usual essentials of snacks, water and fuel. Some may offer a few more expertise such as basic vehicle repairs or have even branched out as a sole greasy spoon café but if you wander away from the busy, chaotic mass of trucks, buses and scooters on the main road and head towards the coast what you find is a little bit of real Bali.



What do you mean the rooms double booked!

     This one road surf retreat offers a few accommodation options ranging from a 1,000,000 IRP a night hotel on the coast (a strange place to have an exclusive resort hotel considering most of the visitors are die hard surfers well accustomed to basic digs but the fact that it had no paying customers at the time probably says it all) to basic, family run homestays. Being the budget backpackers we are we were quite content with opting for the homestay. We weren’t planning on spending all day indoors anyway. This was the first time we had been by a beach for a few weeks and we planned to make the most of it.  The twin room we vacated cost 100,000 IRP (£5) per night with breakfast included and the family running the place were incredibly welcoming and even offered to drive us to the nearest ATM (5km away) if we ever needed it.

   

To say that the beach is a little rocky is an understatement

Right Ross you can do this

  If you’re the sort of person who gets bored easily the only option you have to beat the chilled out vibe is to grab a board and hit the surf. After my short three hour class on the steady sloping, white sand beach at Pangandaran I was full of confidence and grabbed a long board which resembled a kayak more than surf board, while Jono longed to be in there with the best of them and picked the shortest board he felt he could stand on comfortably. The swell wasn’t the greatest and we had to show a little patience waiting for the right wave.


Whoa!



SHIIIIIITTTTT! (Actually looks pretty badass) 

Sometimes hanging around admiring the stunning coastline with the quintessentially Asian panorama of rice fields and buffalo’s in coastal valleys loomed over by great volcanic peaks for ten to twenty minutes at a time but we managed to catch a couple of waves at least. Medewi isn’t the most beginner friendly place for surfing and although locals are happy to offer their service as instructors for a little cash I’m certain there are better places along the coast. When we visited the good surf is narrow and you have to fight your way through other, more experienced surfers to make the most of it. Added to this large rocks with razor sharp barnacles dominates the black sand coast and its’ very easy for someone as inexperienced as myself to end up back first on the volcanic strata. If you do visit make sure you hire some of the boots to protect the sole of your feet when the wading back to shore. We ignored this the first day and hobbled around like two old guys for the remainder of our stay.

    

Anyone heading to Australia?

I wish I could say more about our stay in Medewi but I cannot. We had a great time surfing, avoiding involuntary laceration, chilling out in the late afternoon with a cheap bottle of Bintang, watching the sun setting behind the distant hills whilst the local fishermen bring in the days catch. As our friendly Australian neighbor who has visited Medewi over the last twenty five years explained “If you’re the sort of person who enjoys giving your hard earned cash to luxury chain hotels owned by foreign billionaires c***s with a walled compound ensuring you have no contact with the local population then Medewi is probably not for you. If however you want to see one of the few parts of Bali that hasn’t yet been discovered by the tourist hoards then you will love it”.  

Banyuwangi: trekking through fire & brimstone

 

 13th – 15th March 2015



The quiet village near Kampung Osing Inn

Come on guys. Hi Ho, Hi Ho its off to work we go!

How glad we were to finally be boarding a train again. The coaches and minibuses of Indonesia had really started to get old. Sure you see some funny people and awesome landscapes along the way but for anyone over four foot tall the prospect of having to spend whole days crunched up in the fetal position in a vehicle driven by a suicidal child takes its toll after a while. The last train we had caught was from Ayutthaya to Bangkok and after almost three months it felt like catching up with an old friend.



Jono doing his impression of Queen in Bohemian Rhapsody

    Since we first set our sights on this trip it had been our intention to trek a volcano and in Java there were plenty to choose from. Should we stay in Yogyakarta and hike Mt Merapi, head East to Mt Bromo or even further East to Mt Ijen? In the end we opted for the latter.



Dude was that you who farted?

     It took around thirteen hours for our economy train to reach the coastal town of Banyuwangi. It wasn’t the most spacious of carriages but at £2.50 a ticket you can’t complain. As with the buses it was still slow going but at least you’re able to wander around, grab some food from the restaurant cart or just sit down and people watch while listening to Indonesian commuters play acoustic guitars and cover great tracks in Chinglish.

liquid sulphur

    We arrived in Banyuwangi at around 21:00 and followed the advice of Tom (fellow overlander we met in Jakarta) and headed to the nearby “Kampung Osing Inn” for a room. If you’re only planning on stopping one night for the volcano Kampung Osing is the perfect place to base yourself. This super cheap family run guesthouse has really basic rooms with shared bathrooms and offers a free breakfast of banana pancakes. If the pancakes don’t convince you then its location in a sleepy village outside the bustling town surrounded by rice fields will. We grabbed a bemo to our new guesthouse with Dutch girls Milou and Cilie who we had originally met in Yogyakarta but had bumped into again on the train. They had chosen to trek Mt Bromo and travel to Banyuwangi all in one day. It makes for a knackering day but it does mean you press on towards Bali in one large jump. As it was late in the day and we had no urgent timeframe Jono and I decided to have a lazy day in the village before attempting the climb up Mt Ijen.

Stunning view of the chloride lake

The hills are alive with the smell of eggs!

    Our group set off from the guesthouse at 1am the following morning and arrived at the trail entrance an hour later. Our guides provided head torches as it was naturally pretty dark when we started the steep climb all the way to the crater edge. The guides take it steady so despite the constant gradient the walk is pretty easy. Every now and then our group would have to make way for one of the many sulpur miners carrying incredible loads on their shoulders. These guys are some of the worst paid workers in the world and considering the effort it takes and the everyday risks to return home with 900 rupiah

The miners below

per kilogram (4p) of the mustard yellow resource is a clear case of human exploitation. To ensure they return home with enough cash to survive these super humans carry on average 90kg per load rain or shine, day in day out, traversing thin mountain trails strewn with loose boulders, steep ravines and toxic fumes. Even their equipment is limited to a bamboo basket, coat, jeans, flip flops and a pack of smokes. I guess when you have to put up with sulphur monoxide fumes having the odd cigarette must be like grabbing a breath of fresh air.

Totally worth the effort



The lifeless forest. well apart from the monkeys

No this is not an optical illusion. Just two sets of twins.

    Being foreign pansies our guide was kind enough to provide us with gas masks to block out the worst of the sulfurous atmosphere and after trekking down to the crater base to see a sulphur mine in action it was not long before we had to backtrack to the crater rim for the sunrise and a spectacular view of the chloride lake. We were extremely lucky to have a clear morning during the rainy season and as the morning sun crept over an adjacent peak its warming rays slowly illuminated the turquoise acidic water, peeled back the dense layer of sulphuric fog and allowed us to overlook the workers beavering about the mustard tinged strata. An everyday scene for the families working here but for a couple of shire folk (Northamptonshire folk) it was an image forever etched into our memory. 

Banyuwangi is a convenient pit stop for most travelers in the region not just for the volcano but also because the town is home to a ferry terminal linking Java to Bali and after a quick breakfast, a taxi ride and a 40p car ferry had made landfall in Bali.

Visas and vistas in Java’s historic hub

7th - 13th March 2015

We were a little upset about leaving Pangandaran as we could have quite happily chilled out there for a fortnight but as usual it seemed no sooner we unpack it’s time to bundle our belonging again. Once again our outbound mode of transportation was a cramped minibus but at least the seven hour journey was bearable.

queuing at the Kraton

    It was mid-afternoon by the time we reached the hostel area of Java’s city of culture and history, Yogyakarta (also spelt Jogjakarta). Finding some overnight digs is straight forward enough as there are three pedestrian alleyways (conveniently signposted as gangs 1, 2 and 3) opposite the central railway station. Each gang offers a number of guest homes, restaurants and other useful services so there is no real need to venture long distances, unless you want to. We booked a room at “Setia Kawan Losmen Guesthouse” opposite the popular “Andrea Hotel”. Setia Kawan was comfortable enough and for a reasonable price of Rp 100,000 our stay included free breakfast, en-suite bathroom and A/C.



It's lavish for Indonesia at least

     We decided to wander the streets on our first full day and headed toward the “Kraton” area. The Kraton makes up the very central district of the city and is home to the palace grounds. The grounds are a good way to kill an hour although if you visit expecting grand and expensive artifacts it may be a little disappointing. Many of the exhibits seem to showcase the royal families “incredibly fascinating” collection of tea pots, coffee mugs, cameras and other everyday items. Don’t miss the cutlery, frying pan and spatula exhibit you’ll only regret it. If you have not seen a shadow puppet show before the palace contains a nice seating area to highlight this important ancient form of entertainment although it is better to visit in the evening to experience the show in all its splendor.

 

     To see the best that Yogyakarta has to offer you have to venture outside the city. Java’s most popular attraction Borobodur temple is around an hour’s drive away and the best tours leave early at around 4am to capture the sunrise over the temple from a nearby vantage point before visiting the temple proper and then returning to Yogyakarta to visit another popular temple Prambanan. We booked the tour at the main tourist information centre with some friends from Pangandaran and prepared for the early morning wake up call.

sunrise view

A local minibus driver picked us up bright and early and headed to the vantage point. Sadly our efforts went unrewarded as fog and cloud cover obscured the sunrise (it is the rainy season so it was always going to be a long shot), however it did highlight another type of tourist that without fail offers a comical spectacle. I’m talking about the “TRIPOD TRAVELLERS”. Despite it being obvious from the outset that opportunities of photographic bliss would be limited, these idiots still jostle, push, fight and distract their way to what they believe is the perfect spot for panoramic photographs.

Tri-plodders fighting for that perfect foggy view

In fact some of the more experienced “Tri-plodders” seem to have spent so much time standing next to their beloved camera stands they begin to resemble the cumbersome items. Many carry one of those hiking sticks with a handle which allows them to turn the stick into a seat. Ironically as they sit there with a branch shoved firmly up their bottoms they fail to realise that as they now have three legs and should have just taped the camera to their head instead and saved themselves a few hundred queens’ heads.

Bruvs on Borobodur

     Borobodur was a much nicer experience and although it’s fair to say we have visited so many temples in the last few months few live up to the spectacle of the Khmer temples of Cambodia, Borobodur was a real surprise. After climbing the many steps to the top visitors are presented with a collection of small domes containing stone idols. The temple itself sits in a valley surrounded by sleeping active volcanoes in every direction. It’s easy to see why people see the area as a special religious sight.

what a view!



PLAYER!

    



You can see why faith is important here

 Talking of religion and spirituality, unusually the peaceful serenity atop the temple was disturbed by the incessant chanting of what I at first believed to be a school of monks. It was only when they crept into eyeshot that it became apparent most of the howlers were western tourist who had obviously paid money to be involved in some journey towards spirituality. Now it’s important to say at this point that I consider myself an atheist and although I accept many people use religion to achieve great things there are aspects of it that are quite hilarious and this was one such example. Stereotypes are sometimes a bad thing but on this occasion it was hard to ignore the demographic of the people paying good money for this sponsored groan-athon. At first glance no similarities existed. It was a mixture of men and women of different ages and ethnicities. However almost all had dreadlocks, silk trousers, hemp shirts or the dreaded top knot. After travelling Asia for six months we have met many people who fit this category and I can safely say that the only reason these people persevere with looking like an utter imbecile is so they can head back to the hostel and boast about how spiritually cleansed they feel. That’s all well and good but I think the only thing that’s been truly cleansed is their damn bank account. No wonder the monk had a smile on his face because essentially his found a way to make money by doing very little. 

     

Where's Jono gone?

The group of twenty or so tourist followed the monk in slow precession circling the temple before climbing to the first level where they would circle the temple again and so on all the way to the summit. Always moaning inaudible notes and waving their hands in a way that resembled the Macarena. The ones nearest the monk at the front always looked keener than the stragglers who judging by their faces had finally realised they could have done the same thing for free without forking out $50. They say there’s one born every minute but it’s not every day you get a group of them at the same place (unless you visit Old Trafford at a weekend).

A gaggle of morons

    Our third and final stop was at Prambanan temple and after Borobodur it was a little bit of an anti-climax. The sight was a pretty much an undamaged replica of the ruined temples we saw in Thailand in Ayutthaya, except it lacked any real character. If you haven’t seen an Asian temple before try to visit this one before Borobodur and you’ll see what I mean. Sure the carvings are exquisite but the temple itself felt dingy, smelt of urine and offers limited photographic opportunities unless you like the sight of Yogyakarta in the background. All was not lost though because we got to see our minibus driver have an argument with another passenger after they realised they had paid more than us for entry. They got their money back in the end and our pissed off driver was kind enough to give us an aggressive drive back to our guesthouse.

Prambanan

    If you visit Yogyakarta you have to try the temple day tour. On our occasion we didn’t get a good sunrise but that’s the way it goes sometimes and in many ways Borobodur makes up for the tours faults.

The carefully carved spires are impressive

Travelling Tips at the temples

·         The minibus drivers will try to sell you entrance tickets before entering the temples. Just kindly decline and buy a ticket at the appropriate desk. The drivers buy the tickets themselves to sell on at a slightly inflated price.

·         It is possible to buy a combo ticket for both temples although it’s not clearly advertised at the desk (The signs only show adult and child prices for one temple). If you request the combination ticket the women at the ticket desk will know what you mean and you can save a little money.

·         Visitor with student cards pay 50% less. Just try with a driving license, who knows you may get lucky.



Traditional Go-cart track at Prambanan



     I would like to say that we visited more sights on our 6 day visit but unfortunately for us we had an administrative barrier to cross in the form of a visa extension. Unlike Malaysia and Singapore visitors from the UK and other countries can only obtain an initial 30 day visa on entry unless they apply for the two month visa from their home country. Obviously we haven’t been home for a while so were therefore stuck with the initial 30 days. This visa can be extended for an additional 30 days if you need longer and we sure needed more time to get to Bali and Lombok to search for a final boat.

     Many people apply and obtain the Indonesian visa extension however sometimes the procedures can be a little confusing and advice online is limited so here is a quick guide on obtaining an extension in Yogyakarta (other immigration offices may vary in speed and professionalism). It took three long days but we finally had our visa and were ready to continue through Java towards Bali.

Surfs Up in Pangandaran

4th - 7th February 2015

     It was another full day by bus to the coastal town of Pandandaran and once again the road was hard going and pot hole ridden. The bus was extremely cheap and basic. No A/C or W/C but there were tinted windows thanks to the dense cloud of cigarette smoke but a little discomfort was worth suffering to get to the beach.

 

Bamboo Beach Café



The J Dog

We quickly found lodgings at the “Bamboo House”. A small guesthouse run by locals with a range of rooms with fan or A/C and en-suite. The lady running the place was always keen to offer advice on local tours and the best local hangouts.

The last light of the day was dying and we hadn’t had a good meal all day so we decided to wander around. Pandandaran isn’t a large place and you can get around quite easily on foot although you will be pestered by the rickshaw drivers. As we strolled about the first thing we noticed was just how low lying the land was to the extent where many of the homes close to paddy fields lay submerged in a few foot of water. In fact the number of tsunami warning signs was enough to convince us that the local folk were well used to living with the scornful side of Mother Nature.

We grabbed a beer at the “Bamboo Beach Café” which unsurprisingly was established by the son of our guesthouse owner. With a prime viewpoint of the stunning coastline “Bamboo Café” is a popular spot for foreign travelers thanks to its friendly and chilled atmosphere and top notch cuisine. When we were told they provided the best food in town we thought that was just advertising spiel but it made the dishes we ate in Jakarta seem like a Little Chef meal.


Pangandaran Beach

     The draw of Pangandaran was mostly due to the town’s reputation for good surf and it didn’t take long for us to find a local instructor. Joe spends a lot of his time around the Bamboo Café and after showing us some past reviews we decided to arrange a surf lesson for the following morning. Jono had surfed before in New Zealand and the UK but it was my first time and I was a little nervous. Probably because I had not exercised in months other than lifting a pint to my mouth.

     We got up bright and early in preparation for our class. Joe was a pretty chilled out guy and took his time in ensuring we knew all the basics which as far as I could gather were line your board up straight, when you see a good wave paddle like hell and try to stand up. Now I have pissed about body boarding as a kid before and more recently been on a few snowboarding trips and any of my friends and family will confirm that I have piss poor balance, but after a few attempts with the long board even I managed to stand up be it for a whole two seconds. Jono opted for the hard board and naturally took to it like a pro. He says he joined our class to give me moral support but I think he really wanted to show me up. The setting on Pangandaran beach is a scene fit for a postcard, with the nearby national park peninsula blanketed in a jungle canopy to the east and the curved bay populated with ever growing breakers and the distinct distant silhouettes of nearby strato-volcanoes to the west.


Jonah

 

We were quite content with spending a few days close to the beach, surfing in the morning and afternoon but there are other sights that draw people to the south west Java shore. The National Park located just outside town can be access by foot or by boat and is supposed to contain a few caves and enough jungle for a small trek. The downside is that according to the locals the wildlife is limited mostly monkeys that harass visitors for food. We have visited similar coastal spots in the past like Monkey Beach near Penang, Malaysia so this didn’t really offer enough to drag us away from the sand.

If you’re willing to venture further afield then most guesthouses and hotels in towns offer tours to “The Green Canyon” and “Green Valley” where visitor can trek, climb and tube their way along the turquoise river waters and steep cliffs and caves. Many people we met had opted for a day trip and considered it a highlight of Indonesia but for once we were quite content with giving the day tours a miss and soaking up the sun instead. No matter how long you travel sometimes you have to accept you cannot see or do everything.


A traditional fishing boat

In many ways we were sad to leave Pangandaran after three nights and could have quite happily stayed a week or two. Sadly we had wave Joe and the Bamboo House goodbye and head to Yogyakarta to sort out our visa extension. Boring I know but without it we have no chance of finding a boat in Bali.