Saturday 12Sep’09. To Dieng Plateau. From Borobudur, take a bus at the terminal to Magelang (10,000 Rp) which stops at Muntilan for a pick-up. At Magelang, take a bus (14,000 Rp) to Wonosobo. This drops you off at the Wonosobo terminal, just outside of town. Join the crowd taking the bemo to town (2,000 Rp) and you’ll get dropped where the minibuses to Dieng are. The Dieng buses pack up the passengers before moving off (8,000 Rp).
The bus drops you off at the T-junction in Dieng, just off Hotel Bu Juno (where we stayed). Food is pretty good, the menu is decent enough at the hotel restaurant. Bring some warm clothing, or buy them at the shop across the road. At 2095m, Dieng is no joke. Here is Sep, the early morning temperature is 14degrees. In July or Aug, it can go as low as a few degrees. If you take the motorbike tour around, wear a windbreaker and cover up. Otherwise be prepared to shiver throughout as you ride into the cold air.
The sights themselves are fantastic. Of note is the summit, at 2300m, dawn to catch the sunrise. Arjuna complex is made up of 5 Hindu temple ruins. Where there used to be over 200, now only 5 remains in the complex. It was surreal, because ducks, geese and sheep came out to graze with their handlers and cut through the temple ruins while we were there. The grounds itself is very well kept. Kawah Sikidang (Deer crater) is a boiling sulphuric pool, so named because the location of the boiling pool changes over three possible spots in the area, like a deer hopping from place to place. Then there is the Telaga Warna (coloured lake), in which we could see clear turquoise water with tiers of farming landscape in the background. The other candi visited was Candi Bima, a standalone temple in which walking around clockwise 7 times supposedly brings good luck.
From the Bu Jono hotel, Pak Didik arranges motorbike tours around the area. A dawn sunrise summit is 50,000Rp, including the nearby sites would be 100,000Rp, and going out further to see everything would be 150,000 Rp. Come back to the hotel by lunch and take the public bus back out. Or take the tour bus at 12.30pm (70,000 Rp) direct to Yogyakarta.
Fri Sep11’09. Current prices are 575,000 Rp for a room with double bed (625,000 Rp for twin beds). Since Manohara’s back gate leads straight into Borobudur, you get unlimited entries into the temple grounds. Otherwise it is 11 USD per entry. Special sunrise entries 230,000 Rp can be booked from the Manohara hotel reception.
Candi Mendut is famous for a Buddha seated not cross-legged but with legs unfolded and feet touching the ground. The murals around the Candi depicts animal stories where the animals show selfishness, greed etc.
Pilgrims to Borobudur back then circle each of the 7 tiers clockwise twice (total around 5km). Borobudur has 4 tiers depicting normal life. The 1st tier tells the story of Buddha, the second I think tells of stories of animal reincarnations of Buddha. After the 4th tier, the 5th opens up into Nirvana, no longer squares and angular, but circular, with three tiers and a total of 72 Buddhas each covered by a dome. The final biggest stupa at the top is empty. Emptiness is perfection, maybe, no one knows the reason. Get a guide to explain the murals, or go and watch the audio visual at the Manohara for 5,000 Rp.
Thurs 10/09/09. Ok. This is as live a post as can be. I am in the Princess Manohara hotel just outside the Borobudur temple grounds.
Started off from Sg and flew into the local airport. 4th time in Indonesia this year. After Bali, Sumba, Flores, Banda Aceh, Bandung, and now Yogyakarta. 2009 is Visit Indonesia Year for me. It’s pretty relaxed so far. From the airport we cabbed (50,000Rp) to the Jimbor bus terminal. Took a 1.5hr bus (15,000 Rp) from there with a stopover at Muntilan before reaching Borobudur.
Next: More on borobudur. I’ve to go and see more now. š
Ubud is a dead town today, no one on the streets. I had stocked up on instant noodles, more food and water. I intend to spend the entire day writing out these entries and sorting out my pics.
Night time, and I cant get wifi from my room, so im in the lobby, in complete darkness fiddling with my laptop. Itās pretty epic. Except for the mosquitos.
Day 14. Woke up in the morning and made my way to monkey forest, I was alone with LOTs of monkeys, should they attack or something, I wont know what to doā¦took a ride down to the airport. Flight and I was seated beside this indo dude who was a waiter from ritz carlton in bali moving over to work in some new hotel capela in sentosa.
End of trip. In 2 days time, iām off to Mulu Caves in Sarawak. Donāt think iāll have the patience to write everything, just refer to this link for pics. =)
Nothing much happened today, as with all airport days. The stated flight was 11.45. Met a retiree Singaporean whose passion was photography, an Abd Hasan. Amazingly, there is another Singaporean traveler in these area. He had been in Timor and traveled on to Maumere, before visiting Larantuka, which I skipped. Had a bit of a chat over breakfast.
As usual, the local flights were delayed. I got used to it and the waiting time in the airport waiting area is the norm. This time the 11.45am plane departed at 4pm. Hung around with a Dutch guy. There was this New Zealander who was investing in funds in ventures in Indonesia like mines etc. Sounds intere. Was deciding whether to stay in Kuta, or Ubud, or simply just go back to Singapore and buy a new ticket, forfeiting my AirAsia one. Decided to go to Ubud, since itās a one hour drive, I should have time to get back to airport on 27th for the 12pm flight. And since tomorrow is Nyepi, there is zilch to do in town. On the airport taxi 200000Rp journey, noticed that most of the shops are already close. The people were dressed and people were popping the bamboo cane things that sounded like fireworks going off.
I decided to stay somewhere nice since Iāll be more or less stuck in the hotel. Adi Bungalows (30USD) along Monkey Forest Road looks ok, so that was it. My first hot shower in almost two weeks, but the deal clincher was free wi-fi.
Todayās program was two more dives, plus a stop off at Rinca (another 250000Rp). It was good, because chartering a separate boat would cost more, and this way iād get two more dives. We decided to dive first, so that I can get at least some time (24 hours no flight rule). Todayās group was Nicklas and Inggar, an father & son team whose names I didnāt get, plus a lost french guy Francois. He was supposed to be on some other boat I think.
Missed my breakfast again, those guys at Gardena really take forever to prepare breakfast, and I wasnāt willing to wake up an hour earlier.
Today was at Tatawa Besar, an island with steep drop offs of up to 70m. It was a good drift dive, mostly soft corals, lots of micro life. Dominique was the master of spotting nudibranches and small stuff like monkey crabs. I saw what I thought was an octopus, but the photo came out bad. It was in a hole, with big eyes and changed to from grey to black when it sensed I was threatening.
Second dive was on Tengah Island, which was a multi-level wall dive on the blindside of the strong currents. Here was moray eels, more nudibranches. The dives were long too. I had my buoyancy sorted and my air lasted much longer than before.
After lunch on the boat, proceeded to make a stopover at Rinca. Since we already had the 3 day pass to Komodo National Park, we didnāt have to pay extra. The 1hr guided track was included. A 2hr trek will be 50,000 Rp more. We (me and the Swedish couple) took the 1hr trek, while the rest went on the small boat to dive. Around the office area, especially under the stilt-housed kitchen, were 4 komodos, strutting around, attracted to the food. The largest was lazing right underneath, they called him Big Boss. Haha. Guide Dacosta says that we will go on the trail, but he cannot promise us we will see the komodos along the way, in their natural surroundings. The afternoon walk itself (2pm) was a hot sweaty trudge through dry grassy terrain and muddy streams. We saw 11 komodos in total, 6 at the campsite, and 5 in the while. Including one close up of a little komodo going for a drink by the stream. Other sights were a water buffalo, deer carcass where a komodo had just finished lunch. Basically the komodo dragon is king here, everything else (water buffalos, deers, wild horses, monkeys) is komodo food. There was some news about a local guy who was bitten by a komodo on Komodo Island while picking fruit and died. I heard a similar tale while in Bajawa where someone mentioned two weeks ago some other guy got bitten. Donāt know how true these stories are, could be the same 1 dragon which has developed a taste for human meat.
Going back, there was an incident where the boat ran into a coral atoll. They stopped when they saw it, but the momentum meant the boat landed smack in the middle of a shallow <5m spot. Stuck, because moving would mean the propellers getting damaged. Attempts to start the boat resulted in lots of silt being thrown up. Luckily, the small boat they took out for those other guys to dive while we visited Rinca came in handy. They used in as a tugboat, pulling the Rajawali sideways till it was out of the corals. Luckily it was mostly dead hard corals there. āCelakaā goes Dominique, at the misfortune. Haha.
Today we set off at 8am, Martin cancelled his dive so it was just me, Lisa, a swedish couple and the DiveKomodo guys. Gregās an Australian who owns the place with his partner Stephanie, whoās Swiss.
Two dives today, first was at Takat Makasar, and the second was at Batu Bolong. Komodo National Park is a protected area (US$15 for a 3 day pass) which means the underwater life is allowed to grow. And thereās like only 4 or so dive companies operating out of Labuanbajo. The Rajawali (translated it means kingfisher) is a fine boat operated by local guys. The DM is an experience Dominique, with his assistant Franz. It was a two hour or so ride out to the dive sites. First dive was a reef dive, visibility was great, saw a white-tip reef shark, an eagle ray, turtle, morays amongst other things. The Swedes had an eagle ray circling them round and round! Second dive was a wall dive, considered one of the top 3 dive sites in Komodo NP. Schools of fusiliers, a giant trevally, lots of lionfish. I think this dive ranks somewhere around Shark Point or better. Lunch was on board, rice and fish. Itās a pretty professional outfit, they have guys who help to rig up your gear etc.
In the evening, had somemore internet time, dinner. Didnāt feel like joining them for drinks, having a bit of a headache. Decided to go for 2 more dives tomorrow, including a stop at Rinca or Komodo.
I spent most of today in the 4WD, trying not to puke my guts out. The road winds round and round the valleys, hills and coasts. The idea was to cover Bajawa ā Ruteng ā Labuanbajo, which in most itineraries, would take 2 days. This way Iād save one extra day to base myself in Labuanbajo. However by doing this, I miss the Soa hot springs and Wawo Muda, a series of yellow mini-lakes over the landscape, creating around 2000-ish when some volcano exploded.
Set off at around 7.30am, along the way to Ruteng, passed by more highland area, cool morning and more flowers. Stopped for a short while to catch a birdās eye view of Lake Ranamese, which is 20m down below, just off the main road. Somehow, the landmark on the road is a brick wall. Look behind the wall and you see the lake. Weird.
Stopped for lunch in Ruteng, another town set in the hills. This is in the Manggarai region, the ikat worn is not so fanciful. The architecture is interesting, bamboo criss-crossed a la ketupat make up the walls, covered by zinc thatched roofs, seen on all the houses by the road. Nasi Padang again for lunch.
After lunch, made the long way down from Ruteng to Labuanbajo. The road here is pretty bad, with potholes and gravel. On the way, stopped at Cancar Village (10,000 Rp donation fee), which is basically a point up a slope overlooking the padi fields below. The interesting bit is that the padi fields take the shape of a giant spider web, all pointing towards a center point. Took some shots, then off we go again.
Reached Labuanbajo at around 4pm. This place looked fantastic from afar, the bay itself with views of the nearby islands and boats docked at the pier. I booked a place at Gardena Hotel, on the main beach road parallel to the sea, cheap rooms were full so I took a 125000 Rp room. Itās a bit of a culture shock, for the last 9 or so days, there were hardly any tourists, and now everywhere you turn are tourists who had just got off two boats from Lombok. Dumped my stuff, went downstairs, again some fellow tried to talk me into a two day package to Komodo and Rinca, waved it off and decided to look for myself around town.
There were a bunch of dive shops here, some things to get done. First I confirmed my flight with TransNusa on the 25th, there were two angmohs, Martin and Alisa who had got off the Lombok boat and booked a dive trip out tomorrow with Dive Komodo. I decided to join up as well. It was 800000Rp for 2 dives, plus a 225000Rp entrance fee for Komodo National Park. Next I had to get some cash from the ATM, a 1km walk down the road. Spending quite a bit now, thereās still 2 days and 2 nights out in Bali to consider.
Came back, sat around for a bit with Martin, whoās english and has a bar in mallorca, and lisa, who works to set up programs with some NGO. Had dinner with them, some hot plate, but I still prefered Padang, , then went off to get my first Internet fix in 9 days. It was near the BNI ATM, up above the Pagi department store, on the third floor. The speed is atrocious, after an hour (5000Rp, I got to read some emails, itās too slow for the reply email to load, so I gave up. Went back to room bought a Martabak special tried to sleep early.
The dates are there to remind myself when we are, I am losing track. Early at 4.30am, we set off to the base of the Kelimutu lake, a 13.5 km drive uphill. Once we reached the base, up I went in the dark, till we reached a signpost. It said Danger, so I went to see what was behind it. I scampered up the hill, and came up on the lip of the first lake Ata Polo. I didnāt realise how dangerous it was to be there till the sun came up much later. Ata Polo is dirty green, legend has it that itās the lake where the souls of wicked people end up. Over in the background I could see the turquoise lake of Nua Muri Koo Fai, the place where young people go to. This one looked like the water off the movie The Beach, and was by far the most impressive. I carried on up, following the proper path this time round, till I reached the viewing point at the top. It was a 360 degree view, the two lakes on one side, and the third when I turned around. This is the Ata Mbupu lake, which is black or brown, I canāt really tell from far; and itās supposed to be where the wise and old end up. After a few hundred shots from up there, I made my way down. Itās probably the main highlight of Flores, a natural wonder not seen anywhere in the world.
(20000Rp per foreigner, 2500 Rp per local, 6000 Rp for vehicle fee).
From Moni, off we went to Ende for lunch, there was something wrong with the left wheel and Leo had to go to some Toko Fernando to get it fixed (450,000Rp!!). Ende is Lio country, about 2 hours away from Moni.
We stopped at PengajawaBeach on the way,one with many multi-hued pebbles of different shapes and sizes. They are picked and sold as decorative stones.
Late in the afternoon, at around 4pm, we reached Bena, a traditional Ngada village with two rows of huts. After the customary donation (5000Rp), I proceeded to walk around the village. Pairs of umbrella shaped mini structures and small square thatched huts were found in the middle of the village, representing the mail and the female respectively. Itās a bit of a showpiece village, sitting under the shadow on Mount Inerie (2200m), but the villagers left me alone.
Reached Bajawa, 1100m above see level. It is cool and I stayed at hotel Korina (150000Rp for a room with spring mattress and 10 channels on the tv. Walked around town, its a very nice place which is actually good to base yourself for a few days and explore the surrounding area. The locals themselves are very Melanesian looking, with brown curly hair. The women walk around with their ikats covering them from top to toe, to keep themselves warm from the cold.
Today was pretty packed. Since I had my own 4WD and driver, we managed to cover a lot more ground in one day. I got up early morning at 6am. Rented snorkels and went down into the water. Itās just sea grass all around until I went deeper, or at the dead trees. Saw schools of wrasse, a starfish, a sea snake. It was a nice enough place to snorkel around. Plus it was a good chance to re-familiarise myself with underwater breathing. I get panic attacks on the first dive after not diving for too long, especially if the waters are rough.
Next, set off at around 8am and headed towards the nearby Muslim Bugis village. Village on stilts, overlooking the sea on both sides. Hiro said the Bugis people are gypsies who move from place to place. Lame, because the village looks like it hadnāt move for the last 50 years. Haha. Took nice shots, spent like 20 minutes at one home, chatting with the homeowners, about malaysians who stayed over in their village and went out fishing into the sea with them. Also of 6 Koreans who fell into the water after the bamboo stilts to the houses broke. Epic shot is of the homeās little kid wearing a tudung just for the photo. Sweet. Walked around the entire village, they actually have a couple of āladyboysā in sarongs here. Wow. Also, I realised I have many almost perfect shots, spoilt because my finger happened to be part of the photo. =/
Next we went down to the big market, 3000 Rp for a pile of small fish, 10000 for a manta (or a giant stingray, who knows) or 25000 for a whole tuna. The tunas get shipped to Bali where they go on sale. Drying cocoa beans, tomatos, ginger and lots of other stuff, though most of it can be found in singapore. Think this side trip is for Hiro to buy bananas =P.
Dropped off Hiro and headed off with the driver, Leodera I think. I canāt get his name till now still. We went down to Ledalero, where St. Paulus is a Roman Catholic seminary to train young priests. There is a fantastic museum here with ancient pots, fossils, maps, photos from Nusa Tenggara and more. The museum guide was pretty helpful too. Iām going to list down the interesting exhibits here, otherwise I will have forgotten what the pics I took were about. First you have Stegadon bones found in Olabula, then there is a layout of a Portugese fort in Solor. The next pic is of the language. In west Flores, the languages speak as such: Kepala Kuda, which means horseās head. In east Flores however, its the other way round, their language says head horse instead. Next is a map of Flores with a snake coiled around it. Previously, Flores was called Nusa Nipa, which is snake island. The other words are various languages used in Flores to say snake island. This next one is the last king of Maumere (1954), presumably the Sikka region. Next one is nice, it basically shows all the regions of Flores, Timor and Sumba and the different patterns and styles of ikat that they use. The next one is of one incident in the 1600s involving some pretty portugese woman who everyone wanted. I canāt recall what happened, but the locals ended up wiping out all the portugese in Fort Joao Dos Santos in the end. Then there is also the drawings of human sacrifices that used to take place to ask for a good harvest. Now, they switched it with sacrifice of animals. Next shot is of Papua penis sticks. Walked around the seminary a bit before heading for Paga Beach for lunch.
Itās a quiet stop at the beach, simple lunch of rice and fish. I walked down the beach, no one else there except some anold guy with maybe his grandchildren who stays by the beach. Talked to them a bit, then tried to pick up some pebbles. The waves were really big, fella said they could go up to 2m further down the coast. The current could easily drag me into the water. I tried to be smart and stand on a big rock when the water came it, except the wave was so big that the entire rock flipped and landed on my foot. It started bleeding and now, late at night, its swollen. I hope it gets better, I canāt wear my sandals properly with the swelling. I got two stupid pebbles for that.
Next headed straight into Moni, stayed at the centre of the village, Watugana Bungalows. (75000Rp). Itās nice with a big room, except they have yellow lights which make the room darker than it should be. I dumped my stuff and went to look around Moni. Moni is a lovely village, sent inside a valley. The Maumere road leading to it cuts through the padi fields with mountain ranges on either side. It is probably off season, I seem to be the only tourist there. Asked around for the waterfall, went there, maybe it was the afternoon mist, but it looked like a scene out of some fairy tale, didnāt feel like getting wet again though. I couldnāt find the mata air panas, the hot springs where the villages mandi, and there was a trail head so I just followed that hoping to find it. I looped around the valley, went south, east then north before coming out on the Maumere-Moni road.I had a pleasant time through this entire hike along the trails, stopping to talk with the locals, including an auntie from the kampung down the road, an Aminah Moe whose surname came about cos her dadās chinese, and a lady who worked as a maid in KL and later went to Ipoh to visit her friend. Learnt the 1992 earthquake knocked down all the bamboo houses here from her too. This last one took too long and it was dark when I reached the same waterfall and tried to look for the darn hot springs. Took out the torch, tried bashing upriver, thought that it wasnāt such a good idea, turned back. Tomorrow morning iāll just get driver guy to stop me there on the way. Apparently theres a nicer hot springs 3km away from Moni village that thevillagers kept offering to take me to. Had dinner next at some random stall with Bakso sign. It seemed to be the only eatery where there were people. It serves the locals, only Bakso and Gado-gado were available. I opted for the Gado Gado, which was way too much vege for a carnivore like me. Bean sprouts and some dark green leaf thingy (5000 Rp) left me neither very full nor satisfied. And the locals speak to themselves in theEnde/Lio dialect so I couldnāt understand squat. Reached back to room and found my triumph card, a pack of kueh I bought from the market earlier today had gone bad, cos of the coconut. So now here I am, typing this last bit, feeling hungry. I got lousy local chips but those make my throat dry. Iāll just sleep it off, tomorrowās wake up call is at 4am, for the morning sunrise at Moni. Looking forward to it.
Useful piece of gear ā Alcohol swabs and antiseptic cream, cos I was dumb enough to let a giant rock roll over my foot. Underwater camera casing =)
, then went off to get my first Internet fix in 9 days. It was near the BNI ATM, up above the Pagi department store, on the third floor. The speed is atrocious, after an hour (5000Rp, I got to read some emails, itās too slow for the reply email to load, so I gave up. Went back to room bought a Martabak special tried to sleep early.
