Map, Journey and Costs

Note: prices are for 2 adults with baggage

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From	To	Mode	Duration	Cost
🇵🇭 El Nido	🇵🇭 El Nido Transport Terminal	Taxi	00:10	£1.35
🇵🇭 El Nido Transport Terminal	🇵🇭 Puerto Princesa International Airport	Minibus	05:15	£20.03
🇵🇭 Puerto Princesa International Airport	🇵🇭 Manila International Airport	Plane	01:04	£146.88
🇵🇭 Manila International Airport	🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Plane	03:30	£103.99
🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur International Airport	🇲🇾 OYO Night Queen	Taxi	00:24	£5.44
🇲🇾 OYO Night Queen	🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Taxi	00:18	£5.44
🇲🇾 Kuala Lumpur International Airport	🇮🇩 Yogyakarta International Airport	Plane	02:05	£149.12
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta International Airport	🇮🇩 Good Karma Hostel, Yogyakarta	Taxi	01:30	£9.10
🇮🇩 Good Karma Hostel, Yogyakarta	🇮🇩 Yogyakarta Train Station	Taxi	00:24	£2.11
🇮🇩 Yogyakarta Train Station	🇮🇩 Surabaya Gubeng Train Station	Train	03:58	£24.27
🇮🇩 Surabaya Gubeng Train Station	🇮🇩 Pintu Masuk Stasiun Surabaya Kota	Taxi	00:17	£1.57
🇮🇩 Kantor Gubernur Java Timur	🇮🇩 Bus Terminal Purabaya	Taxi	01:26	£7.00
🇮🇩 Bus Terminal Purabaya	🇮🇩 Terminal Bayuangga	Minibus	01:12	£6.54
🇮🇩 Terminal Bayuangga	🇮🇩 Tengger Indah Bromo	Minibus	01:10	£10.85
🇮🇩 Tengger Indah Bromo	🇮🇩 Hotel Permata Indah Permai	Minibus	09:00	£38.21

Our expedition continued into Indonesia. We spent 29 days getting back to nature with bags of snorkeling and hiking.

Upon landing at Yogyakarta Airport we immediately found ourselves in a pickle. We hadn’t realised that we were traveling through a big block of Indonesian public holidays. Lots of Indonesians were taking the opportunity to sightsee. So, no train tickets were available for the proceeding weeks!

With trains out of the picture, the only way into the city center was by taxi. It would have proved extortionate for me and Laura to hire one for ourselves, so we were in a quandary.

A rabble of other tourists also found themselves flummoxed. So, we joined forces with a German couple and an Italian/Mexican couple to score a transfer into the city.

We all had fun chatting during the transfer, and exchanged numbers so we could meet up in Yogyakarta.

I made a WhatsApp group for the transfer crew. Different approaches to holidaying immediately became clear.

Max and Leo, the German couple, suggested meeting for a beer when everybody had unpacked. The other couple (the Instagrammers) suggested that we commit to a 12 hour temple tour beginning at 3am that morning.

Laura and I had no intention of waking up before midday. It took much faff and many 3am starts for us to reach Indonesia. So, we compromised on meeting up for a beer to discuss an early morning trip to Borobudur Temple later in the week.

There are two noteworthy temples to visit near Yogyakarta. Borobudur is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, and Prambanan is the largest Hindu temple in Indonesia. Both are spectacular to visit at sunrise, so super early tours are very much a Yogyakarta “thing”.

The Instagrammers were keen to visit Prambanan for sunrise. We opted to stay out boozing and enjoying a live band with Max and Leo. After a lie-in we headed to Prambanan with them for sunset. It looked stunning:

It became obvious that Java attracted few Western tourists, at least relative to Bali. This led to locals being keen to have selfies taken with us, and many asked us to pose several times a day:

We kept the following evening much more reserved. We had organised to start a tour with Max & Leo and the Instagrammers at 3am.

First stop was sunrise at a hill with views of Borobudur temple. We got some exceptional photos:

And had fun on a swing:

The main event of the tour was a visit to Borobudur temple, the largest Buddhist temple in the world.

We got some great photos, and had a good mooch:

The heat was sweltering. We had to leave the Instagrammers to their photos, and scored some cold coffees with the Germans.

The last stop on our tour was a little bit quirky. It’s a cross-faith place of worship shaped like a giant chicken.

People of any or no faith are welcome to visit, pray and congregate.

We explored a couple of volcanoes during the second half of our time on Java. First up was Mount Bromo.

Getting to the village at the base of the mountain, Cemoro Lawang, was a bit of a mission. We had to get a train to a big city, Surabaya. Then transfer by bus to another city, Probbolingo. And finally catch a minibus to Cemoro Lawang!

It was all going very well until we got stranded in Surabaya. I had ordered us a taxi to the wrong bus station. What’s more, both mine and Laura’s phones refused to get any signal.

We aimlessly wandered, in the baking sun, with all our traveling-the-worldly possessions for a while. Not a bar of signal in sight. We must have looked very lost. A kind stranger came up to help. She made us a WiFi hotspot so that we could order a taxi, told us where we needed to go, and waited with us until the taxi arrived. All she asked for in return was a selfie ❤️

After an exceptional amount of faff we made it to our hotel in Cemoro Lawang late afternoon. The plan was to grab some food, have a quick doze, and then wake up at 2:00 am to see Mount Bromo at sunrise.

At 7pm ish we headed back for our nap, and had a slight issue with the door:

The hotel dude was not the most understanding. He placed a lot of emphasis on us needing to pay a fine. Then added that the only spare key was 2 hours drive away in Probbolingo. We made it very clear that we weren’t going to pay a fine. We could see other locks with snapped keys, it was a maintenance issue. After Google translating “pliers” he scuttled off to see what he could do. Luckily, with the aid of some toilet paper and half the broken key, I was able to jig the lock open. We were able to get a few hours kip :flexed_biceps:.

The walk up to the viewpoint for sunrise felt like a military operation. Hundreds of jeeps were transporting tourists from surrounding areas up the mountain. The scale was quite impressive! We were one of very few walking up on our own steam, but doing so gave us a bit more freedom and saved us a chunk of cash.

The view was incredible, and made all the faff worth it:

On the way down we treated ourselves to breakfast. I was over the moon to have butter for the first time in many months:

After lots of coffee we ventured up the crater rim. From a distance we noticed people were not walking far at all once they got up. We vowed to do better, but when we reached the top we soon understood the issue. The plumes from the crater reeked of rotten eggs, and it was very hard to breathe. I headed back to the stairs for a coughing fit, and a group of Indonesian tourists grabbed me for a selfie 🤦‍♂️.

After recomposing I rejoined Laura for a short wander around, it was very tough work so we didn’t make it far!

We wanted to self guide a trip to Mount Ijen too. Alas this wasn’t possible. Indonesian public holiday bookings meant no trains were available at all.

We accepted a packaged tour from the driver of our transfer to Cemoro Lawang. He had tried to scam us before, so it was with caution and reluctance that we booked onto it. It was our only option.

It turned out great. The price we paid was fair and we had an ace time. We got some incredible views:

Ijen is an active volcano. The levels of Sulphur it farts out mean that whilst hiking it you’re advised to wear a mask:

We were glad of our guide during the hike up. He was a miner on Ijen for over two decades, and was very happy to share his experience.

Sulphur mining on Ijen is brutal. It’s all done by hand. Miners hack apart lumps of Sulphur from the smokey area in photos below, and pile it into wicker baskets. They then transport more than their bodyweight of the toxic clumps down the mountain.

At the bottom they pay for a taxi to transport them with their cargo to the only buyer. On a good day they make about £7.50 for their effort, our guide said a more typical day worked out around £3.60.

The health & safety risks are dire. Joint problems from carrying the haul down the mountain. Respiratory issues from being unable to afford a gas mask. Death from falling in a crater full of sulphuric acid. Thankfully fewer are having to resort to making a living this way, but we did see some miners on our hike:

Whatever it is I do and midwifery suddenly seemed less tough.

Our guide is now much happier in his employment as a human drone:

Others choose to make trinkets from the hazardous substance. Who would buy them and how they get them out of the country is anyone’s guess:

Our time on Java was fantastic. We were knackered by the end, but had an incredible time exploring. The only disappointment was Javanese coffee. My hopes were high, the product was good, but the technique was lacking. It was very much a case of putting coffee grounds straight into a mug of water. When you hit the final quarter you’re rewarded with a mouthful of grounds 🤮

Join us next time for more tales of our time in Indonesia! We relaxed on the tropical islands of Lembongan and Gili T. And met up with Max and Leo again for a cruise around Komodo.