One Morning in Nusa Lembongan

Aside from tourism and fishing, seaweed harvesting for food and cosmetics is also a primary industry. Each morning it is spread out on tarps using wooden rakes and then covered in the evening... it's a family affair.

You check out a cow and it checks out you.

Two things, firstly, no cars on Lembongan (they do have trucks but you require a permit to bring another to the island). Secondly, they burn garbage in the morning, as they do in most of Indonesia it seems.

Morning stretch. Oblivious to the traffic.

One result of the morning burn is the beautiful light. Every cloud, even toxic ones, have a silver lining I guess.

Random Java on the way back to Bali - June 14th

Simple and elegant tea vendor

As the most populous Muslim country in the work and the most populous island in the archipelago, Java has many mosques and many under construction. Like elsewhere in the world bamboo proves invaluable. The dome here looked like a pin cushion.

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru - The Sea of Sand and climb of Bromo

We took the jeep down to the Sea of Sand; a vast and inhospital place covered in ash and marked by flows from the wet season rains. As we approached the place where the walk begins a number of riders on horseback wearing hooded blankets surrounded jeep and followed it in. Their hope was to have you hire them and ride the horse to the base of Bromo. I didn't but Jacqueline did as a treat. I was happy to walk along.

The cloud above you is the ash from the volcano with the faint hit of sky at times showing through.

Poten Temple; it is a perfect match for the landscape in its austerity and only open for worship.

These are the steps up to the rim of Bromo but there wasn't much in the way of steps other than the foot steps of those that had gone before. There is ash everywhere. Covering you and your gear in a fine layer. We brought face masks when we left Bali for the traffic but they were more useful here and regardless of how fit you are, the ash combined with the altitude and getting up at 3 am will test you.

Safety second! There is nothing between you and a steep fall down. Nothing because the railing, that may or may not be there, is buried beneath ash. The earth rumbles beneath you, smoke and ash continues to flow forth in large billowing clouds which you think are about to envelope you but only ascend upwards to be carried by the wind. How often do you really see something so new, something that is in no way familiar to any previous experience?

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park - The Lookout and Eruption

There are two viewing areas, the higher one was not accessible from our location as the road was damaged in a January eruption and following landslides. You can supposedly reach it by bike but ours is a bit underpowered. It had a hard time making it up a couple of hills on the approach forcing Jacqueline to walk a few stretches and me to push with my feet even under full throttle. You start out at 4 am, we took a jeep to the base then climbed the rest of it. In no way were we climbing as in mountain climbing, there are steps leading up and a line of people ahead of you but at the altitude you do feel it a bit in the legs. At the top you're happy to find stalls selling coffe (kopi in Indonesian) and snacks. I recommend the ginger kopi, in fact, I suggest adding ginger to coffee at home. As the sun rose and Semeru erupted which is does every morning you are faced with one of the most astounding natural scenes I've ever witnessed. Shortly later Bromo erupted. Both erupt each morning which I can only assume is related to the heating of the earth's crust by the sun.

Predawn light with the constantly smoking Bromo.

Gunung Semeru erupting.

The Bromo eruption. We would later climb to the rim of the crater and watch as smoke and ash billowed out while the volcano grumbled beneath us.

Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park - The Approach

The Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park is named for the two volcanos and the people of the area. Bromo and Semeru are the two volcanos and Tenegger is for the Tenegerise people. They were diven here in the 19th century to escape an influx of Islamic workers imported by the Dutch for the plantations. They exist in the highlands of Eastern Java and are more Balinese than Javanese in appearances and customs. Their Hindu religion is less apparent than in Bali and they do not include the rice aspects such as placing it on the forehead just above the brow. The approach to Bromo takes you up through the foot hills on a road winding itself along slopes that seem too steep for agriculture and yet they manage. In fact this area is supposed to have over 6600 millimeters of rainfall a year which, when included with the volcanic ash, makes for fertile soil. Constant cloud cover, the faint hint of sky above, and ash mark most of the landscape. Huts cling to the steep valley walls and paths, zig-zagging down or up to them, mark the hill sides. Below are the shots from the drive up to the rim of the crater the day before the climb. One of the many benefits of taking the scooter here from Bali was being able to stop where and when you want... this is in contrast to the sore bum, back, sun and pollution exposure and mostly the insane drivers which mark the downsides of driving a scooter to from the South tip of Bali to the top of Bromo.

Pura Goa Gajah, aka Temple of the Elephant Cave

Pura Goa Gajah. As before, Pura Goa means temple cave while Gajah means elephant in Indonesian. Below are three of the the seven springs which feed a pool. They represent the seven sources of the Ganges in India. The water that flows from them into the bathing pool is considered holy and is used to purify oneself.

The Balinese people are incredibly tolerant and inclusive. For the most part this extends to their holy places which often do not close and are open to visit day or night though you generally pay during the day. I haven't purchased the traditional clothing of the Balinese so I can't say for sure, but I would be surprised if you had to pay if you followed the traditions of the temple. Keep in mind that offerings are given and so money, cleaned with a flower, is a good substitute for the traditional offering regardless of denomination. So with this openness, we have been welcomed into ceremonies, anointed with flowers and rice, doused with holy water and generally made to feel welcome though stupid, all the while bearing the most genuine smile you're likely to face.

The entrance to the elephant cave itself. You can see the wear on the stone steps.

There are two parts to this temple, the first being the Hindu, partly shown above, the second is the Buddhist part shown below. These are the stairs down to the Buddhist area of the temple grounds. There was a statue which collapsed during one of the earthquakes, rebuilt and collapsed again. The remains are still there lying in a pool of water beneath a spring.

We had two guides. The bank machines give out fifty and hundred thousand rupiah notes (roughly 6-12 dollars Canadian), most tell you which you're getting with a sticker on the machine itself. Yet, sometimes, you just need money and you can't choose the smaller denomination. This sort of concern is irrelevant in most countries but when you buy locally here you're better to pay with smaller bills as the larger ones will incur exasperated looks and sometimes it can end the deal there and then. We had two ten thousand notes and a few of the hundreds. So when we entered the temple grounds and the first guide approached asking if we wanted his services we decided that twenty was as high as we would go as spending a hundred or asking for change was beyond our budget and out of the question. He accepted the twenty and took us around, it was good but efficient though fair for the price. Afterwards he said we could look around and go anywhere, really anywhere, it's that open here. So while Jacqueline was taking pictures I descended a steep slope down to the river and called for her to follow. There was a rope to hold as you went down but the upper part was missing and as she attempted to navigate it (none of this was dangerous, just perilous) a cleaner called out to her to get her to stop and showed her another way down. This photo is the first time he appeared even though we didn't notice him at the time... the rest of this will make more sense later.

So here he is, humble and happily waiting for us. The first I saw of him he was walking on the other side of the out-flow stream from the temple. Mouth red with betel nut juice, calling for me to cross the stream which was littered with garbage. I started to with the flimsy protection of my flip-flops as the only protection until he crossed to help me and instructed me to remove my shoes, that it would be fine, and to follow him. I did, and looking at the garbage around me, trekking through mud, I told myself that it is cleaner in many ways than the filth you can't see at home. He showed us the main river found in the "Glamour shots" post and then continued to show us around, laughing all the time most likely at us. From one spot in the temple to the next he took us and each one seemed like it was his most favorite place. Where the first guide showed us the ruins of the statue he took us behind them so we could see what remains of the carvings. He was a pleasure to be around and I don't know his name, but whatever he was I would bet he was closer to the divine than many of the priests. In the end we gave him a hundred thousand. We couldn't give him nothing and he deserved more than the first guide. This talk of money may strike you as petty but we're on the road for 8 months and throwing money around is foolish and ignorant. Its a part of traveling so it'll be a part of my blog.

The carvings of the broken statue. There were other larger ones as well but harder to discern what you're looking at other than man-made artifacts covered in moss.

Posed as Buddha under his tree.

The final shot as leaving of the moon above a holy tree.

Glamour shots- June 9th

This is the river which runs by Pura Goa Gajah. We climbed down to it after walking through the temple grounds.

Jacqueline, my companion, editor, and sherpa, (only when I'm taking photos or surfing) looking beautiful as always.

Me, not as graceful and trying not to get the sarong wet. You have to wear them when you enter a temple if you're not wearing long pants. If you have pants you wear a sash. You don't choose the color.

Old or new or reconstruction? I do not know - June 9th

I have no idea what this was. The entrance had the look of a temple, the building of a something else. Both old and new at first we thought it was a secret find but finally thought maybe it was built then neglected then being restored. Either way it was fun to walk though and a find nonetheless.