Keep Your Spirit

We arrived in Canggu for one more night before making our way over to the island of Lombok. We had to complete the last step of our passport extension, eat some more good food, then arrange for transport to the next island. All of the above was completed... and then we ate some more Canggu food... did I mention the food in Canggu was good?

Day 41- Another crazy day of travel to get from Canggu to Lombok. We took a 2 hour taxi to the harbour where we caught a 1.5 hour fast boat to Lombok. On the boat ride over we were lucky enough to sit up top and enjoy the sea breeze and sun rays. We met some new friends on the boat who shared our goal of climbing Mount Rinjani. They informed us that the town of Senaru is the best place to book and begin the trek. So, we combined forces and our rupiah to take a taxi to Senaru. We had nothing booked for the next few days and our only goal was to find a way up Mount Rinjani. With our new backpacking Belgian buds, we bargained with a bevy of different trekking companies to find the one with the best value. We settled on Lenk Trekking to take us up the mountain for two nights and three days, for $140 bucks each. (Crazy to see how little money the people live off of)

We were set for takeoff. When Mike and I climbed Mount Baldy in Canada, he had experienced significant pain in his left knee, unfortunately, when we summited Mount Merapi in Jogja, the pain in his knee was still present and much worse. We had heard the overnight summit portion of the climb, consisted of scree. This was the same as Mount Merapi and proved to be particularly difficult on Mike's knee. Therefore, we knew we wouldn't try to summit Rinjani.

Day 42-  Mount Rinjani is the second highest mountain in Indonesia and sits at 3,726 meters. We met the rest of our group before taking a flatbed truck up to our starting point. Climbing Rinjani with Mike and I, was; our Belgian friends Elena and Jasper, first time British hikers India and Suzy and a girl from Singapore named Jasmine. Here we are in the first hour of our climb. 

This was a very tough trip. The terrain wasn't as difficult as Merapi but the amount that we were hiking each day was insane. To start, we did 7.5 hours of climbing and made it to the top of the crater rim by 5 pm. We stopped a few times for snacks and lunch but otherwise it was a straight shot. Along the way, if we showed any sign of exhaustion, the porters would say "keep your spirit", these words were just the little boost I would need to keep me moving. 

The hike up to the crater rim was quite steep for the last 3 hours and when combining this with the incredable heat and insufficient provisions of water from our company, it was exhausting. When we finally arrived we were so happy and relieved to be "there"!

In this photo you can see the summit behind us. By the time we got to the rim Mike was in a lot of pain with his knee. We had made the right decision not to hike to the summit. Getting to the top of the mountain would be an additional 4 hour hike on scree, which our guide described as 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Sliding on the scree was inevitable. Also, it being a night summit, it would mean almost no sleep for our companions. Our guide had such a tough time getting to the crater rim that he got one of the other porters to take the rest of our crew to the summit. 

As the sun set, I got the view I was hoping for. The caldera at the top of the mountain is filled with a lake, approximately 200 meters deep. We were also able to enjoy the luxury of a pee tent on this excursion. This was a new experience for us, however appears to be designed for travellers less vertically inclined, as Mike demonstrates below... It covered the important parts, that's all that matters.

                          

While we climbed the mountain it was impossible not to notice the garbage that blanketed the beautiful  landscape. It truly took away from our experience and the experience of the multiple other climbers on the mountain. The mountain is completely covered in filth and unfortunately, it is not left by the tourists. Most of it is tossed aside by the guides and porters. It was so bad that our group discussed starting a petition to encourage tourists to refuse climbing Rinjani until the government pays to clean it up as well as educates the locals on the importance of proper garbage disposal. I am still seriously considering it. Very sad that such an incredible place in the world will eventually, if not already, succomb to the effects of human waste. 

As the lights went out, the tents lit up the night. It was very cold, so most people were huddled inside their tents to avoid the intense gusts of wind. 

We were frozen and starving until our lovely guide brought our food to us. It was so nice to be able to eat a hot meal out of the wind. It is crazy how little the porters have for themselves while they climb the mountain. I felt guilty sleeping in my tent with a sleeping bag, while our 8 porters and guide all slept together under tarp and blankets, completely exposed to the elements. For both of our nights on the mountain, the wind was intense and we would be blanketed with dust by the time the sun came up in the morning, making it difficult to breath. I can't imagine how uncomfortable our porters must have been. Below is a picture of them cooking dinner under their tarp.  

Day 43- I woke up early the next morning to catch the beautiful sunrise and await the return of our four members that attempted the summit.  They started their climb to the summit at 2 am. We knew how they would be feeling by the time they descended, so we had "we are the champions" ready to play on our speakers as they trickled into camp. They were thankful for the warm welcome and were absolutely exhausted. So much so that they all sat on the ground while we helped remove their shoes and clean the dust off of their faces. It is a huge accomplishment to reach any summit, especially when it is as hard as this. They all agreed that it was the hardest thing they've ever done. After a short rest and a hearty breakfast, we continued to the lake and hot springs to wash and clean our dirty bodies. We had another hard day of hiking, it would be another 7 hours of hiking before we'd make it to our next camp.

When we first arrived at the hot springs we were disgusted at the site. It was home to a whole new degree of garbage, human feces and waste around and in the water. It was a true cesspool. The area designated for the tourists was cleaner but notably downstream from the landfill used by the locals... We were all a little sceptical to go in the water. Scepticism didn't stop us from taking a dip, to wash off the layer of dust caked onto our skin. Although, we were all wondering what new layers of bacteria we'd replaced it with. It is amazing what one deems acceptable conditions when pushed to their physical extremes. Mike ate a bug that went in his soup noting its nutritional value while I celebrated minor dust behind my contacts as a huge success!

After leaving the hot springs we realized how little daylight was left. The sun was not far from disappearing and we still had 2 hours of climbing ahead of us. There was no time for breaks.

Well, maybe a quick one for a photo. This is a view from the other side of the lake. On the left you can see the summit and the rim where we'd slept the night before. It was crazy to see how much ground we'd covered in one day. There was also a new volcano forming in the center of the lake that can only be seen from this side of the mountain. Although we were all working at full capacity to make it to our camp before dark, the sun left us and we were in the dark once again. Only this time we were alone. We made sure the six of us stayed together as a group and continued the climb with frequent calls out to one another to make sure we were all still on the right path. Our guide was more than an hour behind us with one of our crew who was struggling to make the climb. It was difficult to see the path even with head lamps and the last hour required actual rock climbing, testing us even further. We had no idea how much further we had to go when we finally climbed over a ridge and saw tents sprinkled around the mountain side. We were all so relieved and the sense of accomplishment far outweighed the stresses of the day. The sun was still setting at this point on the mountain and I was able to capture the crescent moon in the distance. 

The wind at this camp was worse than the previous one so, once again, we all ran to our tents to take cover for a windy night. 

Day 44- I set an alarm for the next morning to catch the sunrise. It meant us climbing a little mountain to see it but once again... it was worth the view. 

Here is our crew. We were all dirty and tired but happy all the same. :) They say it's less about where you go and more about the people you're with, in this case it was true. We met a great group of people on Rinjani and I hope to enjoy a beer with them all again one day, either in our home or theirs. 

This is a view of our camp from the top of our sunrise viewpoint. Our tent is the one on the far right.

For our third time on Mount Rinjani we got to appreciate the feeling of success when we reached the finish line at the bottom. It was a proud moment for all of us and although Mike's knee soured his experience, I would do it all over again. We all made sure to cheers a bintang at the bottom. 

 

Sweet sweet Jogja

Day 19- We arrived into Yogyakarta, pronounced (Jo-gjakarta), in the early afternoon on thursday. We both instantly liked the city. It was much cleaner than any other SouthEast asian city we've ever been to and the whole vibe was welcoming. We had booked a room at Retra's Hostel for $31 dollars a night. More expensive than we would like but everything cheaper was already booked up. The room was beautiful, clean and we had a TV with movies, which is a rarety in most hostel rooms. 

The location of the hostel wasn't great but it didn't slow us down.

Our first night we set out to find dinner and made plans for our next five days in Jogja (this is what they call it for short).

Day 20- We woke up, had a nice breakfast and set out to Malioboro, the market district. It is also very close to the Sultan's Palace, another tourist attraction, although we met a local and he told us the palace is boring so we opted out of this sight.  We explored the hustle and bustle of the busy market and Mike captured me using my best bargaining skills while purchasing a bracelet. 

This is the face of a girl who knows she's being taken. The man to my left is also laughing because he knows that I know. 

The same local who told us to avoid Sultans Palace also told us where to find the batik art. Mike and I have purchased a piece of art from most of the places we've travelled to and we figured why not get art that represents their traditional techniques. Batik art is done by applying perifin wax to cloth, then dying it to create beautiful patterns or images. 

I loved some of the buddhist artwork we saw but Mike wanted to steer clear of religious paintings. Batik artwork is meant to be displayed with light behind it to show the different textures and colours. 

The painting at the top is ours. It shows the temple Prambanan and a rickshaw, which we used often to get around Jogja. The man who sold us the paintings was tireless at trying to sell us as much as possible and literally followed us around to show us more and more and more.... and more options. I had picked a painting for my niece Leala but was struggling to find the purrrfect cat one for Kenadee, so I sent the man away to help find us one since he was so anxious to help. I said meow meow to Mike and the man overheard me... he then proceeded to follow us around with every cat painting he could find saying "meow meow, meow, meow meow". haha we couldn't help but laugh the first few times but by the 15th time we needed to pick something and leave. We found one and got out of there. :)

                          

After the market and art studio, we headed to the travel district Prawirotamam to find some good food and information.  We stumbled across a cute coffee shop and stopped in for a drink. It is called As Java Cafe and they serve delicious coffee (hard to find in asia). 

There were many cats who lived at the cafe and they took a liking to Mike. It made me miss my little Kenadee, she sure loves her cats. Meow meow. 

One of the cats walked right onto Mikes lap for a cuddle. As you can see her little paw looks broken. She has nerve damage so she has no feeling in her paw. The owners take good care of her and bandage it up so she doesn't get bruised.

                            

While we drank our coffee, the british man (Andy) who owns the cafe came over and chatted us up. He was curious about our plans while in Jogja so we told him that we had booked a tour to see the buddhist temple Borobudur. He failed to keep his facial expressions neutral and we could see that he highly disagreed with our choice. We asked him his opinion and this was his very honest response, "this is Jogja, if you want to get on a big tour bus with a bunch of other people and drive over to the temple for an hour and make that your experience than you've made the right choice. If you want to be a participant in Jogja then I suggest you rent a scooter, I'll give you directions for the back roads and you take yourself and enjoy the journey there". Pretty sound advice if you ask me. He was right. We called our hostel right then, cancelled our tour and booked a scooter. 

Day 21- We woke up at 5 to hit the road early before the roads got too busy. Mike took a few practice runs on our street before we braved the main roads. Did I mention neither of us have ever ridden a scooter? This is why our test run was so important. Mike did famously so we drove off into the sunrise. 

The directions given by the british coffee owner were perfect and very easy to follow and the scenery on the way to the temple was breathtaking. For most of the way there we were instructed to take the canal pathway. The nice thing about the canal was how peaceful it was. No other motorbikes or cars to get in our way. 

Saw this guy on his way to work, wouldn't this be a scary drive every day. Meow meow?

                        

I must say, the people of Indonesia may be the kindest we have met so far on our journeys. They are always so quick to help and they want nothing more than to make you happy. We took one wrong turn on our way and we hadn't even gotten a few meters before a whole bunch of men yelled to us that Borobudur was in the opposite direction. It was also very clear, when we stopped in this same village to get some gas (which they were all very helpful in helping us fill up), and all eyes were on us, that they very seldomly see white people. We bought some snacks and water and were back on our way. 

Refering back to the directions that Andy gave us, he said at some point we would come across a "surprise" but he wouldn't tell us what it was. When we got there we knew we had reached our surprise. It was an old 50 m high suspension bridge to take us over a river.  Mike's quick engineering analysis of the bridge's structural stability gave us a 98% chance of survival, so we proceeded. The view was spectacular.

                     

When we finally arrived at Borobudur at around 8 am we were so relieved and excited that we had made it. The crowds of people were just starting to trickle in but there was plently of opportunity to capture some beautiful photos of the temple without other tourists in them. As it turns out Mike is a lot more popular than I was giving him credit for. For a good part of the visit I was struggling to find him as he was constantly being taken away for photo sessions. Who knew, I married a celebrity. His ego may be bigger than the Temple!

As it turns out I am also pretty famous and have even made some new instagram friends. Here is a screen shot taken from my new Indonesian buddy's instagram page. I discovered that most tourists who visit the temple also receive a lot of attention...but once again, we won't tell Mike. He loved every minute of it. 

                                 

And then, lest we forget, the reason we were there in the first place. 

As I was taking photos, I noticed that one of the buddhas was not like the other. It was a major flaw in the construction of the temple and I cannot believe it was not fixed sooner.

Oh wait, it was just Mike. Some of his fans saw him doing this and thought it was just the funniest thing. 

We spent a couple of hours enjoying the achitecture but the black stone of the temple heats up fast and it is recommended that you leave before noon, when things really get hot.

On our way back to the city, Andy had also recommended we stop at a cafe in the mountains. It was slightly more difficult to find but Andy hadn't steered us wrong yet so we were going to take his word for it. We finally arrived at the cafe, which was more like the home of a coffee farmer who serves his coffee in his backyard with some treats. We were relieved to find the spot and it was well worth the journey. The coffee was fresh and the traditional Indonesian treats were delicious. The owner gave us a tour of his farm, took a few pictures with us and his little girl and sent us on our way. 

He directed us to a much easier way back to the canal. This new path went through some very remote villages along the way. In one village we heard loud Indonesian music as we drove by and caught a glimps of an arena. Mike thought it was a Muay Thai fight so we stopped to see what was up. We were lucky enough to come across a celebration that only occurs in the villages twice a year. The people of the village were happy to let us observe and take photos of the beautiful costumes and dance. It was a pleasure to be a part of and we were grateful we came upon it. They even gave us an english shoot out on the microphone! Once again we owed our entire great experience to Andy from the coffee shop. He gives honest advice to travellers to make their stay in Jogja memorable.

                             

Day 22/23- After an easy morning, we headed to Prawirotamam for some lunch before our next activity. Viavia is a popular spot/resturant in Jogja and it is easy to see why. Their food is amazing and we got to enjoy our first salad since leaving home. It is practically impossible to find a place that serves vegetables cleaned in filtered water but Viavia's restaurant says it right on their menu. 

                         

                         

The food was delicous and full of power foods to make us feel energized. After lunch we took a taxi to Studio 76. We booked a silver class through Viavia for $37 dollars for both of us. We didn't know what to expect or how the class would go but we were pleasantly surprised. We were lucky enough that it was just the two of us with the silversmith in his cool studio. He showed us a few examples of rings and we each chose what we wanted to make. I wanted a thicker version of the one I looked at and Mike was happy with a simple design. It was awesome! The whole experience was hands on and we did every step ourselves to make our rings. The silversmith would show us how to do a few of the steps but otherwise we did it all on our own. It was so much fun and we loved getting creative together. Both of us started with a ~1 inch strip of silver. We were instructed on how short to cut it, given letter and number stamps to engrave the rings and given the steps on how to size, decorate, solder, sand and polish our rings. 

                                

                                

I wrote "indo 2015" on mine and of course Mike made a ring with his nickname "maddog" on it. 

Here is our finished product. 100% made with our own hands. What a great souvenir that we will cherish forever. Best part is the fact that we both actually really like how our rings turned out. We knew there was a good chance we would make something hideous that we would not want to keep but we love our rings. Move over Jimmy and Larry, I think David just found a new goldsmith. :) David, we can talk more in detail when I get home.

Oh the things we see in the streets of Asia. Makes you really think twice about eating chicken.

                           

After our course we went for dinner, grabbed some snacks and went to sleep at 6pm. We had arranged to climb mount Merapi that night and we would be picked up at 10 pm to start our 14 hour adventure. Mount Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548, it sits at 2930 meters above sea level. We were lucky enough to have slept for a couple of hours before starting our night as most other climbers went without sleep and came very unprepared. We have done excursions like this before so we knew how important it was to be prepared. We brought snacks, water, a warm sweatshirt and our water/wind proof jackets. 

                          

We met some cool people that joined us on our hike and we all made the climb together. Most people who come to Yogyakarta see mount Bromo but most say it is just another tourist attraction and it would mean sharing the experience with hundreds of other people. On our adventure we were only sharing the experience with 7 other people. Much better in my mind. The drive to the volcano took a couple of hours and we started our ascent at 1am. There were 4 checkpoints along the trek and everyone was relieved when the next one would appear. This was by far the steepest most grueling climb we have done so far. The lanscape changes throughout the climb from forest to boulder rocks to scree. Although the way up was hard and definitely worked out our lungs and legs, it was easier going up than down as down was as slippery as soap and resulted in a bunch of falls on everyones bums. Our team was great to eachother and we all pulled together to share our snacks and water with those who came empty handed. If it wasn't snacks we were sharing, it was advil and antibacterial spray for those of us who would slip on a sharp rock.  We all encouraged eachother all the way up and down the mountain. The hike up took 5 hours of steep incline and we were happy when we finally made it to the top, just in time for sunrise. Once again, the view blew us away. 

                                 

We enjoyed the view for a while before we headed back down the mountain. Unfortunately due to the difficult nature of the descent, no photos were taken. It was the most difficult part of the climb. Our bodies were literally in pain from how tense we became after falling over and over again. Once you fall the first time you naturally tense up waiting for it to happen again and there was no luck for any of us. We all fell, over and over for the entire 3-4 hours it took for us to come down. By the time we made it to the bottom we were tired, bleeding, bruised, swollen, hungry and dusty from our long trek. It may sound aweful to those who do not appreciate natures challenges but the view was all still worth it at the end and I would do it again if I had the chance. The drive home was difficult when your body hurts so much and we were happy to make it home to a hot shower and a quick nap.

We woke ourselves up two hours later and we were exhausted. We were so sore it was hard to get out of bed but it was our last day in Jogja and we needed to see one more thing before we left. Trusty ol' Mcdonald's fueled us as we headed to Prambanan. This is a hindu temple in the city that is grand in nature and is slowly deteriorating with time. All of the fallen stones from the temple leave a mark of how grand the structure truly was. 

                              

                              

          

Now, off to "Paradise"...