After Merapi we passed out in our room for the day before hopping on an overnight train to Jakarta. What a train, we were definitely let down by the executive class, proving again how great Indian trains are. To top it off our train was two hours late causing some serious heartburn as our cab raced to the airport, luckily we made it about 5 minutes before check in closed. Once in KL we checked in and headed to town. We had plans to eat at an Indian joint and walk around town, but those plans went out the window when the indian restaurant couldn't be found it started to downpour. So we did what it seems most people in KL do in their afternoons, sit in a parkside cafe outside a mall and people watch, an endlessly entertaining activity in the clash of cultures that is kl. For dinner we found a new indian place that had strong reviews called Spice of India. Can't say it was the best, but was a quality rendition of what has become our classic meal of the trip. Off to london with budget airline AirAsia now. Wish us luck!

One of the main reasons we came to Java was to climb Merapi, one of the many active volcanos in Indonesia. What we didn't realize at the time was that this involved missing a nights sleep. Those of you that know Brad well understand that this was a decision not made lightly. After carbloading at a great little restaurant, Bladock, we caught our ride to New Solo, the start of the hike. By 11.15pm we were sitting in some random guys freezing cold house and continued to sit around until 1 in the morning. This, it was deemed by the "guides", was the perfect time to start climbing a volcano. We were a group of 6 at the start: us, 2 guides and the least talkative French couple in the world but it wasn't long before that changed. The young French guy was walking behind me and he was struggling big time. I was worried for him because we hadn't really started the hard climb, we were still on the road! Matters took a turn for the worse a few minutes later when he became violently ill. Not a pretty image I know but it sets the scene for the rest of the 1,500mtr/4900ft climb to the summit. It was a stiff hike especially the last hour which was a scramble over volcanic rock, which it turns out is pretty sharp. After making a few stops to allow for our ill compadre to catch up we made it to the top. Scampering around the crater of a volcano that is billowing smoke at 5 in the morning was eery to say the least and I was even happier than normal that the sun decided to show up and that we were lucky enough for it to put on a beautiful show for us. It was cold up the top and we were missing our nice warm hiking clothes so we didn't dilly-dally, by 5.45am we started the descent. 3 hours later and we were resting very tired feet, having a cup of tea and the most delicious banana pancake ever. A perfect finish to an unusual but great night. And what about the French man? He skipped the pancake and had a cigarette instead.
 

We have been staying at the Hotel Asia-Afric since we arrived in Yoga. The hotel is very proud of its swimming pool and I was happy to make use of their top/only amenity by going for a swim before breakfast. Yesterday morning I was joined by a rambunctious group of young Javanese boys. Initially they kept their distance but soon the obvious leader started racing me. I won - the fact that the guy couldn't swim deserves to be mentioned here. After being mocked by his younger buddies he demanded a rematch and insisted on using my goggles which he felt was an unfair advantage. I left the pool to the boys and thought I had seen the last of them. Imagine my surprise when I heard calls of "morade" when we were walking around the temples of Prambanan 20k outside of the city. And would you believe it the boys were there. After a brief photo shoot with them and their parents we bid farewell and this time for good. As Brad says "good times".
 

About 15km outside of joja are the temples of prambanan. We had read that you could bike there, and a bike rental guy said "ya no problem easy easy". And so we were off. Had we not both been used to biking in nyc I think we would have needed to pack spare underwear. We tried to stay on back roads, but eventually we ended up on the big main highway with all the other pedestrians, pedal bikes, horses, scooters, cars, jeeps, tour buses and trucks. After an exciting ride the temples were worth it, not as numerous but certainly comparable to angkor. On the way back we found a bike path running along side a small canal amongst the rice paddies. Everyone smiled and said hello. It was a surreal experience, and incredibly memorable. The indonesians never stop surprising you with just how friendly people can be. Here we were in the middle of no where wandering on bikes in the country side and no worries whatsoever as everyone pointed the way after greeting our arrival with huge smiles. Goes down as one of the highlights of the entire trip

We are rapidly falling in love with Yogykarta. Sure the streets are crowded, the traffic is thick, and the central palace is nothing to look at, but the people are incredible, even the hustlers and scammers are smiling, nice and not the least bit upset when they don't get your money. Joja, as everyone calls the place is the cultural capital of Java. Our first day here, after a walk about town, we headed north to the temple of Borobudur. What a place, supposedly it was originally constructed as a giant walking mandala. Each level has a corridor ringing the temple that is lined on both sides with stone relief carvings, it was up there with the best carving we've seen on the trip. We were also treated to a huge rehearsal dance for the next days waisak celebration, the holiest Buddhist day of the year. Back in yogyakarta we relaxed for dinner completely smitten with this part of the world. Its fun to walk around, and the great meals at bedhot and bladok are starting to turn around our opinion of indonesian food.

So one of our flights on wings air was delayed 45 minutes today and they decided to hand out snack packs to the whole plane to say sorry. This on a flight that cost us each $25. If they had planes that weren't from the 50s it might be the best airline ever.

We bid farewell to gili air today. It was hard to say goodbye but made a bit easier since I could no longer go in the water. That was on account of the large hole the coral put in my foot when I fell dodging someone in the surf. While I was busy gimping myself Mairead completed her dive course with flying colors, super exciting. What a great island, can't wait to get back but fear the changes that may occur as the popularity of the gilis is bound to grow. So another day of travelling, horse cart to a boat, to a bus to an airport, one airport to another. At our lunch in Mataram we discovered our favorite Indonesian dish so far, mie ayam, a chicken noodle ramen soup with lime. Too bad surabaya airport put a damper on the food for the day. The place pictured served the worst hamburger of my life, half frozen, half microwave thawed, fully stale bun with a patty of god knows what in the middle, really they outdid themselves. I actually thought it was beetroot and that they forgot the meat, till I looked close, which was certainly a bad idea. Still ate it.

Despite some great times; walking the beaches of legian and seminyak, breakfast at cafe moka, surfing the beach breaks, lunch at warung 96 and fabulous dinner at ketupat, we booked a ticket out of bali anyway. And by booking that ticket we ended up with the longest 100k of travel ever (12 hours!), involving a bus to a ferry, to a bus to a ferry, and numerous stops along the way to "re-issue tickets" aka try and sell us over priced food, drink or tickets back home. But in the end we arrived at gili air. Maybe next time we'll just spend the extra 80 bucks for the fast boat and get here directly in under two hours. There are no cars, no motorbikes, no dogs (the horse in the photo is the only form of transportation besides your own two feet) , and few mosquitos in the gilis. We can walk around the island in an hour plus the amount of time it takes to get out of a hammock. Three quarters of the island is fringed in coral and there is an amazing diversity of reef fish for our snorkeling pleasure. The other quarter of the island has a world class reef surf break that's supposedly fickle but has been working since we got here. In short, this is a great great place.

Landing in Bali was a bit like a big punch in the gut that takes the wind out of you, cigarette butts scattered about inside the airport, hussle and bussle to get a cab without getting robbed blind, and moped filled honking heavy traffic jams on the road. Driving thru kuta it looked like the town was developed as an experiment in characterless chaos, no shortage of starbucks, billabong stores, dolce and gabanna, etc. We found a place and crashed. The next morning we took an early morning walk to the beach, where the surf was shockingly flat, before heading back for breakfast, which lead to further disappointment. "Breakfast included" apparently meant toast. That's it. 12 hours in and we were nearly ready to give up on Bali, but instead decided to try and see as much of the island as we could in that day, to try and shed some light on the reason for all the fame.
 
So we hopped in a car and headed out, despite some crippling traffic there are beautiful sights all over. Our first stop at pura tirta temple calmed us right down, the water being quite serene at the heart of the temple complex. The crater lake batur was an unreal view (with a horrible and expensive buffet lunch pictured). Ubud was all that was expected, with cute cafe and gallery lined streets, and a sacred monkey forest at one end of town. The monkeys were of course real terrors, our water bottle was quickly grabbed, opened, sniffed, and poured out on the ground; thankfully our hats and glasses had been left in the car, somehow they manage to be fabulously cute while harassing at a professional level. But the best was last, the temple of ulu watu. Perched high on a cliff its a setting unlike any other, with the most famous surf on the island just round the corner.
 
What a day. We finished it off with a sunset dinner on the beach at jimbaran, delicious grilled red snapper and prawns that made us want to learn to cook fish better (and to steal the goodness they brushed onto the fish while grilling). Back in Kuta we found some nicer streets and going to bed we were up for at least another day in south bali.