Gabrielle abroad…

Oh, the stars in Indonesia are plentiful and breathtaking….I’ve never seen the Milky Way so vibrant before!

I left Solo on Tuesday, along with a Dutch couple, a French couple and girl from Germany. Together we were headed towards Mount Bromo Tengger National Park, in the middle of East Java, to climb Mt Bromo volcano for the sunrise. After a VERY long journey, headed by a bus driver running on two hours of sleep which was obvious in his driving INabilities, we checked into Cemora Indah hotel and enjoyed a bowl of soup and beer. Our wake-up call the next morning was a very brisk 3:15am, and the chilliness was mediated (only slightly) by the stunning views of the early morning sky.

The sunrise view can be appreciated from two vantage points: directly from the crater, or from the top of another mountain which overlooks the volcanos and parkviews. The other pairs made their way to the latter higher “lookout point”, which is accessible directly by jeep. My German friend and I decided we preferred working for our sunrise view, and opted to make the so-called short and obvious walk directly to the crater Mt Bromo. Short, perhaps. Obvious? Not really. After a shivering thirty minutes of stumbling through the Sand Sea, walking down what we thought was the track to the mountain (hey, following all these jeeps couldn’t be wrong, right?), a local Bromo-ian who had been following us for some time spoke up. We had assumed that, along with the twenty or so men hanging around the trailhead, he was interested in guiding us to the top (for fee, of course). We were partially right - he asked us if we were trying to go to Bromo. Indignantly, we said yes, of course. Well, it turns out we were NOWHERE near the crater and in reality were following the jeeps headed up to the lookout point. For a well-deserved guide fee, he turned (sharply to the left AWAY from the direction we’d been heading) and took us to the bottom of the crater. (Wherever you are, thank you again).

The walk is considered “easy” because of the man-made stairs that take you up the crater. In guidebooks, brochures and other descriptions, they’re billed as “moderately tough” due to the fact that there is over two hundred of them. The steps were no problem. What no one ever warns you about is the clouds of sulfuric SMOKE (acidic!) that come wafting down the crater, stinging your eyes, making your nose run, leaving a bad taste in your mouth and burning your chest when you breathe.

The views from the top, though, are breathtaking (oh wait, no that was the sulfur). Seriously, they were beautiful. I love the pictures I got from of us from the crater.

With flash, it was a different story. We could barely keep our eyes open due to the fumes. Our photographer offered to retake the picture, but I think it sums up our experience on Bromo quite nicely!

We made it back to the hotel and sat to thaw in the rising sun with cups of steaming hot Javanese coffee and milk. Yum. After breakfast, the van took off again, this time to Kawah Ijen Crater, in even farther east Java. We drove along the northern shore of Java before climbing through the palm trees, tea, coffee, and clove plantations that surround the Ijen region. Our homestay was just delightful. Unlike the rather shoddy Cemorah Indah (misleading…Indah is Indonesian for beautiful), our new rooms surrounded a sweet little courtyard filled with potted plants and orchids in the quite lush surrounding of Sempol. We toured the local coffee plantation and production facilities, and the surrounding neighborhoods provided for the workers at the factory. The local children loved posting for photos, then dashing over to laugh at the results. We enjoyed dinner family-style in the courtyard - our guide Tommy even specially prepared the Javanese fried tempeh which has become one of my favorites! - and headed off to rest up for our 4am wake up call. Our hike up to the crater was early, leisurely but still steep.

Maybe I say “leisurely” because unlike the local workers in the crater, I don’t have to carry over two hundred pounds on my back for four hours a day. The crater is a major site of sulfur deposits - so in two shifts a day, a team of two hundred workers hike up the mountain to the crater, down the edge of the crater (braving much denser sulfuric fumes than in Bromo) to the deposits to collect the freshly hardened sulfur within the crater region. As they are paid per kilo, they load up as much as possible and carry it on their shoulders back to the bottom of the mountain. Over 220 pounds. Two trips per shift. Usually wearing flip-flops. And if I haven’t made clear how terrible these fumes are - I was shocked to notice that after my hike up Bromo, the grey synthetic fabric on my backpack has permanently changed to GREEN due to some kind of chemical reaction from the smoke. And everyone breathes this in. Hmmm.

However consistent with Javanese graciousness, nearly every single worker we encountered was smiling and laughing. Maybe because they make a reasonably high salary of 340 rupiahs per kilo (roughly 70,000 rupiahs a day for 15 days of work - or less than 100USD per month) while the coffee factory workers take home 10,000 rupiahs per day. Their physical and mental strength, coupled with their smiles certainly is a lesson in humility!

We left Ijen after our hike, headed to a port on the coast of East Java and took the 30 minute ferry over to Bali. I must admit, I was more than a little sad to see our ferry leave the island of Java behind us. I truly hope to return soon.

Until then, Bali bound……..

The rest of my time in Solo was cultural and special, largely in part due to my many new and hospitable friends in Solo (and from Bali!) who introduced me further to Javanese culture and day to day life in Solo. Ajip had been developing a new variation on one of his Solo tours, and since my legs were still a little sore, Alex - a long time veteran of Java who makes Solo his second home - and I decided to christen his “Experiencing Traditional Solo” tour. It was a huge success!

We left early one morning, via very relaxing transportation, toured the local picturesque country side and made our way through the villages on the outskirts of Solo. Much of the traditional methods of food production and artistry is still alive in Java, and we observed tofu-making, the production of rice crackers and even the how arak - rice wine, the local alcohol- is made. One of the most interesting stops was a village which specializes in building the traditional Indonesian gamelan instruments - particularly the process which rough versions of gongs are shaped into raw versions and then polished by hand. Very impressive!

(One of these things is not like the other…)

The smiling faces at this village were SO amused at this picture!! - so Alex, Ajip and I decided to start telling people that I was from Lombok (another island in Indonesia).

On Saturday afternoon, I had the special privilege of being invited to Ajip’s wedding, held the following day. Although Ajip is from Solo proper, his fiancee is from a village south of the small town of Wonogiri, where the traditional Javanese wedding would be held. So a very sweet and gracious Darmi took me shopping on Saturday night to find something appropriate for a traditional Javanese wedding.

Sunday morning I was dressed and ready by 6am, and rode with Harry, a good friend of Ajip (and now good friend of mine!) to Ajip’s house to watch his mother and sister prepare for the wedding. By around 8am, two vans filled with parents, aunts, uncles, other family members, the chief and wife of their neighborhood community and myself took off on the two hour drive south of Solo to the village.

The designated waiting area for the groom’s family was carpeted with bamboo mats and rugs, with plenty of chairs, where we sat and waited for the men of family to change into traditional Javanese garb - both the men and women wore batik sarongs. The women wore beautiful and intricatedly beaded long sleeved blouses with jasmine flowers interwoven in their hair, piled and pinned on top of their head. The men wore embroidered sashes bound around their waist, with black formal jackets of Javanese detail and head coverings.

The wedding itself was held in a separate part of the village, in a covered area decorated with sashes, where the rest of the guests were sitting. I had assumed that my seat was with the guests, until we heard a voice projecting from the tent in formal Javanese, and the family guided me to start walking towards the wedding area - so along with family and friends in the wedding procession, I bowed and greeted my way down the greeting line of the bride’s family from the village, village elders, the village chief and his wife.

The central area, where Westerners would consider an altar, was beautifully decorated…like a Javanese palace, plush seats for the bride and groom, golden ornate decorative pillars and arches, flowers and richly colored fabrics. It was spectacular! The absolutely stunning bride entered first, with two younger Javanese girls who sat and kept her cool during the ceremony with two pink feather fans, followed by Ajip. After the ceremonial parts of the wedding which bound Ajip and his fiancee as husband and wife were carried out, the photographers began capturing the day in a series of pictures with the married couple and their families.

Traditional dancers, humorous clown characters, snacks of local gudel (coconut sugar and rice candy), and lunch (steamed rice, meat in coconut sauce, sambal and pickled vegetables) kept the audience engaged for the afternoon during the pictures. The bride and groom left at one point, returning with new clothing - which prompted another round of pictures!….Everything was finished by 2pm, and after much handshaking, head bowing, and giving thanks and blessing to each other, my wonderful wedding date Harry and I headed back to Solo - leaving Ajip in his new village, with his new wife for another five day ceremonial post-wedding tradition. What an experience!

On the way home Ajip’s family insisted I visit them for dinner, so Harry and I drove to the family’s home later that evening to visit with them, where we were warmly received. So much so, in fact, that they were upset to hear that I’d already booked my trip to continue on to East Java, as they insisted I stay with them for at least another week, to learn more about the real Javanese culture. Ajip’s family was warm, welcoming, hospitable and gracious, with beautiful hearts and open mind - very typical of the Javanese culture, it seems to me! The Javanese philosophy of life is truly a beautiful one, exemplified by all the people I’ve met so far, and I hope it’s made an impression enough on me to stay with me after my travels. Next time I return to Solo, I have a family and home to return to. Truly a special feeling.