9/10-9/11 – Day 5 & 6 – 2 (long!) days traveling by bus to Bali via majestic Mt Bromo, and lost amongst rabid dogs in Ubud

After a shower in the morning alternating between freezing cold and scolding hot, I left Yogyakarta for Bali, via a 2-day bus tour east through Java with an overnight stop at Mount Bromo.  What could have been a peaceful journey through Java was instead me gripping the seats and trying not to watch as my driver weaved in and out of traffic using maneuvers I have only seen before performed by stunt drivers in action films.  Come to think of it, if I committed a crime and was trying to outrun law enforcement, my driver would have been a great person to hire   His driving consisted of:
–Honking the horn a few times a minute
–Weaving in and out of traffic
–Liberally using the right hand side of the road to get around cars in front of him, despite oncoming traffic (people drive on the left side of the road in Southeast Asia)
–At red lights, moving into the right hand lane until cars start to head towards us and then honking his horn and signaling to the left until someone would let us back into the left hand lane
–At some points driving on the sidewalk, typically reserved for pedestrians and motorbikes
–Not making many stops — our first stop was only 5 hours into the drive!

When we stopped for our first break, I tried to make small talk with the driver and ask if he was in a rush to get where we were going.  He just laughed – I’m not sure he understood.  At least, that is what I hope.  It is no wonder Indonesia has 8 times more traffic accidents than the USA.  That said, he was very friendly – and he got us to our desintation safely.

Upon arriving in Probolinggo, we needed to transfer into 4by4 jeeps to tackle the steep terrain near the mountain and finally arrived at our hotel in Cemoro Lawang, the accomodation center of Mt Bromo.  The place I was staying at was not the nicest ever, but I was pretty tired and so (after putting on a long sleeve shirt, pants, and winter hat due to the cold climate in this high altitude) fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up at 3:30am for the second time in 3 days, and got into a jeep to be transported to a viewpoint of Mt Bromo from the nearby Mt Penanjakan – amazing!  On the way up, people were selling hats, gloves, jackets, and anything else you may need (and have forgotten) for the cold high altitude, 2770 m (9088 ft).  When we got to the top of the viewpoint, what a pretty sunrise it was, with views of mountains, volcanoes, and one particularly large crater.  Even with the large crowd gathered at the top it was still quite serene, as everyone was pretty quiet, awestruck by the beauty of our surroundings and the sunrise.

From there, we got back into our jeep and headed over to Mt Bromo.  At 2329 m (7641 ft), Mt Bromo is an active volcano, having last erupted in Jan of 2011 and one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java.  Its name is derived from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god.  Even today the mountain continues to have religious importance, with the Tenggerese people of Probolinggo traveling up the mountain once a year to make offerings of rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers, and lifestock sacrifices to the mountain gods, a ritual dating back to the 15th century when, as the legend goes a childless princess upon appealing to the mountain gods had 25 children, the last of which she threw into the crater as a human sacrifice.  Today, when the lifestock is sacrificed, some locals risk climbing down into the crater to retrieve the sacrifices, which is thought to bring good luck.

Hiking up the last bit of Mt Bromo and then looking into the crater was a surreal experience, as you could actually see plumes of white gases pouring out of the top.  An amazing experience.  We headed back down the mountain, and then into our jeep back to Probolinggo where we transferred into a bus (I am happy to say with a new, much more enjoyable, driver) and made the rest of the drive East towards Bali.  In the bus I met a German who was had the same plans in Bali (2 days in Ubud followed by 2 days in Kuta) and decided to travel together during our time there.

After a short ferry ride that evening, we arrived at the Northwest side of Bali and continued via bus down to Denpasar, where we (the German and I) caught a cab heading up to Ubud.  That ride was a disaster.  The driver spoke great English … or so we thought.  He knew how to say “do you need a taxi,” “where are you going,” and “I can take you there.”  Just enough for us to ride with him, especially given that he gave us a price 33% less than what we were expecting to pay for the hour long drive to Ubud,  and to the accomodation I had previously booked.

2 hours later, our driver was lost in the confusing maze of streets of Ubud and it was approaching midnight.  Every half mile or so the German and I would make our driver stop so we could ask a local on the road for directions to the address that I had written down on our phone.  Unfortunately not many people we spoke to knew English either.  The German had been traveling in Indonesia for a month and knew some of the language, so we were able to get bits and pieces of information, but not enough to find our place.  We knew we were close and our driver, exhasperated by the frustrating tour of the streets to find our accomodation, finally stated “no more!” … and proceeded to turn off the car, get out of the cab, and take our luggage out the trunk.

Can you guess whether we tipped him?

He drove off and the German and I were left on the street, with noone else in site, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a foreign city, with no idea how far and in what direction the hostel I had booked was.

And to make matters worse, that is when we started hearing dogs barking in the not so far distance (aside:  Bali has a well-documented problem with aggressive dogs carrying rabbies.  The government has supposedly undertaken a program to vaccinate all of the dogs on the island.  They may have been somewhat successful, but of course, it is difficult if not impossible to ensure that all wild dogs have been vaccinated).  We walked to what looked like a nearby hostel to see if we could ask for directions, and were greeted by a snarling dog taking up residence near the front door, and quickly backed away again to the main road.  In the distance I saw a motorcycle approaching and flagged down the driver.  Luckily, he spoke some English, and we offered him 2000 rupiah ($2) to call our hotel and get directions and escort us there.  He called and was able to take us to the hostel … ironically just 100 ft from where we had been standing (as neither us nor our taxi driver knew that we were actually in the right place when he dropped us off).

Once safe and sound, we had a good laugh at the predicament we had gotten ourselves out of.  Upon arriving in our room, after taping up some holes in the screened windows to keep out mosquitoes, we quickly fell asleep.

Lessons Learned
–What may seem dangerous to you may just be something you are not used to
–What may seem dangerous to you may in fact be dangerous — in which case, you should do what you can to take control of the situation and lessen any immediate danger.  In the case of our driver who took us to Bromo, one couple in our van was able to transfer into a different van during one of our stops
–When traveling to accomodations in a foreign city:  try not to arrive very late, book accomodation in a main area of town, print out a map clearly showing where your hostel is, make sure your driver speaks English, and make sure your driver has a cellphone (to call to get directions if needed)

Any fun crazy driving stories you would like to share?