18 December 1985
Quite often at bus stations in Java the local kids would run excitedly up to the long distance buses to see if there were any foreigners – or bule – onboard. Mass hysteria would break out just by showing our white faces. Some of that energy is captured in this shot from Madiun on the way to Solo.
Around 21 December 1985
Typical mix of nationalities you’d meet on the road, L to R: Caroline (Australia), Mike (NZ – at that time), Chris (Aus – with Burmese ancestry), Alain (France/Israel), Evi (USA), Ian (UK). I travelled through Bali, Java and Sumatra for 2 months with Alain & Evi.
This is at the Kota hotel in Solo, or Surakarta in central Java. We had 2 triple rooms for 5000 rupiah ($4.50 at the time).
14 January 1986
We’d heard that a cruise ship was berthed in Teluk Dalam and passengers were going to the village of Bawomataluo for a special performance of traditional dancing and stone jumping. So we walked 8 kms from our lodge on Lagundri Beach before a hot, steep 3 km hike up a hill to the village.
High-roofed traditional houses with thatched roofs are quite strange. The stone jumping was impressive, using a rock to push up from they cleared a 2m high stone wall feet-first.
We came down the hill another way, via stone steps for most of the way, followed by children. We had a dip in the stream. Drank tea in a villager’s home. Bought coconuts to eat and drink, a young boy clambered up the trees and cut them down. Bought bananas at the junction. No transport, had to walk the final 6 kms in the 1 o’clock sun, 22 km all up.
The Bawomataluo settlement was submitted to be a world heritage site in 2009, see: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5463/
1 December 1985
When the main street of Kuta was still a bit rough and you had to watch out you didn’t step into an open sewer drain on the footpath. The rice fields were only just off the main drag.
It stopped raining and I walked up to bemo corner, then found a parallel back lane and came back along it. Didn’t see one tourist. A lot of Balinese, especially children, playing and flying kites. Everyone saying “Hello. Where are you going?”
Mt Bromo, Java. 17 December 1985
Setting off in the pre-dawn darkness I walked from the caldera rim where the village of Cemoro Lawang is perched down into a barren lava field. I only had to follow the flickering kerosene lamps from horses that carried tourists. Above me a brilliant starscape, in front of me the silhouette of the classic volcanic cone shape of Gunung Batok, with Mt Bromo next to it crumpled from eruptions and surrounding me a vast outer caldera, the Tengger massif.
It seemed appropriate to play the spookily atmospheric track “Brilliant trees” by David Sylvian on my walkman. Pink hues to the east from the dawn light revealed the classic volcanic shape of Mt Semeru, releasing a smoky ash cloud. At 3,700m it’s Java’s highest peak.
At the top of Mt Bromo I looked down to the dormant crater and then walked right around the rim. There’s a good account of this area and photos here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Bromo
