Saved by a banana in Bali’s monkey forest

The things we do for children. I’m sorry, monkey lovers, these animals do nothing for me, but the thought of going into a monkey forest was a dream come true for my ten year old.

Back to Bali

From Probolinggo, we took a scenic bus ride east, ferried across to Bali and down the coast to Depasar before we arrived at Sanur Beach after dark, our last stop.

Java’s smoking giant, Mt Bromo

I’d stopped in Probolinggo because I wasn’t done with volcanoes. South-west of the city was active Mt Bromo where we travelled to find a lunar landscape around a smoking crater.

Surabaya in a day

Because this was before the internet, we bused the hundred kilometres to check for snail mail and returned to Probolinggo the same day.

In Surabaya, a young student befriended us and we let her talk us into going to the zoo.

Eastern Java’s Probolinggo

We took a grueling nine-hour train journey to Probolinggo, seven of which were without a seat. Sitting on our backpacks near a door, we willed the hours to pass. When we did arrive in the small town, it was after dark.

Steamy, sooty Surakarta (sometimes Solo)

We should have bypassed this grungy city, but the one photo I have, was taken outside the batik market so I’m guessing I found my illusive piece of green batik here.

The heat was overwhelming so we went to a movie just to sit in the air- conditioning.

Prambanan – Indonesia’s Hindu past

We bused to Prambanan one afternoon to the ninth century Hindu temple. It was hot and sticky and the bus crowded, but the site was only twenty kilometres from Jogyakarta.

Kopi susu delight in Jogyakarta

Photo courtesy: Hullie —Wikimedia Commons

Jogya was like the silver capital of Indonesia. We spent a couple of days roaming silversmith shops and all the other goodies Indonesia offered.

A child’s impression of Borobudur

I thought I was clever going to Borobudur on Christmas day; after all, this was a Muslim country. I guess I hadn’t learned my lesson from the train from Bandung. Instead of no one being at the site, the Buddhist temple was over crowded. I soon realized, it was a holiday in Indonesia too.

Christmas in a Muslim country

Jogjakarta was the highlight of the Java trip both for my daughter and me but getting there was a nightmare. It was the Christmas weekend. Not a problem in Muslim Indonesia, I thought. Wrong.