Java - The Busiest Island in the World

After a final farewell to Sumatra, including one from a giant rat by the check-in desks in Medan, we continued our journey through Indonesia. From one island with transport nightmares to another, Java is the most populated island in the world and its capital Jakarta is gridlocked. We made a quick decision to bypass this city and fly straight over to the calmer Yogyakarta the next day. 

We arrived after another flight full of people coughing and sneezing, we're starting to think people only travel in Asia if they have some kind of illness. It was a quick train journey into the city at night when the markets are in full swing. We were staying in the busy tourist hub of Malioboro road which is busy with food stalls, malls and sadly, lots of horses with no water being forced to pull carriages for tourists. We headed over to the Packer Lodge Hostel which was probably one of the cleanest places we've stayed! 

The first thing to do was to hire a scooter so we could explore the city at our own pace. We headed out to the world's largest Buddhist Temple Borobudur at 5am wanting to catch the early morning mist as it settled over the stupas. Built in the 9th century it really is something to behold with 72 Buddha statues inside each of the giant stone domes. It was incredibly impressive, we wandered around in awe of the structure as we watched the mist dissipate due to the rising sun. Another fantastic part about Java is the landscape; it has areas which are incredibly flat with collections of massive volcanos rising out of the greenery. After the sunrise we could see Gunung Merapi (which means fire mountain!) in all its glory framing this ancient temple which was just beautiful. Hilariously, we also got mobbed by excited students wanting to take selfies with us during our visit. 

We returned to the hostel to muster our strength before heading back out into the traffic chaos. As we got in I took a look in the mirror and realised my face was absolutely covered in soot. It was from the smoggy city traffic which is frustratingly busy, even on a speedy bike. Over the next few days we ended up coming back to clean off every few hours as we felt so gross. A benefit of popping back to the hostel meant we could go to our favourite eatery, Fortune Coffee which even had freshly baked bread; delicious! 

Our next visit was to the grand Prambanan Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also built in the 9th century this Hindu structure once contained 240 temples, although only the large central ones remain with the biggest at 47m high. It was an honour to wander around, staring in wonder at the stunning architecture and we could even climb up to take a look inside. Later that day we decided to visit another interesting sight, some big sand dunes. It was a long ride and by the time we got there we were exhausted from the heat/fumes. The dunes were also pretty odd and not quite as spectacular as we'd hoped, although I'm not sure what we expected from lots of sand! 

After a few days of city living it was time to head further East. To get there we had to endure an eleven hour train to Probolinggo, somewhere you can definitely avoid visiting, whilst sitting in a packed carriage with no room to move. We also forgot to bring food which, as you can imagine, turned it into a ride from hell. In the end we got to see the breathtaking Madakaripura Waterfalls which were definitely worth it. We've never seen so many beautiful cascading waterfalls, appearing like magic from beneath the green undergrowth. It got even more mystical as we waded underneath the falls to get to a blue lagoon hidden in the rocks. This relaxing sight was worlds apart from what we were about to see next on our journey, active volcanos.