Vicki Copeman

The shredding stopped at 11 and the loud talking finished about 12.30, and other than the confused rooster crowing at 4 in the morning, I got a decent night's sleep.

Breakfast was rice and cooked vegetables, not my first choice for breakfast but it tasted nice and was filling. Had a bit of a wait for Adi, which was filled by trying rice wine with Jet's wife (who does all the cooking). Adi finally arrived with a bag of the promised lunch (drinks and random snack bars) before sending me off with Oman (my host) which turned out to be way better as Adi gave me the creeps but I couldn't put my figure on why. Oman took my by motorbike up to the waterfalls- I definitely could have walked the distance but it turned out to be useful having a guide. We went to Tiu Kelep first, which was stunning and hardly anyone was there to start with. It has two falls, one seems to be split into two as it goes through a hole in the trees to crash down. I happily claimed about and got drenched by the spray, do love a waterfall!
The second waterfall, Sendang Gila, was not as high but wider with more pools at the bottom, this seemed like the start of the river whereas the other fell into the river as it flowed past. To get there we had to cross the river at different points, wading through and climbing rocks. Had a monkey try to take our bag of food, thankfully it gave up after a couple of tries. It was a good job Oman had the bag as I would have given it up a lot easier. This waterfall was a lot busier but still stunning. We stopped on a fallen tree by the river to eat 'lunch', a great spot for people watching as it was where people had to wade across the river to carry onto the waterfall, some seemed very confused by this.

On the way back we stopped at the tunnel, this is something I had seen online and wanted to try. The version I had seen was going into one of the grates on a bridge that had water from the river flowing though and kind of body surfed down. Oman wouldn't let me do that bit but I did do the tunnel which the bridge fed into. You climb into the stream at the end of the bridge and walk or float on your back through- I did a mix of both. It was pitch black in the tunnel except for the occasional gab in the wall. I only crashed once (grazed elbow by considering the bike riding without a helmet, a cut elbow from a tunnel isn't too bad). It was a shame I couldn't do the first bit (get the impression that some guides let you do it and others don't), it was a fun experience.

We headed back after that to an afternoon of chilling and naps. At some point, Adi turned up and offered to take me to a sunset point later, almost turned it down but figured it was something to do. He picked me up at 5.30 and rode out to some random spot over some horrible roads/tracks to see a sunset that wasn't that spectacular. The view of the mountain/volcano was very impressive though. He kept getting me to take photos of him to send to him later and trying to get me to give my phone to some randomer who turned up after us so we could have a photo together, the uncomfortable feeling was still there so I brushed him off and walked a bit away. The uncomfortable feeling was not helped by him stopping to talk to random men on the way home or talking on his phone as riding down dirt tracks or trying to get me to have dinner at his friends restaurant or taking a different route home. Nothing happened but he just gave me the creeps.

Made it back in one piece (had an impressive intent from my thumb ring where I was grabbing the bike so tight) and had some lovely curry for dinner. When I was what it was someone said papaya but not sure if that was a mistranslation or not either way it tasted amazing. Ended the evening having a shot of rice wine (the stuff burns) and sipping another whilst a local tried to convince me to do karaoke. I seemed to be the only person staying tonight so it was a lot quieter.Leia mais