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Sabbactical 2023/24

October 2023 - March 2024
This was my third 6-month backpacking trip and I wanted to fill in some blanks in the my imaginary travel map. So, I decided to visit Indonesia, Japan, Mexico as well as Kenya/Tanzania (and anything else that came along the way) Read more
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  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 15

    Gili T.

    October 18, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    2-3 days ago we made our way to the Gili Islands. Meanwhile we are on the ferry ⛴️ to Bali, which gives me some time to write this post.

    In contrast to the drive from Senggigi to Kuta, the trip back to Bangsal was stressful (to say the least). The driver seemed to be on a mission (in an imaginary race with all the other drivers on the street).
    More than once Paulas, Klaras and my eyes 👀 met after a risky and aggressive overtake maneuver. The good news: all participants survived the race and we arrived - still a bit shocked 😮 by the reckless driving - at lunchtime in Bangsal.
    From there, we took the public boat connecting Bangsal and Gili Trawangan- the biggest and liveliest of the Gili Islands. What you notice immediately there is how calm everything is. There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the Gilis. You can only rent a bike 🚴 or make a short trip by horse carriage 🐴 or you go by foot. 🦶
    Everything is very westernized on the Gilis. We could have also been somewhere on the French 🇫🇷, Spanish 🇪🇸 or Portuguese 🇵🇹 coast to the Mediterranean Sea - theoretically you could only tell the difference because of the white sandy beaches and the crystal clear turquoise water. You can buy your favourite bathing shorts 🩳 for European prices in one of the globally know outdoor brand shops. In almost every restaurant they serve western style food with excellent quality. Expectantly, prices were much higher than in the rest of Indonesia 🇮🇩 and we knew that we would burn our cash fast in this place 😅

    On our second day on Gili T. (short for Gili Trawangan) we went snorkelling 🤿 with a guide as well as approximately 100 other tourists. On our first stop, an instalment of a few underwater statues, it was really crowded and I probably have more human legs on my GoPro videos than fish 🐠 😂
    However, the second stop was my highlight for the day since I managed to capture a majestically floating turtle 🐢 on camera without any other humans in the background (go check out the video). The third stop offered some more views on coral 🪸 and fish 🐟 and on our last stop we visited a turtle sanctuary with many tiny turtle babies on Gili Meno (another Gili Island). On the boat we met Rico from the Netherlands 🇳🇱. He is a cool and funny guy. So, it was easy to befriend him. After the snorkelling trip was over we arranged for meeting us later in a beach restaurant and bar that was close by.
    We spent the night with having some beers 🍻, playing billiards 🎱 and darts 🎯 and went to bed much later than anticipated. Therefore, it was a bit more difficult than usual to get up early this morning. 😅    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    2
    Day 19

    Ubud (Part 1)

    October 22, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The last days in Ubud (Bali) have been everything but boring. Thus, I am splitting the post for Ubud into multiple parts.

    To get to Ubud we took the early morning ferry ⛴️ from Gili T. (Lombok) to Padangbai (Bali). It was almost the same experience as a few days before when we went into the opposite direction: it took much longer than advertised and because of missing air conditioning as well as high temperatures we were also sweating again like hell. 🥵
    At the ferry terminal in Padangbai we probably met the most persistent taxi broker on the whole island. He was that determined to get us in the car 🚗 of one of his colleagues, that he followed us all the way to the cosy café (Orang-Orang) and waited for us near the entrance while we had some coffee, beer as well as a small lunch; not letting us out of his sight. 👀 On our way to the café we even stopped for Klara to exchange some money - it didn’t matter. He stayed at our side the whole time and probably waited for almost 1,5 hours 🕦 until we finally gave up and bargained with him an acceptable price for the 2-hour drive to Ubud. Needless to say that the drive was again characterized by many overtaking maneuvers that put the lives of others on the street at risk.

    On our first night in Ubud we met with Oleg (who we knew from Bandung on Java) again for a revival dinner/drinks 🍹 at a really nice restaurant (Warung Gauri) that a French guy from the room in our hostel has recommended to us. It was a really funny evening, which allowed to share some travel stories as well as some plans & tips 🗺️ with each other. Oleg recommended the Balinese Cooking 🧑‍🍳 class to us which we have attended the next morning. Pick up was at 8 am. We went straight to a small market 🏬 where we could learn about the ingredients that we would be using that day. At the cooking class we were preparing typical Balinese dishes - most of the time with mainly the same basic ingredients (minced garlic 🧄, onion 🧅 and lemon grass 🌱 as well as diced tomato 🍅 , celery leaves 🍃 and a few spices 🔥). All in all we prepared 11 dishes for our delicious buffet. My favourite dish was the tuna fish ball soup 🥣 that we prepared as a starter. Obviously, Nasi Goreng and Mei Goreng were part of the main course. For desert we made banana dumplings with coconut rasps 🥥 and palm sugar 🌴 which were really good.
    In the afternoon, I finally found some time to relax and to develop a rough plan 🗺️ for my remaining days in Indonesia, before Paula and I got a 30 min. foot massage as well as 30 min. head/neck/shoulder massage 💆. It was so good. I will probably go again in the next few days 😅
    In the evening we met with Rico (who we knew from the snorkelling trip on Gili T.) and went for dinner, tested some bars and their cocktails 🍸 and agreed on things to do together on the next day.

    The next morning we rented scooters 🛴 to explore the greater Ubud area. Although we already had some practice from our first tries on Lombok we knew that driving through Ubud center was no joke. Luckily, the traffic situation got much better once we were out of Ubud. Then it was actually fun to drive around. Our first stop was the Tegalalang rice terrace - a famous place for instagramers and a really touristy place indeed. To take pictures 📸 on one of the whips you had to pay 500.000 IDR (approx. 30 EUR). Absolutely not worth it in our opinion. Instead we bought a ticket for a 10th of the price to get in and walk around the place. Little did we know, that there was no access to the rice terrace and place is really small. We really felt ripped off and were disappointed. ☹️ I guess none of us liked this place. So we quickly got out of there.
    Our next destination was a random waterfall 💦 on the way which Klara has nicely spotted from her scooter. This place was impressive since you could get really close to the approx. 15 m high waterfall and feel the power of its water. On the opposite side was a tall corridor completely covered in green plants 🌱 that we crossed to get to the exit. For our last stop for today we drove to the „Segara Windhu“ coffee plantation to learn about and try Luwak coffee ☕️ You might have heard about it: the Arabica beans are fermented in the stomach of the luwak cat. It sounds disgusting at first, but there is an elaborate cleansing process in place and the coffee tastes indeed very well. We went on a shopping spree in the „Segara Windhu“ shop before we left the place; and if I wouldn’t be traveling for 5 more months, I would have also bought more than just the cappuccino chocolate 🍫 😅
    After that varied day, we drove back to our hostel in Ubud and went for dinner 🍲 in the „Warung Gauri“ restaurant (like 2 days before).
    After dinner it was time to say „good bye“ to Klara & Paula 👋. They will leave Indonesia 🇮🇩 in a couple of days and I figured that there is still so much more to see and do in Ubud, Bali and elsewhere so that our travel plans do not match any longer.

    So, if you read this, I can only repeat what I said then: it was really fun to travel with you for the past days. You have enriched my journey with many great experiences and I am grateful for that! 🙏

    Safe travels & Take care 🫡    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 21

    Ubud (Part 2)

    October 24, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    The last two days in Ubud, Rico and I explored the greater Ubud area with our scooters 🛴 quite a bit and saw a lot of sights.

    On Monday morning we went to Goa Gajah (the elephant temple) 🐘 and confidently ditched all attempts to be scammed - be it the attempt to sell us a sarong🥻to enter the temples (although they can be borrowed for free) or a „tour guide“ who wanted 20 US$ for showing us EVERYTHING of the rather straightforward temple 🛕 All in all we have probably been not more an hour there (including getting a blessing).
    Our next stop was Puri Tirta Empul (the Holy Water temple) where we observed a lot of white people getting a green sarong in order to be able to bath 🛀 in the holy waters. For us the queue was simply too long and since we have been already blessed elsewhere that day, we didn’t go into the holy water. Instead, we walked around the beautiful area and came across the holy pond that easily contained at least 100 koi 🎏 which where wildly fighting for food that the tourists bought and fed to them. It was quite a spectacle.
    Rico wanted to buy some silver bracelets as souvenirs 💍 for friends & family at home. That’s why we drove in the afternoon to the „Budha to Budha“ shop (meanwhile „Best of Budha“) in Ubud. Apparently, this is a huge thing in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 since there were only Dutch people … and me! 😂 The advantage of buying the bracelets here instead of Europe is, that the price is solely calculated based on the weight of the Silver - no extra cost (e. g. for shipping or customs or else). That way you pay only a third of the European prices!
    Initially, we wanted to drive to the Tegenungan waterfall but if we wanted to be in time for our reservation of the Cocktail Bar / Restaurant 🍹 to observe the sunset and factoring in the time to get there we had only approx. one hour at the waterfall left. Besides, it is supposedly very touristy and we didn’t want to repeat our experience with Tegallalang rice terrace from the day before. So, we skipped the waterfall and instead went to the Villa Rico has rented to freshen up before watching the sunset at the Mandapa Ritz Carlton.
    We had a bunch of cocktails 🍹 and Sushi 🍣 respectively Wagyu beef 🥩 for dinner while watching the sunset 🌅. Needless to say, that I spent more than 1 million IDR 🤑just that night. And Rico even more 😂 Nevertheless, the experience was worth the money. 😌
    We called it an early night that day so that we could get up early and observe the sunrise 🌄 at mount Batur on the next day.

    We met at 4 am in the morning and drove approximately an hour north through the dark. Luckily traffic is not busy at all at that time. But without the sun it was freezing cold. 🥶 Although I had a jumper and long trousers on, it was not really possible to go beyond 60 km/h without getting frostbites 😆 We did not do our homework and were quite surprised that the not so touristy lookout we wanted to visit was an hour further away than we thought. So, we had to improvise and while we were on our way to another lookout we saw the first red-ish colours of the sunrise behind Mt. Batur 🌋Luckily we were passing by a pretty formidable and empty pedestrian with a nice view at that moment. So, we decided to stay right there and watch the sunrise 🌄 from that spot. At the beginning everything seemed to be perfect but suddenly lots of clouds ☁️ moved in front of Mt. Batur. The beautiful colours made way for a lot of white and grey. Just in the moment when we were ready to accept defeat, the clouds partly disappeared again so that we stayed for another 15 min. and properly enjoyed the natural spectacle - certainly one of the nicest sunrises I have seen so far.
    It was still early in the morning - 7am or so but it almost felt like lunchtime. We were hungry. So, we drove to a nearby cafe to have breakfast.
    With a full belly 🫃we drove to the hot spring that was relatively close by. Rico has never been to a hot spring so far. So for him it seemed to be a great experience but I still had the one from Bandung (Java) as most recent comparison in mind and therefore I was a bit disappointed. ☹️ Don’t get me wrong - it was still relaxing to spend the time in multiple pools of varying temperatures and to enjoy the views but the experience from Bandung was simply better. That feeling might have been related to the relatively low temperatures 🌡️ that paled in comparison to the ones in Bandung. So, I advised Rico to go there and make that experience for himself, when he comes back to Indonesia 🇮🇩
    2 hours later we left the hot springs again. It was only noon. I had now all possible situations on a scooter 🛴 - driving through heavy city traffic, driving on the highway & speedway, driving in the night, … I have learned the most through observing how Rico does it (he had much more practice than me and drove nearly everywhere on Lombok). I would say I am ready for the Indonesian drivers license 😂
    After driving back to my hotel as well as lunch in Warung Gauri (the restaurant we regularly went to in the last days), it was time to also say goodbye to Rico (he will fly 🛫 back home to the Netherlands).

    When you (Rico) read this, be sure that I am thankful for you being such a great travel buddy. I had much fun the last days and will keep that forever in good memory! 👍 Safe travels 🌎 and thanks for being my driving instructor 😅

    After lunch, I returned the rented scooter. Since there was still time for a 1,5 hour long full body massage with coconut oil 🥥 This day was just one big treat 😅
    In the afternoon I was picked up by my taxi 🚕 to Canggu. I got the contact details from Rico (and he got it from another Dutch guy - this is how things work here 😊).    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 23

    Canggu

    October 26, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    2 days ago, I took a taxi 🚕 to Canggu approximately 1,5 hours south of Ubud. It was the first time I could not split the cost with other travelers anymore. And in addition Canggu is even more touristy and expensive than Ubud. So, my average daily costs are sky rocketing 🚀 at the moment. Thank goodness, it is the end of the month. So, my salary is due soon 😅
    At least for accommodation I wanted to save some money. 💰 So, I booked 2 nights in a deluxe 4-bed dorm in a hostel. To my surprise it was the same place where Paula and Klara were staying. Something was different about this hostel though. In comparison to all the other places I have been before, this seemed to be so much more professional. For checkin I had to fill out a form (see the photo) and agree to a lot of rules that made sense but I have never seen them spelled out like this. 😂
    However, the rooms are quite spacious and the beds are the most comfortable I have ever seen in a 4-bed dorm of a hostel. 👍After checking in, I took a shower and „optimized“ my looks as far as I could (mainly shaving 🪒 my beard). 😅 As expected and in every touristy place close to the beach (e. g. think of Rio de Janeiro), people seemed do be much more superficial and focused on their outer values instead of their inner ones. I wanted to fit in at least a little bit 😊
    Then I joined Paula and Klara at the billiard table to share some stories of the past few days with them.

    The next morning we awkwardly had to say goodbye 👋 to each other again within 72 hours. I tried to make it quick since I actually don’t like to saying goodbye too much. But I guess, this is something I need to get used to in the coming months. Paula and Klara had a long journey back home (or to other countries) in front of them. I continued to stay for one more night and used the time to do many things I neglected in the past due to missing time:
    * do laundry 🧺
    * going to the hair dresser 💇 (that was already overdue for at least a week)
    * book my last night in Indonesia in a Jakarta Airport Hotel 🏨
    * book a flight ✈️ from Banyuwangi (on the east coast of Java) to Jakarta Airport; due to multiple technical issues with the WiFi and the website this 15 min task took me almost an hour
    * financials / stock market 📈
    …

    With that, I was almost busy for the whole day. 😂 But I also walked around Canggu and its beaches. In the conversation I just had with the driver of my taxi 🚕 to Lovina (my next destination), we summarized it quite nicely: Canggu is almost entirely made up of beach clubs, surf schools & shops 😅
    After my healthy 2-3 hour walk in the middle of the day, I arrived back at my hostel and went straight to the pool. 😎
    I met some people there in the hostel - many Germans but also Irish and British. They were just here for partying and surfing. 🏄‍♀️ So it was no surprise that the conversations with them were not very deep. But that’s OK. Not everyone can be like Rico, Paula and Klara 🥲😊
    Paula (who was already in Canggu) had even warned me about it but I wanted to see the place for myself. So, I don’t regret coming to Canggu. Kuta (on Lombok) however was a much nicer because more diverse and relaxed surf spot, in my view.

    Now I am on my way to Lovina in the north of Bali. It’s a 2-3 hour drive but I am going there to see some dolphins 🐬 and maybe one more waterfall. My plan is to relax there a bit and to have some alone time.    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 24

    Lovina

    October 27, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    On Wednesday morning, I crossed the whole Bali island from Canggu on its south coast to Lovina on its north coast. It was a 2.5 hour taxi drive through what I would call a representation of the Balinese terrain.
    In Lovina, I stayed at a nice hotel with bungalow style apartments and a big pool 🏊 Of course, I had to jump right into the pool after my arrival 😎
    In the afternoon, I walked to the dolphin statue and was chased down by sellers for all sorts of things (Sarongs, bracelets, dolphin tours, snorkelling tours, fishing tours, diving tours … you name it!). Despite my anxiety about diving for the first time again after 5 years, I booked a tour for my third day in Lovina. I also booked a dolphin tour 🐬 for the next day. After all, this was the reason why I came to Lovina 😅 The pickup was supposed to be at 6 am. So, I went early to bed in the evening and set my alarm for 5.45 am ⏰

    When the captain came knocking at my door the next morning, I woke up in panic and afraid that I have overslept. But it was only 5.40 am - 5 min. before my alarm would go off. Well, I was certainly awake after this little shocker 😅
    Nevertheless, the dolphin tour was really good. I got to see another sunrise 🌄 but this time from the sea 🌊 I see an above average number of sunrises these days - already 2 within not even 1 week 😎
    After a while of searching we also found dolphins 🐬 Lots of dolphins! It was not easy, but as you can see I was able to capture some of them on my photos. 📸 on our way back we briefly stopped at a popular snorkelling spot. The water was so clear that we could see the 5 meter deep coral 🪸 even from the boat 🚤. Our captain threw some cracker crumbs into the water and many little striped fish 🐠 showed up. Obviously, this was his upsell opportunity but since I was going on a dive tour (which included snorkelling) on the next day, I was not compelled to book the captains snorkelling tour.
    When we returned from the dolphin tour, it was only 8 am and I had plenty of time to go to breakfast 🍳
    Initially, I thought I would rent a scooter 🛵 that day and explore the area of Lovina but then I still had this diving tour on the next one. I won’t lie. I was pretty nervous about diving so soon. 😬 So, I spent almost the whole day at the pool instead - recapping the Open Water Scuba Diving knowledge by watching YouTube videos to be as prepared as possible. After watching the first videos, I realized how little I still knew from my certification courses back in the days and that made me even more nervous 🫣😅 but I kept watching and I got a better feeling about it again. 👍 It is really a lot of theoretical and practical knowledge for scuba diving. So, I guess the best way to keep it, is to dive regularly. That day I made a promise to myself to go diving again when I am in Mexico 🇲🇽 And I also thought about learning free diving. It seems so much less involved and you can do it almost anywhere (and without equipment). 😎
    In the late afternoon, I walked around in the neighbourhood of my hotel and watched the sunset. 🌅 Other than that, I went to bed early that day and I refrained from drinking alcohol 🍺 in the evening to give my body the best chance to be as relaxed as possible for the dives 🤿 on the next day.

    My next post will be dedicated to the dive tour since there are many incredible photos and videos of it. Stay tuned!    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 25

    Diving at Menjangan Island

    October 28, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    I woke up early that day. I could have slept an hour more but I was not tired anymore - I was excited 😆

    An associate of the diving centre picked me up at my hotel with a scooter and drove me to the „New Tirta Diving and Snorkeling Lovina“ office 🏠 to choose and fit the equipment. Only wet suit and fins though - the rest was already prepared. 😎 Besides me, there were only 4 Indian guys who went on their first dives that day. The majority of participants for the tour went snorkelling. 🤿
    Not much later we entered the minibus 🚐that took us to a small jetty close to Menjangan Island in the north west of Bali. I was really lucky with my guide Gustavo. He explained everything to me that I needed to know that day (hand signs 👌, how to put on the equipment, how to use the SPG etc.) and instilled confidence in me that I would be fine - even after 5 years of not diving. Then it was time. I sat on the brink of the boat and made my back roll entry into the water. 💦 There is always this short moment when you hit the water and your natural impulse is to hold your breath (so that you don’t inhale water). In scuba diving you have to remember that you can breathe 🫁 and act against your natural instinct. So did I, before I emerged from the water and inflated my BCD. Then I waited for Gustavo to join me in the ocean 🌊 so that we could start our little adventure for that day. What followed was simply one of the most relaxed and beautiful dives I have experienced in my life. It seems diving is like riding a bike - you don’t unlearn it. 😁 And the fish 🐠 and coral 🪸 at the depth (approx. 18m) we dived were high in quantity, quality and variety. I even saw a big turtle 🐢 and was able to touch it while it was just laying there on the ground. It is not possible to describe my experience down there in words. But looking at the pictures and the one video I uploaded here you might get a glimpse of an impression. After 45 min the first dive was over. I felt happier than ever 🥳 and discussed with Gustavo what we have seen. He showed me some of the photos he made and I showed him my GoPro videos.
    Then we had lunch 🥪 on Menjangan Island before we went into the water for the second dive. Needless to say, that the second dive was also incredible. The only dives that remotely compare to the ones of this day were in Costa Rica 🇨🇷 and those were under much more difficult conditions (in the middle of the ocean and therefore strong currents). What a great day this has been. I am so glad that I went for this diving tour. It is certainly one of the highlights 🙌 of my Indonesia trip.
    After the second dive we drove back to 1.5 hours away Lovina. Back in the hotel, I was tired but happy and spent the evening (re)watching the photos and videos of the dives. Gustavo and I have produced over 600 of them that day. Unfortunately, I can only share a few with you here. I definitely had a hard time to select the ones for this post. 😅😎    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    1
    Day 26

    Central Bali by Scooter

    October 29, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Since I managed to book an „overnight tour“ including a visit to Ijen with pickup at Lovina (on Bali) and drop-off at Banyuwangi (on Java), I gained one more day in Lovina. So, I had time to rent a scooter again. Scoopy (the scooter) 🛵 and I would visit the area and cruise through central Bali that day - for a last time. I felt like I didn’t really got to see some proper rice terraces in Bali so far. That’s probably why I ended up driving all the way to the Jatiluwih rice terraces in central Bali. Since this was 3 hours away from Lovina, I made a stop at the Git-Git waterfall. The water was delightfully refreshing and to my surprise I didn’t have to pay any entrance fee. Also, everyone was there with a guide. Only I somehow managed do go there on my own 😅 But the journey was not without its challenges. The HereWeGo App has send me on a strange path. The last few kilometres I even had to drive through the forest 🌲 and when the slope became too steep, I had to walk the remaining hundreds of metres. Nevertheless, using the HereWeGo app instead of Google Maps 🗺️ was the better alternative. The days before, Rico and I had so many situations when navigating with Google Maps was confusing because of inaccurate maps or issues with our phones compasses 🧭 Therefore, I decided to follow the advice of a friend back home 🏡 and tried out the HereWeGo App (thanks @Dennis 😊)
    On my way back from the waterfall I was escorted by not one but two barking dogs 🐕 that definitely wanted to let me know that I should get the f*** out of here 😂 In general, it seemed like the dogs in this area took the task of protecting their territory very seriously.
    After a sweat-breaking climb 🧗 back to my scooter, I was on my way to the rice terraces. It was really fun to cruise through the serpentines of the mountains 🏔️ Once in a while, there was a nice place for a photo 📸stop e. g. a really close picture of the monkeys 🙉 sitting on the side of the road or simply a nice view over the „Beratan“ lake.
    The Jatiluwih rice terraces 🍚 were huge and held what the photos (I saw in my research on the internet before) have promised. No wonder they are so well known here and although there were quite a few tourists it was not nearly as crowded as at the Tegallalang rice terraces that Paula, Klara, Rico and I tried to visit a week ago. I didn’t want to drive this hilly terrain in the dark. Therefore, I was back at Lovina Beach for the sunset 🌅
    In the evening - when I sat in front of my Bungalow and organized the massive amounts of photos and videos of the past few days - an Indonesian guest of the hotel approached me and offered some mangos 🥭 He had bought too much (3kg) for him to take back to Balikpapan - his home town on Borneo - because they have been so much cheaper here. We had a nice conversation about my experiences in Indonesia 🇮🇩 and how he sometimes invites guests in his home via couch surfing. Of course, he invited me to visit him on Borneo as well. I might come back to his offer some day. 😊    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 28

    The Blue Fire of Mt. Ijen

    October 31, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    As I wrote in my last post, I was going on a tour to Mount Ijen 🌋 (another one of the many Indonesian volcanoes). Pickup was 9.30 pm on the 30th of October directly in Lovina. I was lucky with my driver again. I learned a lot about living as a local here on Bali. Amongst other things we also talked about wages and living costs 💸 My driver works for his day job as a security guard at a school in his village and gets up every morning at 5.30 am to work for 9-10 hours until 3pm. Doing that, he earns 1.200.000 IDR per month. He has a wife 👰and a 9-year old son 🧒 and calculates with 100.000 IDR per day for food etc. for all 3 of them. Because of this, they would be 1.800.000 IDR short of covering their monthly expenses with his security job alone. His wife works in a boutique 🛍️ but does not earn enough money either. Therefore he is driving tourists in the afternoon/evening. Luckily, he owns a house 🏡 so he does not have to worry about paying rent. COVID-19 must have been really devastating for Balinese people since their entire economy is directed at tourism. There are not a lot of other sources of income on the island. I have been in quite a few hostels now and I have heard a lot of times from the personnel that they had to close during that time or have just reopened again. Therefore, everyone is glad COVID is „officially over“ and tourism picks up again.

    After a 1.5 hour drive 🚖 I took the ferry 🚢from Gilimanuk and arrived approximately at midnight on Java. The tour guide for the Ijen tour was already waiting for me at the harbour.
    We picked up 3 more French tourists from their hotel and then drove up the hill to Ijen.
    The car 🚗 had its fair share of difficulties to get us onto the mountain 🏔️ It came even to the point that - somewhere on the way - our driver had to roll backwards down the hill again for 50m (in a controlled way) to start a second attempt. That time everything went well.
    Approximately at 2 am in the morning of the 31st of October we arrived at the base camp ⛺️ of Mt. Ijen. Last chance to go to the toilet and collect a gas mask 😷 or eat some breakfast before everyone (there must have been easily more than 100 people) started the ascent to the crater. We hiked under perfect conditions (clear night sky and full moon) 🌌 and went approximately an hour uphill on a steep and dusty slope to the crater. Some elderly or simply lazy tourists used the „taxi“ services 🦼 that the locals offered. Basically it was like a trailer for a car with a seat in it that two to three poor Indonesians would pull or push up the steep hill. It looked really exhausting to me.
    Then we walked for half an hour on the crater to the entry point for the Blue Fire 🔥From there it was another hour of steep decent through rocky and partly slippery terrain 🧗 into the crater before we arrived at our destination at around 4 am - perfect timing. It was still dark and the Blue Fire was easy to spot. The masks protected our lungs 🫁 from the sulphur gas but nothing else. When the intense gas was blown into our direction by the wind, our eyes 👀 started to burn. It was not bearable for long to be near the Blue Fire. „But how is the Blue Fire actually created?“, you might ask. When the sulphur gas from within the volcano reaches the surface, it can be up to 600° C hot. Therefore, the sulphur immediately ignites and erupts with blue flames 🔥 into the air (due to lower temperatures and pressures at the surface). However, there were gas pipes in place between the sulphur gas and the area to watch the blue fire. I could be wrong but the gas might be artificially brought there for display to the tourists. Anyways, after a while we started our ascent out of the crater again to watch the sunrise 🌅 We couldn’t actually see the sun because another high mountain was blocking it. Instead we marvelled at the beautiful colours of the opposite side of the sky. At 6 am we had seen enough and went back to the base camp to have some Mei Goreng and a coffee for breakfast. ☕️
    After breakfast, we were brought to our hotel respectively hostel. Everyone (but the driver) was sleeping in the car. 😅

    In my hostel I was warmly greeted by the staff, took a shower 🚿 and waited for the time to check in. When I got into the room, I took a little early afternoon nap 😴 The night had been exhausting and my body needed rest. An hour later I woke up again and tried to prepare my onward travel to Jakarta for the next day. To my surprise I found out that my flight to Jakarta had been cancelled 😳 I needed a few moments to understand the gravity of the situation: my flight ✈️ to Japan - that I had booked many months ago for hundreds of EURs - was leaving on the 2nd of November. If I didn’t go to Jakarta on the next day, I would miss that flight to Japan. 🥺
    Luckily, the staff of my hostel was super helpful 👍 and supported me in contacting the airline and clarifying the situation: apparently, I was rebooked to an earlier flight on the same day and I didn’t receive a notification from the airline. 😤 Shout out to Mutia and her team. 🙏 If it wasn’t for them, I would be probably stuck in Banyuwangi/Indonesia right now. 😅 I mean, there is worse but I would have completely screwed up my travel plans for the coming months.    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 30

    Goodbye Indonesia 🥲

    November 2, 2023 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    This will be my last post from Indonesian soil. I have spent the past 24 hours eating, sleeping and reflecting in the FM7 Airport Hotel 🏨 in Jakarta.
    Indonesia 🇮🇩 is really a fascinating place. I visited only a few cities on 3 islands of this vast country, but my time could not have been more diverse and interesting:

    * I went hiking 🥾, surfing 🏄, snorkelling & scuba diving 🤿
    * tasted delicious Indonesian food 🍲 & even attended a cooking class 🧑‍🍳
    * swam in the Pacific Ocean 🌊 , in waterfalls and hot springs
    * drove with a scooter 🛵 through the Indonesian landscape
    * saw temples 🏛️, pristine beaches 🏝️, volcanoes 🌋, rice 🍚 terraces, tee 🍵 & coffee ☕️ plantations
    * met fellow travellers 🧳 and made new friends
    * …

    The locals were really welcoming, friendly and open minded. It was easy and fun to talk to them about their culture, religion, their insane traffic 😅 and many more things.
    That are only a few reasons why I will keep the last 4 weeks in good memory. There is not much from my „todo“ 📋 list for Indonesia 🇮🇩 that I didn’t do. So, I am content to leave the country with a good set of ideas for further areas to visit and explore when I come back to Indonesia one day.

    My next destination is Japan 🇯🇵 Although I don’t know yet what awaits me there, I know this for sure: it will be a considerably different experience. My „todo“ list 📋 for Japan 🇯🇵 gets longer by the day, but with 5-6 weeks I should have enough time to get to know the Japanese culture (at least a little bit). 😊    Read more

  • TravelerSabbactical 2023/24
    Day 32

    Greetings from Tokio

    November 4, 2023 in Japan ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Best wishes from Tokio. I landed here yesterday morning - quite tired 🥱 and exhausted from the overnight travel. After landing at Tokio airport, immigration, baggage claim 🧳 and clearing customs I arrived at around 11 am in the guesthouse 🏠where I am staying for the first few nights here. Turns out it is in the outskirts of Tokio. But that’s OK. However, I have to figure out Tokio‘s good but complicated public transportation system now. 🚊
    It doesn’t help that everything is in Japanese signs which are nothing but hieroglyphs ♎️ to me. This is how it must be for people who can’t read and write😩 Luckily, the most important words like station names are translated to English. Otherwise I would be completely lost 😅 On top of that, there are multiple operators for subway, train, bus and tram but no day or week pass that combines them all. So, I had to go to the ticket vending machines before I could take any train - also for changing train lines 😨 There is the „Suica Card“ though; that eliminates this issue since it can be used as prepaid card for nearly all transportation methods and also for grocery stores 🏪 but it is really hard to get one. Since I didn’t manage to get a Suica card, a lady (working in my guesthouse) lend me her spare card for the time being.
    Outside of learning about transportation in Tokyo, I didn’t do much yesterday anymore. 😊 I talked to some people who are also staying at the guesthouse but most of them speak only French 🇫🇷 and are currently learning Japanese 🇯🇵 That is why I am using Google Translate a lot these days. 😂 For lunch the owner of the guesthouse went to a restaurant close by with us. This place had good food 🍱 and was cheep. Ordering through the tablets at the table was difficult though because also here we encountered the hieroglyphs ♎️ But of course the owner managed everything for us. He even paid the bill and invited us at the end - approximately 35,- EUR for all 5 of us. 😊
    In the afternoon, I headed to the city and went to Shibuya Station. I had read about the famous Shibuya Crossing that you and I definitely have seen already in the movies 🎥 I ended up in the Hikari Building which offers some great views from its sky terrace in the 11th floor. Besides that, there were some really nice restaurants in the upper levels as well as some deli shops 🏪 in the 2 ground floor levels. It’s seems to be the equivalent to the KaDeWe in Berlin (if you know that). I was still stuffed from lunch that day but I am sure I will come back to this place in the next couple of days to try out some of these deli‘s and maybe even a restaurant. 🍲

    Today, I went to „TeamLab Planet“ - a permanent immersive art exhibition here in Tokyo. I had booked a time slot for 11 am and left the guesthouse 30 min earlier than I would need for getting there (according to Google or Apple Maps). However, I got lost and arrived an hour later as expected. Did I mention already that public transport in Tokio is complicated? 😅
    Anyways, the objective of the exhibitions was to let you experience the art with your own body. They worked a lot with mirrors, water and lighting to create the illusion of infinity and many more things in their exhibition rooms (check the photos). I spent approximately 2 hours there. It was really incredible and I can definitely recommend it. The artists have put a lot of thought and effort into this. 👍
    Then it was time for lunch. This time I had to order it on my own but I was lucky. There was a terminal with English language were I could order from. 😊 After lunch, I picked up my 24-Hour metro card (that I had bought in a bundle with the entrance for TeamLab Planet) and navigated - this time without complications - to Senso-ji (the old temple 🏛️ of the goddess of compassion) in Asakusa. The Buddhist temple was crowded with many Japanese people who enjoyed this Saturday afternoon dressed up in a Kimono 👘 and walking through the traditionally decorated alleys, shopping and tasting street food. Actually, you could do a lot of Buddhist related rituals in this place: water purification 💦 for the hands, gesture of cleansing the body with incense smoke 💨 , lighting a candle 🕯️ … I participated in most of them. I also got my Omikuji - a randomly chosen fortune 📜 I have yet to figure out what it means though because the English translation printed on the sheet of paper representing the Omikuji is inconclusive. 😂
    After sunset, I went to the foreigner friendly bar district in Roppongi since I wanted to make the most of my 24-hours metro pass. After a few beer 🍻 and some nice Sashimi 🍣 for dinner I went back to the guesthouse again.

    Tomorrow I want to check out the Anime district and maybe one or two cat/owl caffès 😊    Read more

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