We left Malaysia at Melaka and caught the ferry (Malaysia Express) to Dumai. When we arrived in Indonesia we collected our visas which cost $25 (the visa is cheaper to buy in US dollars as they rip you off if you pay with Indonesian rupiahs.) The Indonesian people seemed shocked to see us walking through and one of the blonde girls was a bit freaked out when she had people coming up to her asking to touch her hair!! Once we were sorted with the visas we went through customs and got onto our new bus!
We travelled through the windy roads and arrived in Pelcanlaru. When we arrived here we were expecting that it would be out in the middle of nowhere with no shops. So we were shocked to see that it’s actually quite a built up area. Some of us were even more delighted when we got to go to KFC for dinner!
The next morning we headed off for another long day's drive (it was like 12 hours!) to Jambi. Along the way we stopped off at the equator to take a few photos. Eventually, after what seemed never ending drive, we arrived at hotel Abadi. This hotel was gorgeous and it also had a very nice bar, the downside to this was that it was also ridiculously expensive. There were only a few of us in the bar when the band arrived to play. It was a bit awkward at first as there were 10 people in the band playing to three of us sitting down! Thankfully they were really good so we didn’t have to try and make an escape to leave them playing to no one!! As the night went on more people joined us, and it was overall a very good night.
The next day was yet again another early start as we headed for Palembang. Here we had a group meal included, so we had a meal on a boat restaurant, mainly consisting of rice chicken and fish. Mixed reviews on the food: some people thought it was nice and others didn’t and had to eat another meal when we got back to our hotel someplace. Here the hotel also advertised that it did karaoke, which it did not. So a few of the group headed off to the Japanese karaoke down the road from the hotel. They got their own private room and had a buzzer to push for whenever they wanted to order any drinks. Everyone who went to this agreed that it was great fun.
Once again the next day we got up early, for a long day's drive, and caught a ferry to get to Bandar Lampung. The staff on the boat seemed to be there just there to rip us off. The cheek of them, they tried to charge us for sitting down and there were pillows that they wanted to charge us for that we weren’t using. There were also Indonesian passengers on the boat who weren’t getting charged. When we asked why we had to pay and not them the answer seemed to be because we were white. Needless to say, we didn’t pay. We arrived at our hotel, which this time actually did have karaoke ... but the only music that they had to sing was old fashioned 60s and 70s love songs.
The next day we headed off early but this time it didn’t bother us because we knew we had the beach ahead of us and it was also only a six-hour bus journey before we arrived in Bandung. We arrived and the hotel (Hotel Sunset) was gorgeous. This place was like fantastic. Some of the group went off to hire a boat and go few canyons, which they said was brilliant and really beautiful. The rest of us headed to the beach (which was across from the hotel, happy days!!). At the beach you could hire out boggy boards and surfboards or you could just relax and catch up on your tan! It was great by the beach with the boards as we swam out and tried to catch some waves while most of us were just being dragged along by them! Also a few people tried out surfing, which was fun to watch as some people struggled pretty bad to try stand up while others were flying it and putting the rest to shame!!
We stayed in there for two nights and on one of those nights it was Barbra’s 55th birthday, which was a pretty cool night. Barbra had bought us all a few drinks to enjoy in her room before we headed to the Relax Restaurant. Here we had our own private section and we were also allowed to bring in our own drink. Also a band came in and played and one of the band members took a special interest in one of the girls (you were in there, Sara!). He basically sat next to her and sang to her but sadly the poor man hadn’t even the slightest chance. We all had a great time here and were sad to go.
Next on the list was Jogjakarta. Here the hotel was lovely and had a swim up bar! Here we had another birthday, woooh April! So after she'd been pulled into the pool we went out for a meal. Afterwards most of the group went on to Liquid night club to keep the partying. The night club was like a proper nightclub (it’s been a while, we’ve mainly just had bars!). Here there was also a band in the nightclub before the DJ. April had the pleasure of being pulled up on stage and having the band and the club sing happy birthday to her! At night a few of the group went back to Liquid but not to the club instead to some good old singing at the karaoke section. Note to anyone going to Jogjakarta, vodka can be really hard to get!!
Next on the list was Mount Brono. This was once again another awful long 12-hour bus journey but we stuck it out!! (There were extra seats because six people from the group flew to Bali from Jogjakarta!) When we were 45 minutes away from our hotel we had to jump off our bus and squeeze onto a mini bus as the roads are too narrow and bendy for big vehicles. We stayed at Yoschi’s Hotel, which was lovely but in the restaurant don’t expect fast service or for half the dishes on the menu to actually exist!
We got up early in the morning to go to the volcano where we had a painful trek up, but it was so worth it once we got to the top, it was pretty amazing. When you get to the top you can actually walk around the edge of it. For the trek you can hire ponies to take you, so you’re not nearly dead by the time you get to the top!
Next Bali, and then finally Australia.
Emily, Sara and Jacinta.
