Jember, Java, Indonesia
After a beautiful couple of relaxed days at Pemuteran it was time to push on and take the plunge by making the crossing from Bali to Java.
When we rented the scooter in Sanur we asked the lady if would be ok for us to take it off the island. We had done a bit of research and apparently you need to make sure that you have full written confirmation from the person renting to you that they are ok with you taking the bike off Bali to other Indonesian islands.
The lady was absolutely fine with this and instead of some sort of written confirmation she gave us a copy of her sons police card as he is a policeman somewhere up North in Bali. We weren't sure if this would work but she seemed to think it would be fine to show this at the ferry port at the compulsory police checks.
While in Pemuteran I did some further research and to be fair it seemed a bit of a mine field. Some people saying they had managed to take bikes off Bali no problem. Others saying they were stopped by the police and asked to turn around.
We arrived at the ferry port and rode along to the police check point just before the ticket office. I was a little nervous, with some doubt in my mind as to whether we would make it through.
There were three police at the checkpoint. One asked for the bike registration document which the lady had put under the seat for us. He glanced at it quickly, then I showed him my international license. "International?"...."Yes"......."OK"......then he waved us off on our way with a cheery smile. It was as simple as that. We didn't have to show any proof from the lady whose bike it was that she was happy for us take it off Bali at all.
With our ferry tickets bought for the princely sum of £2.75 for the two of us and the bike we were soon underway and crossing the sea to Java.
The ride over on the ferry isn't long at all, maybe 30-40 minutes. Before we knew it we landed at the ferry port in Java and clambered back on to our bike and rode off the ferry into the baking hot sun at Banyuwangi.
We already had a homestay sorted to stay at just 10 minutes ride from the ferry and in no time at all we had our bags dropped off and were headed out on the bike in search of food. Some very tasty treats later and we were reading up on our plans for the night/next morning. A trek up the volcano Mt Ijen for sunrise, just a couple of hours ride away from Banyuwangi.
We had done some research while in Bali about doing the trek ourselves without a guide. Mt Ijen is a volcano well know for it's "blue flame" that can be seen during the night and also it's impressive views for sunrise over the it's acidic bright blue lake. We were confident we had done enough reading to negotiate it ourselves. Route on the scooter to the nearest parking, entrance gate, head torch, treking route, yep all sorted. Then one thing suddenly hit me when reading other peoples accounts of their trek up the fiery beast. It was going to be pretty damn cold up there in the middle of the night!
Despite being in sweaty tropical java, Mt Ijen rises over 9,000 ft into the air. Needless to say in the middle of the night with none of the suns lovely hot rays to heat anything up the temperature at this altitude is a tad nippy to say the least. We had ditched all of our cold weather gear, jackets, jumpers, gloves etc before we left Canada not expecting to need them unless we maybe end up Nepal, in which case we would pick up some cheap gear there.
I didn't really fancy the two of us being the ill-prepared idiots from England who end up getting into trouble up a Volcano in the middle of the night so we quickly had to come up with a plan-B. We took a spin around town to see if we could pick up any jumpers and warm clothing but unfortunately there was nothing to be had.
The one good thing for us is that Ijen is only a few Kilometers from the coast where you catch the ferry back to Bali, so we will be passing through the area again in a few weeks time. This will give us time to grab some warmer gear from somewhere as we trip round Java and we can come back more prepared.
So we checked what else we could find on our route further West towards some of the other places we want to get to. We read about a place a few hours ride South West of Banyuwangi. What sounded like a lovely strip of coastline called "Red Island" or Pulau Mereh as it is properly known. We decided we would go and check it out and could then pick up the roads in Southern Java headed West towards Mt Bromo and Yogyakarta.
The following morning brought yet more clear blue skies. The kind of weather you want when your on a bike trip. With our two small day bags packed up we headed off for our first days riding in Java.
It was an interesting initiation once we got going. Bali can be busy in places at times but it still has a laid back feel about it, the way people ride and drive is still unmistakably South East Asian but it's relatively easy going. Java is a whole different ball game. It's more hectic, faster, more fumes in your face and the condition of some of the roads makes for some interesting maneuvers at times. There are certainly a lot more trucks on the roads in Java compared to Bali and I think that's what makes the difference.
It's not as simple as saying "Yeah, I'm just going to tootle along at my own pace and everything else can fly past if it wants". Trust me when your ambling along with a lot of traffic around you and you suddenly spot a huge truck in your wing mirror just a meter off your rear end....you pick up the pace. These trucks stop for nobody. Pretty similar to Vietnam. The biggest thing on the road rules and everything else either moves out of the way or get's mowed down by it. It was quite the eye-opening induction to Javanese traffic. Learn fast or get squashed. Fun times!
Once we had settled into that it wasn't too bad. You learn when to undertake, which red lights to go through, how to ride up the wrong side of the road when that is the safer option. It all comes together pretty quickly.
As with Bali, due to these conditions and the condition of the roads themselves it takes much longer than you expect to get anywhere. If Google maps says it will take 4 hours, factor in at least another 50% longer.
What started off as being a 3 hour quick ride down to the South East coast took closer to 6 hours. To be fair though we did break the day up by stopping off at a place called Genteng to check out some cool looking natural tunnel formed by Cypress trees.
We parked up and headed in to where the trees are and a small little cafe area. We were pounced on by the local visitors there before we could even grab a drink. Loads of the locals, well particularly the women glued to their smart phones wanted photos with us. It was comical and not something I've seen since being in China a few years back. Still they were all very pleasant and friendly which is nice to see. Not quite sure what they will do with the photos other than show their mates some sweaty ageing lad from the North East of England but hey, each to their own.
The trees themselves were kinda cool. Looking like something out of The Jungle Book. Huge arching branches covered in moss and vines, impressive trees and the arch effect created between them was nice. We didn't hang around long though with time getting on so hit the dusty, pot holed roads again before eventually turning South on to some much quieter country roads. Same pot holes, if not more, but less traffic. absolute winner in my book.
Much later than expected we rolled into the small village on the coast at Pulau Mereh and after wandering about the one short road there we found some basic cheap digs for the night. With our bags thrown in our room we walked the short distance from our Homestay to the beach just in time to catch a simmering red sunset. We were knackered at this point. After a quick bite to eat we were crashed out in our hot sweaty box of a room early doors.
We were going to push on further West into Java the next day but after checking out the beach on the morning it was too good to turn down, so we paid up for another nights stay and spent the whole day relaxing on the beach. Reading books, dipping in the sea to cool off and generally just being beach bums on what was an amazingly clean, long and quiet beach. The beach at this place is really stunning and so quiet during the day. It fills up a little more around 5pm for sunset with locals from the area but other than that we pretty much had the place to ourselves the whole day. You can't ask for more than that.
Having got back to another taste of beach life it was all too tempting to stay on for just one more night, but we know what we are like when do this. We would have ended up staying a week knowing us. It made sense to keep it to just two nights as checking the map for Java and how long it seems to cover any sort of distance we need to keep moving at a steady pace if we are going to get round the places we want to see.
With our breakfast sorted and our bags thrown together we hit the road and bid our farewells to the beautiful "Red Island" beach and headed off North West aiming for the city of Jember. There doesn't seem to be a lot in Jember for us but it's somewhere to stay for the night that breaks the distance up for us as we head further West into this huge island.
