On Vas Où? Pt.1

Baluran National Park

I was begging for his beanie, not his attention. Stressing over small things, chaotic year. It was a great experience to be able to finish 2015 in a great adventure. I was at the edge of Java island for about 10 days. It was a silly plan at first, I wanted to join my friend's brother's trip to Banyuwangi, East Java. I was actually running out of money when I was asked to pay for the train tickets, but I knew it would worth it.

Banyuwangi is located in the east edge of Java island, just in case you're wondering. It's a small region but it has various of places to visit. They have everything! Mountains, beaches, jungles, art, traditional culture, everything. And for some of you, who's a Bali-enthusiast, you can take a 45 minutes sail to Bali from Watu Dodol Port, like I did. 

It was a crazy long trip by the train. I live in Jakarta, but my friends live in Bandung, so I had to travel to Bandung by a car for 2 hours, I stayed at Zulfa's for one night, and the next day, we went to Jogjakarta, Central Java by a train. It was 8 hours trip. And then we waited for like 2 hours for another train to Banyuwangi. From Jogjakarta to Banyuwangi took 14 hours by a train, so we actually spent almost 24 hours in a train. We arrived at Banyuwangi at around 9 pm. We went to the homestay, got some rest, because we have a long trip on the next day to Baluran National Park.

If you ever have the thoughts about Indonesia being all rain forest, well you're wrong. I found a wide wide savanna in Bauran National Park. There is also a beach called Bama Beach. There were a lot of monkeys in that beach, and they were rude. I know I shouldn't be offended because they have lived there long ago before we ever discovered that beach, so. But they were really rude, and hungry, so don't bring your bags I suggest. They will snatch your bag, and they will freak the fuck out of you.

Syifa and Futi were chilling at Bama Beach. They're hella cool kids.

This is me taking such a melancholy picture.

Bama Beach is really beautiful. They have white sands, clear blue ocean, and breathtaking view. They have mangroves naturally planted, so people might think that the beach area is small, but you explore the "mangrove forest", you will find the other side of the beach where the ocean has these rocks and it looks completely rad to chill there. It was such a great experience to see buena vistas, and so many animals. They have buffalos, monkeys, peacocks, eagles, so many animals, I felt like a Tarzan.

The next day, it was really surprising for me, because I finally hiked a mountain. I have never been a nature person. Like, I would never think I would hike a mountain. At first, before the trip, I was told that there would be a fun hiking activity, but I thought we would just hike a hill or like I don't know, other high but not too high surface, but we hiked Mount Ijen.

Beautiful view of Ijen Crater, Mount Ijen, East Java

We left the homestay at 11 pm and we arrived at Mount Ijen entrance at 12:30 am. And the entrance would open at 2 am, so we had to wait. It was really cold, I had to wear 3 layers of clothes, the weather was horrible. I have never been a fan of cold weather, so yeah. I was actually afraid, this was my first time hiking, but I was excited at the same time. We were told that the crater has this blue flames that we could see before the sunrise. So our plan was, to get to the crater before the sunrise. 

We started hiking at 2 am. It was horrible, I was so out of my breath, and the weather was so cold, the path was all the way up and I couldn't breathe well. My heart was pumping real fast and we had to wear this mask to protect us from this poisonous sulfur gas. It was so frustrating, but to be honest, I was optimistic. Like, I kept telling myself, "You have to reach the top, you have to. It's your journey, and you have to reach your destination. If you fail, you're a fucking quitter." I was more optimistic hiking a mountain than taking a statistic final exam.

I was carrying this heavy backpack, and it was just so dragging me down. But thankfully, futi's brother, Kris, he helped me carrying my backpack. I am forever grateful to him. Not like I asked him to, but he voluntarily helped me, so yeah. Thank you, Kris. 

Mount Prau View from Mount Ijen

But we did get there before the sunsrise. I could take a peek at the blue flame, but we didn't explore the crater. It was really nice to be able to see the sun rise from a mountain. I gave myself a glorious standing ovation. 

On January 31, we had our new year's eve in this beach called Boom Beach. I'm not going to share any picture because I looked like shit, so yeah. I had a deep though there actually. I kinda felt detached a little, looking back how some things fell apart. It was one melancholy night during new year's eve. 

The next day, we went swimming.

Catch me if you can, when I'm getting my tan LOL

The next day, January 1 2016, we went to Greenbay Beach. They have seriously wild wave, but since Javanese people don't surf, they swim there. It took hours to the beach but the whole trip was worth it. The beach had this rocky cliffs, white sands, blue ocean, nice monkeys. I had real fun there, it was quite dangerous to swim though, but it was fun. I got my tan, took great pictures of my friends. It was really worth it. 

On the next day, we snorkeled in Bali.

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