Sarongan - Indonesia
4/23/05
We had bought an express bus ticket from a travel agency through the hotel, because we wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to spend a night on the way like the last time, but it didn't really work. From Cemora we had to go back to Probolinggo and change to another bus to Jajag, but the only way to get to Probolinggo was to go by expensive private car or by bemo*1. Our beloved bemo didn't get full until 9:15 am and leaving so late made us miss the express bus to Jajag. Great, Angie gave a hard time to the guy at the bus station because they were supposed to wait for us since we bought the ticket in advance and had a reservation. Anyway, it was too late, the bus had departed and we were left behind. So, half an hour later, they put us on the following bus which was not express and full of sellers.
That wasn't all the fun. Half way, we had to hop to another bus and, in Jajag, we switched again to a bemo. Bemos can save you money but can also make you waste a lot of time. The one from Jajag, a van designed to transport comfortably eight passengers plus the driver, didn't depart until it had three guys on the roof, nineteen adults inside, the driver plus three chickens on the lap of a fellow with one tooth. I swear, if I could have moved one of my arms inside that car, I would have gotten the camera and would have made a picture. Anyway, by then, it was too late to make it to Sukamade in the park and the furthest we got was to Sarongan, the last village before our desired destination. To make it more interesting, there were no hotels of any kind around and no English speakers either. The driver dropped us at the tourist information center of the park. It was already 6:30 pm and completely dark. The office was closed but a guy came from across the street to open it. He didn't speak or couldn't understand a single word of English and all we could say in Indonesian was a few phrases listed at the end of our Indonesia Lonely Planet book. He showed to us a room where we could sleep and where the closest warung*2 was, but the communication didn't get beyond that. The walls of the office were full of geckos (or lizards), some were huge, between 30 and 40 cm. Also, a frog came into our room, I don't know where from, and insisted in hiding between our backpacks. The guy from the office caught it and put it out of the room :D. After that everything was fine, we locked the door and laid our mattresses on the floor and 'rested'.
*1 - A van that provides cheap transportation but has no schedule. It only departs after it is full, so you might have to wait a long time before it departs.
*2 - Food stall, the cheapest way of getting food in Indonesia, they are all over the country.
We had bought an express bus ticket from a travel agency through the hotel, because we wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to spend a night on the way like the last time, but it didn't really work. From Cemora we had to go back to Probolinggo and change to another bus to Jajag, but the only way to get to Probolinggo was to go by expensive private car or by bemo*1. Our beloved bemo didn't get full until 9:15 am and leaving so late made us miss the express bus to Jajag. Great, Angie gave a hard time to the guy at the bus station because they were supposed to wait for us since we bought the ticket in advance and had a reservation. Anyway, it was too late, the bus had departed and we were left behind. So, half an hour later, they put us on the following bus which was not express and full of sellers.
That wasn't all the fun. Half way, we had to hop to another bus and, in Jajag, we switched again to a bemo. Bemos can save you money but can also make you waste a lot of time. The one from Jajag, a van designed to transport comfortably eight passengers plus the driver, didn't depart until it had three guys on the roof, nineteen adults inside, the driver plus three chickens on the lap of a fellow with one tooth. I swear, if I could have moved one of my arms inside that car, I would have gotten the camera and would have made a picture. Anyway, by then, it was too late to make it to Sukamade in the park and the furthest we got was to Sarongan, the last village before our desired destination. To make it more interesting, there were no hotels of any kind around and no English speakers either. The driver dropped us at the tourist information center of the park. It was already 6:30 pm and completely dark. The office was closed but a guy came from across the street to open it. He didn't speak or couldn't understand a single word of English and all we could say in Indonesian was a few phrases listed at the end of our Indonesia Lonely Planet book. He showed to us a room where we could sleep and where the closest warung*2 was, but the communication didn't get beyond that. The walls of the office were full of geckos (or lizards), some were huge, between 30 and 40 cm. Also, a frog came into our room, I don't know where from, and insisted in hiding between our backpacks. The guy from the office caught it and put it out of the room :D. After that everything was fine, we locked the door and laid our mattresses on the floor and 'rested'.
*1 - A van that provides cheap transportation but has no schedule. It only departs after it is full, so you might have to wait a long time before it departs.
*2 - Food stall, the cheapest way of getting food in Indonesia, they are all over the country.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 10:41 AM
1 Comments:
Angie, you must be av ery brave lady. one of the spots you are standing at on the mountain.. was so scary.. If I had to stand there.. the biggest worry on my head.. would be.. which side am I gonna just slide off into some dark end..
--Prasanna.
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