Gunung Bromo

21 - 22 March 2010

Well I expected to arrive in Cemoro Lawang on the edge of the crater overlooking Gunung Bromo yesterday but my travel plans did not allow enough time for waiting for other passengers. I had used ojek, ferry, bemo and public bus to travel to Probolinggo about 6 hours travelling and 3 hours waiting at various points along the journey. At least there was a steady stream of buskers and food sellers jumping on and off the bus to keep me entertained as well as ever changing scenery. I had not allowed for quite this level of delay so by the time I arrived there were very few people wanting to travel further. I was not prepared to charter a bemo to do the trip alone so had to stay in Probolinggo over night.

Cemoro Lawang is on the edge of the Tengger caldera in which three volcanoes have emerged from the sea of ash. Gunung Bromo is one of these and send out a constant stream of sulphurous steam. The rainy season is not the best time to be visiting any high peak but I did manage to catch some excellent views during my stay here. The area around Cemoro Lawang was incredibly fertile with lots of small vegetable fields clinging to the steep hills.

I did not particularly enjoy my stay here as I found the locals totally money and the men sex obsessed. It did not matter how much I spoke with them they are convinced all Westerners have loads of money which they should be parted from by paying extremely inflated prices for everything and that any Western woman travelling alone must be desperate for sex; a service they all seem to want to provide.

Bali barat

17 – 19 Maret 2010

Travelling the day after Nyepi was not the brightest idea the roads were very busy with people heading home from their villages after the holiday. We encountered four or five broken down lorries which caused absolute chaos with the already dense traffic on the narrow winding road from Denpasar to Gilimanuk. Gilimanuk is the port where ferries leave for Java and little else happens there.

I took a local guide to the National Park where we spent three hours walking. He was an excellent bird mimic and managed to bring several males of different species close to us. We heard but never managed to see barking deer – the vegetation is too lush due to the rainy season to see them as they are timid. We did however see a large family of monkeys and lots of insects and an amazing selection of snails.

I also travelled back along the south coast to Medewi which is another surfers mecca. The surf break is very close to shore so I was able to get a good view of the surfers whilst talking to some of the locals.

I discovered a great warung near my hotel and spent several hours talking to the proprietor and customers. At one point a soldier left only to come hurrying back about 5 minutes later – he had put his gun on the side at the back of the warung and forgot it when he left!

Ubud for Nyepi

15 – 16 March 2010

For details of Nyepi read entries for March 2009 earlier in my blog.

This year the ogoh-ogoh (monsters) parades were allowed to take place and as I travelled from Lovina to Ubud I saw vast numbers of these being prepared for the local parades which take place in each village. In Ubud the parade was massive with all the ogoh-ogoh initially being taken to the football field then in turn going to the main square where the teams carrying them made them ‘dance’. Most villages seemed to have submitted 3 ogoh-ogoh, one from the kindergarden, one of school children and then a very large one from the adults. To get these large ones through the streets needed guys with long poles to lift the wires up whilst the teams lowered the monster as much as possible to get underneath. As if the monsters on their bamboo plinths were not heavy enough a couple of men would be stood on the plinth to help the monster to gyrate and to let of fireworks, doves etc.

For the day of silence I stayed in a small hotel with two other volunteers. We had the luxury of a swimming pool and WiFi. There were lovely views over rice fields and it was wonderfully tranquil. Basic Indonesian food was provided for out meals.

Lovina

11 – 14 March 2010

Lovina is an area in the north of Bali consisting of several villages along the main road. It has a narrow black sand beach. The main attraction here is early morning dolphin watching boat trips followed by snorkelling.

I was here in the run up to Nyepi – the Hindu New Year and there were various ceremonies going on including one on the beach that I attended at the invitation of the homestay proprietor.

I used the homestay as a base to go walking and exploring further afield by local bus. I did struggle to get anything approaching local prices anywhere in Lovina or on the buses. Even when passengers did the same journey as I did and the conductor knew I had seen what they paid they tried to charge me more.

Singapore - visa run

5-6 March 2010

My contract with VSO ended as I was unable to extend my visa to work in Indonesia due to issues with the Memorandum of Understanding. However VSO pay for health insurance for volunteers for a further 3 months at the end of the contract to allow time for travel on the way back to the home country. I decided I wanted to travel more in Indonesia but therefore needed a new visa. This entailed a 24 hour trip to Singapore.

My second impression of Singapore was much like my first – it is not a place I would choose to spend time. It is so Westernised and organised. I did manage some sightseeing but the best sight was the lights of Singapore receding as I flew back to Bali.

Finishing my contract with VSO

The next few days were spent sorting out the final end of placement issues with VSO and putting my luggage into storage at the office.

Farewell to Rote

26 February 2010

Today was spent giving away things that John did not want and I could not afford to or did not need to send back to the UK. I was also giving out small thank you cards I had made. Then in the evening quite a group of us got together to drink the last of my alcohol and to eat a pizza I had cooked with the last of my cheese.

27 February 2010

I had made the decision to leave a couple of days early as the waves were getting larger and I could not risk not getting to Kupang. This morning was frantic as the ferry was leaving from Papela – due to the large waves making docking in Baa impossible - at the far east of the island so we had to leave very early. The director arranged for his car to be driven by one of the drivers and agreed for Ibu Femi to spend the morning accompanying me to Papela and for Om Jek to come to Kupang so we did not miss out on a final night of drinking and so I was not alone for too long in Kupang. Even the Bupati was at Papela and shook my hand - he was actually returning from Kupang and not there especially for me but it felt special. It has been the most amazing 11 months of living on Rote and I hope I will be able to maintain contact with some of the amazing friends I have made.

2 March 2010

Ari one of the policeman I had drunk with on Rote was in Kupang for a conference so I met up with him and some of his friends for drinks this evening.

My leaving party

25 February 2010

Today saw most of the nurses working in and around the hospital kitchen preparing food for my leaving party. Another group were preparing es buah a mixed fruit drink with a base of coconut juice so a couple of the men had been scaling the palms to get enough coconuts. The guys were also involved in carrying all the benches from out patients to the area where the party would be held.

The turnout for the party was amazing and there was a MC. I was invited to speech first then there was a presentation of the most amazing piece of ikat – local woven cloth, more speeches of thanks, then photographs with various groups of hospital staff and then prayers before the food. Then the inevitable drinking and dancing which went on until about 02:30. It was an amazing event and very emotional to think so many people cared enough to work so hard to make it such a good event or turned up to wish me well.

Another party

22 February 2010

Tonight saw yet another party this time for Om Jek’s kakak (older brother). More speeches, eating, drinking and dancing. My last few days on the island seem to be just one long pesta with drinking on the nights when there is not a party laid on. The timing is perfect but will make it even harder to leave.

Exploring further

21 February 2010

Today I again set off across the island from north to south taking random right and left turns and had some most amazing views, I also came across a tree which was heavily covered with honey combs – I had noticed this after coming across a piece of comb in the road.

In the late afternoon I arrived at a beach Batu Termanu which is a favourite local picnic site. I had been there a while reading a book when a lorry arrived along with a car and several motorbikes and the occupants spilled out. They were having a birthday party for one of the children who was six and when it was realised I spoke bahasa indonesia I was invited to join them.

There was a slightly traumatic end to the day when I discovered another snake in the house but one of my neighbours kindly removed it for me.

Neonatal unit

20 February 2010

The new incubator was put to use for the first time today. A premature baby who had been born at home had been brought to the hospital as it was failing to drink and was being nursed in the incubator. I helped the staff to understand the instructions which although intensively were in English had been written in Brazil and it took me some time to understand some sections.

This should have been my last working day at the hospital but due to the previous frequent cancellation of meetings I actually went into work each day for the next week as well.

Pesta Selamat Ulang Tahun Ferlyn

17 February 2010

Today is Ferlyn’s 25^th birthday and again she is having a party at the mess. Nixon came over in the afternoon to clear the ground outside the mess and benches were borrowed for guests to sit on. The party started with a service of thanksgiving then food, drinking and dancing. The last of the guests crawled home around 03:00.

Jalan-jalan

16 February 2010

I had borrowed the motorbike to go to the market in the morning so took the opportunity it afforded me to explore a little further. I had planned to take another road from the north of the island heading south but was thwarted when I came to a ford that was quite full of muddy water so I could not tell how deep it was or what sort of surface was underneath. I waited quite a time to see if a local would appear to show me the best way through as I had learnt elsewhere straight through is often not the best way but when no one came I turned round and went to a beach for a couple of hours.

Children

There are a lot of children who live in the complex and an increasing number have been coming to play on my porch or in the front room. When I was first learning Bahasa Indonesian I had bought some children’s puzzle books and the children come to use my crayons to colour these in and the older ones do the puzzles. They would also come to play cards.

Often when I was sat on the porch preparing vegetables I would get an army of helpers who would pinjam (borrow) a knife then peel and slice the vegetables. Sometimes they would also want to help with the cooking and at the end would try the result particularly if it had a Western basis to the cooking.

Busalangga pasar

10 February 2010

Busaalangga has a large market twice a week and I try to go at least once a week as the range of vegetables, fish and particularly fruit is much better than in Baa. Besides food items you can buy just about any portable item from nails and machete to huge woks and buckets in all sizes along with locally woven ikat (fabric) – which is mostly black with white and red patterns of varying intricacy. There are certain things I buy each time including tempe, tomatoes and bean sprouts along with a selection of what ever greens are in season. The stall holders know this and call me over to see what they have this week. I have always been quoted local prices here and never had to haggle. The range of fish and vegetables at the moment is staggering and the best I have seen – I was off the island this time last year.

Tolama

8 February 2010

John is still in Kupang – he had been there to do work with Sam on a database for medical records but had received the sad news of the unexpected and sudden death of his grandmother. He delayed his return to Rote whilst deciding with his family if he should return home for the funeral. As a consequence I still had use of the motorbike and went for a ride to find a beach that John had visited and given me very vague directions to. Incredibly I managed to get directly there another magnificent white sand bay. Unfortunately I decided to take what looked like a better road back from the beach as the one I had arrived on was treacherous. Although a better road it ended up taking me away from Baa and it was almost dark before I got back.

Abbreviations

Officialdom in Indonesia is full of abbreviations that if you do not know what they are you have very little way of working it out.

 

Abbreviation	Full title	English meaning
Balita	Bawah Lima Tahun	The underfives (0-5 years old)
Batita	Bawah Tiga Tahun	The underthrees (0-3 years old)
Depkes	Departemen Kesehatan	Ministry of Health
Dinkes	Dinas Kesehatan	Local (provincial or district) Health Office
Dinkes Prop	Dinas Kesehatan Propinsi	Governor’s Health Agency
Dinkes Kab	Dinas Kesehatan Kabupaten	District Health Agency
Juklak	Petunjuk Pelaksanaan	Operational guideline/manual
Juknis	Petunjuk Teknis	Technical guideline/manual
Kesling	Kesehatan Lingkungan	Environmental Health
Posyandu	Post Pelayanan Terpadu	Monthly Mother and Baby Clinic
Puskesmas	Pusat Kesehatan Masyarakan	Public Health Clinic
Pustu	Puskesmas Pembantu	Sub-Health Clinic

 

Besides the abbreviations in official life as my Bahasa Indonesian has improved and my friendship group extended I have I started sending and receiving a lot of text messages – the easiest and cheapest way to communicate out here. Like in English there are lots of abbreviations used and a tendency to drop prefixes and suffixes to make it just that bit harder.

 

Abbreviation	Full word	English meaning
Mlm	Malam	Night
T4	Tempat	Place
Jgn	Jangan	Don’t
Blg	Bilang	Say – colloquial; just to make it harder
Plg	Pulang	Return
Mat	Selamat	Greeting

 

Like with Gr8 numbers can be used but not that not just the vowels are dropped. To begin with I often had to ask my neighbours or colleagues what the abbreviation represents but now I have got used to it I can normally work it our.