All still a little dumbfounded by what we'd experienced at Ijen we were dropped at Banyuwangi port for our transport to Bali. Our luxury air conditioned bus never arrived so we boarded the ferry by foot and chucked our bags in the back of a local bus heading for Denpasar. Up on deck with Philip and Elke we watched Java slowly receed as the lush green shores of Bali krept into view. We climbed aboard the cramped, smokey and smelly confines of the bus, Emma havin...

Another 6 hours in a bemo, pausing only for lunch, we continued our eastward path across Java, skirting the northern coast before turning south and back into Java's interior. The rains began and quickly turned from heavy to torrential, our little minibus labouring up what was once a road, but with all the pot holes and landslides now resembled nothing more than a dirt track under a foot or two of water. A little worried the van might roll on a couple of occasions...

We thought the driving in South America is bad, but the Indonesians are even worse! We headed off in a small bemo from Yogya with a couple from Belgium on our way to Mount Bromo. The craziest 7 hours of driving ever. It was best not to look. We changed bemo's in Probolinggo where we found out that our plans to go to Bali the next day would have to be changed as Bali was shut! The following day was Nyepi in Bali. The night before, spirits are scared away with drum...

The train had taken some time to clear Jakarta's city limits trundling past buildings of gradually declining integrity until all that was left were the blue tarp roofs and crate book walls of shanty towns. Then came the paddy fields mile upon endless mile of them dotted with bamboo shelters for the back broken workers to take respite from the midday sun. Lunch was served on the train as we began to climb into the hills of Java's central spine, the views an altern...

Our Qatar Airways flight touched down in Jakarta and after paying for our visas we picked up our bags and headed for customs. Thinking Jona was travelling alone the customs official wasn't too impressed with the passport stamps from Peru and Bolivia and with the big sign over his head stating drug smuggling still carried the death penalty in Indonesia he asked " Do you travel to South America a lot?, "Erm, well, I, err.. no!" Emma had caught up by ...