The further we get from the UK, the worse I seem to be handling flying…so the flight to Jakarta was not my favourite for sure, especially the descent through the storm clouds where even the air hostess had to crouch on the floor next to us because of the sudden drop. Phew, I was glad to be on terra firma and we opted for the easier taxi ride to our hostel. Everything we'd read suggested that Jakarta airport was full of touts trying to get you into rip off taxis and that the city was big, scary and hectic…that's not really what we found - in fact, we had to ask where the taxis were! Even venturing out for dinner didn't seem too daunting and we found a nice little local street with many options - of course, not having looked up any of the Indonesian food words, we were slightly at a loss so just pointed to the guy next to us and asked for 2 of what he had, it worked out well.

Unfortunately, we were hit with an attack of laziness the next day, our only full day in the city, and by the time we finished sorting bits out, catching up with the blog and working out what we were doing next, it started raining. It was a good thing our hostel was so comfortable! Although we were in a dorm again, it was the new style where you have your own little 'pod', it was super comfortable. They even had a playstation and cheap snacks…needless to say, the day was a bit of a write off, but a welcome one as it gave us a chance to recover from the past few weeks. We met an amazing guy in our hostel, an Guy from London who's waking from Cardiff in Wales to Cardiff in Australia trying to raise awareness of water and marine conservation. He's been walking now for just over 4 years and hopes to get to Oz by the end of this year. He had some pretty crazy stories, such an inspiration though and so glad we got the chance to meet him - we've connected on Facebook so we can track his progress, maybe we'll be able to see him in Oz at the finish!!

Early the next morning, after we'd squeezed 7 people into a 5 seater taxi, we caught the train to Jogjakarta (also known as Yogyakarta or simply just Jogja). We'd booked a homestay for 3 nights and had planned on going up to the Dieng Plateu afterwards, unfortunately though everything was booked out for a cultural festival (and the ticket prices were extortionate!) so we decided to stay a few more nights in Jogja and continue our journey east. Our homestay was more like just staying with a friend for a few days, Delima, our host was lovely and gave us plenty of information about things to do and places to eat. I even went with her and her friends to a local festival in a Kampung about an hour away…it was interesting, although not quite what I'd expected. There was a lot of local dancing and music and at one point they had a 'trance' where people were eating burning bits of wood - all very strange! So yes, it was an interesting experience but at least I gave the locals a chance to see a 'bule' (white person) and get their selfie fix!! But I did also get to see my first volcano - Mount Merapi…only one of the many many active volcanoes in the area!

It was very hot in Jogja and when it wasn't hot, it seemed to be raining - it was meant to be dry season, but apparently Mount Bromo is quite active at the moment and it's affecting the weather - good news as that's where we were going next! It was noticeably chillier in the evenings though and with a few sunrise volcano trips coming up, I thought it was probably a good idea to buy some sensible trousers, so on our first day we ventured up to the 'tourist' area for a spot of shopping. It was all very hot and busy so we completely missed the mall, but we did succeed in buying a pair of jeans (haven't had some of those in a while!) and replacing James's flip flops that he carelessly left in Singapore…that was enough for us and we quickly retreated to our calm oasis for the rest of the day! Just in time as well as the rain set in not long afterwards and there it stayed for quite a few hours. In fact, once the other guests arrived back from their day out, it was so wet we all decided that it was a much better idea to order pizza and stay home! Although once the rain finally cleared up, we headed out to a local bar where there was a 'Rolling Stones' band playing - not quite the real thing, but they were obviously having a lot of fun!

Finally, we made it up to Borobudur - the largest Buddhist temple in the world, thought to have been built in the 8th century and another UNESCO world heritage site (we should really start ticking them off the list!). We opted out of the sunrise tour as it was rather pricey (this is the first place we've been since India where the main sites have such a huge difference between local and tourist price…kind of strange as there were a lot more local people than tourists), not that it was particularly 'cheap' otherwise. Anyway, it was basically the only reason we'd gone to Jogja! Going under our own steam was fun and only took us 3 hours to get there. Although they call it a complex, it's really only the one big temple, but it's beautiful - you can walk all the way up and around it and the surrounding area is lush and green, definitely worth the trip!

As we weren't going to the Dieng Plateau, we continued East again by train to Malang (where we are now). We'd planned on staying here for 3 nights and exploring the area before heading out to Mount Bromo (yes, the one that's been active recently) for a sunrise tour. Long story short, we've ended up booking a tour that takes us to Mount Bromo, the Ijen Crater (another active area with the famous blue flame - apparently only one of 2 in the world?! And where local men mine the sulphur) and then on to Bali, it was a tough decision; ease and someone else organising us over cost and adventure. But as it includes all transport, one nights accommodation, entrance fees and the ferry to Bali, we've decided to book it with a Dutch couple we met on the train. We've literally just been speaking to another Dutch couple (I'm not sure anyone is left in Holland at the moment - all the young people seem to be travelling Indonesia in their uni break!) who were trying to decide as well and they've opted to do it under their own steam. Maybe we'll meet in Bali and compare notes! It means we'll be in Bali a little earlier than expected, but that's no bad thing…it's been a while since we've seen a beach!!
So, we're just off for a wander around Malang before we get picked up for the start of our tour at midnight tonight…time to channel our inner fitness.