After two weeks in Bali, we had limited time on the island of Java. We started off spending a night in the coastal town of Banyuwangi. This was a quiet night as there isn’t much to do in the town and it was more of a stop-over. We stayed at a banana-themed hostel (yep) and mostly had some food along the main strip near our place. The next day, we hopped onto an 13-hour overnight bus from Banyuwangi to Yogyakarta, as the train tickets were all sold out. ...
one island, many towns # We have now been travelling for two weeks. Here’s where we’ve ended up so far: understanding the local culture & religion # One of the first things we did was learn some basic phrases in both Bahasa Indonesian and Balinese. We felt a little guilty not using the locals language and ordering everything in English. First we learnt terima kasih, which is Indonesian for thank you, and shortly after we decided to learn some more local phrases, and thus we started using both om swastiastu (a Balinese greeting that translates roughly to ‘may god bless you’) and suksma (which is Balinese for thank you). ...
the flight # After a rather busy pre-trip month in Melbourne, we both made it to Melbourne Airport, bags packed and ready to go. No real hiccups at the airport, thankfully. After having a final goodbye pint of Carlton, we hopped onto the plane and began the 6-hour flight to Bali. I'm travelling with this schmuck? The view of the landscape over South Australia and the Northern Territory was pretty stunning, especially during twilight. ...