7 days in Java: ancient temples, hidden waterfalls & smoking volcanoes

After yesterday’s slightly convoluted journey from Sumatra, we were ready to actually see some of Java. We based ourselves in Yogyakarta, which turned out to be a very good choice. There is an enormous amount to see here, and we were about to get through a respectable chunk of it in one day.

We started at Prambanan, the enormous Hindu temple complex just outside the city. The temples are spectacular from a distance, but it’s the detail that really gets you once you’re wandering around them. After a fairly substantial amount of looking upwards and taking photographs, we moved on.

Next came the Kraton Sultan’s Palace, followed by Taman Sari Water Castle. They couldn’t have felt more different from Prambanan. Instead of vast temple towers, we were suddenly wandering through royal buildings, courtyards and the remains of a former royal retreat.

It was a full day, but a good one. And we’d barely scratched the surface of Yogyakarta. Tomorrow we’d be heading to Borobudur, although Marc and I would be experiencing that particular day rather differently. Spoiler.

Our third day in Java was supposed to involve quite a lot of cycling. Marc was up for it. I was still recovering from the illness that had rather rudely interrupted our plans in Sumatra, so cycling around Java wasn’t exactly at the top of my list. As it turned out, another family on the trip also decided that cycling wasn’t really their thing. This left Marc as the sole cyclist for the day.

The rest of us travelled along in a horse-drawn carriage while Marc got his cycling adventure, with stops along the way at a pottery workshop and a small coconut sugar business. It was a lovely way to see a little more of everyday life around Borobudur rather than simply arriving at the temple, taking the obligatory photographs and leaving again.

Then came Borobudur itself. We climbed the monument in the bamboo slippers we’d been given, with an enthusiastic guide who told us to stay in the shade. This was not as easy as it sounds. The temple is enormous, and seeing it up close after all the photographs we’d seen beforehand was one of those moments when the reality is considerably more impressive than the pictures.

Getting out proved slightly less straightforward. We managed to get ourselves lost on the way out of the complex, because apparently visiting one of Indonesia’s most famous monuments wasn’t enough of an adventure on its own.

Fortunately, the day ended on a considerably more organised note with a wonderful rijsttafel lunch in a small restaurant. By then we were ready to head back to Yogyakarta, slightly dusty, well fed and with Marc having successfully completed the cycling trip on behalf of all of us.

Day four was a travel day, but one we were actually looking forward to. We’d booked the Malioboro Express from Yogyakarta to Malang, giving us seven hours to watch Java go by from the train window.

And honestly, it was a very good seven hours. The coffee was good, the views were great and the legroom was surprisingly impressive. The lunch options were considerably less exciting, but we survived. The only real problem was the airconditioning, which appeared to have been calibrated for passengers travelling directly from the surface of the sun to Antarctica.

Arriving in Malang provided our next small adventure. We were trying to find our driver, who was waiting for us at the station. Unfortunately, the station has two exits. We had, at least, got off at the correct station in the first place, because Malang has two railway stations too. This felt like a victory worth celebrating.

Eventually we found each other and made our way to Merbabu Guesthouse, where we checked in for the night. After seven hours on a train, we weren’t particularly ambitious, so we walked to a little barbecue restaurant nearby. The food was good, the atmosphere was relaxed and there were two extremely friendly cats who seemed to regard the restaurant as their personal property.

It was an early night for us. Tomorrow would be rather less restful, with a walking tour of Malang followed by the adventure that had unexpectedly become one of the highlights of our Java trip: Madakaripura Waterfall.

We started the morning with a walking tour through Malang, including a visit to Jodhipan, the colourful neighbourhood where the houses have been transformed into a riot of colour. We also visited a Chinese temple, where we were able to take part in a traditional ceremony involving sticks, incense and making wishes. It was a lovely experience and something we certainly wouldn’t have discovered by simply wandering around on our own.

Along the way we came across three school classes on a school outing. This naturally resulted in another photoshoot with children, because apparently that’s just what happens to me in Indonesia. Everyone was having a good time, and it was one of those completely unplanned moments that makes a day out more memorable.

We had lunch at 11:30, which seemed remarkably early until we remembered that we still had quite a lot of day left. After lunch we set off towards Mount Bromo, with time for a detour. Our guide suggested Madakaripura Waterfall, and obviously we said yes.

Getting there was an adventure in itself. We sat on the back of motorcycles, waded through rivers, clambered across rocks that were very slippery indeed and walked underneath waterfalls. We got completely soaked, laughed a lot and I ruined a perfectly good pair of shoes. It was enormous fun.

And then, somehow, we still had to get to Bromo. We drove on to Lava View Lodge, checked in and discovered that we were considerably more tired than we’d realised. We fell asleep embarrassingly early, which was probably sensible given what was waiting for us the following morning.

Madakaripura wasn’t on our original plan at all. It was simply a detour because we had time. It turned out to be one of the absolute highlights of the whole Java trip – the kind of spontaneous decision that makes travelling so much fun.

The alarm went off at 2:45am. Slightly too early for my liking, but we’d come to Java to see Bromo and apparently this is what you do if you want to see it at sunrise. We skipped the shower – the bathroom was cold and distinctly unappealing – and climbed into our jeep.

We drove towards KingKong Hill as far as we could get before coming to a complete standstill. Every Land Cruiser on the planet seemed to be on that particular stretch of road. We got out and walked uphill to the viewpoint instead, where the views were spectacular. It was quite cold, which was unfortunate given that I’d accidentally left my only long trousers in Bukit Lawang. In a country where everyone seemed to be approximately the size of a rolled-up yoga mat, buying a replacement wasn’t really an option. Shorts it was.

Back at the jeep, we joined the traffic jam again. A roadside coffee vendor provided excellent coffee, which improved matters considerably. Then we headed into the crater, where the landscape became wonderfully apocalyptic. The Sea of Sand looked very Mad Max, and we crossed it on foot towards Bromo.

The climb through the Sea of Sand was steeper than I would have liked. I struggled a bit, but decided to walk up the incline myself rather than make a horse do the hard work. I made it eventually, and then there were the 240+ steps to the crater rim.

At the top, we sat on the edge of the crater looking down into Bromo. I held on rather tightly because I had no intention of discovering what would happen if I toppled backwards into the crater. The views were extraordinary, though, and the whole ridiculous early start suddenly seemed worthwhile.

We made our way back down, crossed the Sea of Sand again and returned to the hotel for a very deserved breakfast. Then we checked out and set off on the long drive towards the coast. It was a beautiful drive, but a long one after such an early start. I may have fallen asleep at some point.

Eventually we reached the Ketapang Indah hotel, which felt like exactly the right place to finish the day. The resort was beautiful, the infinity pool looked very inviting and the food was excellent. After Bromo, we were more than ready for a rather more relaxed evening.

After yesterday’s early start for Bromo, waking up at Ketapang Indah felt positively decadent. There was no 2:45am alarm, no jeep, no Sea of Sand and, as far as we knew, no 245 steps waiting for us. Just a beautiful hotel and a much more civilised morning.

We got to release tiny baby turtles into the sea, which was one of those unexpectedly lovely travel experiences. They were tiny, determined little things, although one seemed to have absolutely no idea where it was supposed to be going. It wandered off in a direction that was definitely not the sea.

We tried to encourage it in the right direction, but I’m not entirely convinced it took the hint. Given that I have managed to get lost in considerably more obvious places, I felt a certain kinship with it. For all I know, that turtle is still wandering around the beach wondering where everyone else went.

Then came a great breakfast and some more time in the infinity pool. After the previous few days, this was exactly what we needed. There was nowhere we needed to climb, nothing we needed to catch and no reason whatsoever to get wet unless we chose to.

Eventually, though, it was time to leave Java. We headed for the boat to Bali, bringing to an end a week that had somehow included ancient temples, palaces, a seven-hour train journey, a one-man cycling expedition, schoolchildren, a Chinese temple ceremony, an unexpectedly brilliant waterfall adventure and a volcano. Not a bad way to spend the week.