Kawah Putih, volcano crater lake

Our trip to Kawah Putih, the beautiful volcano crater lake to meet our new Indonesian friend didn't turn out that well. The night before Jack had food poisoning and was up the whole night running between the toilet and our room. We had to cancel all our plans and recover from the night eating biscuits, as that was the only safe food we could find. At least the food poisoning only lasted for one night and we felt like going to Kawah Putih the following day. Unfortunately we couldn't meet Erika there anymore. 

To go to this volcano crater lake we had to take 4 different transports and it was only 50 kilometres away. It is though very normal in Indonesia. Sometimes you have to wait hours so that the minibus is full before it leaves and small journeys take extremely long time. We had done a little bit of research and new already that as a tourist we had to pay more than locals to get to see this place. In fact local people pay only 10% of what the tourists have to spend. 

As we were told you had to buy a mask for better breathing but it smelt so bad around the crater that the mask didn't have much of a purpose. The smell of sulphur is terrible and inhaling it can be poisonous and might even end up with death. As we heard later Kawah Putih is actually one of the least stinky craters and in some places you have to wear a gas mask. It was definitely worth putting up with the smell because the sight itself was quite pretty and very different from anything we'd seen before. 

And of course many locals wanted to take pictures of us and with us. Sometimes it feels like we are in the zoo and we are the monkeys. People everywhere pointing at us, starting at us like they've never seen a monkey before and in the end taking a picture as proof. Most of the time it's nice making all those people happy with just one picture and they can show it to all their friends and family and post it on Facebook as "My foreign friends". But sometimes it's too much, specially when we've had a long and tiring day with lots of photo shoots. It's hard to see their sad and disappointed faces when we say no to a picture therefore we've only said no once and regretted it later.

Bandung

Yesterday we arrived in Bandung. After a stressful few hours walking around to different ATMs and having our cards rejected, we were finally directed to a hotel by a friendly policeman. We walked to the hotel thinking how lucky it was that we had taken some US dollars otherwise we would have been stuck in the mountains! When we got to the hotel, we were told they didn't exchange money however a very friendly owner agreed to change 25 dollars for us at a good rate! We could now afford the bus.

We took an economy bus again and once again met some really friendly locals. On the bus journey we met an Indonesian lady called Erika, who had a degree in English. As she wanted to practice her English and we wanted to learn about Indonesia, we quickly became friends. After talking for a few hours we both got off and she directed us towards 'Braga' where we would find a hotel. We were not expecting to find a hostel as good as the one we ended up finding. For around £6 we finally stayed in our first place with a hot shower, air conditioning, good WiFi and clean rooms. For the next few hours we sat in the lobby feeling very relieved to find such a great place.

We have spent most of our time thus far wandering the streets and exploring the city. Tomorrow we have planned to meet Erika again at local volcano crater 'kawah putih'. To demonstrate how friendly Indonesian people are, she is leaving at 6am and riding her scooter for 3 hours just to meet us there!! It is funny when you think both of us have friends that we have known for years, who are closer than that and we rarely see them.

Puncak tea plantations

The local economy bus is an adventure and introduction to the culture. It gets unbelievably hot in the bus as for the money you pay air conditioning is not an option and having all the windows opened doesn't help much. They don't have many bus stops here in Indonesia although the bus stops a lot. You just have to raise your hand up and whilst the bus is slowing down jump in or out. There are also a lot of people coming in the bus trying to sell water and snacks, and musicians singing a few songs and then asking for money. So the journey can be bit more expensive, even the poor local people give money to people who ask.  The 80 km journey took us around 3 hours in the end.

We got chucked out of the bus in the middle of nowhere at the top of a mountain surrounded by tea plantations. They said it was called Puncak, the place we wanted to go. As we hadn't done any research we then realized that Puncak was going to be a little village not a town. Seemingly the locals there hadn't seen many white people and it took us about 10 minutes shaking their hands and being asked for pictures with them. We started walking in hope to find a cheap place to stay but unfortunately due to heavy sudden rain ended up in a bit overpriced hotel. In the end it wasn't too bad, it included breakfast and even a pool.

Quite a nice hotel in the end

In the morning we had a lovely walk around the tea plantations which were just on the side of the road. Lucky people who can have this view from their bedroom windows. After we had checked out of the hotel and waited till yet another sudden hour long rain had stopped, we took a local minibus to the next village around 8 km away called Cibodas. Cibodas has 85 hectares of natural botanical gardens and again we had no idea it was this big as we had done no research before arriving. A very helpful local guy nodded us to follow him after asking directions to a guesthouse. We walked with him about an hour up and down the mountain roads. After the first guesthouse being full he took us to Freddy's home stay and funnily enough Freddy happened to be his dad. Freddy was a very kind and helpful old man who did everything possible to make sure his only guests enjoyed their stay.

Tea

If one person asks to take a picture with us, then there are always more

We planned to trek up to the hotsprings in the botanical garden however when we arrived and found out the special tourist price was more than 10 euros we decided against it. This may not sound like much but in Indonesia it is a lot of money and more than we even had on us at that time. When we told Freddy he agreed and told us "better in Bandung" so that became our next destination. 

Jakarta

Its hot. With the humidity of almost maximum. Our first impression after stepping out of the airport was that we had arrived home, as that is what we had planned since leaving Asia the last time. In the first couple of minutes before taking a local bus to the city centre, we had never seen so many smiley faces. Once again after withdrawing just under £50 in Indonesian rupees we became millionaires.

After getting the bus to the central train station we met a Dutch couple and a Slovakian guy who wanted to head down to Bali. Together we decided as it was a national christian holiday that it would be better to sleep on this idea and decide where to go next in the morning. As they were travelling for a month and we were planning to stay in Asia longer, they opted for a good night sleep and we found the cheapest place possible and didn't sleep. That first night cost about £4.50 and although the owner was very friendly the hostel was the worst place we had ever stayed. By the morning the Slovakian guy who only had a week until he had to be back in Jakarta had flown to Bali. We met with the lovely Dutch couple Rabin and Tosca who were trying to get tickets to another city Yogyakarta. They had met a really friendly local who was driving Rabin around on his scooter to find tickets. When they returned the Indonesian guy who unfortunately never told us his name, basically planned our trip for us.

We stayed one more night in Jakarta in a hostel that was 50 pence more, filled with Indonesians seemingly staying there long term. The guys in the reception were really nice and after Jack rolled them some cigarettes, he painted us each a lighter one with 'Jack' and the other with 'Scorpio' as Marianne was a little long. Because of our experiences in Thailand we were worried the guy was going to ask for money, but the Indonesian people we have met have all been sincere without looking to get anything out of you. We had a little walk around the town but the weather had other ideas and a storm forced us to head home.

The next morning we took the bus to the coach station and got an economy bus to Puncak. The inter city bus in Jakarta is ridiculously crowded and we felt quite bad as with our backpacks on we not only took up more space, but also posed a danger to the slightly shorter locals.

Our first yummy street food in Indonesia

Venice

After a quick visit to our lovely friends and families we took a plane to Milan and made our way to Venice on the train. We stayed in a caravan park about 20 minutes outside of Venice, which was by far the cheapest place we could find as we left it to the last minute to book. We actually thought this was the best way to do it, staying outside of Venice and the crowds. It was more relaxing and allowed you to get completely lost in Venice and easily find your way home.

Grand canal

When we looked up the top free things to do in Venice, getting lost was the top. This was easily accomplished with all the narrow streets, alleyways and canals. The weather was beautiful, almost 30 degrees throughout both days, which was a welcome change to English and Estonian weather. It was also good practice for when we head to Indonesia on Tuesday as all we did in Venice was walk all day. We found our way to St. Marks square although heaving with tourists the architecture was impressive. Whilst being completely lost we stumbled upon the self proclaimed 'most beautiful book shop in the world' and whilst looking around we had to agree. Venice was completely unique and beautiful although we couldn't imagine visiting in the summer, it was busy enough in May!

After we spent two months visiting family around Europe, Venice finally felt like the start of our travels as for the first time there was nobody to meet us or to stay with. It was just us, it was a mixture of relief and excitement (no offence family). Next stop Indonesia.

Crowded st Marcs square

Italy

We have had fabulous time with Jacks' nan Carole in Italy. It's been hot and sunny. We feel like we are in a sanctuary here living in her second house on top of a mountain with stunning views. Her dogs and cats and herself are good company in this beautiful place. Almost every morning we have had breakfast and coffee at our favorite cafe in town. 

We have done a few walks around the area although walking up and down the mountains in this heat is not easy. We have spent most of our days chilling in and around the house, playing with the animals, sunbathing and helping Carole around the house. 

The team

The first full day in Italy, was market day and Jack had been waiting to get his hands on the local specialty Porchetta, a pork filled roll. We brought one each and they were so good we decided to buy them in bulk, breakfast sorted for the next few days. Our main day out was getting the train up through the mountains to Perugia. To get to the city itself you take a series of escalators up through an old village built into the hillside. Once you get to the top there are lots of beautiful buildings, squares and restaurants to see and enjoy. One of our favourite parts of Perugia was the incredible views you get from the top. 

In the queue for Porchetta

Perugia

Little local trains 

France III

The parents and more importantly puppies, have arrived! We have had a lovely week although the dogs have probably enjoyed it more as we spent most of our time walking them. The weather has been lovely and we have been topping up our tans whilst drinking french beer.

Choosing our cheese course

It was great to see Jacks' parents again and the highlight of the trip was having a 5 course meal at the nicest restaurant in the area the 'Cheval Blanc'. I don't think I have ever had so much food and wine at lunch time and the rest of the day we spent sleeping off the food, dinner was not needed. We have had lots of BBQ's and other lovely home cooked meals. We also had a wine tasting at a local vineyard where we got to try the local specialty 'Pineau' although neither of us particularly enjoyed it, the wine was great though.

France II

The house is lovely and warm, which took a while and a lot of logs on the fire. The weather has been typically English and we have rarely seen the sun, just clouds and rain. We have actually been having a great time, chilling by the fire and generally playing home. We have well and truly exhausted Nan and Grandad's DVD collection as well as their firelighters (we won't mention the logs, sorry nan and grandad).

We have still been getting around and seeing as much of the local area as possible. Our neighbours Kirsten and Dave and their twin children Dillon and Ella very kindly took us to the big supermarket nearby. We went with Dave in the morning after he had written his shopping list in the order he walks (or in daves case, sprints) around the supermarket. Once we were in the supermarket we turned around and dave had disappeared into the distance and his shopping trolley was already half full. We shopped as quickly as possible and managed to get everything we needed as well as learning the art of man shopping. 

Apart from the shopping trip we stuck to old fashioned transportation and cycled a lot. The nearest shop apart from the local Boulangerie (bad spelling) selling croissants is in Aigre, 5km away. The first time Jack cycled there alone in desperate need of biscuits, not realising it was a Sunday and the town was shut. The next few trips were much more successful and many biscuits were bought as well as the ingredients for a pancake cake. We also cycled through Luxe towards Mansle, stopping of at a pizza restaurant that Jack remembered on a lake in Eschoisy, which looked like it had been shut down for the best part of a century. We got to Mansle which is actually pronounced 'mal', the french seem to have a lot of useless letters in their words. It was still a fairly small town but we cycled through the town, down to the river and very much enjoyed the cakes at the local bakery. Jack brought a cake shaped like a penis whilst giggling like a child, although the rather miserable looking baker obviously didn't see the resemblance or get the joke.

It has been a quiet but very enjoyable and relaxing week, tomorrow Jacks' lovely parents and the dogs arrive. Marianne has been talking constantly about how much she misses the dogs. They arrive at 6am, I will be suprised if Marianne gets any sleep.

France

We have done many long journeys together including overnight trains and 12 hour coach journeys sitting next to a toilet which didn't flush in Vietnam, the journey from Barcelona to Fouqueure, France was undoubtedly the worst. The 9 hour coach journey in itself wasn't too bad, it wasn't spacious but for £15 each it was great value and fairly comfortable. The problem began when we got to Limoge at about half one in the morning. Jack has only visited Limoge once as a kid and remembered it being a big city. The station we arrived into was nice and warm with a coffee machine, we were quite happy to spend our night there before taking an early morning train to Angouleme. After 5 minutes in the train station the guards kicked us out as it was closing for 3 hours. 

We had envisioned that at least a few bars/clubs/restaurants/stations/McDonald's/kebabs would be open, we were unfortunately mistaken and very cold. After wondering around for an hour we noticed two skateboarders, rushed over and asked using Jack's limited French where could we eat. They were really friendly and walked around taking us to kebab shops for around an hour, all were closed. Although the two boys were around our age they did not speak a word of English. They eventually gave up and directed us to a McDonald's drive in they thought might be open. We had to eat our big Macs on a frosty bench outside. After around 3 hours being outside we walked to the station to find it was open and that it had been for 2 hours. The guards were obviously trying to tell us it opened again at 3am not in 3 hours. 

Anyway we made it to Angouleme, from there took a train to Luxe which is also the closest train station to Fouqueure, the lovely house in France. First couple of days it was quite rainy and cold and we mostly spent our time cleaning and heating up the house as no one had been there over the winter. In France it has been our first time where we stayed in a house all on our own and we loved it.

Ps: Didn't feel very motivated to take any pictures.

Barcelona

I tend to have this thing when I fall in love with something from the first sight, Barcelona was one of them. Our hostel was only a 4 km walk from the train station and as we reached the hostel we realised it's right by the sea and very close to the main area of the city. Barcelona Gothic hostel also turned out to be one of the best hostels we have stayed in with it's clean and cosy rooms and the friendliest staff we have ever encountered. Can't wait to go to Barcelona to stay there again hopefully with better weather next time. Although it was nice and sunny the first day we arrived the rest of our short stay was quite rainy and the bittersweet weather forecast promised the most perfect spring weather just after we left Spain. 

Most of the time we spent in Barcelona we devised our own walking tour, mostly following the tourist bus. Although we didn't enter any of the tourist sights you have to pay for, in our opinion the best views were to be had from outside, or maybe we were just trying to justify our decision. At least our bank accounts were happier, it wasn't cheap. Without Gaudi Barcelona wouldn't be the same because the most stunning things we saw were created or influenced by him.

Güell park

Güell park

Güell park

Güell park

Barcelona was filled with happy and relaxed locals and tourists, food was lovely and surprisingly affordable for a big city. We had two delicious all you can eat buffets. One called Wok which was mainly Japanese style seafood which was just fabulous. For 10 euros we filled ourselves up with unlimited fish and seafood cooked from fresh in front of our eyes, sushi and steaks. 

For today we have booked a 9 hour couch journey from Barcelona to Limoges in France which with megabus only cost us £15. From there we have to find our way to Jack's parents' holiday house.