Karimunjawa Catch-Up, or: Four Days of Rain on 27 Tropical Islands

We promised you tales of our time on Karimunjawa: here, we deliver.  Most of the important parts are in the title, really.  We researched the intricacies of the Javanese weather cycle intensely last winter and chose the driest-on-average month to journey.  The best-laid plans...  

We arrived via the express ferry from Jepara last Monday, a two-hour journey that was quite fun for those who snagged a spot on the outer deck.  I got stuck in the cabin and had to make polite conversation  - apparently the captain forbids crossing decks once in motion.  Ah, well.  

Once we got to Karimunjawa, the largest and most-inhabited of the archipelago (I am learning not to say archie-pih-lah-go, but bad habits die hard), we embarked on our pre-paid tour of three days of snorkeling and island-hopping.  

Day One was a blast.  We caught some sun, saw some fish, and astounded the Indonesian tourists on our boat with our swimming abilities.  

One of the longboats we used to get from island to island.  We would sit on the top checkered deck or at the front, depending on how wet we felt like getting.  The longboats pitch enthusiastically over oncoming waves.

We ended up at a glorious beach for sunset where we shared coconuts and posed for pictures - none of which I have, sadly.  

The next morning started the rain, and we went out on our adventures anyway.  The Indonesian divemasters are determined to get you your money's worth.  So, we sat on top of the boat as it pitched and yawed and generally wondered if our lives were going to end.  By now, it must be apparent that they didn't.  

We got so wet and cold and rained-on that I have zero pictures of those days.  Just imagine a group of bedraggled rats, and it'll come pretty close.  

Our fourth day was our first taste ofI un-scheduled freedom.  We rented scooters to try our hand at exploring the island by way of finding a hotel for our last two nights.  It was raining, of course.  

We discovered that our raincoats are a spectrum of blues. 

Nicole braves the wind as we tour the mangroves of Karimunjawa.  

One of the thousands of chickens who roam the island free. 

A look at the ferry pier and harbor from the only restaurant in town, plus a potentially brightening sky.  

We spent our last day in Karimunjawa ecstatic about the return of the sun, and split our time between beaches on the south and north of the main island, scooting between the two willy-nilly (whole obeying traffic laws and being respectful to animals).  Evidently, I was so excited about it that I forgot to take any pictures at all: for this one, imagine lightly toasting slices of bread.  We certainly made up for lost time and all (even Kacie!) ended up with a nice tan.  

Now that we've been away from Karimunjawa for a bit, we think the islands are nice - but they could do better.  If no one decides it's important to keep them free of trash, it's entirely possible that they won't be pleasant at all in the future.  

To close: some snaps from our Island Week.  

Stacen atop the railings.

A solitary boat navigating the inter-island channel.  

Sunset: glorious.  

Day of traveling

More posts to come about Karimunjawa, but I just HAD to make a post about what we did yesterday. It involved a 6 hour ferry ride. We were introduced to the most sense-shocking experience we have ever encountered. Very reminiscent about what you would expect the third class passengers on the titanic to look like. People sprawled on the floor eating rice, smoke, rats, dirt, sweat...we snuck into first-class, where we were prepared to pay the extra fee, but the conductor simply passed over us when he saw that we were white. AND THEN, the conductors hand-picked wealthy-appearing Indonesians to come on up to VIP. Huge class differences.

We got a car to Semarang, and spent the evening exploring the Paragon Mall, a welcome, air-conditioned oasis of wealth, organization, and cleanliness, that we were only to delighted to explore. Many few people were sneaking pictures of us here so we relaxed. They were having a cake-baking expo! We got at a neo American-Indonesian restaurant (wall decorations included corn flakes and del monte tomatoes).

Then we went to a fancy coffee shop for dessert, where we ordered "Kopi Luwak"-- Civet Coffee! Digested by civets and harvested from their feces! Believe it or not it is the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world and tastes very smooth with a fruity aftertaste. Some pictures...

Common sight after the rain...

Does this need an explanation?

Cake celebration, complete with musical guests! 

Kopi Luwak being prepared at our table!

Cool optical illusion of our plane's propeller, with part of Mt Bromo in the distance.

We have arrived in Bali and preparing to drive up to Ubud to begin our ballin' week in Bali!

Our Favorite Things

A short list so far of what we love about Indonesia:

Freshly squashed fruit juices.

Arriving at tropical paradises.

Jam & shortbread biscuit cookies.

Ice-cold Bintangs after a long day.

Sunsets on beaches.

Conquering fishes.

Civet-cat coffee brewing after a huge travel day.

Burkinis, fishies, tropical storms, and more!

The small island of Karimunjawa is "off the beaten trail" in many ways... Something that was both wonderfully freeing and frustrating over the past six days. We were often the only Westerners in sight, but the island had only one restaurant ! (Although it was romanced themed :))

We saw the most beautiful tropical coral and fish, weathered the perfect storm, and had a blast scootering around the entire island while waving, honking, and shouting "ALLOH!!" to everyone we passed (who found four white tourists on scooters just about the funniest thing imaginable!).

The island, with a small, poor, and little educated population, does have a lot to overcome before it can truly live up to its possibility. We encountered trash and many ecologically (and at times ethically) questionable practices that made us once again thank our lucky stars for our education and ability to see the "big picture." We hope Karimunjawa is able to be conserved so many Indonesians and foreigners can see it!!

On a lovely wooden boat off to see some coral! (This is one day of two sunny days!)

Enjoying our beloved "Sunset Beach"-- we came here four times!

Sunset Beach being awesome

Sharing a typical Indonesian BBQ with our fellow boat companions. Highly suspicious of us at first, we soon won them over with our swimming abilities (Indonesians do not know how to swim!), and our willingness to try just about anything. They were most excited to see just how much we loved a "local and exotic fruit"... Watermelon!!!!

BBQ!

Stacen cold. We were wet and cold. So cold. Although many locals assured us Karimunjawa is usually always warm and sunny, we got four days of downpours. 

Bonding with our boat- mates. The adorable little girl worked up the courage after two days to ask us our names and for a picture (in English!). The women sport what all respectable Muslim women wear at the beach... Burkinis. Our bikinis were quite the scandal.

Trash, a sadly common site

Karimunjawa kiddos excited to see us Westerners!

Exploring the mangroves on a rainy day

Finally at peace with our one and only FULL day of sun!

Sunny day! So so so happy!

Travel Day

One van shuttle, one 6-hour ferry and one 2-hour car ride later, we are reconnected to wifi and back on mainland Java.  

Karimunjawa was lovely; sometimes it even looked like this:!!!

Sadly, it rained three and a half days out of the five we were there for, so we more resemble drowned rats than nut-brown natives.  More later! 

Also: happy Father's Day to the dads!

The Neurotic Temples of Gundung Lawu

We booked a day-long tour-hike for today through a lovely locally-focused, environmentally sustainable tourism company called ViaVia.  (They also run a restaurant we eat at daily.  I am not joking: our conversations usually run, 'ViaVia: lunch or dinner?'). Our path today took us to the slopes of Gundung Lawu, a mountain on the border of Central Java and East Java.  

We drove three and a half hours through cities and towns blending into rice paddies and terraced hillside slopes to get to our start: the local Hindu temple of Candi Sukuh.  I've called it a Neurotic temple, but it's actually an erotic temple: fertility imagery runs amok. 

After touring the temple's ever-increasing heights, we turned to the countryside and began our three-hour hike through the fields and forest to get to the smaller sister temple, Candi Ceto.  

We started in sun and views, having driven through the cloud cover at the start.  As we walked along fields of garlic, peppers, tea, cabbage and carrots, we found ourselves literally wandering into the mists.  Fear not!  A fantastic time was had by all.  Pics below.  

A view of terraced hillsides.

The formal entrance to Candi Sukuh.

Kacie and Nicole encounter a local farmer on our hike.

Someone lost a shoe at the top of this Gil - it was out hardest one of the day.

From the top of Candi Ceto in the clouds.  There used to be a giant 'lingnam' crowning the temple, also dedicated to fertility images.  (Look it up!)

We're heading to dinner tonight and then we have an early morning as we leave Yogya at 3 to catch a ferry to the island paradise of Karimunjawa for the next week.  No one knows yet if we'll have Internet access there - it may be a while before we can update again.  For now, this is one representative of a group that well deserves its dinner.

Snapshots of our Saturday adventure

Our time in Yogya has been filled with daily adventures that leave us happy, excited, and curious. 

To give you a brief glimpse into the many things we have seen, here are a few snapshots from Saturday:

Friendly fruit vendor. Like pretty much everyone we encounter, we are greeted with laughs and smiles

Driver taking a roadside nap

Street scenes

Heavenly Indonesian food, gado gado!

Creating art

A group of Indonesian students are lucky to get a picture with Lucy!

The Water Palace, where the sultan kept his harem

Working tough to capture Prambanan, the tallest and most beautiful Hindu temple, and a UNESCO World Heritage site

Prambanan