Travel day...and goats

So getting to the ferry this morning was actually fairly uneventful. As the desk clerk from my hotel on Pulah Weh and I walked to the motorbike 'taxi' they had lined up for me, I ran into another couple of girls who were leaving, as well, and of course a few goats climbing around a picnic table, so I jumped in the car they (the girls, not the goats) had hired and ended up paying ten thousand less than I was going to for what would have been an excruciating 40-minute motorbike ride, no doubt. The ride was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Pulau Weh; the bends in the road create amazing vistas as you go up the mountains and I got to see everything I loved about this place one last time. My only disappointment was not getting a picture of a tsunami warning sign, which is unexpectedly adorable.

After that came the great unknown: would there be tickets to Jakarta available at the airport and would they be more or less expensive because I was buying them at the last minute? Either way, I've lost all sense of the conversion rate to either Sing dollars or USD. At Aceh's very modern and elegant airport, I bought an airplane ticket to Jakarta and then on to Surabaya for a mere Rp 1,733,500! For which they only accept payment in CASH. That was an interesting trip to the ATM. But the good news is, I still have over 19 million rupiah left in my bank account!

I decided to fly to on to Surabaya in east Java because I'm drafting a new travel plan that is a bit more relaxing than the previous one. Instead of heading from Jakarta in the west and exploring the giant island that is Java, my new plan is to go east to Bali and the Gili Islands, with a stop at the volcano Gunung Bromo on the way. I'm doing this because I figure I can either spend a week hurtling across Java, cramming in sights rather than enjoying them OR I can go where the relaxation is basically guaranteed and keep diving and riding motorbikes. A pretty easy choice. And with the new semester rapidly approaching, I'm anticipating enough stress as it is without trying to hurry through and "enjoy" my vacation. Oh, and I hear there are cute boys at Bali on occasion.

Now by dinner so far so good. My flights were uneventful and I have to give Lion Air some credit; they're fairly punctual, haven't lost my bag yet, and the staff are helpful and speak good English (even if one of them was wearing 3 shades of green eyeshadow at once). If only they hadn't jacked up the cost of my flight by 50% for buying it in person...

The bus ride through Surabaya was the most entertaining part of the day by far. The vehicle basically became a performance venue whenever we stopped. There were teenagers with guitars and harmonicas, men selling food and rubber toys that flash and bounce around, hawkers carrying large metal tins of even more food, and at some point someone was trying to sell me what was either a pair of castanets or an odd looking toy car. I say no to everything, although it's not without some difficulty when it comes to the "Batman masker".

It was actually this bus ride that cemented my decision to change my itinerary. I took it as a sign from God that during the 100m walk between the airport shuttle bus and the local bus to Gunung Bromo no fewer than 15 people walked up and asked if I was going to Bali. The real reason was that there were tons of night buses headed that way, but, whether you believe in him or not, God does work in mysterious ways and fortune favors the bold so it's off to Bali I go.

And just to keep you totally up to date, I have reached the point in my journey where nothing I'm wearing matches: brown and goald trainers (covered in dust), black pants, red tank top and pale blue knit sweater.  Not my most stylish look, it's basically everything that was a bit bulky and would make it difficult to pack.  And another benefit: now I look more like everyone else around me!  And speaking of everyone else around me, why (?!?!) do they take it as a sign that when I sit alone, reading or thinking or writing or just enjoying the view, that I want them to interrupt and start an awkward conversation where their questions are spaced five minutes apart and they only understand half of my answers?  I'm here for some quiet and solitude, people, it's kind of the point of traveling alone.  I'm thinking of wearing an announcement on a sandwich board.

I arrived in Probollingo, the entry point to Gunung Bromo, around 9pm and had a lovely tour of the town from my front-row seat in the becak. This was definitely new: the double seat goes in front while the driver pedals on the bike attached behind. It seems like a pretty little town, clean and fairly modern, and there were even Christmas lights up in various shapes like stars, religious symbols and produce (no joke--my favorite was the chili pepper).

My driver took me to my hotel where I met a few people going up the volcano the next day. When I spoke to the hotel owner about joining their group, it was the beginning of an utterly ridiculous escapade that I just can't be bothered to write about until tomorrow. I have to get up in a couple of hours to go up the volcano (on a motorbike, again.  What the hell is it with me and motorbikes?!?!) and I need to get some rest before we meet at 2am.

Completely random side note: I'm not sure if I should correct them when people call me "mister", which happens about a third of the time. And an odd occurrence today: as I walked past an old man he rubbed his hand down my arm from bicep to wrist and broke into a huge grin. Now, I like to think I have soft skin, but I'm pretty sure this guy was thinking to himself Holy crap, I just touched a white lady!!! I gave him an appropriately repulsed look, but really I was wondering why he felt the need to do it. Does he want to brag about it later? Was he curious whether white women feel different? Is he just a horny old man? Beats me.

Okay, later gaters.