Kev: Hi Blog!
Blog: Hi Kev, where have you been? It has been over two months since we last spent time together.
Kev: Yeah, I know...I have been adventuring. I have visited the Westman Islands in Iceland, I went travelling in Indonesia for three weeks. When I returned to Iceland, I hiked four days between Laugavegur and Þórsmörk which is about 55km.
Blog: Wow! So a busy few months then, do tell.
Kev: OK, I will start a little out of order, Indonesia first...
The beginnings of an adventure.
I am very lucky to have the opportunity to live in Iceland for six months, as it has given me time to explore this amazing country and take images of the wonderful landscape. It also means I have some free time and decided to do some charity work. I had spoken to Emily Rusk (this is all her fault really) and Tricia Vos about working for Habitat for Humanity during my 6 month sabbatical. Habitat build new homes all over the world for people who are currently living in poor housing conditions and that is where the idea started.
After a phone interview with the Mandy Jansen from Habitat for Humanity (HFH) I secured the last spot on a two week build project in Yogyakarta. I had to raise $2,000 to help fund provide materials for the build. This happened amazingly quickly due to the amazingly generous donations from friends all over the world. I purchased my own flights and decided to stay another week after the build in Bali.
Easy really.
The travel plan.
Bye, bye Iceland.
The journey is not one flight and because I live in Iceland it would be even trickier. My travel plan:
- Keflavik in Iceland to London Heathrow.
- London Heathrow to Changi Airport in Singapore.
- Changi Airport in Singapore to Adisutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta.
I would then return from Yogyakarta via Bali:
- Adisutjipto International Airport in Yogyakarta to Denpasar International Airport in Bali.
- Denpasar International Airport in Bali to Changi Airport in Singapore.
- Changi Airport in Singapore to London Heathrow.
- London Heathrow to Keflavik in Iceland.
Great, now everything is in place let's go!
After landing in Heathrow I spent a few days in London and stayed with my good friends Em and John and baby Max, and also visited my little brother. At the end of these short few days I headed back to Heathrow to fly out to Yogyakarta. On the way out to the airport on the Piccadilly line to Heathrow there was a fire and the tube train was evacuated. I had to get a bus to the airport. This made me late and I had to run through Heathrow to get my first flight...not a good start, but I made it.
Arrival in Yogyakarta.
After one very long flight and one short flight I arrived at Yogyakarta and met Joyce and Kay, who were part of the early arrivals to Yogyakarta. After a quick pick up at the airport and a beer at the hotel we all decided to try and overcome the jet lag by visiting the sultan's palace in the center of town.
It was an amazing place, that had so much history and relics on display it was hard to see all of it in one visit, especially being very jet lagged!
Buddhist temple Borobudur and Jomblang Cave.
Headless statue.
After basically falling asleep in my dinner, I went to bed at 6pm and slept until 4am. I got back up, packed my camera gear, and went to go and see the sunrise at the Buddhist temple Borobudur, and then visit a cool cave called Jomblang Cave. Now, I had organized this adventure with another early arriving member of the HFH crew, Corrinne, and we both thought it would be a bus tour event. She was staying at a hostel closer to the center of Yogyakarta and we thought we would meet up on a bus. Turns out it was just me, a driver and a car for the morning and she would be getting her own trasnport.
After weaving through the crazy traffic of Yogyakarta I made it to the temple and climbed it in the pitch black of the early morning just before sunrise. Unfortunately, there was no orange sunrise as it was cloudy, but WOW! what a place. Very surreal and peaceful even with lots of other tourists. Well worth a visit. I did not manage to bump into Corinne, at the temple but I did get a strange look from a passing girl...who might have been Corinne?
Buddhist Temple. Each "bell" has an Buddhist monk inside without a head.
My driver then took me back across the city to go visit the cave. It took about 2 hours' drive, and whilst chatting to the driver about the local food we decided to stop for breakfast. We stopped at a roadside restaurant and had a local soup called Soto ayam. It is a rice broth dish with spices and chicken. Yum!
When we arrived at the location for the cave tour there was a car bouncing along the rough track in front of us. My driver mentioned that it was his friend and he had an American customer today...oh oh! Sure enough Corinne was in the other car, and the girl who I had seen at the temple was her too! Oops!
After some quick introductions we were harnessed up together, and lowered into a cave and spent the next hour or so exploring a massive cave with a beautiful light beam.
What a great place to explore. My driver was super friendly and very knowledgeable. If you want to do this trip I would use http://jomblangcavetours.com/ again. I arrived back at the hotel midafternoon and then met up with the next arrivals for the HFH trip, Mandy, Jim and Valerie for dinner.
Candi Prambanan Hindu Temple.
During the previous night’s dinner, I made plans with Mandy to visit the Candi Prambanan Hindu temple, which was only 30 minutes by taxi from our hotel.
Candi Prambanan Hindu Temple
The temple was amazingly ornate and was covered in very detailed carvings, and tourists. Each one of the standing temples had a stone statue inside and a few tourists too!
As you walked out of the temple you are greeted with this amazing site of umbrellas in the trees!
I loved them!!
So colorful and bright! I love these!
That was only 2 days! I still have to meet the team complete Habit for Humanity team, build a house and I have a week in Bali! This was an amazing trip! So I think it will be in 3 parts, and then 1 for Bali.
Next Blog entry - The build starts and we meet our local family.
Come back for more!
Cheers,
Kev
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