12th January 2024 - Merapi
The house we are staying is idyllic, set in lush rice fields, with goldfish in ponds. The view of Merapi is best pre-breakfast, before the clouds roll in. It's crater is steaming away and you can see the lava flows on its south west flank.
The accommodation is a tradional farmhouse with a terrace out front, shaded by bamboo blinds. Inside is a single room with a largetrable, small kitchenette, sofa and cushions, a TV and for beds screened off by voiles To the rear there us a door that leads to a semi-covered laundry area and toilet and shower. We have been told to turn the shower on and leave for 5 minutes to warm up. In practice, it was a short wait.
Breakfast came in woven baskets. Rice, vegetables, a fritter and some noodles, accompanied by scented Jasmine tea. Most places offer a spoon and fork to eat with rather than chopstcks.
It is so tranquil here. The temperature isn't overbearing and there are only a few insects.
The guide book recommended visiting the Merapi volcano National Park where you can do a trek to a view point of the mountain. so we ordered a taxi and headed up the hill.
When planning a holiday, it's sometimes difficult to know what places will be like. From our experience in Latin America, if you want to visit a National Park, you are best hiring the biggest high clearance 4×4 you can afford, take food, supplies and even camping gear, and heading up along bumpy roads with little chance of seeing much apart from the odd guanaco. Joan had been worried that this might be the case in Indonesia and spent ages fretting about accommodation and food. No need. The roads up to all the destinations we've been to so far have been lined with shops and stalls, and accommodation is aplenty.
However the experience is a lot less dramatic. The local thing to do is to go for a lava jeep tour. Joan imagined a full day trip across the flanks of the volcano. Not so, the jeeps took visitors to a small, artificially landscaped river area about the size of a football pitch with a ford and other created obstacles.
Our taxi dropped us off at the gates of the "National Park." There were stalls, restaurants and a troupe of Macaque monkeys feeding on biscuits.
The monkeys ignored us, which we weren't insulted by. Occasionally there would be a spat with high pitched squeaks and bearing of teeth. There were some mothers with babes too.
Moving on, we found the park entrance up some steps behind food bars. Not quite what we had expected. There were differential entrance fees for locals and tourists, and the attendant half tried to dissuade us from paying. We soon found out why. It was a very small area with footpaths, walls and bridges, leading up to a pretty but unspectacular waterfall.
In all it took 2-3 minutes walk. A bit perplexed we tried to eke the most out of the park but it really was nothing more than a small park.
Returning to the exit we spotted an interpretation board that referred to the view point in the guidebook. Further exploration found a closed footpath, shut due to dangers caused by potential volcanic activity.
This was understandable as in December 2023, Merapi had erupted killing several hikers, though this was much nearer the volcano than this touristy view point.
There really wasn't much to see except some more cheeky monkeys so we decided to head back.
We found some free WiFi and tried to order a Grab taxi. So far, the response has been in seconds but no cars were around. We tried again and again, and even installed rival app Gojek. After nearly an hour, we wondered how to get back to our accommodation. It was about 10 km away and we didn't have a map. No bus stops were in sight. So we hailed a jeep selling the dodgy lava tours and somehow acquired his services to drive us home. The ride was precarious and, if we had had an accident, we mostlikely were not covered by insurance, but it got us back!
Underwhelmed by our experience, and for the second time, feeling let down by a guidebook recommendation, we decided to head down to Yogya for dinner. The roads were still crazy and, yet again, the vegan restaurant was shut So we headed back to Nanamia for another, rather good, Italian meal.
Back at the Warung, we sat on the verandah watching the glow of the lava on the slopes of Merapi. Little did we know it would erupt again on the day we left.
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