Off to the falls.
Jagir waterfall seemed like a day off from our many kilometers covered on both feet and by car. The hiking and walking at Bromo and the hundreds of kilometers of driving needed a break.
Driving in Indonesia is not a pleasant drive on a long stretch of highway with the music blasting and relaxation.
As you drive through the villages, there are dogs, chickens, children, and adults crossing roads or playing by the roadside. Scooters dart in and out of traffic. There are no long stretches of roads and open skies.
Most of Indonesia is hills and mountains. Winding roads and trucks coming head-on for head-on collisions are not relaxing. Driving here with crazy truck drivers is dangerous. A long drive of say 4-5 hours will be very different that one set on cruise control from Toronto to Ottawa.
The resort.
Our small but quaint resort at Ijen Mountain Resort was a bit of a surprise. The view was amazing as we flew the drone and took a bunch of pictures of the valley below.
A small creek ran through the property and trickles down into the valley below us. Our rooms, on the other hand, could have been cleaner and better appointed.
These are all due to the effects of the pandemic. Shady maintenance meant that I had to slam my door shut and my patio door could not be locked.
The hot water was hit-and-miss. I either burned or froze. Up in the mountain areas, it is not super hot. So a warm shower is welcomed. The rooms were messed up as they gave us one queen bed and one room with two single beds. Later we found out that this was our fault.
Back to the falls.
A twenty-minute drive away was the falls. Jagir falls is located in a village. We parked our car in an empty area when we saw a chubby little man running over to collect the fee.
Nothing is free… Off we went to the falls and we were quite surprised by the facility. It was more of a local attraction and we saw about 10 people there. Decent facilities and nice gazebos to hang around in. Jado got some more footage with the drone and I did a TikTok live from there as well. The falls were not huge but nice enough and quiet enough for the relaxation we needed.
Other attractions.
This location was very familiar with the De Jawatan forest location we stopped at on the way from Jember to the Ijen volcano. When we arrived and went to grab a bite to eat the local women got a little nervous and asked if we can speak Bahasa Indonesia. While we could it was clear that this was more of a local attraction and not the Bali tourism scene. Both this location and Jagir falls were mostly locals. We chatted with many of them and even did some content with them.
The top questions for us were:
Where are you from?
Where is your family?
Are you married?
How long have you been in Indonesia?
This was rounded out by why we were not and more of the same as to what we do and where we stay. Most were surprised that we were on a road trip and driving a new car back to Bali from Surabaya. All in all, up to now this trip had been a major learning experience.
road trip, East Java, Surabaya, Bromo Volcano Traveling, Travelling Explore Indonesia, photography, travel blog Indonesia,
#roadtrip #eastjava #surabaya #bromo #volcano #traveling #travelling #exploreindonesia, #photography #travelblog #indonesia
Zsolt Zsemba 