Me and my big nose....
27 juli 2017 - Banyuwangi, Indonesië
My last days travels after the dump, I had one day at Yogyakarta, Jogja, a beautiful place with so many tempels! I got a really nice tour from my couchsurfhost and didn't went to the big expensive touristy temples but we went to the 7 cheap small tempels without many tourists. I had a very nice time, so beautiful!! Only one day at Jogja maybe that isn't enough but I had my train tickets and the childrens home 'Wees een kind' were expecting me the next day.
So I travelled to Malang to stay 4 days at the childrens home, 14 kids all so well behaved it seemed like this place was running itself without a lot of effort. The first evening one of the older boys thought I was 19 years old, so he is my new best friend! ;-)
Every afternoon and evening we played Uno with all the kids and we had a good time, on sunday the only day off for most kids, is when we took the kids to the swimmingpool. For just a small amount we could give these kids a nice time in other surroundings.
Saying goodbye after only 4 days felt strange, this place was so comfortable it felt like home. And with kids it's always difficult saying goodbye to them! But after many high fives, hugs and pictures we took off on monday night.
Monday night we hiked up the vulcano Bromo. It's so beautiful being there with sunrise and have a close look into the vulcano (without any safety measures everyone is walking on the edge on this active vulcano, it's insane!) And the whole day around the beautiful sights of Bromo, waterfall, teletubbies mountains, insane agriculture sites and some special wind/dust place. So we were back around 17.00, who needs to sleep anyway??
On tuesday we went to the most beautiful waterfall ever, Coban Sewu, to bad it was foggy and raining a bit. But wow this waterfal was still so special!! And the stairs down were so steep! Some steps were broken or about to crack down, maybe that's why they tried to prevent people from going down... but we did! And it was worth it!!
The way back we got a ride from a truck driver, I thought it would be nice and fast.... but he had 9 ton sand in his truck, so we were soooo slow, up and down the mountains didn't help. The driver was asking for selfies on the bridge, "that's nice he is thinking about the view" is what I thought but we stopped with the big truck on the middle of the bridge (blocking some traffic) and took selfies in front of the truck. Somehow in the middle of this photoshoot his head was on my shoulder... akward!! Luckely I didn't had to sit next to him!
After his ride we took a bus, a couple of girls stept in and were in front of me. I had my eyes closed but I could hear them practacing "Can we take foto?.. no no picture... Can we take picture?.... What name is you?... uhmmm no no What is your name?"
So a bit later the girls talked to me asking my name, took a selfie and talked about Indonesia etc. Then the girls knew how to make it very uncomfertable for me.
Girls "You have beautiful eyes, you are beautiful!"
Me "Thanks! You girls are very beautiful too!"
Girls "Thank you, but you are more beautiful. You are the most beautiful"
Me "Uhmmm, everyone is.." and I got interrupted. Some Girls needed to step out.
Then the bus conductor got involved pointed at his nose: "You big" pointing at his nose again.....
Me "Whaat?!? You think I have a big nose??"
Apperently he did and he was laughing with other people in the bus about my big nose.
So Indonesian people call Dutch people and the Netherlands (orang) Belanda. I've heared that it has something to do with the big dutch noses and the colonial time. That Belanda is a local word for a monkey with a big nose. (Not sure about this explanation but it sounds reasonable)
So me and my big nose are going to climb another volcano tonight, Ijen. Because who needs sleep anyway? Bali is the next stop after the volcano.
Salamat tingal!
So I travelled to Malang to stay 4 days at the childrens home, 14 kids all so well behaved it seemed like this place was running itself without a lot of effort. The first evening one of the older boys thought I was 19 years old, so he is my new best friend! ;-)
Every afternoon and evening we played Uno with all the kids and we had a good time, on sunday the only day off for most kids, is when we took the kids to the swimmingpool. For just a small amount we could give these kids a nice time in other surroundings.
Saying goodbye after only 4 days felt strange, this place was so comfortable it felt like home. And with kids it's always difficult saying goodbye to them! But after many high fives, hugs and pictures we took off on monday night.
Monday night we hiked up the vulcano Bromo. It's so beautiful being there with sunrise and have a close look into the vulcano (without any safety measures everyone is walking on the edge on this active vulcano, it's insane!) And the whole day around the beautiful sights of Bromo, waterfall, teletubbies mountains, insane agriculture sites and some special wind/dust place. So we were back around 17.00, who needs to sleep anyway??
On tuesday we went to the most beautiful waterfall ever, Coban Sewu, to bad it was foggy and raining a bit. But wow this waterfal was still so special!! And the stairs down were so steep! Some steps were broken or about to crack down, maybe that's why they tried to prevent people from going down... but we did! And it was worth it!!
The way back we got a ride from a truck driver, I thought it would be nice and fast.... but he had 9 ton sand in his truck, so we were soooo slow, up and down the mountains didn't help. The driver was asking for selfies on the bridge, "that's nice he is thinking about the view" is what I thought but we stopped with the big truck on the middle of the bridge (blocking some traffic) and took selfies in front of the truck. Somehow in the middle of this photoshoot his head was on my shoulder... akward!! Luckely I didn't had to sit next to him!
After his ride we took a bus, a couple of girls stept in and were in front of me. I had my eyes closed but I could hear them practacing "Can we take foto?.. no no picture... Can we take picture?.... What name is you?... uhmmm no no What is your name?"
So a bit later the girls talked to me asking my name, took a selfie and talked about Indonesia etc. Then the girls knew how to make it very uncomfertable for me.
Girls "You have beautiful eyes, you are beautiful!"
Me "Thanks! You girls are very beautiful too!"
Girls "Thank you, but you are more beautiful. You are the most beautiful"
Me "Uhmmm, everyone is.." and I got interrupted. Some Girls needed to step out.
Then the bus conductor got involved pointed at his nose: "You big" pointing at his nose again.....
Me "Whaat?!? You think I have a big nose??"
Apperently he did and he was laughing with other people in the bus about my big nose.
So Indonesian people call Dutch people and the Netherlands (orang) Belanda. I've heared that it has something to do with the big dutch noses and the colonial time. That Belanda is a local word for a monkey with a big nose. (Not sure about this explanation but it sounds reasonable)
So me and my big nose are going to climb another volcano tonight, Ijen. Because who needs sleep anyway? Bali is the next stop after the volcano.
Salamat tingal!
