Day 83

21/09/2009

We were the first to buy tickets for the Prambanan temples this morning at 6:15. They are Hindu temples built in the 8th and 9th centuries and bear a considerable resemblence to parts of the Angkor complex in Cambodia. They have suffered over the years from the many earthquakes in Java and maintenance and restoration are never ending tasks.

We wandered around the site until 8:00 before returning to the hotel for showers and breakfast.

The usual story with the roads today - mostly slow. In the end we covered about 335km by driving until 8pm.

The low point of the day was while waiting in one of the many traffic queues with the usual idiots hurtling up the inside of us, seeing a motorcyclist trying to cross the stationary line, hit by one of the small buses and thrown in the air. Even worse as he was crossing the stationary line directly in front of us, and I saw in the door mirror the bus along side us. The surrounding pedestrians immediately came to his aid and carried him and his mangled bike to the side of the road. It looked so organised you could believe it was a frequent occurence. He appeared to have a few broken bones and his helmet had come off during the collision (chin strap not fastened).

We've stopped tonight at the foot of Bromo, which is the most visited volcano on Java. Not sure if we will drive up to it in the morning or get across to Bali and find a nice hotel on the beach for a couple of nights.

Lat 7 45.34 S
Long 113 13.16 E
Town Probolinggo
Distance 23633km (re-revised the adjustment due to tyre size from +5.5% to +3.5%)