Semarang and Dieng – Dieng Plateau – Java – Indonesia

I left the rice fields behind and boarded my pre-booked taxi at 7 AM back to the airport in Denpasar. Only upon arriving there did I realize that I was in the wrong area of the airport. I was standing in the international departure hall. The kind lady from the airport staff explained this to me and showed me the way.

I first had to go from the third to the first floor. Unfortunately, this could only be done without my airport trolley, so I had to lift my backpack, toss it in the elevator, go down, grab a new trolley, and follow the signs. The aforementioned 10 minutes on foot. I started jogging and made it in 6 minutes, but I was already sweating again.

The flight was short, only 1 hour, and went over to Surabaya on the island of Java, then continued by taxi to the city center to the train station, and from there in executive class over the following 5 hours to Semarang. A great train ride, safe, punctual, and friendly passengers.

I reached Semarang just as the sun was setting. My accommodation was right in the beautiful old town, in colonial style; one could have believed that the Dutch were still there.

I left the city the day after next, first again by train, but only one stop, so 30 minutes. From there, I called a Grab taxi. In which I buckled up out of habit, but it started beeping, the driver got out, came to me, and explained that this wouldn’t work, as it would keep beeping otherwise. So I had to unbuckle. The next 2 hours went uphill, over somewhat adventurous slopes. Even today, I'm not sure if my driver couldn’t drive or if the engine was too weak. The engine constantly howled in first gear at 5 to 6,000 RPMs. The first two-thirds of the route led directly through an exotic garden. Corn, coffee, mango, potatoes, rice, cocoa, durian, and much more grew along the roadside. I finally stood at 18 degrees in Dieng and strolled in the afternoon to the nearby Sikidang crater and Arjuna temple.

The next day, I sat down for breakfast in slight drizzle. I then decided to go for a hike to the Prau summit. Leaving Dieng behind, I walked through the potato fields that nestle around Dieng on the slopes, being warmly greeted by the farmers here, before eventually reaching the forest. And then, as it should be, it started to rain, and it didn’t stop for the next 3 hours. The path was just a mix of stream water and mud. Just before the summit, it stopped for 10 minutes, time for a break. Afterwards, exactly where there was no tree left, a thunderstorm was about to hit. So I immediately began my descent; the view up here was practically zero anyway.

Unfortunately, my accommodation was less than inviting, so I left Dieng after just two instead of the planned 4 days.