Where did I leave off? … oh yes...On East Java. We did get a little sick from the food but nothing too major. And Matt and I had officially become boyfriend / girlfriend :) So on East Java we had a blast checking out the area.

The next morning, Rafik picked us up at 8am and we headed for Mount Bromo. He insisted that we stop for meatball again. And we did... At least this time it seemed like it was cooked and tasted ok. We headed up 8,000 feet driving on a bunch of switchbacks and narrow roads. We made it to the Guesthouse around 1pm and waited a bit before being able to check in. That day we mainly stayed around our place. We sat outside and goofed around singing to songs and making funny snapchat videos and trying out the different filters. We eventually headed inside to our prize winning meal of PB and bread and mentos for dessert.

Matt and I slept in a bit and we were both excited to have a real American breakfast. Eggs had never tasted so good in my life. We had a nice mix of eggs, toast, fruit and fried bananas.

After breakfast we headed down a steep road to hike across the sand to the volcano...Mount Bromo. About 5 miles of hiking round trip. Sand blew in our faces as we walked and talked and guys on dirt bikes kept harassing us along the way if we wanted a ride. We reached the base of the volcano and took a minute to rest and take it in before heading up more stairs to the top. Once on top we hiked along the edge of the volcano breathing in sulfur and hot air. We took pics, drone videos and selfies....duh. Once back in our room, we relaxed for a bit then got some food at a local place…..don’t ask me the names of what it was because I couldn’t tell you haha. We crashed early that night to be up at 2:30am the next day.

2:30am came way too quickly...and I wasn’t ready to freeze our butts off lol. 44 degrees with a 10 mph wind.....ummm brrrr...after being in 80 degree temps during the day! Our jeep driver was waiting for us and we climbed in the back and the fun began. We were one out of hundreds of jeeps racing across the sand in the dark. Clouds of dust blinded our vision. We couldn’t see anything ahead of us and we trusted our driver to not hit anything or anyone for that matter. Matt and I felt like we were in a combat scene in the Middle East. We raced up dozens of switchbacks on the side of a mountain to get to a spot called King Kong Hill. Once we arrived, many jeeps were stopped in the middle of the road. Thankfully we only had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the viewpoint. Our jeep cost $400,000 Rp….so weird lol. If we wouldn't have paid that we would have had to hike an hour and a half uphill in the dark… which was the plan actually until we decided not to go the night before.

Once we reached our spot, we sat tight together and attempted to stay warm until the sun came up. Many people were there to witness the view. Even though it was really cold, it was amazing and by far one of my most favorite photos from the trip. And well worth it.

The next day we headed out….a driving day to get back to Bali. About 6 to 7 hours of driving to the ferry. We stopped at the market to get more mentos.....I mean for $0.32 for a package you can't go wrong. Besides, Matt was addicted to them. You’re welcome Matt lol.

That was the end of our adventures on Java. Matt and I loved this island more than we thought we would. Not many Americans go to Java since it isn’t as touristy friendly. All I know is that we will be back there someday...hopefully soon. After getting back from Java we stayed in Bali for a few days.

Up at 4am for sunrise pics at the Ulun Danu Temple. It was only about 6 min from our hotel which was nice. I felt bad for our driver since he had slept that night in his car. We waited in the car for a while before paying our entrance fee of 20,000 RP and going to our spot. Unfortunately there was no fog to make the temple look like it was floating.....there also was no water around the temple like there was supposed to be. We were pretty bummed about that since that's what made the shot. It looked like they had a dry spell as water only was on one side and not around the whole temple. Needless to say we didn't stay long and after Rafik took us to a Gate of Heaven and we took a couple photos then headed back to our hotel. We crashed for two hours before packing up our stuff and heading out around 8-9am. We saw some sights and hiked that day but they were nothing special.

The Goya Boutique Resort was the one hotel we were really looking forward to. The fancy place as we called it and for $200 a night it was worth it. We arrived around 2pm or so and checked it. The people there were super nice and accommodating. We were blown away with our room and absolutely loved the infinity pool. A few minutes after doing our videos with our phones they brought us watermelon drinks and fresh fruit which tasted so good. That day we hung out around the hotel and checked out the place. Later that night we had a blast. We got ready to do our "fancy" pictures. Around 6:30pm or so we headed out by the endless pool to do our fancy pictures. A band was playing near there which was kind of neat. Everyone was watching and thought we were so cute. We set up the flash and since it was too dark for flash we used it as a rim and back light. Matt set up his camera on a tripod and timer. We did a ton of different poses and had a blast with it.

Our driver picked us up at 7:30am or so the next morning and we headed to Tukad Cepung Waterfall. We hiked....more stairs again and then went down into a cave which was really neat. We had to walk through some water and rocks but nothing too terrible. We got there and took some shots and waited to get sun rays since that's what really made the photo. We decided to just jump in then and do our model photos and whatnot since more and more people were coming. Afterwards we then headed back up those wonderful stairs. Next stop, the Wista Waterfall. Which is a bunch of waterfalls in one spot. After more stairs, we got there and were a bit disappointed. Quite a few people and the water was about thigh high if we wanted to wade out for a shot. We hung out there for a little while then called it. Headed back up and Matt had to get his ice cream and I got some coffee even though it was like 90 degrees;)

After our small break we headed to the Tegallalang Rice Terrace. There was a really friendly old skinny guy worker working the fields. He came up and was smiling and taking pics with people. Matt paid him a little and we took pics of him and with him as well. Then headed back in the heat. And back to our hotel.

Later we headed out to get some food at a pizza place. Matt got himself a burger and I got an omelet. It tasted so good after living off of PB, bread,.oreos and mentos lol. I did get a little sketched out at the place since I spotted a big rat that ran up the wall....ugh. At 6pm or so we ran out to the infinity pool to get sunset pics of us in the pool. Then hung out afterwards in the pool enjoying the warm night and each other's company.

Well that pretty much wraps up our time on East Java and Bali. We liked both islands but our favorite is still Java by far. Our next stop was the island of Nusa Penida. And you guessed it! That will be in the next blog! Which I will be posting in about a week. The video link to the Indonesia video will be in that last blog so you don’t want to miss it!!