Beaches and Forests and Rice Fields!

We have covered a lot of ground yet again. Will give a quick recap and hopefully revisit and add more later…

On Monday we were up early (well, every day we’re up early!) to catch a boat to a deserted beach near Red Island – Pantai Wedi Ireng. It’s referred to as “Black Sand Beach” but there was no black sand here as far as I could see!

https://www.eastjava.com/tourism/banyuwangi/wedi_ireng_beach.html

The women sun bathed and looked for shells while the guys took photos and relaxed. The beach was pristine, and we were the only group there.

Carolyn took a LONG swim around into a little cove where Anita and Tommy had walked. I enjoyed the scenery, which is really unbelievable. It’s difficult to imagine that we could find beaches so beautiful and so deserted just a few hours’ car trip from Bali. It IS COVID time, and people aren’t really traveling, but I get the feeling that this place doesn’t get “crowded.” Definitely a gem to check out in East Java when you’re there.

Back to the hotel for a quick freshen-up, and then a tour over land for lunch at our tour guide’s home. Our main destination on this afternoon was Green Bay or Teluk Hijau.

https://travellingto.asia/green-bay-beach/

It’s a slog down to the beach, but this one is also beautiful, and again – there was no one to be seen. It took about 20 minutes to get down to it – the path is mostly wide pavers spaced awkwardly, then a bit of a walk over loose stones. It’s enough to get you winded, but 100% worth it. We did it in our all-terrain flip-flops. Had a nice swim, then headed back up.

Dave flew his drone a bit from the top, and when the mosquitos got hungry we headed back to the hotel in Red Island for another night.

We were supposed to go see sea turtles on this night – to relocate to a homestay in Sukamade. But apparently they have not met COVID-ready tourism standards yet, so we had to skip that part of the trip. In the future I’d make sure to get there to see the turtles.

https://www.eastjava.com/tourism/banyuwangi/sukamade-beach.html

<COVID is a WHOLE OTHER topic for this blog. Let’s just say it doesn’t look like much of a factor here, which I realize is a statement that will bring up all sorts of controversy and arguments. In the long run, it doesn’t really seem to mean much here except our hosts at all of our hotels and restaurants have been wearing masks, and there are hand washing stations everywhere.>

Tuesday was a travel day and we didn’t have that far to go. So we had a bit of a leisurely breakfast and then were on our way.

We stopped at a very mystical place that is a “don’t miss” if you’re ever in East Java – De Djawatan in Benculuk.

Set right next to a very active little town, this forest is a feast for the senses. We stumbled around here for about an hour and a half, just looking up in awe of the trees and snapping photos.

Next we were back to Banyuwangi, to Taman Gandrung Terakota Resort (Jiwa Jawa).

https://www.pegipegi.com/travel/taman-gandrung-terakota-daya-pikat-banyuwangi-yang-unik/

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g317103-d10520060-r696770502-Jiwa_Jawa_Resort_Ijen-Banyuwangi_East_Java_Java.html

This is our “base camp” as we get ready to climb Mt. Ijen tomorrow morning. It’s a super-unique place established by a businessman/ photographer from Jakarta who is dedicated to showcasing the indigenous Osing culture of the area. Here is a blog post I found about East Java that has a good description of Osing culture:

This morning we were up before sunrise to observe the light in the rice fields overlooking some volcanoes. Although we didn’t quite make the early morning light, the scenery was still pretty spectacular.

After quite literally stumbling around the rice paddies, resort grounds, and people’s back yards, we were back at our hotel for breakfast, and then to watch the Gandrung dance of the region.

https://www.indonesia-tourism.com/east-java/tourism/banyuwangi/gandrung-dance.html

This is the same dance we saw a few days ago in the forest on our way to Alas Purwo. It’s very famous in the region and even has a version that’s performed in Bali, but which, of course, is a little different:

https://nowbali.co.id/the-gandrung-dance-a-java-bali-cultural-connection/

I wanted to be in the moment and watch this dance carefully, so I didn’t take any photos. During the performance I was struck by the idea that every region and culture of Indonesia has its own traditional costume(s) and dance(s), which makes Indonesian culture so different from U.S. culture (well that and many other things!). It’s a part of Indonesia that I cherish and always enjoy learning more about.

After the group had lunch we took a rest, charging up for our early-morning walk up Mt. Ijen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen

(I’m not a huge fan of Wiki links, but the rest of the links I found were by bloggers and tour companies and don’t give “just the facts”).

We’ll leave the hotel at 1 am for the trek to the rim of the Ijen crater. I don’t think we will make the dangerous climb down into the center of the crater to see the blue flame, but you never know… Photos and blog of the experience to follow.

Thanks as always for traveling along!