Remember those adventure movies where the hero crosses Asia in a rickety old train full of peasants, goats, and chickens? Well, that was not us. True, the wagon was not fancy and the backs of the seats did not recline, but there was AC and assigned seating, and the only ones with bulky packs were the bule, which like us had a hankering for adventure (but who in contrast chose to carry their whole household with them).
The train was slow, and every seat was taken, but the view out the window was serene and lovely. It was like watching the National Geographic channel for 10 hours straight. Indonesian cities are like any other crowded city in the world, but the countryside of eastern Java is particularly lovely and prosperous. It is a rice-growing region (plus a few onions and backyard vegetables), and rice has the distinction that in this climate it can be grown almost anytime of the year. Thus, you have fields that are being harvested, others that are being weeded, others that are being planted, and others that are being tilled (a particularly fun activity since the farmers are knee-deep in mud), all at the same time.
Farmers here live in neat small houses, not in hovels, and clearly every family keeps chickens, a vegetable garden, and potted flowers, which give houses a particularly happy aspect. Every now and then we rode past a mosque, and one in particular seems to have been inspired by the Taj Mahal. The small ag towns, at each of which our slow train stops to let people in and out, have well defined central parks, many of which are in full bloom. There are no real poor in rural Indonesia, for everyone seems to be engaged in doing something, so there is a general feeling of wellbeing all around us.
The volcanic landscape is also breathtaking. Although the train track follows the lowlands, there is always a neat volcano or two in sight. Being a devotee of the landscape mode of Google Maps I can do all sorts of volcanic geomorphology from my train window, recognizing calderas, post-collapse volcanism, flank collapses and their corresponding debris fields, dome fields, and small stratovolcanoes. But before you head here to do your Master’s thesis please be aware that although the geomorphology is pretty straight, getting to look at the rocks is nye impossible. If you are a botanist, however, this is the place for you. Going back to geology, I am puzzled by the paucity of cinder cones or maars, which are ubiquitous in the Cascades or the Mexican Neovolcanic Belt (and many more rhyolitic calderas than in those classic provinces). Am I seeing a fundamental and meaningful difference here?
We treated ourselves to elevenses, lunch, and afternoon tea from the food trolley, dozed off as the mood came into us, and overall had a great trip. By the time we got to Banyuwangi at 8 pm we were ready for a change of scene, which was provided by our amigos from BMKG, who withy many smiles took us out to dinner (I am going to have to go into a diet when I get back home) and eventually to our lodgings (HALFWAY Home Stay) at a beautiful large house that has been adapted as a home stay retreat.
Tomorrow we will cross the narrow strait between Java and Bali, for the last hurrah of our trip.
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