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Summer Holiday in Jave, Indonesia 印尼爪哇 (27 Jul - 10 Aug 2004)

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chin:
We first went to the resort islands of Pulau Seribu for a few days of sun and beach.

Then we headed for East Java where we visited few mountains, including Mount Ijen - so called "The Beauty of the Stink". It stinks because it is a live volcano with sulphur that burns your lungs.

We were traveling with kids, so inevitably we have to see some zoos and parks. Including the Safari Indonesia where I took few pictures of animals.

On the last day of our East Java trip, we stumble upon a pleasant surprise.

chin:
Pulau Seribu

Pulau Seribu, which means thousand islands, is an island resort about [2] hours of boat ride from Jakarta.

The resort mainly comprise of two islands with shuttle boat to go between. All the guest rooms are little villas 15 meters from the beach.

Left of the picture is the main dinning room with beautiful vista of the sea. Everyday we just have a long breakfast then just sit there read books, while the kids fed fishes with bread.

In the background of the picture is the main pier for shuttle to the other island, the once a day boat trip to Jakarta, and the landing for water sports and boats.

chin:
Pulau Seribu

Opposite to the main pier on the same island is a secondary pier for unloading supplies and shuttle for the resort staff.

In the late afternoon, some resort staff as well as some guests would be fishing on the pier, or simply enjoy the sunset in the breeze.

chin:
Sulphur Carrier at Mount Ijen

Soon after return from Pulau Seribu, we headed for Surabaya in the east Java.

One of the mountains we visited is Mount Ijen which is a live volcano.

Halfway up the [9km] hike, we start to see many workers carrying down very heavy loads of sulphur. Many of them would stop and try to sell us pieces of nicely formed sulphur blocks.

chin:
Weighting Station

About 2/3 way up on the trails, we saw a little store selling drinks and snacks to tourists.

Right next to the store is an area where loads of sulphur waiting to be picked up by the carriers. The workers would pick up a load, weight the loads and take a record.

We found out that the workers are paid [Rp490/kg] of sulphur carried down maintain. The load in this picture weight about 70kg! Each worker can make two trips per day.

That translates to [US$7] per day for this back-breaking, lung-burning work.

After learning about their low pay, we felt obigated to buy a few sulphur blocks from the workers.

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