Solo 3

Time to leave Central Java .... I head out to Bandaran Adi Sumarmo International by taxi nice and early. This taxi bapak is 59 years old and he says he "pensiun" from a bank at the age of 55 and since then has been a taxi driver. He tells me he is taking his life easy since his wife is still working as a guru and his 2 cewek (daughters) are already married.

I ask him to play Javanese gemalan music on his stereo and he obliges. Way we go.

Just before turning into the airport on the fringe road here we see our two good friends again - Mt Merapi (on the left) and Mt Merbabu. I cannot resist taking one last picture of our pals

Across the runway I see these training aircraft lined up in the dispersal - must be a flight training facility there

 Garuda A320 being pushed back from the gate

 She's off

 The Cessna is off too

 Sriwijaya 737 being pushed back

 She's off too

 Our bird has landed and is taxiing to our gate

We board our plane for departure. The Capt'n comes on the PA telling us there is a problem they gotta fix and it will take 10 minutes and then they have to do some tests. 30 minutes' later he comes on and tells us the defect remains and they are going to let us wait at the waiting lounge where we will be more comfortable. At 1.32pm we are off loaded.... I find out from one of the crew it is due to the Captain's radio not being serviceable and it cannot communicate with the tower. Oops.

 At 2.35pm we are each given a packet of lunch to eat in the waiting lounge - it's been 2 hours since our scheduled departure time

 At 3.30pm finally we are off. The defect is solved and we are on our way back to KL. Yee Ha!

I thought we have had enough of our two friends in Java but here they are again ... this time on our left wing

Close up shot of our Mt Merbabu and we hit the coast departing Java and fly northerly towards KL

 A CB cloud building up in the distance - no threat

 Cirrus - nice weather ahead

 

 Later on in the night we are at Tropicana having roti. First time I have this Roti Tissue. SM's party is back from their trip to Laos. They were amazed it is like Bali 20 years ago.

 As I look forward after Central Java I am thinking I should be considering another trip back to Java in the future. I think the following 12-day trip might work:

- Fly into Semarang from KL                      (Semarang 2 days)

- Train from Semarang to Surabaya            (Surabaya 2 days)

- Bus from Surabaya to Mt Bromo             (Bromo 3 days)

- Back to Surabaya                                    (Surabaya 1 day)

- Train and ferry from Surabaya to Bali       (Bali 4 days)

- Fly from Bali back to KL