Five Hours in a traffic jam ( Macet )

We drove to Pasuruan at five o'clock on Wednesday morning (31/10/07). The roads were clear and the usual bottleneck at Porong where the mudflow is was not a problem and we were there by six thirty. We set off from Pasuruan to return to Surubaya at eight thirty. Five and a half hours later we reached home.

The reason a demo by the people downstream of the mudflow. They are objecting to the mud being drained into the river that goes through their villages. It wasn't difficult to predict that there would be negative repecussions from pouring toxic mud into the river.

The lorries that take the earth and rocks to the site on a daily basis also joined in and totally blocked the road to and from Surabaya, and the alternative routes that avoid Porong as well. So I had to drive towards Pandaan and then up into the mountains and across country to Mojokerto.

The drive up into the mountains was beautiful. Wonderful views and scenery. I must go back that way with a camera when I have more time. The problem came when we came down from the mountain and met all the rest of the traffic taking alternative routes, and then it was nose to tail for the remaining 30kms or so.

A different volcano

Kelud contiues to rumble on but it is another volcano that has grabbed the headlines. Krakatoa, or more correctly Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatoa) has erupted. Thankfully not a large eruption. People were banned from coming closer than three kilometers.

Motorcycle Racing

Today, Sunday Danang the driver and I went to watch the Suzuki one-make series. This round was being held at the Prk Circuit in Kenjarang Surabaya. This is north east of where we live right on the coast opposite Madura.

The park itself is a bit rundown but bosts a hotel with the remains of an old Dakota aircraft on the roof, a dirt horse race track, indoor football areas, and the motorbike track inside the horse track.

The makeshift paddock in the centre of the track

The racing was for different classes of modified Suzuki roadbikes, 100cc, 110cc, 125cc etc. The track is quite twisty and technical and the surface looks good with some interesting camber changes.

The crowd watching from one of the awnings. These are all around the track to provide some shade.

The facilities are basic, but a lot of people had turned out to watch. The racing was quite exciting. The thrills and spills were increased by a heavy rain shower which fell during one race, and left the track wet but drying for the next two. The fields were fairly small about ten riders a race, but the races followed on quickly.

The first corner

At lunch we were entertained by trick riding from a team of guys on the same range of Suzuki bikes as we were watching racing. We also had a marching band go around the track. All in all an entertaining day.

The esses

Alex at school

Here are the editorial team of the Wesley newsletter Alex, Dong Gu, Daniel, Bethany, and Chiara.

Holiday, Idul Fitri, Eid the end of Ramadam

At the end of a month of fasting Indonesia celebrates Idul Fitri with a national holiday. We at English First had a few days too. So off we went, first to Pasuruan to stay at the family home. After that visits to grandparents, uncles and aunts in Bojonegoro, Tuban, and Trenggalek.

The coast near Tuban
In between we did manage to have some relaxation. Here are some of the family very much at home in the pool. Rose's sister Ratna in the shallow end with her eldest boy Dhanu. Yudha Rose's second brother swims while Koko the youngest brother bursts out of the depths.

Ross an Australian teacher from EF joined the family on this trip. He and I went off in the Terios to explore the countryside around the volcano Mount Bromo.

Driving up towards Bromo the land changes. The fields become terraces, and the crops change from rice and sugar cane to vegetables. Here you can see frames for growing vines for peas and beans.

The settlements are often small here, and perched on the tops of ridges surrounded by their fields.

Every inch of the hills seems to be farmed. No matter how steep the land is terraced and irrigated. In many places a system of plastic piping has been layed and water from tanks is gravity fed to spray and feed these steep fields.

As we climbed higher we passed through the cloud layer. It was very quiet and cool here. The air was full of swifts swooping and diving in what appeared to be a feeding frenzy.

Terraces in the clouds. Here the fields had cabbages and onions.

Looking back down the valley you can see the road we have followed, and a quarry where the black basalt has been taken to build roads and walls.

The end of the road, literally. The road deteriorated and we had driven a few miles on stones, but here the road just stopped so we continued on foot.

The endless volcanic ridges around us. Looking more like North Wales or the Lake District than tropical Asia, the temprature was more like a hot August day in the UK as well.

Looking back down through the valleys to one of the villages below. You can see the brown bracken like ferns covering the foreground. See too the mass of clouds that had been blowing up around the mountains all day making them invisible from Pasuruan.

Here you see the trees and plants on top of the mountain. So many of the hills and mountains have been stripped of trees. Here some trees are growing back, but it does not look like the jungle you would expect, or that we saw pockets of on the way up the mountain. The ground is covered in long grasses, and ferns. The soil is a grey volcanic dust, totally dry at this time of year.

Here you see Ross in action with his camera phone filming the top of the mountain.

Although volcanoes are everywhere on Java, and many of the other islands of Indonesia, the haze and dust in the air keeps them hidden most of the time. Here you can see part of the range of volcanoes above Malang.

Kelud, a volcano that may erupt

Kelud one of Java’s many volcanoes has alarmed the geologists who monitor its activity by boiling the water in its crater lake. There have been a series of local earth tremors. This is the report in the Jawa Pos.

A further report with a view of the surrounding countryside, towns and villages. The temperature continues to rise and troops and police are beng sent in to evacuate people.

Another report, the roads are closed, but . . .

Today Sunday the Jawa Pos reports that trucks are still going up the volcano to collect volcanic sand. The truck shown is in one of the gulleys that run down the side of the volcano. In the event of an eruption this gulley would fill with volcanic mud from the ejected boiling water of the crater lake.

These are the facts:

Eruptions of Kelut Volcano
2005?, 1990, 1967, 1967, 1966, 1951, 1920, 1919, 1901, 1864, 1851, 1848, 1835, 1826, 1825, 1811, 1785, 1776, 1771, 1752, 1716, 1641, 1586, 1548, 1481, 1462, 1451, 1450, 1411, 1395, 1385, 1376, 1334, 1311, 1000

Kelut volcano has been the location of some of Indonesia's most deadly eruptions. Typical eruptions are short and violent, and produce pyroclastic flows and lahars. The crater lake contained 38 million cubic metres of water before a series of tunnels was made in 1926 to keep the water level at 1.8 million cubic metres (1133 m above sea level).

In 1901 ash fell at Serang 650 km from the volcano. Lava flows have not been detected in historical times.

The official statement:

Government authorities warned residents living in the danger zones of Mount Kelud in Indonesia's crowded East Java on Sunday of possible danger activity by one of the world's dangerous volcanoes, local media reports said.

Local authorities in East Java's district of Kediri said dozens of military soldiers and police officers have been readied to evacuate residents following the raising of Mount Kelud's alert status to level three.

"The frequency of the tremors and crater's temperature of Mount Kelud volcano had continued to increase since Saturday," said Umar Rosadi, head of the emergency response team from nearby Kediri district, about 600 kilometres south-east of Jakarta.

Rosadi said activity at Mount Kelud had increased in the past several days, adding that local government officials had spread leaflets advising residents to be ready to evacuate.

Vulcanologists issued recommendations for nearby residents, including a call that they should not conduct any activity in areas within 5-kilometres from its crater.

Deputy chief of Ngancar subdistrict military command Lieutenant Sukana told the state-run Antara news agency that 70 troops had been mobilized to help evacuate about 24,000 residents of six villages in danger zones.

The 1,731-metre volcano's most recent eruption was in 1990, when at least 22 people were killed.