Discover the Joy of Imperfection: Unique Experiences in Surabaya
After landing, I started booking round-trip tickets between different cities because I wanted to experience the local culture. All the itineraries were booked on local apps, almost deciding where to go next after reaching one destination.
The driver I rented a car from through an app was hosting Chinese tourists for the first time and didn’t understand English. There was no direct translation function on WhatsApp. When I met him, I was informed that I had to cover the driver’s accommodation, meals, fuel, and tolls for all out-of-town trips. We parked the car by the roadside and used Google Translate word by word to plan the itinerary temporarily, and then we began our journey in Surabaya.
The guy was very nice and enthusiastic, recommending guides who were his friends. The drivers were straightforward, drove steadily and aggressively, and could even overtake on mountain roads.
I only slept for two hours last night, got up at 2 AM to see the sunrise at Bromo. On the way, we switched to a jeep, and the smell of sulfur from the volcanic eruption made me feel like I was in a Mission Impossible movie. At 5 AM, we reached the top of the mountain, and when the sun rose, I was still awed by the sight of the most spectacular group of volcanoes on Earth. After coming down from the volcano, we went straight to Sewu, which was like a special forces mission.
On the way to Sewu, we accidentally entered a completely wild area, and the car got stuck in water, requiring people to push it out. A three-hour trip turned into five hours, with villages destroyed by natural disasters along the way. Finally, when we arrived, there was a heavy rainstorm, and I thought we wouldn’t make it, but it stopped raining, and the place hadn’t closed.
Walking down the waterfall, I was drenched, and looking up, I saw the mudflow of the Sewu waterfall, as if I was in Jurassic Park.
These few days have been some of the happiest in the past three years, recapturing the joy of being a backpacker during my student days. Back then, we would find travel companions on forums, stay in hostels, camp, and be couch surfers. If we couldn’t get train tickets to popular destinations on Eurostar, we’d randomly pick a small station we’d never heard of, get off the train, walk around the city square, and wait for the next train, which was the fun of budget travel.
Many travel companies have disappeared in these three years, and I really liked the slogan of one of them: “travel like a local.” I think they must be people who understand human feelings, as the little episodes during travel are the deepest impressions left in our memories.
Freedom is great, and I’m tired of being a sophisticated urban beauty.
@Outdoor Potato
