Sunday, 16 June, 2019, Malang, East
Java
Yesterday, from the train, as we approached central Malang, we saw a very colourful village, and with nothing much better to do today, opted to go there, instead of the usual fruit, vegetable and flower markets.
So, in the photo at right, we have crossed both the bridges - the train one yesterday, and the yellow one today, on foot. There's also a third bridge crossing - the road bridge we're standing on for this photo, and which we crossed by car.
We'd read a little about this eye-catching kampung which lures tourists to walk over the river below using a central glass walkway. Actually, this wasn't as scary as it sounds, but many of the local tourists clung to the metal edges and avoided the glass panel. But it looked OK to us....
Crossing the bridge:
(above) The view from below the bridge - and (right), other tourists preferred to cling to the edge, not trusting the central glass panel
The local kids just wanted to have fun with Dave, high-fiving him as we walked along:
right: locals charge photographers 20cents to climb this staircase for a better view of the bridges. I didn't want a better view all that much:
below:
the village version of a local library. Books for borrowing are left inside each letter box:
A village just the other side of the road was maybe a little bit jealous of the colourful sight of their neighbours, so they painted their kampung in bright blue, the colour of their favourite local football team.
Sightseeing is tiring, so on the way back to the hotel, we stopped for coffee at a cafe which dates back to the time of the Dutch colonialists. Coffee was not too good, but their black tea was fine. The ground floor of the building is all that remains of the original Dutch two-story edifice, but it seems that all the original furniture and decor dates from the Thirties.
Our day started early, in a very unplanned way today: the local mosque's pre-dawn 'Call to Prayer' started echoing around our room at 3.50am!!! and went on for half an hour. Not happy.
Tomorrow we head for Mt Bromo, an active volcano about 2-3 hours drive from here. I'm presuming we won't get up too close and personal with it.
Next: off to see a volcano