Sarangan, finally here

got pix, videos low quality due to connection.

The ride here was interesting, let us say. I had figured, no problem, ask at the hotel desk for a taxi, and away we go.  Well, do I know the phone number for the taxi company in Madiun?  What?  The girl at the front desk talks to me like I'm a native speaker so I get about a word per sentence.  The gist is, no can do, but if we throw our bags in the back of this LTH shipping truck he'll take us to the bus depot, just down the road.  OK, if that's the deal, then that's it. The bus ride is way the hell and gone again, and when we get there there's a bunch of old minivans, the drivers are vying for who gets to take us.  We get a guy with a very old Mitsubishi Colt, same era as '83, engine underneath the front bench seat.  I sit in front and Pat's in the middle row with the bags, windows slid open, taking a few pix along the way.  The driver takes some short cuts to get back to approximately where we came from before resuming the uphill trek.  These roads, the shortcuts are not lined with shops, rather paddy, rows of vegetables, or cane.
The old uphill road is now half again wider with strips and guard rails.  Wow!  Actually I knew that from viewing youtube videos more than a year ago.  The section with the switch-backs, 10 or so, is a piece of cake now.

shortcut north of Magetan

New Magetan Sarangan road, guardrail and everything, reflectors

Virtually no change to Hotel Sarangan, unbelievable. Hotel Sarangan, old but fairly well maintained, and a few upgrades - western toilets, hot water (a little slow), and shower heads.  And a bunch of cell towers disturbing the  horizon. Why put them there?

Handi @ Hotel Sarangan '80's, same as today (new yellow color )

Pat looks out over the lake and beyond to the distant volcanoes shrouded by clouds and says, we're in paradise.  Maybe a snap decision.  Sarangan is a tourist town, know all over Indonesia but not much elsewhere, so we will likely be the only occidentals here.  Some Dutch tourists pop in now and then to see where Grandpa headed up the colonial farm.

We've decided to take our morning mile walk, plus the 100yd down and up the mountain side, as the sun comes up to avoid the mayhem of tourists and vendors crowding the way.  Well it was Sunday after all, and a holiday weekend to boot.  The east end of the lake is like a dinky Daytona-boardwalk, and the rest of the lake's perimeter is lined with food stalls.  On the lake are about a dozen 14 foot fiberglass boats sporting 40HP outboards thrilling the adolescent passengers and disturbing the lovebirds in the plastic swan boats.  Lots of noise lakeside. 

But up here at the hotel it's really not bad, kind of entertaining, not too loud. And weekdays the boat rides have virtually stopped, and those that did run today took it very slowly.  No throngs of people and no indo-pop blaring.  We're alone here at the hotel.  I think the  30 or so hotels here are probably running each 2 guests tops.  Hard to know how they stay in business.


Sukiman is 69,
has worked at Hotel Sarangan 45 years,
grows veggies to eat and his wife sells.

Sukiman 1983

This, Sarangan, is our planned location to stay put for a while, so blogging will be slim. 
We did not get the $20/day rate I had hoped for.  After some haggling we got $25/day, breakfast included.  The room-rate list says $37 for our 2 room suite.  At one point in our negotiations I mentioned the $17/day I'd seen on the internet and she, the manager, said "in what year '80?" (my translation).  Actually it was 2010.  Lunch and dinner will run us about $10/day, and a bottle of beer for 3, so $38/day all told. I think if we root around we can find cheaper lunch anyway.  Maybe I can get beer in quantity and pour it over ice, like the old days.