Honeymoon: East Java Adventure!

I got married on 1 August 2015! After spending so much money on wedding, we were quite budget conscious and did not plan for a honeymoon at first. However, the announcement of the Jubilee long weekend made it too tempting to take a honeymoon without burning too much leave, thanks to SG50! I decided to plan a honeymoon trip to a nearby country, hopefully spending less than S$1000 per pax for the entire trip.

Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater has been on my to-go list. I had planned to go there with a hiking group by myself, then I saw a 7D6N East Java trip itinerary for the Jubilee weekend which covers Mount Bromo, Ijen Crater, snorkelling at Menjangan island and water rafting at Probolingo. I think we really spent less than S$1000 per pax for this trip! The flight was really expensive nearer the long weekend, so we flew over there 1 day earlier to get a cheaper flight. Yes the difference in price saved was enough to cover the extra night of accommodation and expenditure - extra holiday at a lower price!

When I told people that I would be going for honeymoon in Indonesia, the first response is usually "is it Bali?". Not entirely wrong, because we were snorkeling in Bali waters at Menjangan island. When I elaborated about the activities I would be doing for my honeymoon, most people found it strange. Maybe the default style of honeymoon is resort-style at Bali or Maldives, or a long trip to Europe or somewhere exotic. I don't look like a sporty person, many said. That is true, I can't even swim, but there is always a first time to anything!

I struggled a bit with the snorkeling, but got used to it pretty quickly. The current was quite strong and shaked our little speedboat violently. I vomited twice into the sea. Wow, snorkeling is so fun, I want to do it again! I'm the lost sheep who was always floating away with the current. The snorkel guide was quite observant and he was pulling me back to the right track several times.

It was my first time snorkeling and water rafting, so I did not have the gears to take pictures on or under water. The pictures are in my head. We bought some photos from the photographers for the water rafting though. Maybe some pictures we took along the way that don't fit into the two other posts?

Panorama at Menjangan island after first round of snorkelling. Got photobombed by a Caucasian which looked like I transformed into her halfway. Not a bad photobomb.

I was quite addicted to taking funny panorama pictures like this.

Getting better at this...

If you read my blog, you may notice that I like to take photos of insects. Check out the sneaky leaf insect!

He seemed to sense my perverse presence staring at his backside and started to feel uncomfortable.

We stopped by to take some pictures at Kali Pait (Bitter River) on the way.

We did the water rafting at Probolingo, hosted by Noars Rafting. The guides to customer ratio was high, I think there were more than 5 guides for the 5 of us. Probably also the same number of guides if there were 10 of us but they can't go lesser. They needed to raft way in front of us to help us through the rocky rapids. Along the way, they even inflate the raft with their mouth when it was leaking gas. There was even a tea break at a checkpoint, serving us hot milk and goreng pisang, so nice! I stupidly went to try swimming there, and my shoes almost floated away with the currents. One of my travel mates swam to save my shoes. No no no this place is not for non swimmers or beginner swimmers.

Along the way, there was a camera man taking nice photos for us. The photo was quite well taken in my opinion. Most of those guides looked like teenage boys, but they are pretty professional with their jobs. Buy some photos from them as tips for their hard work. It was really fun rafting there. We did not need to paddle much because the water current and the guide was doing the work.

Our water rafting activity was hosted by Noars Rafting.

In our raft!

Us in front of Air Terjun Kelambu, also known as the Curtain Waterfall.

There was a point where the water was deep enough, we can go up the short cliff beside to jump into the water. From below, it did not look very tall, but when I was up, I almost couldn't jump! I am afraid of height and water, I still can't believe I jumped! Anyway, note that my pose is a negative demonstration because you are supposed to keep your body compact so that you can break the water upon impact. It is more painful to jump like me - my ears hurt for several days after jumping! Don't copy my pose unless you just want to look cool :P

"I can't jump!! OMG.. "

Finally leaping out.

On the way down with a cool pose.

On the first day, we were given a free tour to House of Sampoerna, a cigarette museum. It was a nice planning from GA Tour agency to bring us there after our airport transfer while waiting for the time to check in the hotel.

Large number of labour workers assembling and packing cigarettes.

I'm a pushcart shop boss. Cigarettes or snacks for you? By the way, it's surprisingly small inside.

We took a cab to the posh Tunjungan Plaza from the hotel for dinner and light shopping.

Overall, I really had tremendous fun out of this honeymoon trip. Full of trying new things and seeing spectacular beautiful stuff non stop. I snorkeled and water rafted for the first time. Been up a volcano, seen the blue fire, the sulphur mines, the largest acidic crater lake in the world for the first time. Ticked off my travel checklist. Extremely cool and adventurous travel mates who pushed my limits and made me do what I would not have done. It is probably one of my best and memorable overseas trip in my life so far, going up the mountains and down the waters, yet one of the cheapest considering the length of travel. I am glad it is THE honeymoon trip!

Thank you GA Tour & Travel Agency for the great memories. The boss, Triasa, is a young handsome chap who is younger than me! Our travel leader, Mei, even younger and is a student working as part-time guide, but she is no less competent than any other travel guides we have seen so far. She is a local who speaks very good English (rare skill there), and is sincerely passionate about having fun together with us! It is a new startup tour agency, so they are really at the stage of building up their reputation and giving their very best to the clients. It is the first time I even traveled with the boss of a tour agency. It felt more like travelling with a group of friends rather than being led by a commercial travel agency who brings you to souvenir shops every other day, very positive vibes everyday. I would highly recommend GA for travelling in Indonesia. I would definitely go back to them again.

Do not forget to check out the real highlights of our trip - the Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater, The above are just appetizers.