Indonesia Abroad - Mountains over City life [UPDATED]

To escape the "oh-so busy life" we had, a couple of friends and I decided to head to Batu & Malang to get some fresh air for a bit. Malang is quite close to Surabaya, and traveling there is pretty easy to do as well. You can go by train, but we went by bus, which is around 40.000 Rupiah for a 1,5 hour trip; It's a cheap and comfortable experience.

Our trip had 2 goals: getting a nice view on a mountain and relaxing in hot springs. For our first goal, we decided to go to Goa Pandawa, which is a mountain region on the northern edge of Batu. Temperatures in Batu and Malang are significantly lower in comparison to Surabaya because of it's mountain ranges with its regulated climate. So, on top of the mountain, it really feels a lot better, or at least a lot less clammy.

A lot of green all around, a nice temperature, and peace and quiet except for the sounds of birds and the forest. What could possible be bad in that situation?
The mosquitoes. Maybe it was specifically bad in my case, but the mosquitoes just adored me. There was no end to it, though the view was still worth most of it! More photo's in my album of course.

We also went to hot springs in the area to relax and revitalize our bodies. We spent around 8 hours at the hot springs, which in hindsight may have been a little bit over the top, but it was just that relaxing. The water there comes up from under the bowels of the earth, so they're 100% natural hot springs. It contained a lot of sulfur, so if you do plan to go there, make sure to shower after.

After coming back, I joined to see an interesting parade that was happening in the middle heart of the city. Apparently, it was called the Ngrupuk parade, and it happens on the eve of Nyepi day in Bali. Nyepi is a Balinese day of silence.

The Ogoh-ogoh, which is what the statues are called, normally take the form of mythological beings, mostly demons, and are based on Balinese Hinduism. The main purpose of the making of Ogoh-ogoh is the purification of the natural environment of any spiritual pollutants emitted from the activities of living beings (especially humans).
The more you know, I guess...

A shorter story, but it's better to make note of it anyway. More photo's in my album :p

On to other exciting news, starting on the 22nd of March, 2024, I rolled out of my bed by what seemed to be an earthquake, with a MAG 5.6. Multiple smaller shocks and quakes were felt during the day, with an especially bigger one around 4 P.M., with a MAG of 6.4.

Now, earthquakes happen in this area from time to time, but it is apparently not often that it happens in the north of Java; usually in the south. What's more, this one came very close to a similar one felt last year in Surabaya, which is until this day the largest magnitude of 7.1 felt since 1900 in the same area. The difference between these 2, aside from the magnitude, is the depth. While the one I felt was very shallow, the one from last year had a depth of 500km. Quite interesting. At the time of writing (2024-03-23, 02:07), small earthquakes are still being recorded from the exact same epicenter, usually around a MAG 4. Many places are quite resilient, but some older buildings really started to show large cracks, and there was even a case where a part of the parking space at Campus B of UNAIR caved in.

You can follow the active situation here: https://earthquakelist.org/indonesia/east-java/surabaya/

Ah well, I'll probably survive for now... You'll find out in the next blog post!

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[EARTHQUAKE UPDATE]

Since the 23th, there have been frequent earthquakes, although small of magnitude (between 3.5 and 4), and have become more scattered over the northern and southern plates in east Java. It's has become unnoticeable and students quickly stopped stressing about it. I presume no big one is gonna hit us soon... but who knows.