Longtime Bali Bali Expat Resident and Indonesian wife visit several of Bali's and Java,s historic sites

The past three days my wife Azizah have visited several major attractions on Bali and Java that are related to the history of both Bali and Java.

This past Thursday we found ourselves with some time to kill after dropping off our boys off at a school sponsored sports event which they were participating in.

So we visited a historic site that I had wanted to visit for 22 years that I have lived in Bali. The site of the Royal Puputan or the Royal suicide which took place after the Dutch invaded Bali in the early 1900s marched to the spot where the Royal Temple stood and the Royals came out and instead of giving up committed mass suicide. Unfortunately there's not much to remember the event except for a beautiful statue and a midsize park.

The next day we were planned to fly to one of the nation's largest cities Yogyakarta for Azizah to attend a national wide Notaris convention with over 1,000 Notaries from across Indonesia.

The main goal of the convention was to choose a new national leader, which they did.

We arrived early so had some hours to kill before we could check in and I reluctantly agreed, after only a few hours sleep the night before, to book a private car and driver to go on a tour of one of Indonesia's most famous volcanoes, Mount Merapi.

The name Merapi could be loosely translated as the Mountain of Fire. The etymology of the name came from Meru-Api; from the Javanese combined words; Meru means "mountain", refer to mythical mountain of Gods in Hinduism, and apimeans "fire".

One of the wonderful things of Indonesia as you can book a car and driver for 12 hours for around $40.

So I sat in the front seat, put down the seat and fell asleep for the next hour until we arrived at Merapi.

Mount Merapi

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This article is about the mountain in Central Java Island. For the mountain in West Sumatra, see Mount Marapi.

Mount Merapi
Gunung Merapi
Merapi, March 2014
Highest point
Elevation	2,930 m (9,610 ft) [1]
Prominence	1,356 m (4,449 ft) [1]
Listing	Ribu
Coordinates	7°32′26.99″S 110°26′41.34″ECoordinates: 7°32′26.99″S 110°26′41.34″E
Naming
Translation	Mountain of Fire (Indonesian)
Geography
Mount Merapi Location in Java
Geology
Age of rock	400,000 years
Mountain type	Active Stratovolcano
Last eruption	11 May 2018

Mount Merapi, colour lithograph, Junghuhn and Mieling, 1853-1854

Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi (literally Fire Mountain in Indonesian and Javanese), is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta provinces, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548. It is located approximately 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of Yogyakarta city which has a population of 2.4 million, and thousands of people live on the flanks of the volcano, with villages as high as 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) above sea level.

Smoke can often be seen emerging from the mountaintop, and several eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from a large explosion killed 27 people on 22 November 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west of the volcano.^[2] Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake. In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes.

As we climbed the steep volcano road it was obvious that Jeep rentals was a big business and of course Azizah stated let’s go rent a jeep and go up to the top.

I argued it’s cloudy, we won’t get to see much, it will be a waste of time I was wrong. Which reminds me of the old saying “Women are always right and rarely wrong”. LOL.

So we climbed in the back of the Jeep and were handed helmets and masks. Obviously it was going to be more than just a easy drive.

Our first stop was a village that a been devastated by the 2010 eruption which killed 353 people. It was eerie indeed.

The prime cause of 353 deaths was a pyroclastic flow which can flow down a volcano at speeds approaching the speed of a jet airplane and with temperatures upwards to 400°C and above.

At the Museum we were able to view first-hand belongings of the people who were killed by the pyroclastic flow melting everything in sight.

Humans would have ended up the same as these cows which is only the bones remaining.

Remains of Cal's instantly killed during Eruption

Artist's rendition of original homes destroyed by the volcano

Eruption aftermath

Lahar which is mixture of lava and river

Bottles

Television

Mobile phone electronics

Melted coins

Melted  bottles

A cow with large part of its hide burnt off. Unimaginable pain

Melted radio

Badly burnt survivor

Volcanic ash

Melted bed

Azizah with local 0wl

 After the village we continued on up the mountain to a site they call the alien stone which looks like someone had carved a face out of the stone.

Alleged alien stone

Deep caverns where lahar would have flowed

 
 Our final stop was a bunker which was used to treat the injured and dying

Former lava flow from 2010 eruption

 

Beautiful Aziza with Mount Merapi in the background

Final event is a run through a river with the Jeep

 Following the Mount MERAPI tour we decided to stop at arguably the second-best temple site in Yogyakarta the Prambanan temples which I was thoroughly impressed with.

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