We decided to arrive in Malang with our new squad name: The Malang Gang (Bang). We all managed to get a few hours sleep on the train so we arrived feeling a lot better than we thought we would have. First on our priority list: breakfast.
We stumbled into the nearest eatery that has decent reviews on google. We were happy to find that this venue served a set breakfast that came with heaps of great food! We tucked into:
- Coconut porridge
- Fruit salad
- Banana pancakes
- Poached eggs
- Breadbasket
- Coffee
The best part of this place was the service. You see, Zara and I ordered the exact same menu so a logical conclusion would be that our items would arrive at the same time. Well, this had a unique twist in that items didn’t only come out at different times, but a different order. Filled with confusing apologies about it being too busy, despite there only being six other people in the place, the experience was funny if a little odd. However, for a 10er (and this was a fancy place), Indonesia is incredibly cheap. On leaving the breakfast, we had a classic photo with the tourist moment that keeps happening in Indonesia.
We made progress to our hotel and chilled for most of the day by the pool. However, we eventually had boredom kick in and decided to treat ourselves to a massage. Zara had found a charming looking venue, so made our way.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, we were told there were no more spaces. This was drawn into question by the fact the place seemingly had seven or so members of staff chilling in the reception area. Unperturbed I found another place in a shopping centre nearby. Located on the top floor, the venue had the look and feel of a field triage unit. The prices were low, so we thought why not, what’s the worst that could happen?
Well, the worst that could happen is not realising you are going in for a full-body reflexology massage. The masseuse pressured, squeezed and beat the living daylights out of any tension I had. It felt as if I had brought myself to some masochistic torture palace. The only release I could find was groaning and grunting my way through the unusual pain. During this, Zara and Katy also had massages but were silent. I wasn’t sure if somehow I had gotten the “beat you up” package while they were being pampered with soothing touches. I was wrong; it turned out they were just good at keeping silent as they too had their limbs pulverised.
Many groans and whimpers later, the ordeal concluded with the masseuse shaking my hand and saying thank you. Bemused I settled the bill, and we left. Not five minutes later, we found what looked to be the most relaxing spa of all time. Lesson learned if it’s cheap in a shopping mall, stay away.
We enjoyed dinner in a lovely outdoor restaurant with live karaoke. The singing was… interesting. However, I hold nothing but the utmost respect for the singers as the venue didn’t sell alcohol. Given I hate karaoke at the best of times, that’s a level of bravery I will never have.
Not worn out yet, we wanted more. We jumped into a taxi to get to a night market. However, on arriving, the market was clearly closed, and we found ourselves in an abandoned backstreet of what felt like a pretty sketchy area. It also begs the question of why it was called a night market. No worries though, I found a light theme park for the night (it featured lots of displays of neon lights in fantastical shapes). After another 40 minutes in a cab, we arrived… to a closed attraction. This was made worse by us walking to the entrance in a jolly mood to have a confused ticket clerk laugh while telling us they had closed 15 minutes earlier. What a travelsty!!!! So cab back to the hotel was in order given our failure. Still, at least we saw some streets of Malang.
So day two in Malang. We had always planned for this to be a short day on account of us setting off at midnight to see Mount Bromo (See Malang part 2). So a lazy lie-in and hotel breakfast to kick off our day. The meal consisted of the usual brekkie delights of fried rice and spicy things.
To keep things calm our day plan was to see a nearby waterfall which looked beautiful online. We got a taxi from the hotel and we were dropped off at the entrance of the park. After a 20 minute walk in the blistering heat (a bit longer than we thought) we came to a little attraction zone. We found a labyrinth and decided to race to the middle, girls vs boy. I nailed it (naturally) getting to the centre in a cool 1:24.
We decided to grab a small lunch before continuing the trek to the waterfall. Another 40 minutes and we arrived at the car park for the natural wonder. Filled with market stalls, Zara was enticed by the fresh-looking fruits. Hand selecting a mango and a mystery fruit, she borrowed a knife from the seller to peel the mystery thing. Wielding the blade with a surgeons precision, she took her time revoking the outer layer. Sometime later, when done, it was time to slice the fruit. BAM, first cut and a pile of maggots were cosily nestled in the middle. Whoops!
The market seller apologised and found a fresher one and prepared it for us. And honestly, not worth it. I didn’t try any on the account the review given was “fishy and pumpkin-like”.
We finally arrived at the waterfall, and after taking more selfies with locals who find my pale complexion an attraction in its own right, we took it in. A magnificent sight following our trek.
So, time to head back, which suddenly became abundantly clear meant another hour of walking. Ugh! To refuel we bought some freshly fried bananas, mmmm! Time to trek!
Two minutes down the road and two knights on a rusty three-wheeled motorbike/van stopped and asked if we wanted a lift. Somewhat disturbingly, within a heartbeat, we had leapt into the back of this rubbish truck at the glee of having a free ride back down the trail! What a way to get around.
When we got back to the halfway point, we were dropped off. Time for a quick selfie (incidentally this is our featured image for this blog post). We headed around some ornaments which had been laid out to make for exciting photos before stumbling across a strawberry picking tent. We eagerly got our little buckets and scissors to get ourselves some strawberries. However, and rather sadly, nearly all of the strawberry plants were barren.
Done for the day, we headed back to grab some dinner at a lovely place near the university called The Library. Specialising in western type cuisine, it was quite a nice break from noodles and rice dishes we had all become accustomed to on our travels. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and beds at a rather early 8:30 pm. However, we were due to be up at 12:30 the next day for our big travel in Malang… (part 2 here)