In Reply to: driving to yogakata posted by brutus on Tuesday, 10. April 2007 at 06:31 Bali Time:
.....would be to split the trip over a few days.
I spend a fair bit of time driving around (East) Java (and last there for 3 days over Nypie).
I'm not sure how gadisdesa was driving to achieve such good travel time, and to be fair to Blackie it was ten years back.
It will take an extra couple of hours (more than Blackie) to get to Yogja these days for various reasons, one being the mud spewing at Sidoarjo, and the increase in the number of vehicles on the road.
A good (my favorite) way to get there is Denpasar - Banyuwangi - Jember. Stay over.
Next day to Malang via Lumajang and Dampit. This is a scenic route which follows the canal most of the way to Lumajang (long straight stretches of good road to get the foot down on), then up the mountain side to Dampit on an incredible road originally carved (literally) out in colonial days. The beauty of this route is you're driving directly at Mt. Semeru (Java's highest mountain) a huge ash and steam spewing cone, spectacular views back across the huge basin that contains Jember and Lumajang, and then Dampit which is almost alpine, ravines, rivers, caves, and of course Mt. Semeru.
From Malang to Yogja select your route. I've been the Blitar / Telungagung/ Ponorojo way which is prettier and a lot less traffic than the main drag/s but adds a (quite a) few extra kiilometers. Although there is good accommodation in Banyuwangi/Jember/Malang/Solo/Yogja, in some of those other spots it gets a bit desperate or just plain hard to find even if you know its there. If you're going by car, you've got the space so take your self a good double bed sheet and a pillow so if you are forced to bed down in some sh!t hole, at least you can feel clean about it. Don't forget the ice box. In some places its getting real tough (and I mean REAL TOUGH) to find a bintang (it'll be warm and check the expiry date), so its essential to get into the daily routine of checking out of the hotel, tracking down the local ice man, then replentishing the ice box for happyhour, before venturing too far out of town.
Two things; If you are driving a rental, get a letter from the owner saying' yes you can take his car to Java and back. The jerks at Gilimanuk can be just that, though a friend of mine took his car across with no papers at all (porgot) with a thirty thousand rupiah negotiated agreement. No problem on the return.
Get used to greasy pood. Not bad pood, just oily pood.
Enjoy the trip, you'll love it. My kids and I do every time, ('cept last time) which is about 4 times a year.